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They were losing. They had been losing from the moment they had fallen into Blackbeard's trap. They just didn't know it yet.
For a while, it had seemed like they could do it. Law had been so confident, it inspired all of them. They had just been involved in taking down two Emperors. They were reaching for the top and they were not about to stop here.
And they held their own. The team of Shachi and Penguin in the water and Hakugan at the Polar Tang's wheel had done what they did best - wreak havoc on the enemy ship. Meanwhile, the rest of them on land had Law's back so he could concentrate on Blackbeard. They had done so well.
Until they didn't.
They had seen the darkness envelop the island and knew shit was going sideways. Leaving the Polar Tang to deal with the naval combat, Shachi and Penguin returned to the shore to help their captain.
That was their first mistake.
An eerie silence had fallen over the island as they pulled themselves out of the water. A cloud of darkness hung before them, Blackbeard's devil fruit power. Even from afar, they could feel its pull. Like it was sucking all light and life into it.
And somewhere inside was their captain, fighting for all their lives. They couldn't see him. They couldn't help him.
"Shachi!" Penguin grabbed Shachi's arm and pointed to their right. A few meters away lay a bloodied Bepo and next to him, Ikkaku and Bart.
They rushed over just as Ikkaku crawled to her feet. Shachi went to check on her while Penguin went to Bepo's side.
"Iku! What happened?"
"Captain got us out. Last thing I saw he was clashing with Blackbeard ... we need to get back there!"
Shachi helped her to her feet and both of them got ready to charge into the darkness, but a voice held them back.
"Wait! You can't do anything!"
They turned to see Bepo, whose white fur was stained with blood all over his body. Next to him was Penguin, who was trying to keep him from standing up. "Bepo, you really shouldn't move!"
Bepo shoved him away. "We‘re going to be useless inside of there. Captain‘s just gonna have more worries. We need to help him - but we need to make sure that we can get away, first." He turned to the water, just as a giant explosion shattered the sea in front of them. Ikkaku pulled Shachi out of the way just in time that he wasn't crushed by a large piece of debris crashing down at the shore.
He heard Penguin scream and for a second he thought that his friend had been hit, but when he looked up, he saw what had almost crushed him and he felt himself go numb.
He just stared at it for a few moments. A sheet of yellow metal, bent from the blast that had sent it flying. Shachi looked towards the sea where large air bubbles were slowly drifting to the surface.
"NO!" he heard Penguin cry out again, though it felt like they were still under water and his friend's voice was coming from far away. Shachi put a hand to the metal, which was cold and wet to the touch. A piece of their ship, their home for the past ten years, the heart of the Heart Pirates.
Made from the hardest metal known to mankind, constructed to withstand even the heaviest of pressure, she was supposed to be indestructible.
The Polar Tang. Destroyed in the blink of an eye.
"How are we going to get out of here now?"
Bart‘s question pulled him back to the present. There was no time to mourn the loss of their ship now. First, they had to survive.
"We swim," Shachi said, even though he knew how insane that sounded. Maybe it was, for any other crew. But the Heart Pirates were made for combat in water. All but their captain were champion swimmers. If anyone could escape those maniacs by swimming, it was them.
Escape. By now, none of them were thinking about winning. They had already lost. It was all about survival now.
Shachi reached out a hand to help up Penguin, who had similarly pulled himself together and was wiping his eyes. Shachi was pretty sure that he two of them had the same idea, but he gladly let Penguin do the talking. He was better at that.
"Bepo," Penguin said. "Once that darkness lifts, you need to get the captain out of there. You need to get him to safety. He's not going to want to leave, but you have to take him away from here no matter what. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," Bepo said, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Good. Iku, Bart, you go find the rest of the crew. There's got to be some left on the island. You get them to the rear of the island and from there out to the open sea while Blackbeard is distracted.“
"What about Hakugan and the others on board?" Iku asked.
Penguin seemingly remained calm, but his grip on Shachi's hand tightened a little. "They're strong. The ones who survived the blast will be able to get away. The Blackbeard Pirates won't prioritize the wreckage - they'll have enough time to flee."
"And you two? What are you doing?"
Penguin and Shachi exchanged a look. They hadn't said a word to each other, but that wasn't necessary. They knew what they had to do.
"We're going to buy everyone time to get out."
Bepo hadn't said a word, either, and he didn't now. The three of them had made an unspoken pact years ago that their captain would always be their first priority. They were going to see it through to the end.
Ikkaku was furious though. "That sounds like suicide! Captain would never allow you to do that!"
"Good thing we can make our own decisions," Penguin said calmly.
Shachi let go of his hand and grabbed Ikkaku's shoulders instead. "The two of us are the best swimmers of the North Blue. You seriously doubt that we can make it out?"
She looked back at him anxiously, then she gave him a grin that was sorely lacking in confidence, but at least she was trying. "You better. Captain will never forgive you guys if you get yourself killed."
He pulled her into a quick hug. "We'll find each other again. Don't worry."
"I'm not. See you on the other side, boys."
Bart gave them all a stern nod and the three of them watched him and Ikkaku run off, then turned to each other.
Bepo was holding back tears. "Shachi? Penguin? She's right. You better survive this."
Penguin put a hand on Bepo's one shoulder, Shachi on the other. "We'll try," Penguin said.
"Don't let us down, Bepo," Shachi added, tauntingly.
"I won't. I have a pretty big trick left, after all. I will save the captain."
"And we'll free you a path. Whatever happens, Bepo - you have to keep going. His survival is more important than anything else."
"I know." He pulled them both into one of his patented bear hugs. He was fully crying now.
Right as Bepo set them down, the darkness lifted from the island. This was their cue.
Shachi and Penguin didn't waste another second. They didn't look over to see their captain on the ground in front of Blackbeard, bloodied and beaten. They didn't look as Bepo gave a mighty roar, the kind they had only ever heard during full moon nights. They didn't wait to see if he could do it, if he could truly save Law.
They knew he could. But only if they did their part.
The only thing they did before diving back into the water was share one single, short glance, one that included everything that had ever happened between them, everything they had ever said to each other, as well as every unspoken thing. Their whole history, the extend of their love for each other, packed into one fraction of a second, because that was all they needed.
The sea enveloped them like an old friend. They could hear Sulong-Bepo's roar even from under water as they shot towards Blackbeard's ship.
Once Bepo got Law into the water, they couldn't let anyone follow him. Most of Blackbeard's crewmen were devil fruit users, so as long as they managed to disable their ship, no one would get to their captain.
This was it. Their final fight. They would probably die here.
The first time they'd almost died, they had been but snotty kids. Law had saved them, even though they didn't deserve it. They had pledged him their loyalty in return.
They'd both known even then that from here on out, only saving their captain, their idol, their best friend mattered. At any cost. If they lost their lives here, so be it. Because this wasn’t the end of the Heart Pirates.