Adversity

Characters: Penguin, Shachi, Law, Kid. Rating: K+. Warnings: none

While they might be a pirate crew, the Heart Pirates weren't interested in the darker aspects of piracy. Thievery was a part of the life, although if they had the funds and liked the vendor enough they'd pay their way fair and square, but they had no desire for mass terror.

It happened, of course. With Law's false reputation, people would run at the sight of them and that was all well and good (and sometimes very useful indeed), but they never really did anything to further the reputation – at least, not to innocent civilians; underworld brokers, pirates and other criminals were another matter entirely, and mainly how Law managed to maintain his exaggerated reputation.

With members of the crew themselves survivors of massacres, it left a sour taste in their mouth (at best, on the worst days it would send someone to hide in their room for the rest of the day). As much as they wished otherwise, however, it was not a particularly uncommon occurrence on the Grand Line and whenever they surfaced long enough for a News Coo to find them, there was usually one such event detailed somewhere among the pages.

It was no coincidence that another rookie crew's bounty was climbing rapidly.

The Kid Pirates, led by one Eustass 'Captain' Kid, were becoming more and more synonymous with the words 'mass death' in the newspaper. To Penguin, the idea of killing so discriminately was unthinkable. How someone could think they had the right to cause such pain and devastation was beyond him, and when the stories kept coming up, the same red-haired captain's picture grinning brutally alongside each report, so clearly revelling in it, he had to fight to stop himself tearing the paper apart.

On the worst days, he couldn't, and Law would give an understanding yet annoyed look as he and some of the others gathered the shreds up to piece the newspaper back together to read the rest of the news.

Shachi was worse. He had only been a year younger than Penguin, but sometimes Penguin thought that year made all the difference. If there was a member of the crew who just up and disappeared after news of another massacre reached them, it was the ginger. He was never hard to find, unerringly retreating to his bed every time without fail, but the general consensus among the crew was to leave him alone. Sometimes Penguin would go to join him, hauling himself up into the top bunk and listening to the bolts complain at the weight of two fully grown men as he sat by the younger man in silence.

On the other end of the spectrum, Law had a tendency to get clingy. Not in the physical sense, as their captain seemed incapable of initiating any sort of contact outside of a medical setting, but he would always be found in the most occupied room in the Tang for at least the rest of the day, silent but always watching his nakama as they moved around. When night fell, he invariably ended up in either Penguin and Shachi or Bepo's room. Not through his own deliberate design, as he always started by going to his own room and attempting to sleep there, but night wanderings struck when sleep was riddled with nightmares and they were always the ones first to open their doors for him.

Massacres happened. It was a fact of life, and if they kept running from it they'd face troubles later when they couldn't run any more. Meeting Eustass Kid in person was a trial for them all, having to look him in the eye as if he and his crew weren't responsible for many of their sleepless nights as every news article brought back the memories afresh.

Penguin wasn't sure how they managed it, how they would have managed if Mugiwara hadn't punched out a tenryubito and forced them all to face a common enemy. The man was unapologetic, openly admitting that he'd been slaughtering everyone that had laughed at him for saying he was going to find the One Piece.

Part of Penguin had wanted to laugh at him then and there, to drag the man into a fight and get revenge for all those people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Common sense prevailed – they were outnumbered, an admiral was on the way – and he was forced to content himself with sending death-glares from underneath the safety of his hat.

If anyone noticed, they didn't comment, and the Heart Pirates eventually escaped Marineford without once trying to kill the red-headed demon.

Penguin thought that was quite the achievement. He also knew it wasn't going to last forever. One day the rising tension would reach a head. He was looking forwards to it.

There's clearly some tension between the Kid Pirates and Heart Pirates and I'm looking forwards to their likely meeting on Wano. Kid and his crew seem to be more inclined towards stereotypical piracy, although I want to know their backstory (at least Kid and Killer's - they're Supernovas/Worst Gen so they should at some point) before I really settle my mind on what they're like.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari