Aoi's POV

"Aoi-chan! Please! Talk some sense in to Commander Ace!" Shigeru whispered to me. I looked at Ace as he argued with everyone about this mission.

"He was under my command when this happend! It's my responsibility to track him down and make him pay! I will avenge Thatch!" Ace snapped.

Flashback

"Who would have done this?" Marco demanded.

"No one can find Teach." Jozu said.

"Teach did it." I said shakily as I entered the room.

"Are you sure?" Marco asked. I pointed to the wounds on Thatch's back.

"Those wounds, they're in the style and angle of Teach's swings and with his knife." I said. I crafted a replica of the knife and mimicked the motions Teach used to kill Thatch.

"Multiple stab wounds to ensure that Thatch was dead." I said.

"Why would Teach do this?" Haruta demanded, wiping more tears from his face.

"Didn't Thatch bring back a devil fruit from his last mission?" I asked. Marco looked at me.

"You don't think that Teach actually killed Thatch for a devil fruit do you?" Marco asked.

"Search for it. If it's gone, then we know the reason and have a reason to believe that Teach is more dangerous." I said. The three left the room to search for what I know they wouldn't find.

I sat down on the chair by Thatch's body. Tears slipped down my face again as I looked at him. The look of shock frozen forever on his face.

I chocked out a sob.

"I'm so sorry, Thatch!" I sobbed silently.

Flashback ends.

"Aoi-chan?" Shigeru asked. I stormed out of the cabin and towards my infuriated husband. Everyone went silent and made a path for me as I passed.

3rd person POV

Aoi's hair shadowed her eyes, a dark aura coming off of her as she walked towards Ace. Everyone quieting down as she did, almost afraid of the woman. Aoi reached Ace.

"Aoi, I have to do this. Don't try to stop me." Ace said, bending his knees to jump on to his striker below.

Suddenly, Ace found himself stairing up at the sky as he laied on his back on the deck.

Aoi had just flipped him and threw him behind her without even raising her head.

"Ace... You are not the only one hurt over Thatch." Aoi said. Ace sat up and looked at his wife.

"Aoi, this is my duty as the 2nd Division commander!" Ace said.

"You Aren't Leaving!" Aoi's voice thundered over everyone, scaring everyone to the point where they didn't want to move, afraid that Aoi might yell again. Aoi turned and her jade eyes, filled with anger and sorrow, met Ace's wide dark eyes.

She turned fully, assuming a fighting position.

"If you want to chase him down that badly, you have to fight your way past me." She said.

"Aoi... I will not raise my fist to you." Ace said.

"Show me the power of your will. If you can't fight your way past me, you will not leave this ship." Aoi said. Not seeing any other way around it, Ace stood and reluctantly took a fighting position.

Ace made a punch for Aoi, but her water armor flew to her form and she deflected his weak punch, then she slammed a fist in to his chest, knocking him back.

"Stop holding back, Ace. I mean it. Fight me to leave." She said. Ace sighed.

"I don't want to hurt you." He said. He dodged quickly as Aoi sent a kick at him. She didn't relent for a second. She sent various kicks and punches at him as well as a few of her devil fruit power attacks.

Then Ace realized what was happening. Aoi was treating this like she was fighting an actual enemy. She was only holding back her killer attacks.

"If I don't take this fight seriously, she will seriously injure me." Ace thought. He caught her leg as she sent another kick at him. He made a punch for her head, hoping to knock her out. Her water armor protected her.

Ace dragged her towards him by her leg, using his free hand to grab her arm. He forced her to turn her back to him and grabbed her other arm, forcing her to stay still. She kicked his legs out from under him and quickly regained her ground.

Ace quickly leapt to his feet, fire swirling around him. Aoi summoned her water sheild and threw it at him. Ace raised his arms to protect himself, but as the sheild made contact with his arms, he noticed Aoi's water armor was down, meaning all her water was in that sheild.

His eyes widened as a Water prison formed around him. Aoi ran forward and slammed Ace in to the ground out of her water prison.

"Enough!" Marco yelled. Whitebeard put his hand in front of Marco to stop him from getting in the fight. Marco looked up at Whitebeard.

"This fight is over." He said. It wasn't an order, it was an obsbervation. Aoi had won.

"Aoi..." Ace said silently. Aoi was sitting behind him, legs crossed, back to him. He hardly heard her sigh.

"Listen, Ace." Aoi said. Ace turned and looked at his wife.

"I know that I can fight you. That I could lay you flat every time. But no matter how many times I do, you're just going to stand up and go at it again and again and again until you succeed and get past me." Aoi said. Ace stared at her. She turned and faced him.

"So, here's what I'm offering. You can waist time by fighting me until one of us gives up, or... You take me with you." She said. Everyone gasped.

"What?" "Aoi-chan!" "Is she insane?" The crew whispered.

"Aoi... I don't want to put you in unnecessary danger." Ace said. Aoi knelt before him.

"And I don't want to lose you, Ace. No matter what happens. No matter what choice you make. You aren't leaving. Not with out me." She said.

Slowly, Izo stepped up to Aoi with her bag in his hands.

"Aoi?" Ace said. She took her bag from Izo and stood up.

"If you're doing this, I'm following you. You and I vowed to never leave the other's side." She said. Ace sighed and stood, picking his bag up from the ground.

"You are right about that. Let's go then, Aoi." Ace said. Despite the protests, Ace and Aoi leapt off the side of the ship and on to his striker below. And just like that, they were off on their mission to kill Teach. Aoi carefully healed the injuries that she had given Ace.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, but he still heard her.

"Don't apologize, Aoi. You're right. We're in this together." He said. She rested her head on his back.

"Promise you won't leave my side?" She asked. She felt his one free hand rest on her arms that were wrapped around his stomach. He squeezed her arm and patted it, hand slowly sliding to the rings on her left hand.

"I'm not going anywhere without you, love." He said.