"If we find him in Yuba, I want to draw him away. Luffy's already got his hands full with helping Vivi. I don't want him getting involved with Teach." Ace said. I nodded. We were walking behind the guys and talking lowly so they couldn't hear us.

"Yeah, I understand your concern. But I just hope that we find Teach before he has a chance to find Luffy. Trust me, Ace, things will not go well if they meet." I said.

"Exactly why I want to keep him away." Ace said. I nodded.

"I completely agree with you, Ace, but I just have to ask one thing." I said.

"Hm? What is it, Aoi?" Ace asked.

"How the fuck... DID WE GET SEPARATED FROM FUCKING EVERYONE?!" I asked. Ace looked around and noticed that we were completely alone.

"What the-?" He asked.

"They were right fucking in front of us! How did we lose them?!" I asked. Ace looked to the side.

"Strange... I thought I heard something..." Ace said. Then a giant ass scorpion rose from the sand in front of this.

"Oh great, I'M NOT IN THE FUCKING MOOD!" I screamed at it and sent a few hundered water spears through it. Ace took the chance to roast it.

"You're rather crabby today. Are you feeling okay, Aoi?" Ace asked. I sighed.

"I'm fine." I said. Ace grabbed my hands and forced me to look at him.

"Don't lie to me, Aoi." He said. I sighed and looked away.

"I feel guilty." I finally admitted. Ace stared at me.

"I... I should have known this was coming! I should have known that Teach was gonna-" I started.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Aoi, calm down. It's not your fault that Thatch... What I'm saying is, so you missed one vision. It's not-" Ace started.

"It's not one vision!" I said. Ace stared at me. I pulled my hands free of his and rubbed my face.

"I.... I haven't been able to see anything for months. No visions of past or future. I can only check on Luffy from time to time, but... I can't see anything else, Ace. It scares me. The last vision I had before everything stopped, it..." I stopped myself and held back tears. I felt Ace pull me in to his chest.

"Aoi, listen to me. Everything is going to be okay. I promise. Just trust me and stay by my side." He said. I nodded and hugged him.

"Please... Don't leave me." I said. He tilted my head up and kissed the tears from my cheeks.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said. I kissed him.

"I love you." I said. He smiled at me.

"I love you, too." He said and kissed me again.

"Now, let's find Luffy." I said. I climbed on to his back.

"Let's see if I can find him." I said and closed my eyes as Ace began to walk.

"Alright, Luffy. Where are you?" I thought. It was only a quick glimpse, but when I opened my eyes, I knew where to go.

"It's going to take the rest of the day and then some, but we need to head to the oasis down, Edo." I said. Ace jumped on the lizard-thing in front of us.

"Which direction?" He asked. I pointed where to go and we were off.

As I said, it took a day. We wound up in the mayor's place. Some bandits posing as rebels were taking advantage of the poor town. After they accused us of being food thieves, Ace beat the shit out if them.

"Quite the show, yet again, Ace." I said, eatting my own food before my husband could steal it. The leader began to grovel to Ace, begging him to help him fight the sand Pirates.

"I'm not against the idea. But on one condition." Ace said.

"You're not serious." I said. Ace grinned and I facepalmed.

And that's how we found ourselves on a Lizard dragging a bunch of food and water behind us.

"Luffy and the others are up ahead." I said. Ace grinned at me.

"You truely are amazing, Aoi. I don't know what I would have done with out you there." He said.

"You would have done the exact same thing, you just wouldn't have known anything before hand." I said.

"You still bothered by the whole no vision thing?" Ace asked.

"It's making me nervous, yes. But thankfully I can remember what I watched back in Reality. And from what I can tell so far, things are going exactly they were when I watched." I said.

"Is that good?" Ace asked.

"Until we leave Alabasta, it is. Once we're done here, we're going in completely blind." I said. Ace nodded.

"But when we're in front of Luffy and the others, pretend nothing is wrong. I don't want them to worry about me." I said. Ace nodded. He called out to the others as we got closer.

Vivi asked us to test the bandits. Make sure they would hold up.

"I'm all for it." I said. I saw Ace send me a concerned look. Vivi told us the plan.

"Aoi, can you hold back for a moment. There's something I need to ask you something. About you and Ace." Vivi asked as everyone took their spots. Ace headed in, casting me an unsure glance, but after I nodded, he went in.

"Aoi... I can't help but notice. Maybe Ace hasn't because he's always with you, but..." Vivi started. I stared at her.

"What is it, Vivi? Have I done something wrong?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No! It's just..." She produced my wanted poster. I stared.

"What about it?" I asked.

"Aoi... You're... Well... In your picture... You're... Well... Skinnier." Vivi said. My heart started speed up.

"Aoi... I've seen the way you fight. Even if you eat like Ace and Luffy, you'd keep the weight off by training alone..." She said. I smiled at Vivi.