Language

Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi. Rating: K. Warnings: None

In Law's opinion, it took him an embarrassingly long time to realise that two of his new companions were bilingual. Any words they'd muttered under their breath between being thrown overboard after following him onto the boat despite his protests had been too quiet for him to make out, and at the time he hadn't cared enough to try and decipher them anyway. He hadn't wanted the new companions (barring Bepo, who was acceptable enough, if only because he kept Law out of the puddle at the bottom of the boat), so their opinions were of no consequence to him.

Later, once they'd acquired the Polar Tang and Law had begrudgingly accepted that the hangers on weren't leaving any time soon, he perhaps should have noticed, except for one fact: Penguin and Shachi always spoke Common in front of him. Excepting their accents, something Law was used to after his time travelling with first the Donquixote Family and then Cora-san, there was little to betray the existence of a second language.

It took the better part of a year before he heard them conversing in a language that was clearly not Common.

The night watch had been Penguin's that night. Law had learnt that whenever one of them was on watch, the other was always first to rise in the morning, and so expected to find Shachi in the control room with him when he arrived.

He was, but as Law approached their voices sounded slightly off. It was unmistakably them – not even Law's paranoia could mistake them for an intruder – but the tone was slightly different, higher pitched and more lilting than usual. Upon reaching the door, Law realised why. They weren't speaking Common.

For several long moments he stood there, not pushing the door open to enter but instead frozen outside, listening to them. There were no words with enough similarity to Common for him to even begin attempting to decipher what they were talking about, but the sound of the unfamiliar language was soothing and he allowed it to wash over him.

It was bittersweet. As soothing as the cadence was, it also served as a reminder of his own second language. Law had had no reason to speak Flevance's native language since that day, and knew that he was likely the last person left alive who knew it.

As a town based heavily in importing and exporting products through a healthy trade regime, Common was the prevalent language spoken in Flevance, in order to better improve relationships with other cities. Their native tongue was one only ever spoken at home, taught more from parent to child than in school; a little piece of their history preserved. From that, it stood to reason that with the denizens of the city obliterated from existence, Law was the only surviving speaker of the language.

Listening to Penguin and Shachi chattering away, oblivious to their audience behind the door, Law wondered how widespread their native tongue was. Was it a commonly used language in parts of North Blue, or unique to Swallow Island?

He was distracted from his musings, and the melancholy of realising he was the last living speaker of Flevance's native tongue, by Bepo. The Mink cub stumbled forwards, clearly still half asleep, with a tray holding four mugs of tea, which Law lurched to steady before the liquid spilt everywhere.

The noise brought the conversation inside the room to a pause, Law couldn't help but notice, before Shachi started talking again. This time, Law could understand the words, and felt a twinge of concern that the ginger had switched to Common as soon as he'd realised they weren't alone.

What had they been talking about? Shachi was now talking about the weather, apparently concerned at the lack of wind and whether or not they should switch to engine power even though they were currently surfaced.

His paranoia assumed the language switch had been accompanied by a topic change, but with no way to prove it, Law could do nothing except enter the room and check the Tang's readings to see that, random subject change or not, Shachi was right about the low winds.

Getting drawn into the discussion over whether or not they should use their engines or allow the slower pace from the winds – Bepo firm that he didn't mind as long as they stayed on the surface and not submerged – the topic of different languages slowly slipped from Law's mind, at least for the moment.

So, yeah, native languages specific to certain islands/regions, anybody? One Piece is set in such a large world I realised that it would be weird if every island in every Blue (let alone the Grand Line) only spoke the one language. Of course, with the World Government attempting to monopolise things the 20 countries united under that banner would almost certainly speak the same language primarily, but there are many more kingdoms than that in the world! So, bilingual characters and conversations in different languages depending on who they want to hear it, it is.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari