Belong

Characters: Jean Bart, Shachi. Rating: K. Warnings: none

Everyone was on the rota for the night watch. Jean Bart had no issues with that when he'd been told – had no issues with anything as long as he was away from the Tenryubito and a free man again – and with a wry smile Trafalgar had informed him that he'd be sharing for the first one, to make sure he knew all the ropes. Shachi would be his supervisor, he was told, and Jean Bart hadn't had time to try and remember which one was Shachi before the ginger was almost in his face, grinning widely.

"When's our shift?" Jean Bart asked, looking down at the small man – he was big, but even compared to most of the crew, Shachi was one of the smallest – and was unsurprised to be told that it was that night.

"You're fit enough, physically," Trafalgar said, and Jean Bart wasn't certain about the captain-doctor thing, but it wasn't his place to comment. "But if you don't think you're ready, we can put you shadowing someone else later."

"I'm ready," Jean Bart said, because he didn't want to sit around doing nothing. That was the recipe for wallowing in self-pity, and he'd had enough of that in his life. He hadn't finally got away from a life as a slave to be constantly reliving it in his head.

Shachi was an interesting companion, he quickly learnt. On Sabaody, he'd seemed easily panicked on the surface, before regaining his composure enough to fight, but once back with the crew he'd been at ease again. He was the type Jean Bart had always liked in his own crew, one of the central figures that acted as the glue keeping the crew together.

As their night shift started, that fell away. Whether it was an exhausting act that Shachi put on constantly, or if it was simply tiredness that caused the change, Jean Bart didn't have enough experience to tell, but as the lights faded to a faint glow and everyone else went to bed, Shachi didn't seem the same.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, cramped up in a too-small chair and watching the ginger curl up in his own chair, arms wrapped around his legs and his chin pressed to his knees in a despondent façade.

Shachi didn't reply, reaching out to fiddle with some instrument or other on the Polar Tang's control panel before retreating back into his ball. Jean Bart didn't press. He was new; he'd joined them because the alternative was being a slave, not because he'd particularly been interested in the Heart Pirates. In truth, one of the other two captains would have appealed to him more. It was easy to see why he wasn't trusted.

To say he was surprised, ten minutes later with a lap suddenly full of ginger, would be an understatement. He hadn't noticed him move, not until he was clambering onto his legs in a manner more suited to a child than a member of a well-known pirate crew.

"Shachi?" he asked, his large hands hovering uncertainly near the much smaller man before resting on his arm, wrapping around him lightly.

"I don't like night watches," the ginger grumbled. "They're too lonely."

Jean Bart had nothing to say to that, feeling too new to be able to offer comfort, and far too unaccustomed to helping people even if he knew how. The fact that Shachi even felt he could curl up on his lap baffled him.

"Saboady sucked," Shachi continued after several minute of silence. Jean Bart had almost wondered if he'd fallen asleep. "Dark King Rayleigh showing us how damn weak we are, showing me how weak I am, then that nonsense with Eustass and Mugiwara, and then Kuma clones."

Jean Bart only knew what had happened with the Kuma clones, and if Shachi was referring to the three captains' fight maybe he had some idea about that too, but it was clear that whatever he'd gone through while on Sabaody had upset him and shaken his confidence. That wasn't overly surprising, in itself.

What was surprising was that he was confiding in him, and not his captain or another older nakama. It left a warm feeling in his gut, one he hadn't felt since he'd lost his crew and ended up in slavery.

The feeling of belonging.

This is set sometime in that week between Sabaody and Marineford, while everyone's trying to find their feet again. Shachi has no concept of personal space and Jean Bart learns that quickly!

Thanks for reading!
Tsari