Intimidate

Characters: Shachi, Penguin, Law, Ikkaku. Rating: T. Warnings: Blood, injury, minor character death(s)

The Heart Pirates avoided frontal confrontation when they could. There was rarely any point to them; subterfuge worked so much better and also had the added bonus of not showing their hand to anyone that might be watching.

But they couldn't be avoided forever. Sometimes a battle loomed ahead and there was no real way to escape it. It was those occasions, when Law had enough warning, that he had taken to withdrawing his nakama's vital organs – heart, lungs, liver, kidney, stomach, and whatever else he had time for – from their bodies and depositing them in a secure vault he'd installed inside the Polar Tang for that exact reason.

It was one such day. While there was no guarantee of a fight, and Law hoped it wouldn't come to it, as they approached the docks of the next island there were a few too many pirate flags flying for him to take the risk. Organless, the Heart Pirates had disembarked and gone about their business, procuring supplies and keeping an ear out for any information uttered by a passer-by. Usually there was little to nothing, and this was no exception, to their private disappointment.

While information was scarce, conflict was not.

Shachi surveyed the scene in front of him with ill-concealed exasperation. He just wanted to get back to the Tang, call it a day and flop after reporting back to Law. Having his path blocked by several members of a crew whose flag he vaguely recognised – one of the not-quite Supernovas of that year, weren't they? Nothing special in the New World – was not part of his plan and he yawned, irritated. Unsurprisingly, the other crew weren't too impressed at his less than pleased reaction and took offense.

"Don't you know who we are?" one exploded, and Shachi shrugged noncommittally, somewhat amused by the hypocrisy, especially as at least he was wearing his jolly roger proudly on his chest where it should be clearly visible to the goons in front of him. If they'd seen it, they were ignoring it. Then again, they did have him outnumbered, from appearances (Shachi was well aware of Penguin trailing behind in the previous alley, Ikkaku just around the corner and Law himself a little way up the street). Taking his reaction to mean he didn't, he was subjected to a proud tirade of their identity, the identity of their captain, and some of their more 'impressive' feats.

Shachi had never understood the need for posturing. It just came across like a load of hot air to him, no matter what the crew's strength was. Then again, the first time he'd heard a bunch of pirates posturing it had been accompanying a slaughter he was never going to forget, so that probably contributed to his distaste.

"You've made your point," he drawled when they paused for breath. "Now are you going to let me through? I have better places to be." Things rubbed off on you when you spent twelve years with Trafalgar Law, including the penchant for winding annoying people up.

They were distressingly predictable, drawing hidden weapons and charging him as one. For a crew in the New World, it was hardly impressive, although as Shachi evaded the first strikes he had to admit that they did have the prowess to back their boasts up. Law wasn't going to be happy about him biting off more than he could chew, again, but Shachi knew his nakama would be drawn by the commotion so he was hardly worried.

Keeping his own blade sheathed for the moment, he swung out with a leg, turning the movement into a backflip as the first pirate dodged and another charged at him in a co-ordinated attack. There was an exasperated noise from behind him as he leapt up, directing the next pair to charge him towards each other. Annoyingly, they were experienced enough to not hit each other, but Shachi really needed to stop expecting that in the New World.

"You bitch!" he heard one of them curse, and grinned as Ikkaku's response was an impressive roundhouse. Penguin was also running towards the commotion, and as Shachi landed from his latest aerobatic stunt he found himself back to back with the older man.

"What did you do?" Penguin complained as the pair of them drew their knives simultaneously to parry the blades aiming for their faces.

"Nothing!" Shachi defended himself, pushing his initial attacker back and lashing out with his foot at another's abdomen. The connection was solid and he grinned as the man skidded back, clutching at his stomach while throwing Shachi a murderous look. Such things had stopped intimidating Shachi long ago and he just gave a cheeky grin in response before going on the offensive, catching his target off guard and slamming him to the ground.

"I don't believe that for a second," Penguin retorted, his blade coated black as he drove it between the third and fourth ribs of his current opponent. The man dropped and he turned his attention to the next pirate.

"You bastard!" The call was accompanied by the sound of a gunshot and Shachi scowled as he sidestepped the bullet. Bringing guns to a knife fight was cheating.

Even with one already down, and Ikkaku and Penguin backing him up, they were still outnumbered. Of course, being outnumbered meant nothing by itself, but while weaker than the Heart Pirates, the crew were no slouches and it wasn't long before the blood was flowing on both sides. Ikkaku was holding her left arm whenever the chance arose, while Penguin was favouring his right leg and Shachi was cursing the gash in his right shoulder, which was particularly annoying when he had to parry rather than dodge.

However, the Heart Pirates had one advantage over the other crew, and Shachi was the lucky – unlucky? Law was going to be mad – one that got to demonstrate as his shoulder gave out at the wrong moment and a knife buried itself firmly in his chest. He jerked, his body reacting to the fatal wound as if it was actually fatal, and he saw the other pirate's face split into a grin as he stumbled back a step.

The grin faltered when Shachi didn't topple, but rather straightened and transferred his knife to his left hand, dismissing his right shoulder as useless until Law got his hands on it.

"What was that supposed to be?" he asked, spinning the knife in his hand for a moment before finding his grip on it. Blood gathered in his mouth and he spat it out, his lips stretching into a grin. A single drop of the blood trickled down his chin, and the man stumbled back.

Another knife plunged into his back, and Shachi laughed, turning around to kick the culprit away.

"What's that face for?" he asked the first one to stab him, who looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Don't you know what I am?"

"If you can bleed you can die!" one of the pirates declared. Shachi neatly side-stepped his lunge and brought his own knife down on the man's back.

"A little scratch like this isn't going to do anything," Shachi helpfully informed the one still standing, stepping forwards into his reach. Instead of taking advantage of Shachi's proximity, the man stumbled backwards, face white as a sheet.

"Y-you-" he spluttered. "You- You're- M-Mon-"

"I'm a Heart Pirate," Shachi grinned, stepping forwards again. "It's going to take more that this to stop me." He put the man out of his misery with a neat slash to the throat before turning back to see how Penguin and Ikkaku were doing.

"You spent too long playing around," Penguin scolded, wiping his knife on one of his fallen opponents' tops. Shachi shrugged and immediately regretted it. His shoulder protested loudly, and while he'd hidden it from his opponents, getting stabbed hurt. He sheathed his knife before pressing his left hand to the wound in his chest, feeling the blood still trying to gush out. His heart might not be where it should be, but that didn't mean his blood vessels were all absent too.

"I can't take you anywhere," Law complained, finally arriving at the scene and heading straight for Shachi, nudging his hand out of the way long enough to assess the wounds. "Back to the Tang with you before you faint." Shachi had no complaints with the order, considering he was starting to get light headed – maybe one of the knives had caught an artery, that would be annoying – and started to head back to the submarine, accompanied by his nakama.

He didn't quite make it back before the dizziness got too much, but that was okay because Law was there.

"I don't do this so you can pull suicidal stunts," he heard his captain grumble. Shachi just laughed as warm arms caught him and everything went dark.

I imagine stabbing someone in the heart and them not dying would be pretty terrifying.

On the flip side, Law's given his crew an excuse to be even more reckless, which would not have been the plan.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari