You had two days left on your leave, you had spent most of it with Koby. Sneaking out to go on dates. The more time spent together the more you learned about one another. Right now, you were having a starlight picnic on a cliff away from everyone else. You'd done a day of surfing and fishing. And right now Koby, was going off an a tangent about Straw Hat Luffy.

"Hehehe you should've seen it Y/N! He stood in front of Zoro-san and took the bullets head on! Because he's made of rubber he's bullet proof! He stretched out again and the bullets were shot back! And, and then when Zoro-San was freed he held back at least 8 men back with his three swords!"

"Sounds like it was an interesting fight. I wonder what he's doing right now." Koby then grew somber, he brought you into his side he caressed your arm and sighed.

"Whatever he's doing I know when he comes back he'll be even stronger."

"So are you." You kissed his cheek, and he blushed. While you two had been getting closer emotionally Koby had begun to retreat when it came to being physical. No more sneak kisses, barely any hand holding and he wouldn't sleep next to you anymore. He said that your scar didn't bother him, sometimes he would only kiss you on your right cheek where your scar was.

"Ahem. You excited to come back to active duty?"

"I am. It'll be nice to get back to work. My first job back is giving Admiral Akainu a physical before his acceptance ball. He invited me to a celebration afterward too...I'm not sure if I want to go."

"How come?" You breathed a heavy sigh.

"He keeps trying to get me to be his personal doctor. Saying that he knows he can trust me, that my professionalism is something he respects. But I would miss the ocean too much, and...I'd miss you." You flushed. You were trying to get better and expressing your feelings it was still a struggled but you didn't want to have anymore misunderstandings between you two.

"Garp-San wouldn't let you leave anyway!" He brought you into him even more. "Are you allowed to bring anyone with you?"

"You free?" You raised a brow at him and he chuckled.

"I wish I could go with you. But it's probably not the best idea. He doesn't exactly like me."

"True. I'll just go alone, my reputation as the Ghoul Doctor should be upheld. If I arrived with someone he'd probably question it."

"True." He went to playing with his ring, he hadn't put it on his hand figuring since he fought with his fists, it would break. He kept it on a chain around his neck. You'd put yours on the bracelet he'd already given you. One day, you'd be able to wear them openly one day.

"How is Grount doing?" You couldn't help but ask, the young Captain had been avoiding you. Even when you explained that you had just been tired and trying to recuperate and that the attack had happened hours before you'd arrived back to port, he still refused to speak to you.

"Moody. He won't talk to me, but I think he's just upset about the situation and the fact that Aokiji didn't become the Fleet Admiral."

"And he blames me partially since I had to declare the loser."

Koby kissed your right cheek.

"It isn't your fault. You were called to be a neutral judge and that is what you did. If anyone blames you for that, then they're idiots!"

His words brought great comfort, cause in fact most people were looking for someone to blame and most of them blamed you. You'd been hearing whispers about how you were trying to climb the ladder, or that you should've just let the  assassin kill Akainu so Aokiji could be Fleet Admiral.

You still remembered Kizaru carrying you to the battlefield where the two men were. Garp had sense that neither of them were fighting but couldn't tell who won. By the time you'd gotten to them, Akainu was standing tall his fists clenched at his sides, and Aokiji was on the ground. His right leg missing. Declaring the winner had been easy, taking care of them was a whole other story.
You also could've sworn that Akainu looked a little regretful like he hadn't meant to injure the other man that badly. But it was done and Aokiji would live with the aftermath for the rest of his life.

~A few weeks prior~

That night when the attack happened, had been your first direct encounter with Cipher Pol. You'd been walking around being unable to sleep, when you heard a noise coming from the hall. When you turned a corner you saw an assailant with a pistol, opening a door ready to fire. You hadn't the time to think of who this person was or why he was there, you simply ran and rammed into him causing him to fall over. Before you could apprehend him, he'd taken off. You followed him and tackled him again. Only this time you'd taken his white mask off that he was wearing. You recognized him, he was part of the kitchen staff.

"Who are you. And why were you trying to assassinate Vice-Admiral Garp?"

The man didn't answer he simply attacked you. You avoided the bullet, for some reason you sensed it's trajectory and moved in time to avoid your head exploding. This seemed to shock him and he ran again. You followed him, despite the fact that you could barely see him for some unknown reason you could tell where he was and exactly where he was going to run.

You caught up to him in a storage room and caught him right as he was about escape from the window. You yanked him backwards and elbowed his temple, his disorientation didn't last long, he grabbed your arm and twisted it until you heard a snap, before the pain made you pass out you pulled out your scalpel from your hat and stabbed.

It wasn't until the blood started to spill all over you, when you realized you'd punctured his throat. He fell beside you, sputtering and drowning.

"The Hero must die...the Hero must..." and then he was dead.

Hero? He must've been talking about Garp...but why would they want him dead?

This wasn't good, if it got out the there was an attempt on Garp's life right after Aokiji died and it failed...they would only send another and another.

But what if it wasn't Garp? What if it was someone else and he died helping me chase the real assassin away?

You had to work fast! You started to make it look like a struggle, you banged yourself around the room and took your scalpel and made the cut bigger and deeper to make it seem the a blade much bigger had done the damage. You also needed another injury. Before you could hesitate you took your blade and sliced your eye, shallow enough to where you wouldn't go blind, but deep enough to where it would leave a good mark.

Good job sis. Now you've murdered two people, and you cut up your cute little face. Your poor boyfriend isn't going to like that.

You screamed finally feeling the pain in your arm now that the adrenaline had worn off. You ran out and banged on the first door you came across.

~Time skip~

It was your first day back and everyone was getting injured. You had to open a secondary clinic and ask for the help of several nurses to be able to keep up with it. The reason you had so many patients...Grount.

Aokiji had announced that he was leaving the marines ever since Grount's mood just kept getting worse and worse. He was sparring every chance he took and injuring everyone to the point where they couldn't be on active duty for weeks.

"This is getting ridiculous! Dr. L/N can't you say something to Garp about this?" It was a nurse who was famous for being lazy and hated actually working.

"He hasn't been able to leave HQ. He's helping with the transfer of power."

"Well then you do something than!"

You glared at the older woman. And approached her your quite calm wafting in the air. The entire sick bay went quite along with it, and she became noticeably more and more uncomfortable.

"Tell me something nurse. What is your rank?"

"I don't...I don't have one."

"I see so not only are you not a soldier, you are also just simply a nurse. Tell me what is your job?" She glanced at her fellow nurses seeking help but they didn't offer it.

"To assist with injured soldiers and civilians."

"And what are you doing now?"

"Assisting with injured soldiers."

"Right. This is Monkey D. Garp's warship. He's the Hero of the Navy. He's the target of many pirates and mercenaries. He's in high demand. If you cannot handle this much of a workload than you should reconsider where you are placed. If you want a more laid back job you don't belong on this, or any warship. I'll make sure you're transferred to the HQ branch. Anyone else want to go with her?"

All the other nurses shook their heads no. Her face turned red from humiliation.

"You're on duty for the rest of the day until 9pm. I will go and talk with Captain Koby about Captain Grount. I'll be back in an hour."

Upon leaving you heard more whispers.

"Did she have to be such a bitch about it?"
"For real ever since she saved Akainu she's gotten a big head!"
"I forgot how brutal she can be. Remind me to never speak to her unless I have to."
"She's lucky she's only being transferred. If she had a soldiers rank she would've been discharged."
"People like her act all quite but really they love to lore their power over others."

You were about to open the door when Koby came in with Grount. The latter beaten up pretty badly while the other seemed upset.

"Dr. L/N, Captain Grount has a broken arm and three broken ribs along with a fractured collar bone. He is also suspended from duty until further notice. Please patch him up." Koby shoved him into the infirmary and proceeded to walked out.

You couldn't linger on Koby's attitude and got to work with Grount. You wrapped his abdomen as much as you could, then put his right arm in a cast. Right as you were about to give instructions for his after care he gripped your wrist.

"This is all your fault. Why couldn't you just let him die!" He didn't yell but his grip told you just how much he hated you. His eyes looked desperate, you wanted to tell him the truth about that night.

"If you blame me Captain, then take it out on me. But please stop this destructive behavior. It won't change anything and it'll only cause your own downfall."

"He's leaving what the hell am I supposed to live with that? He's the whole reason why I became a marine!"

You breathed a deep breath before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You are you. Aokiji is Aokiji. Your both different people. He may have started to pave out your path for you, but he's given you plenty of tools to help you defend yourself and others. Just because he's leaving doesn't mean that your life is over."

"Sure as hell feels like it."

"It's not."

"What do you know?"

You sighed and walked away to start the transfer of the nurse who hated to work. While you didn't understand the bond that Grount shared with the man, you understood the feeling of being left behind.

~Later that night~

Koby surprised you by asking you to sleep in your room that night. He didn't want to talk about it but you offered him a Rice malt which he drank and pulled you close to him.

"Y/N...Aokiji left today. Please don't listen to what anyone says. I know what really happened that night. And I will always be on your side."

He nuzzled into your neck. And huffed causing a shiver to run through you.

"Koby...I'm okay. Please don't worry too much about me. We'll be much busier soon."

"Haaah I know you're tough. It doesn't mean I like not being able to defend my girlfriend's honor!"

You kissed his cheek and took in his warmth.

"I guess this is really goodbye to Aokiji Kuzan. I hope he finds peace."

"I do too. Goodnight Notte."

Notte???

~Aokiji's Goodbye~

Kuzan didn't say goodbye to anyone. He couldn't handle the sad faces or the disappointed looks of his peers for not sticking around. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't be a part of the Navy when Sakazuki ruled it.

Garp had given him sake, Sengoku bought him several rice cracker packets and Tsuru-dono gave him her favorite book.

Grount had been so angry when he had told him that he was leaving, he'd heard about his sparring getting out of hand until Koby kicked his ass.

Another thing he regretted was the rumors and whispers about the tiny doctor. Garp had told him what had really happened the night she was attacked.

Garp had been the real target not Sakazuki, the only reason she said it was the new Fleet Admiral was to send Cipher Pol on a wild goose chase for however long. Plus she'd killed the only other person in the room, they had to go based on her testimony.

"Good luck little Doctor. Maybe I'll get to meet you again one day."

With one last look to Marineford, he began his walk on the ocean surface, as the sun rose. Not sure what to do next.