Vandalised

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

SMASH.

Instincts honed from years of piracy had Law jumping up and turning to face the source of the noise in an instant, hand hovering in front of him in preparation of a Room before he registered what it was he was seeing and froze up on the spot.

Nothing, not even his heightened paranoia and overactive imagination, could have prepared him for the sight of his beloved loyal ship shattering as if a bomb had exploded inside her. Metal plates bent out of shape from the force flew up into the air, glinting in the sunlight before falling into the water with a loud splash. With each one, Law's gut felt like he was the one crashing into the waves.

The Polar Tang, his loyal ship for the past ten years, was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving behind an open husk – he could make out what had once been a bunkroom, and thanked whatever was listening that it was an unused one. No doubt all of them had been shaken up with the blast, but it didn't seem like any of his nakama's belongings – or worse, his nakama themselves – had been lost. Just the ship herself.

Half his crew had been in her when she'd exploded, though, and a headcount was still coming up nine short. The cannonball responsible slammed into the ground behind him, only to be revealed as none other than Mugiwara no Luffy, and Law was sorely tempted to undo all his work on principle, because how dare the other captain do that to his ship after everything the Heart Pirates had done for him. The insufferable rubberman owed Law his life, and this was how he repaid him?

He was barely listening to Jinbei's questions about the vandal's condition, throwing out words like "he's going to die" less because it was the truth, and more because that was what was going to happen if Mugiwara-ya showed his face in front of Law again within the next year. Maybe more. Law was still working that one out. It would depend on the damage.

Shachi's unmistakable ginger hair emerged from the wreckage, the older man looking as upset as Law felt, and he relaxed slightly as the missing count reduced to eight. Penguin's emergence two minutes later, after Mugiwara-ya vanished into the woods – and good riddance if the Kuja killed him although Law doubted they would, unfortunately – eased his mind further, especially after the update on the remaining seven left all of the crew accounted for.

Seeing the damage for himself, after Penguin's nervous report, and Law almost broke down. The Tang had suffered catastrophic damage, the one saving grace being that her hull was intact so at least she could still sail (and thank goodness for kairoseki because anything weaker would not have withstood that blow). His pride and joy, the infirmary, was unrecognisable as anything other than a collection of junk as extortionately expensive machines spat sparks pathetically or smouldered away. It would take months to restore it, although Law couldn't help but try and find something – anything – he could repair. He had no such luck and traipsed dejectedly back towards the deck.

Someone had rallied the uninjured members of the crew together, probably Shachi, because they were all hard at work patching up the damage. Dripping wet metal panels piled high on the deck and Jean Bart surfaced again, another panel in his huge hands. Inspecting them, Law determined that the damage perhaps wasn't as hideous as he'd first though; while bent out of shape, it had been the rivets that had failed rather than the panelling itself. Bending them back into shape and applying fresh rivets would deal with all but the worst of the damage.

Still, Law couldn't rest until the Tang looked something like her old self again, joining in the repair efforts for a time before his stamina gave out (saving the lives of both Mugiwara-ya and Jinbei had sapped his energy considerably). Penguin shooed him inside to check on their injured nakama, all of whom at least seemed to be recovering well. With the infirmary destroyed, Law couldn't give them any painkillers for their headaches, but they all shook off apologies as they waited impatiently for him to give them the all clear to go out and help repair the Tang.

Selfishly, Law didn't, basking in the comfort of their company for as long as he could get away with, because Mugiwara-ya had come far too close to destroying his ship completely and possibly killing some of his nakama in the process. If he just wanted to make sure they were definitely fine, well that was perfectly reasonable, right?

I saw a screenshot of the moment Luffy exploded his way out of the Polar Tang yesterday and almost burst into tears because I hadn't realised just how bad it was. So of course I had to explore Law's PoV. This is also Law's take on Broken, chapter 29.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari