Ficin nimi: Play Me Like a Round of Poker
Fandom: One Piece //Beyond lisäsi fandomin otsikon eteen
Genre: General, romance?, huumori, one shot
Ikäraja: K-11
Paritus: Trafalgar Law / Roronoa Zoro, vihjailuja muista
Summary: What sort of code do visiting pirate captains use when they inquire about potential bedmates? Short one shot of Law asking what sort of poker games the Strawhats like to play and receiving some very pleasant answers. Set between Punk Hazard and Dressrosa.
Varoitukset: vihjailuja ja keskustelua seksistä kiertoilmauksin
A/N: Kääk ääk siitä on kauan, kun olen kirjoittanut tai julkaissut yhtään mitään ficciin viittaavaa. Ojentakaa minua lempeästi, jos menin ihan mäkeen jonkin kanssa, ja etenkin ikärajan suhteen saa laittaa palautetta sikäli mikäli arvioin väärin. Niin, ja saa tulla kielipoliisiksi paikalle jos englanti ei näytä oikealta. :'D
***
Usually, this would be something Law would inquire from the captain of the crew. That was part of the code and there was such a number of unwritten rules about this kind of thing that he wasn’t too keen on making any mistakes. Some captains were territorial, some didn’t care, some liked to offer their underlings like some sort of presents or prices. But as a rule, the Strawhat crew was an exception to everything. Law was honestly doubting if Luffy even knew the subtle yet blunt way of mating code yet knew how to code and decode the necessary information.
On the other hand he was pretty sure he could have waited this off until after arriving to the next port or town, but this time next island was bound to make some drastic change to the life he had lived so far. Dressrosa could be where he met his fate. He could die there, would gladly do it if it meant putting an end to Doflamingos plans. So if he could distract himself for a while before it and get some pleasure from it as well… Who could blame him?
Also, some of the pirates on this ship were just ridiculously attractive. Really, had the Starwhat recruited them for their looks first and taken their talents to account only after? Most likely this wasn’t the case but even the captain himself certainly wasn’t hard to the eye. The only ones that didn’t come off to Law as some models or something were the cyborg, the musician and the reindeer. And even then, the cyborg certainly looked flashy enough to pick anyone’s interest, Mr. Brook was a famous rock star and doctor Tony was heart meltingly cute.
Whatever. Anyway at this point he had decided to try this out and see if anyone on the ship would be up to some little fooling around with a gloomy pirate captain with too many tattoos and a mysterious, dark past. He had also come to the decision about who he should approach with his initial inquiry. Mr. Roronoa held no official position as the first mate of Strawhat crew, but Law had seen enough pirate crews to understand their dynamics. It wasn’t about any one thing or even any special things, but so many little and seemingly meaningless detail had been all he needed to know about the position Mr. Roronoa held. Even more importantly, he seemed to be the kind of man who was inclined to understand subtle nuances when it mattered.
This all lead him to lean on the rail next to a quiet yet steady presence of the green haired man. Law kept his pose relaxed and casual, as if he was just gazing at the endless ocean in front of him. The presence next to him felt alert but not hostile. Law was sure the swordsman could sense some sort of conversation was just about to happen even if he hadn’t acknowledged Laws presence at all. Well, here we go, he thought to himself.
”So, does your crew ever play cards?” he opened casually. The first lines were always the most important ones. It would test out the other one: if they even knew about the code, were they using it at all, if they actually wanted to even have this conversation at all. Every time he had asked the question there was this certain little undercurrent of tension in the air. If he really thought about it at all this time the tension was stronger than ever.
“Every now and then after dark. Any particular reason you want to know?” came the answer, making Law smile involuntarily. Law was still facing the ocean in front of him but he could feel the other man looking at him calculatingly. Mr. Roronoa was indeed aware of this customary procedure of inquiring about potential bedmates.
“Nah, not really anything special. I just get this craving sometimes, you know. I don’t even play for money or anything, mostly just to pass some time”, he answered. It translated roughly as ‘I’d very much like to have some casual sex with no particular individual because I feel like it, but don’t worry about it if you or your crew are not interested’. He turned around to see what sort of an answer he would get.
“Well, you might just be welcome to try your hand at our poker nights if you want to try our rules”, drawled the swordsman with a smirk on his lips. And wasn’t that just the jackpot of this round?
“Sure. So how do you like it? I’m guessing you might not play with the entire deck?” he asked next. Now that they had established that indeed there was a possibility for some fooling around with no strings attached it was customary to ask about any ground rules. First and foremost he was interested in knowing who were ‘available for a round of poker’.
“No, not really. The king of spades is never in, the queen of diamonds only mixes with other queens and we never mix dice with cards. Also, the jack of clubs is usually taken out of the game entirely”, Mr. Roronoa listed. It took him a moment to decode that one, but in the end it was pretty clear. King of spades was obviously the captain, queen of diamonds must have been the navigator – orange hair made her a red card in this crew –, dice must have been a rather unconventional yet creative reference to the doctor and lastly jack of clubs was likely to mean the skeleton musician.
“I see. Do you ever get any jokers involved?” he asked, the words heavy with meaning. Actually he hated this part of the code with passion. Referring to himself as a joker was inevitable in most cases, as it indicated his place as someone who wasn’t part of the crew in question. Still, the only thing he really thought about when anyone mentioned word ‘joker’ was Doflamingo, and… It just didn’t feel right for so many reasons.
“We just might. But if a joker were to be the king of hearts… I think the queen of the spades is out and the black jack goes with queens only”, the other man told him. So Ms. Nico was out as well for whatever reason and the cook was straight.
“And the rest..?” he asked letting the question sort of hang in there. At this point he couldn’t not notice the way the unofficial first mate, notorious pirate hunter and one of the strongest men he had ever met had not yet said a word about himself.
“There just might be three cards to make a winning combination with it. Separate combinations, though. You need to play to find out if you can win the game with those” was the response he got. Mr. Roronoa was staring at him with intense look in his single eye and Law made sure not to look astray for one moment. For his part the decision was already made.
“I just might. Would you do me the honors of trying your hand at poker with me, Mr. Roronoa?” he asked.
“Hmm… Sure. Meet me later tonight. I’ll bring the cards, you bring that nice face of yours”, the man grinned with sharp humor. Law let himself grin back just as sharply and nodded his agreement. He was so totally looking forward to this night.
***
