One-Shots: One Piece | One Piece x Reader

Penguin x reader | Faint Hearted

Warning: medical things like gore depiction and blood.

The Heart Pirates weren't a crew fit for those who didn't have knowledge of medicine.

Being centered around medics and each member being able to precisely conclude surgeries with perfection, it wasn't for people who were unskilled or faint hearted. Faint hearted; just like you.

From the day that you joined the crew, each member including and especially your captain Trafalgar Law, had valued your exceptional skills in pharmaceutical sciences. Able to make even the daintiest of ointments, the most potent of medicines and mixes, it was practically impossible for you not to be able to make anything your captain asked of you. You were an elite in your area, a quality wanted by many people all over the world - including the government who once had even approached you personally in a request to join their science department. Of course, you had declined and gone on to join the Heart Pirates.

However, despite your expertise in the making of medication, there was one thing which stood in your way like an unmoving whale before a convoy. That thing was something that didn't go hand in hand with being in any kind of healthcare field:

The fear of blood and gore.

It wasn't an unusual thing to be scared of; it certainly was not a pleasant pair of things to be seen, so it is rather understandable. But to Trafalgar Law, it was just an annoyance half the time because in order to know what to make, you need to see what symptoms and what damage has been dealt. Along with that, he still expected you to help out in the operating room when there was surgery being conducted. As your captain and nakama, he was actually understanding and quite lenient when it came to asking you for medicine and help. Often, he would go out of his way kindly to let you know what were the issues with whatever you were working on or gave you breaks to calm down over your little worries. Be it a crewmate's health to a regular surgery that could happen to anyone who was willing to pay up to your crew. But as your superior and doctor, it was pretty bothersome.

"(Y/n)-ya, will you be careful!"

That's what he would always say as you looked down to the latex gloves on your fingers - sprayed with blood and shining with a ruby glow in the bright operating light. You would always feel your breath hitch like a piece of clothing getting caught on barbed wire on a country walk: then become slightly ragged even when you tried to focus. Sickness would rise in your stomach, your throat would feel blocked all because of the crimson liquid.

Blood was bad, but the organs made it worse.

Even if it was a good thing to be helping piece someone back together and live to the fullest, you couldn't help but feel a faintness wash over you like someone poured a bucket of ice over your heat. Each beat of a heart or each contraction of a lung would send you reeling in fear; when those things were only there to help someone live. Each pump of an artery or each gurgle of a stomach would make you want nothing more that to tear your own eyes from your head. It was all just one big issue in your life and there was no running from it.

But there was him.

You loved your crew, you really did. Although they could annoy you to no end and make you wish you could sink into a void, they truly only wanted the best for you and vice versa. And even if you tried to convince yourself that you loved them all equally, there was one man who was just so determined to wiggle his way into your heart without even meaning to.

Penguin. Probably one of the most awkward yet genuine people you had ever met in your life. Although both him and Shachi were rather doting and elaborate when it came to you, it was pretty endearing. He was always trying to make your day the best it could be, out of the goodness of his heart. Be it something simple like bring you a coffee, knocking on your door in the morning with a quick hello or helping you with the making of a medicine - Penguin always effortlessly caused a smile to stretch on your features.