Triage

Characters: Law, Penguin, Shachi, Bepo. Rating: T. Warnings: Major injury.

Law was no stranger to battles, to injuries, to death and those on the edge. He'd been a pirate for three years (or so; did those six months with Cora-san count as piracy? He wasn't sure; they certainly hadn't been part of the Doflamingo Family), and before that, everyone he'd ever known had been slaughtered.

He was familiar with death, blood, and the screams of both the dying and the terrified survivors pleading the dead not to die. He'd been on both sides of that before.

So, why did it paralyse him now?

His hands were shaking so badly he was starting to fear that he hadn't got rid of the Amber Lead after all. The blood in front of him stained his vision red, crimson and accusing. He was covered in it, the life of the people, pirates that attacked them, he'd taken away without a second thought because it was them or us.

Us.

It wasn't their first skirmish. It wasn't the first time one of them had got cut up a bit – injuries were inevitable in combat and Law was used to patching up those sorts of wounds. His time in the Family had been invaluable for training his hypothetical schooling into reality, after all.

Penguin was screaming at the top of his lungs. He needed to shut up; someone would hear him. Someone would come and investigate. One of his arms stopped abruptly mid-bicep; Law had the rest of it – a clean amputation, a voice whispered in the back of his mind, salvageable if you're quick – in his hand. His shaking, shaking hand.

Shachi was silent and limp.

Penguin was screaming at the top of his lungs.

Law's hands wouldn't stop shaking.

Bepo, soft, gentle Bepo was a crackling mess of electro and claws as he tore through the other pirates drawn by the commotion.

They were going to die, if Law didn't do something. Penguin's stump of an arm was leaking blood fast and Shachi was more crimson than not.

Law wasn't entirely certain Shachi wasn't already dead.

They'd followed him uninvited. He'd told them not to, told them how dangerous it was, did his best to throw them back to their home island but they'd out-stubborned him and reached the point where it was kill them himself or let them come.

They hadn't done anything to make them deserve death.

Bepo would keep them safe; that, Law could trust. The young mink was soft and apologetic but when he had a reason to fight, he was vicious. Unlike Law, who hadn't wanted the other teenagers around, Bepo had seamlessly adapted to all of them, and considered them his nakama.

Who were going to die, if Law didn't do something.

He wasn't just the best doctor in their little motley crew, he was the sole doctor. There was no-one else to fall back on, no-one else to pick up his slack and make sure they didn't die on him.

Law was a doctor, he had no business freezing at the sight of blood, no business standing back numbly as one teenager screamed and the other lay unmoving. How could he call himself his parents' son if he stood by and let them die?

Penguin's arm was warm in his hand. Law knew the theory on how to reattach limbs. He had the fruit to let him do it.

Behind him, Bepo let out another war cry as electro exploded out, ending another life in defence of theirs.

Triage, the little voice told him. It sounded a lot like his mother's, soft and soothing but with the edge that had made her a respected doctor. Start with the worst injuries.

Law's feet moved of their own accord, stepping one, two, three until he was next to Penguin, next to Shachi and the crimson that covered them all.

He could do this.

He had to do this.

So apparently it's been over a year since I last wrote anything for this, and I got the itch to write some more Heart Pirates last night, so here we are with another little angsty piece because why not?

Thanks for reading!
Tsari