Defend

Characters: Shachi, Uni, Law. Rating: T. Warnings: Attempted non-consented drugging

No-one was infallible. Law gave off the impression that he was, but Shachi knew better. Much better. While his Rooms were active, he really was the omniscient being he portrayed (within the scope of his devil fruit's range, anyway), but the rest of the time? Not so much. Despite his demeanour, Law's speciality was not Observation, so it wasn't impossible to pull the wool over his eyes, if someone was sneaky enough.

That wasn't to say deceiving Law was easy. He was naturally suspicious and mistrustful, a level of paranoia reasonably healthy for a pirate of his reputation, so anything he noticed would immediately be assessed for threat levels and treated accordingly.

Sadly, that required Law to notice such things, and while he managed to do so most of the time, there were occasions when someone was sneaky enough to avoid detection. That woman that had slipped something in Law's drink somehow after he'd Scanned it seemed to have managed it, to Shachi's annoyance.

Still, it wasn't like Law was alone in keeping an eye out for threats. While he didn't specialise in Observation Haki, Shachi did, and was all too willing to use it in situations like this, where half the crew had descended upon the bar. The hustle and bustle of so many people made it easy for experienced people to cause damage, and there was no way Shachi was letting anyone hurt any of his nakama.

Law hadn't touched his drink, and part of Shachi wondered if he hadn't missed the woman's action. As he was in conversation with Clione, however, that wasn't a risk Shachi was going to take. The woman in question hadn't left the bar, although she was now laughing and flirting with a group of men the other side of the room, not looking their way once, and Shachi forced himself not to scowl. She was a professional, whatever it was she'd done. With his captain having such a large bounty on his head nowadays, there was little doubt that he was the real target.

Alerting her to the fact that her little action hadn't gone unnoticed would be no good. She'd disappear before any of them could get close, and then they wouldn't know if she was working independently, or if there was a whole gang of them gathered around to try and get hold of Law. Shachi wouldn't have been surprised if the group she was flirting with were her cohorts.

Warning Law was therefore out of the question, and Shachi swallowed back a sigh. There were, technically, several things he could do, but without knowing who they were up against, what their goal was, and even what it was they'd tried to slip Law, Shachi wasn't confident about using any of them, leaving him with a single choice that he knew was going to get him in trouble later.

"Hey." He nudged Uni, who was perched on a stool next to him, with calculated clumsiness. He hadn't had much to drink, so he couldn't pretend to be all out drunk, but there was a certain level of tipsiness that could realistically be feigned. Uni glanced down at him, and Shachi was pleased when he didn't let on that there was no way he should be acting like that when he was only on his second pint.

"You okay?" Uni mumbled, mouth hidden as always by that cloth, and voice low enough to be easily lost in the overall hubbub.

Shachi shrugged and laughed, as if he'd said something funny, before resting his head against the taller man's arm. The position just happened to hide his own mouth from the woman, if she turned around. He didn't trust the bartender either, so he couldn't talk plainly, but Uni wasn't stupid. Considering the only plan Shachi's brain had come up with in the time he had, he was glad for that.

"I'm about to do something really stupid," he admitted, grinning conspiratorially just in case there were unfriendly eyes close enough to read his lips. Uni rolled his eyes as if he was talking nonsense, but pressed up against his side, Shachi felt the tensing of his muscles hidden underneath the thick clothes.

"You could at least try to be careful," he said in a tone that plainly said he wasn't expecting to be listened to, and Shachi grinned at him again before slinking – the occasional misstep to continue the suggestion that what little alcohol he'd had was getting to him – over to Law, sparing a moment to be thankful that Penguin was on guard duty at the Tang, and not there to witness what he was about to do.

His captain was reaching for the drink, cradling it in his hands as he continued his conversation, and the thought crossed Shachi's mind again that maybe Law knew, but he wasn't leaving it to chance. Normally, if Law knew something wasn't right, he'd get a signal to Shachi somehow because he knew the ginger would notice anything he did. There had been no such signal, so Shachi proceeded.

"Snooze you lose!" he proclaimed, sweeping the tankard out of his captain's grip and sending one last glance over at Uni, out of the corner of his eye where his shades didn't quite cover the movement if the person was sat in the right place to see it. Shachi had made sure to face the right direction to put Uni – the one he'd prewarned and therefore the one that knew how drunk Shachi wasn't – in that spot. Deliberately, he flicked his eyes towards the woman in question, and the final pieces in the puzzle clearly started to assemble themselves in Uni's brain.

"Shachi!" Law protested, sounding annoyed as he reached for his drink, but Shachi didn't know what was in it, and there was no way he was letting Law drink whatever it was, so he tipped his head back and downed it all.

It was a huge gamble. If it had been a poison, drinking that quantity would probably kill him on the spot. Shachi didn't think it would, though. Straight up killing Law in the middle of a crowd of his nakama wouldn't help anyone. The Heart Pirates would tear the place apart looking for the culprit, and the Marines needed a body before they'd give out the bounty. There would be no claiming the body in those circumstances. His assessment told him it was likely something slower-acting than that, or even something simple to separate him from his nakama for a while.

He hoped he was right as he set down the tankard with a large grin at Law, whose face was torn between annoyance and dawning horror. His grin widened as his vision started to go foggy, and then there were hands gripping his arms, keeping him from collapsing. Clione, his quickly fading haki reported alongside the fact that Uni had started to slip towards the woman and her companions. The taller man had got the message perfectly.

"Shachi!" Law said again, now less annoyed and more worried, but Shachi simply slipped back against Clione's chest until that was the only thing supporting him. The darkness was encroaching rapidly and Shachi hoped it was just a potent sleeping drug as his eyes slipped closed, Law the last thing he saw.

Better me than you, he thought, and then there was nothing.

It is possible to fool Law sometimes, so some backup never hurts. I can't say Shachi's solution was smart, though. He is used to infiltration ad doing things undercover (in my 'verse, anyway) thanks to years of gathering intel on Doflamingo, however.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari