Chapter Text
“Hey, hey!” Shachi said as he danced about in a way that seemed destined to make him slip and fall on the snow slick ground. “You should do the thing.”
Law raised an eyebrow. Bepo had learned over the past few months that Law communicated his emotions through a very limited number of expressions. A smirk. A scowl. A raised eyebrow here and rolled eyes there. Sometimes Bepo caught little glimpses of warmer, softer faces, but those were all reserved for Roci-san.
“What thing?” Law asked when Shachi failed to elaborate.
Penguin’s mouth formed an excited ‘o’ as he caught onto what his longtime friend was hinting at. “Yeah! That would be fun. You should do it.”
Law stopped and crossed his arms over his chest. “What thing ? You idiots are going to have to specify. I can’t read minds, just take them out of your heads.”
The two older boys were completely unfazed by the mild threat. The three of them had all learned, to Law’s apparent chagrin, that he was often far more bark than bite. Instead of being cowed, they capered closer, gesticulating wildly as they did.
“Oh, you know, the thing,” Shachi said.
He waved his arms back and forth between Penguin and himself to explain what he evidently couldn’t put to words. Law looked close to carrying through with his threat when Penguin finally found the right words.
“The, uh, body swap thing,” he said, mirroring Shachi’s gesture. “You know, that you did accidentally when we met up with you again.”
Shachi nodded vigorously. “Yeah, that’s the one. I’m sure you’ve practiced it. You’ve gotten loads better with all of your powers.”
Law’s mouth thinned to a line. He glanced back over his shoulder in the general direction of his house. They all knew what he was thinking. Roci-san had said in no uncertain terms that he didn’t want Law practicing on his friends. That, of course, hadn’t stopped Law, but it meant he only did it when they were all far enough afield that he wasn’t worried about being caught.
When Roci-san failed to materialize in that moment, the tension in Law’s shoulders melted away and a sharp grin appeared on his face. “You guys sure? You didn’t seem so thrilled that first time.”
The boys both nodded immediately. That was all it took. With that look on Law’s face, they knew as well as Bepo did that he’d already made up his mind. A moment later, they were all surrounded by the blue dome of a so-called Room. Law pulled a knife from his boot and jabbed it at either boy. Despite their earlier bravado, both threw their arms up in front of their faces reflexively. They stayed like that a moment until it seemed like nothing would happen. They lowered their arms in near unison as the Room shrank back into nonexistence.
“Well, that was disappointing,” Shachi said.
Penguin turned to him and gave him a small shove. “Bet you screwed it up somehow, Pen—”
Both their jaws dropped in a mirror of each other. Law chuckled when they both gestured between themselves.
Bepo tilted his head and scrunched up his nose. “I don’t get it.”
“I’m you!” Penguin whooped.
“You’re me!” Shachi said with a breathy laugh.
Although both boys had regaled Bepo over the last months with their memories of the first time this had happened, he didn’t understand it anymore this time than he had then. He hunched into himself. He felt foolish, like he was missing something obvious.
“You’re… you,” he ventured.
Penguin nodded vigorously. “I’m Shachi.”
“And I’m Penguin,” Shachi said.
“You still look the same,” Bepo countered. “But… the way you speak is a bit different, I guess.”
Penguin— or was it Shachi— shook his head. “You don’t get it. It’s really amazing. Oh! You should also swap with us!”
Shachi, who was actually Penguin, lit up. “Oooh, yeah. Then we can see what it’s like to be a mink and you can see what it’s like to be a human.”
Penguin and Shachi were beside themselves at that idea. They pantomimed claws with their fingers and jabbered on about electro and having fur. Their voices got louder as they got more excited and when they started to advance on Bepo, he couldn’t help but shrink back. It had taken him a while to warm up to them, even with the specter of Law hanging over them all. He knew now that they wouldn’t hurt him again. That should have been enough but he felt nervous and small and suddenly all too far from home.
“Hey, back off.”
Bepo opened his eyes though he wasn’t even aware of having closed them. Law stormed over with the same dangerous look in his eyes that had kept Shachi and Penguin in line even when he was gone.
“It’s not like we’re trying to hurt him,” Penguin or Shachi or whoever said.
“Yeah. You know that, right Bep?”
Shachi took a step forward, Bepo took a step back, and Law moved to get between them. And then, just like that, Law was gone. The disappearance was so sudden Bepo thought for a moment that Law had used his powers to teleport himself somewhere. Then he saw the telltale skid tracks in the snow. He looked over the cliff’s edge but there was no sign of Law in the dark waters below. The water was choppy. Maybe he just wasn’t seeing. He got down on his hands and knees so that he could look under the lip of the cliff to see if Law was floundering there, against the rocks.
“Shit!”
Bepo looked over his shoulder and saw the other boys looking down at themselves. “What?”
“We’re back to normal,” Penguin said.
Shachi flicked his eyes to the cliff and then at the others. “You don’t think that means…”
Bepo didn’t stop to think what that meant. He knew Law still hadn’t resurfaced and that was reason enough for him to dive in after. He didn’t feel the bite of the frigid water through his thick fur. He plunged down, as fast and as deep as he could go. The sea floor on this side of the island was murky and littered with boulders. Bepo scanned for any sign of Law and then saw a bright splash of white in the otherwise gloomy depths. He swam fast for the spotted hat and hoped that Law was, as ever, beneath it.
Sure enough, though difficult to see in his black coat, there was Law. Bepo tried not to think about how utterly lifeless he looked. He scooped the older boy into one arm and used the other to paddle back upward. He half hoped Law would wake back up when they surfaced but there was no such luck.
“Bepo! This way,” Penguin called from downshore where the steep, unforgiving cliff gave way to a small beach.
Bepo tried to focus on swimming there but he couldn’t help but glance at Law as he went. His complexion was ashen and his every muscle seemed slack. Bepo needed to get him somewhere warm and dry.
“Here. Put him here,” Shachi said.
He and Penguin had spread their coats over the damp gravel shore. Before laying Law down on them, Bepo tore off the cold, sodden mass of Law’s own coat and tossed it aside.
Shachi crouched down next to Law and tilted his chin up. Without looking away, he said, “Pen, you go see if Roci-san is home. Law will need a fire and new clothes. Blankets.”
Penguin looked down at Law, his expression stricken. Shachi waved a hand at him. “Pen, now !”
“Right. Uh… right!”
Shachi bit his lip. “Okay. Okay. Okay. His airway seems clear, so next I—”
Bepo watched as Shachi attempted to breathe life back into Law. With every breath, Bepo held his own and hoped. Five attempts in with no response from Law, Shachi started chest compressions. Bepo wished he could do more to help. It felt awful just watching and waiting, especially when this never would have happened if he’d just stood up for himself.
A weak, sputtering cough drew him out of his gloomy thoughts. He nearly slipped on the wet gravel in his haste to get closer to Law as he continued to cough up water. Shachi held Law up while he coughed. It couldn’t have lasted much more than a moment but it seemed to take an age. Once all the water was up, Law slumped unconscious in Shachi’s arms.
Bepo held out his arms. He was the youngest of the four but already the biggest. “I can carry him.”
“You sure? We can carry him between us.”
“We don’t have time ,” Bepo said.
He put enough of a growl into his voice to make Shachi skitter back. As soon as the redhead was out of the way, Bepo wrapped the coats around Law as he scooped the boy back into his arms. It was a good thing that practically all of Law’s recent growth spurt had been upward. It was hard to hold his gangly form but at least he wasn’t heavy. Bepo was able to run without much difficulty.
They’d only made it up the slope and away from the shore before Roci-san appeared.
“Law!” He slipped in the snow but was back up in an instant. “I’ve got you.”
He didn’t wait for Bepo to hand him over. Instead the towering blond scooped them both up into his arms at once. By some miracle, he didn’t slip again as he rushed them back to the house. Penguin was waiting with the door. Despite the rush he was in, Roci-san was careful when he set Bepo down and more so when he gathered Law up into his arms. He peeled away the remainder of the wet clothes and then bundled Law into the nest of quilts and blankets in front of the roaring fire.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Shachi asked when he finally caught up.
Roci-san didn’t look up. His eyes were on Law and Law alone. “Shachi, get me a change of clothes. Penguin, heat up some tea. Bepo, go dry off and get into some fresh clothes yourself before your fur freezes.”
Shachi and Penguin were both huddled next to the door. They had to be cold themselves, having sacrificed their coats for Law, but they didn’t move any closer to the fire. They looked small. Nervous. Guilty. Bepo understood completely. None of the boys moved. They hadn’t failed to notice that Roci-san had avoided Shachi’s question.
“I’m sorry,” Bepo yelped. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, it was us,” Penguin said.
“Yeah, we were being stupid,” Shachi added.
With those particular gates opened, the apologies came pouring out. They shouldn’t have been playing so close to the cliff. They didn’t know he couldn’t swim but they should have acted faster when Law fell. Their voices became a jumbled din that finally forced Roci-san’s attention on them. His eyes flashed.
“Boys , now .”
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. They all knew that tone. That was Commander Rosinante and they all knew better than to try to argue with him. They each ran off in different directions. As a polar bear mink, there really wasn’t much danger of Bepo getting too cold but if it helped Roci-san worry a little less, he was willing to humor him. He took off his wet clothes, toweled his fur dry, and changed into something warm.
The others were already there by the time he got back to the living room. Shachi held an armful of what looked to be the warmest clothes Law owned and bounced nervously from foot to foot while he waited for Roci-san to ask for them. Penguin stood in the doorway to the kitchen and cast glances back at the kettle on the stove as though he could will the water to heat faster. They all waited in silence.
“He’ll be okay,” Roci-san said. He sighed and adjusted a quilt around Law’s shoulders. “Unfortunately, while Law told you all how to rescue someone who has drowned— and you clearly all did amazing remembering that— he forgot to mention something else important. We forgot. Devil Fruit users lose all of our powers in the water and we can’t swim.”
“Not at all?” Penguin asked.
Roci-san shook his head. “Even if we could before, it’s the price we pay for eating the fruit. Just sink like a rock.”
Shachi bit his lip. “But if we hadn’t—”
“Hush,” Roci-san said. “Accidents happen. I’m just glad you were all there and made sure it didn’t turn deadly.”
Say what he would, Bepo still felt guilty. He shuffled closer so that he could look at Law. Most of the color had come back to his skin but there was a slight tint of blue to his lips. Bepo crouched and reached a hesitant paw toward Law. He swept over Law’s forehead and into dark, damp hair.
“He’s still so cold."
Roci-san nodded. “With as cold as the waters are this time of year, it will take a bit for his body to get back up to temperature.”
As if on cue, the kettle whistled loudly. Penguin jumped nearly a foot straight into the air and then scrambled into the kitchen. While he made a racket readying tea, Law moved for the first time since he’d coughed up water on the beach. He shifted in Roci-san’s arms with a small grumble. He opened one eye a crack and looked upward.
“Cora-san?”
“I’m here.”
Law smiled and nestled further into the blankets with a soft sigh. Roci-san rapped him delicately on top of his head with his knuckles. “Hey there, don’t go back to sleep just yet. We need to work on warming you up more.”
Although it looked to be a struggle, Law forced his eyes open. “I know that.”
Roci-san let out a light laugh. “Of course, doctor .”
A timid smile flickered onto Bepo’s face. Roci-san always knew just what to do. It was easier to think Law would be alright when he was wearing a familiar scowl.
Penguin came back into the room with a steaming mug of tea in hand. With the sheer number of blankets piled on top of him, it took a minute for Law to extricate his arms. He held the mug close and let the steam billow around his face before he took a sip. A healthy, rosie hue returned to his fingertips, nose, and lips as he slowly continued to nurse the drink.
Shachi edged forward. “I’ve got some new clothes, too, whenever you want them.”
Law nodded and they swapped the empty mug for the pile of clothes. He disappeared under the blankets. After a bit of rustling around, he reemerged with a hood pulled over his head in place of his usual hat. He fiddled with the hem of it and pulled it low enough that his eyes were hidden when he turned to look back at Roci-san.
“Sorry if I worried you. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have been so careless.”
“It’s not his fault,” Penguin said immediately.
Shachi nodded vigorously. “Yeah, we—”
Roci-san raised a hand that cut off another wave of apologies before they could really start again. “We’ve been over this. I’m just glad you’re all safe.” He chuckled softly. “At least it was an accident, unlike the first time I fell into the water after I’d eaten my fruit.”
“Let me guess,” Law said, voice desert dry, “you tripped over your own feet.”
“Oh, much worse. I jumped in.”
Bepo’s eyes widened. “What? Didn’t you know what would happen?”
“I… forgot?” Roci-san admitted.
“Idiot,” Law grumbled.
“I was, oh, nineteen I think? Not all that much older than you boys. I knew how to swim. Every marine knows. I hadn’t had my powers long and it was a hot day. So I got into my bathing suit, walked to the pool on base, and… jumped right in.”
Law groaned and the other boys all gaped.
Roci-san shrugged. “I don’t think it was well known that I had eaten a Devil Fruit. I was in my suit, I’d jumped in. Everyone figured I was staying under on purpose. I got quite an earful from Sengoku-san about that later.”
Bepo blinked. He couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. When Penguin and Shachi started laughing, he couldn’t help but join in. Roci-san started laughing as well. It was a good sound. It warmed Bepo up more than the change of clothes or the roaring fire could. It brought real life back into the room.
Law was the only one not laughing. He rolled his eyes, crossed his arms, and sank into the blankets so that he almost disappeared in them. “With everything you do, I can’t believe you’re still alive, you clown.”
Roci-san laughed and rested his chin on top of Law’s head. “Love you too, kid.”
Law groaned again and Bepo smiled until he forgot just how worried he’d been.