Chapter Text
Holy seas did Shanks hate Davyback fights. In his opinion, it went against everything that being a pirate stood for. A crew should be a crew because they wanted to be there, not because they were traded and fought over. It was, however, a very clever way to try and get any captured crew members back.
At least he was pleasantly buzzed as he watched the two former warlords return to the room, having paid the tribute to Davy Jones and apparently discussed how the fight would go. They started laying out the plan, they would play three rounds of poker, betting something different each time. Well, that was the plan. Until Luffy spoke up.
“No.” Luffy said, stepping forward and taking a bite of the almost comically large chicken leg in his hand, “We’re playing my game.”
“You expect me to trust you won’t nudge things in your boy’s favor” Teach asked with a wry laugh.
“Jimbo wouldn’t let me do that.” Luffy replied simply and then he was turning Gear 5, right there. His wave of haki hitting them all by surprise and Shanks smirked to himself at the ever so slight tremble in Teach’s hand.
“Uh, who the hell is Jimbo?” Shanks asked as Luffy started… was he levitating? Was he bouncing? It was weird to look at, whatever it was.
“He’s the guy that lives in the cards!” Luffy said with a maniacal laugh, bounding over to the table and taking his previous place, shuffling the cards wildly.
Luffy explained how things worked, as much as Luffy explained anything. Shanks tuned out the conversation as he looked over at Mihawk who was watching everyone very intently. Somehow, Shanks was sure he was behind at least some of this. He just wasn’t sure why.
“At least you have experience with whatever the hell this is.” Law said to Teach, drawing Shanks’ attention back and taking his place at the table as if Luffy claiming that someone living in a deck of cards was a normal everyday occurrence. Shanks definitely thought it was weird, but it wasn’t the strangest thing he’d seen, unfortunately. The deck must have eaten a devil fruit. That was the sense Shanks got from it anyway. Weird things always happened when inanimate objects gained sentience.
“I guess it doesn’t matter.” Teach said, his arrogance showing once again. “Davy Jones himself will take you if you cheat.”
“My jolly roger for my crew. That’s what we’re betting in the small blind.” Law repeated the stakes, as he eyed Luffy suspiciously. He really had been planning on playing regular poker and Shanks could tell he was stressed about it. Apparently, whatever scheme Sabo and Law had cooked up hadn’t counted on this particular curve ball.
“And Jimbo agrees!” Luffy said, beginning to deal the cards, “Whoever has the most money in the end of the round wins!”
–
Shanks was frankly surprised that no one had died from the sheer suspense of the game yet. The small blind ended with Law up and Teach down, which meant Law would get his crew back. That was good. But then, in a move that both surprised Shanks (and pissed him off a little) Law bet both his Jolly Roger AND his recently won back crew vs Teach’s Jolly Roger in the big blind.
And he lost.
The kid looked absolutely desperate, no doubt having been confident in winning. The skin of his back that held his Jolly Roger lay in a blued tinged box on the poker table, Sabo’s jacket draped over Law’s shoulders to hide the gory state of his back.
Teach was cackling and reaching for his macabre prize when Sabo interrupted.
“Wait. There’s one more round right?” Sabo also looked scared, but he was hiding it well, staying poised. “There’s still a chance.”
“Still a chance, huh?” Blackbeard cackled and Shanks definitely did not like it when that man was happy. “But you’ve got nothing left worth betting, do you?”
Law took a deep breath, and aw hell, Shanks knew he was not going to like this.
“I have my devil fruit.” He said, and Teach’s brows arched in interest.
“You got the powers it comes with too.” Teach responded leaning forward and Law’s breath caught.
“You’re after the “Eternal Youth” surgery.” He said under his breath, like he just realized something he should have thought of that sooner.
“No.” Luffy said, power in his voice but smile still present on his face. It might have been the most menacing thing Shanks had seen. “No dying.”
“Hey, that’s up to the pretty boy over there.” Teach said, trying (and failing) to be just as menacing.
“He’s right, Luffy.” Sabo said, causing Luffy’s gaze to land on him. “The bet is up to the challengers.”
“No. I won’t let them play.” Luffy said, crossing his arms. It could have been comical or childish, but there was a tinge of haki to his words that made everyone, even Shanks, shiver.
“Then we’ll just play normal poker.” Law finally interrupted, standing up straight like he’d just made up his mind. “You can’t stop it.”
“Oooh this is getting good.” Shanks startled at the voice to his left and looked to see Buggy had returned, his hair tied back and he was very noticeably no longer wearing the giant red jumpsuit, his signature striped shirt and baggy pants held up by suspenders giving him a more relaxed look. He was snacking on popcorn again and he tilted the bag to Shanks who took a handful.
“Glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Shanks said wryly before popping a kernel in his mouth. Huh. It was kettle corn. He shouldn’t have been surprised, it had always been Buggy’s favorite.
“Unfortunately, I’m not the only one,” Buggy said, gesturing to Teach and Burgess who were once again cackling at each other like they were trying to prove who had the loudest, most annoying laugh.
“It doesn’t matter.” Law’s voice cut through, “It’s my decision. But I’ll only offer up the surgery, if you offer up something of equal value.”
Shanks took another bite of popcorn.
“My crew and my jolly roger is worth betting my devil fruit.” Law continued, “But considering that if I do the surgery you’ll get the fruit as well… I don’t think it’s an even bet.”
“Yeah? Well maybe I do.” Teach said, crossing his arms.
“Why don’t we ask the other emperors?” Sabo said, sounding like he was trying to grasp back control, “Isn’t that what you agreed on? If there was a dispute, let everyone with the emperor title vote on it?”
Teach looked reluctant but nodded, “Yeah. We agreed. You think I trust that you’ll be fair about it?”
“Actually,” Buggy spoke up from next to Shanks, “I don’t really care which of you wins. And I’m on your side. I think the fruit’s enough.”
Shanks looked at Buggy with wide, disbelieving eyes.
“What?” Buggy asked, mouth once again full of popcorn.
“That’s two votes for me.” Teach said, “And I’m assuming Straw Hat and the revolutionary...”
“Flame Emperor.” Sabo corrected with a tilt of his head.
“Right. Flame Emperor. You two are on Trafalgar’s side.”
“Yep.” Luffy and Sabo said at the same time.
“So am I.” Shanks spoke up and ignored it as Blackbeard rolled his eyes, “C’mon Teach. You know he’s right. You’re literally asking the kid to give up everything, even his life. You can offer something more than just his crew and Jolly Roger.”
“I mean, he might have a point.” Burgess spoke up.
“Yeah, plus.” Sabo interjected, “He’s the oldest emperor here. We should trust his experience.”
“Excuse me?” Shanks said, not exactly sure if he was being insulted or not.
Teach looked lost in thought for a moment, and Shanks wasn’t sure if he’d give in, or ask for some other prize from Law. After a few moments, though, he nodded.
“Fine. If it’ll get us to move on, I’ll bet my title as Emperor.”
No one could miss the way Trafalgar flinched at that.
“I don’t want your title.” He said, obviously seeing it for the trap it was. Even if he won, it wouldn’t come with Blackbeard’s territory, his fleet, or his influence. With the increased bounty and having to build up from nothing, the title would just put a target on his back.
“Maybe not, but it’s worth the bet, ain’t it?” Teach looked around the room to each of the other emperors
“I’d say so.” Buggy said with a much to enthusiastic nod.
“I don’t like it.” Sabo said, leaning in to whisper something to Law who shook his head, making Sabo sigh. “Fine. I’m also a yes.”
“I’m with Sabo.” Luffy agreed
“Looks like my vote doesn’t matter.” Shanks said then looked pointedly at Law, “You know what you’re getting into?”
Shanks ignored Beck’s snort from behind him. Look, someone had to be the responsible adult in the room. Buggy and his cadre sure as hell weren’t gonna do it.
“Fuck off, old man.” Law said and literally flipped him off. Shanks smiled. He was starting to like this kid. Buggy nearly choked on his popcorn from laughing so hard.
“So you’re in agreement?” Mihawk interjected, his tone sounding bored and a little annoyed. “I did not expect this to take so long.”
Shanks looked at him and once again hated that he could never really read the others intentions without Haki. Unfortunately, Mihawk was standing next to Crocodile who had stripped down to just his dress shirt, sleeves rolled up, and had a very suspicious looking mark on his neck. Shanks looked away quickly. How the hell did Blue get in that situation? He really didn’t want to think about it.
“Yeah.” Law said, settling down and drumming his fingers nervously on the table. “We’re in agreement.”
“Deal the cards, Strawhat.” Teach demanded, leaning forward and watching Luffy intently.
Right. It was time for what Luffy called “The Boss Blind”.
Shanks watched as as Luffy dealt the cards, a look of relief came across Law’s face that quickly turned to shock as Luffy reluctantly drew the inevitable rune on the table.
“Heart cards are icky.” Luffy said, almost sadly.
“Shit.” Shanks cursed as Law tensed again.
“What?” Buggy shouted, “What the flashy hell does that mean?”
“Law’s jokers are all buffs for heart cards.” Shanks explained, “That’s been his play style, using tarot and spectral cards to spam hearts.”
“Oh he’s fucked.”
“Yeah”
Surprisingly though, Law leaned back in his chair and visibly relaxed. He let out a long breath and tapped the one Joker he hadn’t revealed yet, one he’d drawn all the way back during the small blind. It shook on the table and flipped over, revealing a joker wearing a blue mask and holding what looked like a golden belt.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Shanks whistled as the card disappeared and the rune stopped glowing.
“What the hell did you do?” Teach yelled, looking between Law and Luffy who had that manic grin on his face again.
“The luchador.” Law said, the cockiness back in his voice. It was such a sudden change in demeanor that Blackbeard even looked taken aback.
“By discarding it, I disabled the boss.” Law said, drumming his fingers on the table. “In other words, Hearts are no longer debuffed.”
Blackbeard’s gaze hardened and he leaned back, looking down at his own cards with a slow spreading grin. Looked like he recovered pretty quickly.
“Doesn’t matter.” Teach said, “All depends on the luck of the cards anyway.”
Shanks watched closely as the two went through their discards, Luffy bouncing a little higher with each card he dealt.
With each new card, both players maintained their cool, confident demeanor. It made everyone watching even more tense. Shanks didn’t know when he’d last seen Buggy be so quiet.
Finally, it was time to play their final hands.
“All this for nothing, huh Trafalgar?” Teach said, his smile really starting to make Shanks’s skin crawl. “Well, the game is up. Royal Flush”
Everyone watching took a step forward as Teach laid his cards down on the table. Crocodile, Shanks and Nami cursed immediately while Burgess laughed in triumph. Everyone else looked puzzled for a moment at the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack of diamonds.
“He has a joker card that makes it so he only needs four cards for a flush or a straight.” Nami explained, downtrodden.
“And he’s played a Neptune card, so the base points are worth more.” Crocodile added
As with all previous hands, a number floated above the cards, adding up the total points. It was larger than any previously scored hand, easily breaking a million. Shanks watched as Law’s face fell when the final number flashed, making Blackbeard cackle.
“I’ll give it to ya,” Blackbeard said, standing up and holding his hands up gesturing around the room, “You’ve kept us all entertained. But it’s like I said before. You’re not up to our level, brat. Now, I’ll be taking that fruit of yours, along with everything else you foolishly bet on this little game.”
“Actually.” Law’s crestfallen face shifted, the grin spreading back across his face as malice filled his gaze, “I haven’t played my hand yet.”
Slowly, methodically, Law shifted the cards around in his hand, then held out the Justice tarot card. It disappeared and one of the cards in his hand shook. Then, he held up his second Tarot card, The Emperor, Causing two more tarot cards to appear in his hand. He smirked, and held up the third Tarot card he’d managed to get through some complicated play that even Shanks couldnt follow. It was Death. Two cards shook in his hand this time. He played the Fool next, making another Death Card which he used immediately. The last tarot card was the Sun, and three cards in his hand shook.
“I guess I’m not surprised you haven’t realized that consumables are how you get enough enhanced cards to make a difference.” Law said, lazily, “Your plans are always about brute force, relying on established rules to get what you want.”
Law laid down a glass King of Hearts.
“Sometimes you need to use the rules to your advantage.”
He laid down a second glass King of Hearts, ignoring Blackbeard’s sputtering response.
“And sometimes you need to play by your own rules and trust in something deeper. Sometimes something as simple as the will of someone else, the true heart of the cards, can bend your luck.”
The third card was another glass King of Hearts.
“Luffy taught me that.”
The fourth and fifth cards weren’t glass, but they were two more King of Hearts cards
“Losing to you made that lesson stick.”
Shanks whistled and gestured to the table with his mug before elbowing Buggy in the shoulder excitedly, “See what he did there?”
“Yeah I see. Glass cards multiply the total points.” Buggy said with a roll of his eyes, finally dropping the clueless act. He definitely didn’t grasp the game as much as some of the others, but he was a clown, Shanks knew he definitely understood much more than he let on.
“That isn’t a legal hand!” Burgess shouted gesturing wildly
“It is, though!” Luffy said happily, “Jimbo says it’s a flush five!”
“There’s no way you knew that!” Blackbeard barked, pointing accusingly at Law.
“I didn’t. I just figured it would do something if I played five of the exact same card.”
This time, it was Teach’s face that fell, and damn did Shanks wish he had a photo snail on him because he’d waited years to see that smarmy look wiped off that ugly face. The combination of glass cards and stack of jokers made the point score rack up to over 5 mil, Luffy and Sabo laughing on either side of Law as the final score flashed.
“I suppose this means that Teach is no longer an emperor.” Mihawk said, somehow having moved from where he’d been looming behind Teach to standing next to Shanks.
“Yeah.” Sabo said as Law stood, pushing his chair back, “You know what that means, Luf?”
“We don’t have to follow the no attacking rule?” Luffy responded, bouncing off the floor.
“Exactly.” Law said and held his hand up.
“ROOM…”
“GUM-GUM…”
“BURNING DRAGON CLAW FIST…”
“You see!” Shanks said as he took a sip of his beer, “This is the kind of chaos I expected.”
–
“Did you plan all this?” Shanks said, waving two poker chips around in a wild gesture before throwing them into the middle, over shooting the pile a bit, his aim thrown off by the alcohol. After the fight wrapped up and Teach and Burgess were no longer a problem, the remaining players decided to just play a good old fashioned game of Blackjack.
“Some of it.” Law said from his position in Teach’s old spot, rolling a poker chip between his nimble fingers. Sabo snorted from his position next to Law.
“Mostly we counted on Luffy doing something crazy.” Sabo said with snort, draping his arm casually around Law’s shoulders, both of them having taken Burgess and Teach’s former spots.
“And you were in on it?” Shanks asked Mihawk who was placing his own bet.
“Hardly.” Mihawk responded, “I knew they were up to something and decided to play along. The most I did was hold on to the Flame Emperor’s official invitation.”
“Which meant I hadn’t RSVP’d and didn’t have to adhere to the rules.” Sabo continued, throwing his own chips onto the table. “So attacking Teach’s territories and replacing his flag with Trafalgar’s here was a completely legit invasion.”
Law just rolled his eyes as the bet passed to him and he folded before leaning back and crossing his arms across his chest.
“How did you know he’d bet his position?” Zoro asked, making Buggy snort.
“Please. That bit was obvious.” Buggy said and blanked when everyone turned to look at him, “What? Trafalgar flinched everytime someone said the word “emperor” and the Rev there made a big deal about the position.”
Everyone looked from Buggy to Sabo for confirmation.
“Just a little social engineering.” Sabo said with a shrug, “Right, sweetheart?”
“Still not a date! And it’s not like becoming an emperor was my idea.” Law said with a shake of his head.
“It’s better that you are though!” Luffy said, back to looking like his regular self now that he no longer needed Gear 5 to play his crazy game, “I hated that guy.”
“Who didn’t?” Beckman grunted,
“Indeed.” Mihawk said in agreement, disdain evident in his voice.
“Didn’t realize you hated him that much.” Shanks questioned, “What did he do to piss
you off?”
Surprisingly, it was Buggy that burst out laughing, clapping Mihawk on the shoulder.
“Oh you’re never gonna believe this!” Buggy shouted, shaking Mihawk, much to the other’s disapproval, “Hawky had to host a Warlord meeting at his big spooky castle once. It was a hell of a thing, too. Super fancy wine and… What did you call those little cracker things?”
“Canapes.” Mihawk said with a deep sigh.
“Yeah. Those.” Buggy nodded, his grin turning into a smirk, “And Teach here refused to use a coaster.”
“Oh yeah.” Shanks said with a serious nod, “That’ll do it.”