A Long Lost Roronoa [One Piece]

13: It's Not the Final Goodbye

With a gentle pat on the head, the wolf gave a low, gentle howl and walked to the door. It looked back with its tail wagging side to side and his tongue happily hanging out. As soon as Mei locked the key back up she went over to open the door for him. She closed it shut once he went through then turned to the group.

"It's about time we should be heading back up. The ship is kind of unprotected," she stated.

"Will there be more crawling?" Nami shuddered.

A scratching noise was heard and with a small laugh, Mei gestured as she lifted the handle, "No. There's a quicker way."

Outside the door was a large, yellow eye blinking through the frame. Ussop and Chopper shrieked and locked arms behind Zoro. Franky loaded his guns, Sanji lifted his leg and so did Luffy, but with his fists. All of them prepared to knock out the monster awaiting them.

But then Mei just walked out and went to the side of it, "Come on. What are you waiting for."

Several heads peeked out to see her on its scaly back, waving her hands at them. The wolf was next to the head licking its nose. A rumbling growl escaped the beast's mouth and made the pirates jump.

Brook trembled, "Is – is it safe, Mei-san?"

"Mhm," she affirmed, "As long as my wolf is nearby, it won't do anything. So hurry up and climb on."

One by one they reluctantly stepped out of the workshop, slowly making their way to the beast's side, and climbed up to join the smith. Once everyone mounted the animal, Mei whistled through her fingers and called the wolf up. He jumped up high and landed on the head. With a loud howl the beast was signaled to go.

It took several rumbling steps forward before stopping at the wall. The dirt in front of them began to ripple and transformed into a huge tunnel. The beast jumped in and the hole behind them closed. Enveloped in darkness, the group clung on to the scales as the beast sprinted in the long tunnel.

It was less than five minutes of traveling when they emerged into the sunlight. They blinked heavily at the strong light and some of them had to block the sun with their hands. The beast laid down for them to easily drop to the ground.

"Thank you," Mei praised the beast with a simple stroke on its cheek. Then she turned to the wolf beside her and gave a slight nod.

He padded forward to nudge the beast's right leg with his nose and in return the animal lowered its head to the other's eye level to poke his side with her nose. Then she dived back in the hole behind her.

"Mei," Ussop trembled as the tail disappeared under the ground, “What kind of monster is that!?”

“Uhh,” she scratched her cheek, figuring out the best way to say it, “It’s a complicated story.”

But before they could pry further she quickly asked Nami, “How’s the Log Pose? It should be done any hour now.”

The navigator glanced at her wrist to check the compass and sure enough the needle was locked on the next island, “It’s ready. Sanji-kun!”

“Yes, Nami-swan~” the cook dazily spun around at the call of his name.

“Is our storage going to last this time?”

“It should be,” he tapped his chin, “There wasn’t much on the island anyways. So we’ll have to make it last or put our hopes on the idiots’ fishing.”

“There’s plenty of vegetation,” Mei interjected.

“Eh really?”

“Mhm. It’s on one of the cliffs of the island. You can probably find it with your ship.”