Welcome to my short story series on all things Heart Pirates (and friends). The stories here will range from drabbles to short oneshots, K to T rated, and a variety of genres from the humorous fluff to the angst. Any relevant warnings will be displayed at the start. There will be headcanons and theories abound, and occasionally something slightly canon divergent. All are set in the canon universe, however!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Sleep

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

To say that Trafalgar Law was an insomniac was not strictly correct. His sleeping patterns were erratic, that was true, but the bags under his eyes that led many people to the conclusion were in fact nothing to do with his poor habits (if pressed, it might be admitted that there was some contribution if he was particularly careless) and almost everything to do with his past. Bepo, Shachi and Penguin could not recall a single instance when he did not look like he'd had no sleep, and as they'd been with the captain for thirteen years, far longer than the rest of the crew, their word was accepted as truth.

He was, however, both a light sleeper and prone to falling asleep in the more ridiculous places – slumped over the controls of the submarine, half hanging off a bench in the mess hall or even tucked up in some corner otherwise full of nothing but pipes, and the crew quickly learnt that their captain became grouchy if he woke with a stiff neck. Thus began the challenge of moving their captain from his ridiculous sleeping positions without stirring him, a task made almost impossible by his subconscious observational Haki. While he was no master in the art, at least not compared to other well-known pirates, it was more than enough to wake him if his personal space was invaded. Even though this was no disaster, as Law's only reaction would be to blink blearily at the member of the crew responsible in curiosity, then fall back asleep once realising there was no crisis at hand, the crew were determined to not wake him at all.

It was the inclusion of Shachi and Penguin that solved the problem. For reasons no-one could quite fathom, although theories ran rampant, they were the only two that could approach their sleeping captain without him waking. Bepo was almost as good, but his claws had a habit of snagging on his captain's clothes or skin, which in turn would disturb the sleeping captain. In the beginning, even the two senior members of the crew were unable to prevent Law stirring, although his eyes never opened, but as time wore on he reacted less and less, until the illusion was formed that he was a deep a sleeper as the likes of Bepo himself.

Some of the more playful members of the crew joked about theories, but it gradually became accepted that, having known Penguin and Shachi for so long, Law's haki could subconsciously recognise them without disturbing his conscious mind at all. It sounded reasonable enough, they supposed, and from then on, the discovery of a sleeping captain anywhere other than a bed resulted in one of the two being quietly summoned to move him.

If Law had any thoughts about waking up in bed when he certainly hadn't fallen asleep there, he never shared them, although his trademark smirk was often just a little softer when he re-joined his crew.

I don't know how many of these I'll be doing. I have a handful written already, after which I'll mark it as complete, but this may still be added to at any time. If anyone has any prompts they want to suggest, feel free. I can't guarantee I'll do them, but any excuse to write about the Heart Pirates is a good one.

Thanks for reading!

Tsari