Arrival

Characters: Penguin, Bepo, Heart Pirates. Rating: K. Warnings: None

"We should surface now."

Penguin looked over at Bepo, who in turn was looking at something on the sonar blankly. It had been bleeping intermittently for the past few minutes, as if confused about what it was detecting, and as Penguin glanced down at it, a shape appeared briefly before flickering away again.

"Bepo?" he asked, because the Mink had been subdued – like the rest of them – since they'd left Law on Punk Hazard, and while he didn't blame him he didn't want the Tang resurfacing if Bepo wasn't certain.

The Mink shook himself once, tearing his eyes away from the sonar and looking directly at Penguin. His eyes focused and he gave a sharp nod.

"Surface," Bepo repeated, his face unreadable. "We're here."

That was the voice Penguin had been waiting for, their navigator's confident declaration that he knew exactly where they were.

"Jean Bart," he said, and the huge man made an affirmative noise before flicking the controls with a dexterity most of the crew had never achieved. It was a regular ascent, none of that nerve-wracking emergency manoeuvring, and Penguin didn't even have to think to adjust to the slight incline of the floor beneath his feet.

"You ready?" he asked Bepo, stepping closer and resting a hand on the white fur lightly. Bepo pressed against him more firmly.

"I wish Captain was here, too," the Mink admitted, although that was of no surprise to Penguin. He couldn't say he didn't feel the same way – for Law to be absent at such an important moment for Bepo… He understood why, but that didn't stop the absence aching.

"I know," he said, listening to the tell-tale hiss of the pipes as they broke the surface and the pressure adapted to its new equilibrium before the external doors unlocked. "Let's go see your home."

"The Tang is my home," Bepo mumbled under his breath, but he followed Penguin as he headed for the main door, pushing it open and stepping out onto the wet wood of the deck. The sight that greeted him took his breath away.

He'd heard the stories – Bepo's own vague retellings, other information they'd picked up over the years – but he still hadn't expected the elephant to be quite so big. Bobbing along in Zunisha's wake, the Tang hadn't felt so small and insignificant in a long time. He had to crane his neck to see the top of the closest leg and wondered how they were supposed to get up there.

"Wow," Shachi breathed from behind him, and he glanced back to see the ginger at the head of a group of their nakama, staring up at the elephant in open-mouthed wonder. "This is where you were born, Bepo?"

Bepo nodded, and Penguin couldn't help but smile at the delight on his face, even if the whole thing was marred by their captain's conspicuous absence. Still, he realised as a wave crashed past them, stirred up by Zunisha's far leg, they weren't there yet.

"Secure the Tang to the nearest leg," he ordered the crowd gathered behind him, watching another of the legs start to move and suddenly realising they didn't have long before the nearest leg would move and send a similar wave to submerge them. The Tang might be a submarine, but she worked best when submerged of her own accord.

They sprung into action, releasing the mooring line and beginning the difficult operation of looping it around the large leg. It was nothing like a regular dock, where someone could just jump onto the jetty with rope in hand. In the control room, Jean Bart held her steady, and with ropes tied to their waists, Penguin and Shachi made the dive into the cold water, spluttering at the waves and striking out to swim a circuit around their target leg.

The mooring line itself wasn't long enough, so they'd had to improvise with thinner but longer ropes, conscious of the rapidly narrowing time frame they had to tie the knots before the leg moved, washing them away in the wake. They barely made it, clinging to the freshly tied ropes as they were dragged through the water and spluttering as water rushed into their mouths, up their noses. Their grips didn't hold out, but the additional lines tying them back to their own ship did, leaving them bobbing helplessly in the water until the leg had settled again, dragging the Tang with it.

Immediately, other ropes were thrown overboard, for them to haul themselves up with. Years of practice had them scurrying up it with ease, to be pulled back over the railings by their reaching nakama as soon as they could cling to their arms.

"We made it," someone said, several people clapping Bepo on the back as the Mink looked up at his childhood home. "We're here."

Bepo nodded slowly, deep in thought for several long moments, before his shoulders slumped and he found his feet far more fascinating.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I don't remember how to get up."

The sudden silence that dropped over them was tense as they all looked up at the elephant again, registering just how tall it was.

How were they supposed to climb that?

Thanks for reading!
Tsari