Centre

Characters: Heart Pirates. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

There was no real way to describe the sense of loss when someone so important just wasn't there anymore. It wasn't grief, not for them. He was still alive, would come back to them (because if they lost that faith, what good were they to him?), but he wasn't there. Wasn't with him.

Law hadn't been loud, but that made the silence no less deafening as they walked through their ship. If he was there, their captain would have likely been curled up with some literature somewhere, absorbing knowledge like a sponge. There would have been no extra noise that was now gone, but every time their feet took them past their captain's bedroom they'd pause, as if the sound of paper rustling would magically appear.

It never did. Law wasn't there, was stranded by his own design on an island of ice and fire because that was the next necessary step towards achieving his dream.

Sometimes, they would open the door, tip-toeing inside to see that nothing had changed since the last time they entered. The coins were still piled on the desk haphazardly, that map on Punk Hazard threatened to flutter onto the floor at the opening of the door. The bed wasn't quite made, covers pulled vaguely into alignment but not the crisp neatness of the infirmary beds because Law was meticulous about the rest of the ship but allowed himself to be ever so slightly sloppy in the sanctuary of his own room.

Most of the crew would leave it at that, feeling invasive even though Law's room had always been open for them all, no matter the time or circumstance.

Bepo took to sleeping in there, pulling his own nest of blankets and pillows from his room to pile them high on Law's floor. On the face of it, the mink appeared to be taking their captain's absence the hardest, throwing himself into navigating them safely to Zou because that was what Law had wanted him to do, even as he became quieter and quieter, despite his nakama's best efforts to keep his – and their – spirits up.

Penguin and Shachi were the most invasive, to no-one's surprise. It didn't take them long to gravitate towards Law's barely-made bed, because even though he wasn't there and the sheets were long since cold, there was still the essence of Law there. For the two now in charge of the crew, anxiously anticipating the New World's latest challenge and worrying that they wouldn't be up to the task if anything happened, Law's empty, cold bed still held comfort.

It almost felt as though the Tang herself was changed by Law's absence. Physically, there was nothing different; her engines ran at the same heat, took the same amount of fuel and propelled her through the water at the same speed. Despite that, there was a sluggish feel in the air, as if they were travelling against the tide, or against the wind. As an engine propelled submarine, neither thing should have delayed them.

From there it was a simple step to assume the Tang was well aware of her captain's absence, and was taking it as hard as any of the rest of them, even as she ploughed on with her responsibility to the crew.

"He'll be back."

Shachi was the only one that ever voiced anything, talking to empty rooms – the Tang – sometimes. To the rest of them, voicing it meant voicing that he wasn't there anymore. Law would be back, but it was easier if they never accepted that he'd gone in the first place.

Being separated from their captain anywhere, but particularly in the dangerous New World, must have been so emotionally draining for the Heart Pirates. Especially as they had no time frame on when to expect him back.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari