The first chapter of our married lives wasn't exactly how either of us had imagined. 

Thatch's death wasn't something that we could get over quickly, or easily, and it took a long while for it to really sink in. He was gone. No more words of wisdom, no more appreciative smiles when we would compliment his cooking, no more being scolded for sneaking into his precious galley. He was just...gone. 

Ace was taking it much harder than I was, but that was to be expected. He had known Thatch for far longer, and they had a bond stronger than iron. Brothers in all but blood. After we had left the Moby Dick, he had hardly said a word for the following few days. Just single words, or short responses. It hadn't been until our fourth night on our own, when the sky was pin-pricked with stars and the air was thick with silence, that he had allowed reality to hit him. 

It broke my heart further, holding him close to my chest as he let out his grief, my shirt soaking through to my skin with his tears. As painful as it was to see Ace in such a way, I was also relieved. He wasn't the type of person who coped well with bottling his emotions, and I was, at the very least, glad that he had cracked like that instead of a violent way. 

After that, he seemed to somewhat return to his usual self. Since we had left Whitebeard and the others with nothing but the clothes on our backs, we tried to lift our spirits by seeing what necessities we could get away with stealing before we ran into significant trouble. Food was easy enough to get ahold of with very few repercussions, but clothing and camping supplies? With the way the townspeople and marines responded, anyone would have thought we had stolen a royal child or something. 

"Hey, do we have any tangerines left?" I called out to Ace as I emerged from our small tent, deflating when I saw his head shake. 
"Sorry, my love. You had the last one yesterday." He reminded me, scooting over when I came to sit next to him in front of our campfire. Nudging him in the side, I couldn't help but smile before I began rummaging through one of our two bags. 

"My love? When did you get so sappy?" I snickered, flicking away a stray ember that tried to land on my bare leg. Ace caught it on his finger, unphased by the burning sensation it would have caused him. 
"What, would you rather me call you Pancake all the time?" He asked teasingly, earning himself a light smack on the arm. 
"Pepper-cheeked asshole." 

"Flatso." 

"Sniper's dream." 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Genuinely perplexed, Ace cocked his head, and I smirked as I leaned in to poke him between the eyes. 
"Your massive forehead. It's a sniper's dream target." I stated a-matter-of-factly. It took a few moments for Ace to react, but when he did, I was glad that it was with laughter, his arm moving to sling around my shoulders and pull me close into his side. 

"You're a little shit, you know that? A cute, cheeky little shit." He chuckled, relaxing more the moment I began to absently trace the lettering of the tattoo on his left arm. "So, I suppose we should head to the Alabasta kingdom next, huh? If we were given the right information, then that guy, Scorpion, knows where we can find Teach..." 

Humming, I kept my eyes trained to his inked skin, the light of the open flame making beautiful patterns dance over the both of us. 
"Do you really think that's true..? Also, isn't he going by Blackbeard now? Trying to be the polar opposite of Pops..." It rubbed me the wrong way, but Ace kept me from becoming too agitated, nuzzling his nose into my hair. 

"Well, it's the only lead we really have, so there shouldn't be any harm in checking it out. Besides, we're close to the Drum Kingdom already, and from the looks of the papers, Luffy is heading the same way. Wouldn't it be cool if we ran into him?" He pointed out, and I nodded in agreement, excited by the sheer thought of possibly seeing the spritely boy I had made a pact with so long ago. 

"It'd be the best luck." I smiled to myself, leaning back from Ace's affections to rummage through the bag again, needing to feed my hunger. "You know I'll follow you no matter where you want to go though, right? You may not have shared a cup of sake with me back when we were kids, but you exchanged rings with me, so you're stuck with me now, whether you like it or not." 

To the ends of the earth...

As I searched for something I felt like eating, Ace pulled a map out of his own bag and studied it for a while, shaking his head when I wordlessly offered him a bruised pear. 

"I just...don't want you to be at risk. You and I both know that the absolute second that Dumbfuckmingo gets wind of you being away from Pops' protection he's gonna try something..." 

Ace had a point, but I chose to ignore it, not wanting to think about Doflamingo in that moment, or ever again. 
"How many days is it going to take to get to Alabasta?" I queried, taking the pear for myself and spitting out the slightly bruised side once I had bitten it off. 

"Uh...I dunno, I'd say maybe two weeks or so? Give or take? I'm not the best when it comes to time frames, you know this." He answered, hesitating before folding the map back up and returning it to his bag. "Are...you sure you want to follow me into this? I kind of think you'd be safer heading back to the cre-"

I shut him up the best way I knew how. With a kiss. Once I was sure it had done the trick, I pulled back just enough so I could look into his eyes properly.
"I'm sure. You know I can fight, and at least sometimes I can keep you out of too much trouble, right?"

Ace heaved a long sigh, smiling because he knew that to be a solid fact.
"Yeah yeah, I guess that's true..." He murmured, letting his head fall back a little so he could look up at the sky, partially obscured by the smoke billowing from our camp-fire. "I just feel bad that this is how our honeymoon turned out...Not exactly romantic..."

Yeah, but...

Climbing into my husband's lap, I welcomed his warm arms around my waist, stealing his entire attention.
"I'm with you. That's all I care about. That, and making Teach pay...Besides, camping like this? It's a little romantic, when you think about it."

Ace's breath caused the bare skin of my neck to tingle when he chuckled softly, pulling me closer into an embrace.
"Mmm...but I wanted to spoil you rotten. Had a whole thing planned..." He informed me, scrunching his nose when I nudged it with my own.

"Keeping me trapped in bed for a whole month isn't exactly a plan, Ace." I stated firmly, instinctively wrapping my arms around his neck when he all of a sudden stood up, kicking dirt onto the fire to snuff it out.

"I dunno, it sounded like the best honeymoon idea to me." He countered, keeping me held to his chest with one arm whilst using the other to pick up both of our bags before heading towards the tent. "If that wasn't your cup of tea, then pray tell, what would you have suggested?"

Once we were inside the cramped tent, I immediately climbed into our shared sleeping bag, watching him as he zipped up the door flap.
"I dunno, something less...horny. Oh, there was this gorgeous field of flowers back in Dressrosa! That would've been-"

Shit. 

I stopped myself even before Ace turned and gave me a mildly concerned look, realising what had come out of my mouth.
"I, uh, I didn't mean...It's not like I ever want to go back there, I just..." Ace crawled over to me and took my hand, bringing it to his lips to gift it with a tender kiss.

"There's nothing wrong with missing the country itself. I just...don't want you to go back to thinking about him again. That's not the jealousy talking, either. Dressrosa was a gorgeous place, and I don't blame you for missing certain aspects of it."

I knew he was right. There were many things about Dressrosa that I found myself thinking about every now and again. The flower field, the culture, food. Even on the rare occasion, when the world was quiet, I found myself thinking about Doffy, but those thoughts were quickly caged up and burned. He wasn't someone that I could miss. Ever.

"I just meant, like, somewhere as pretty as that. I'm not usually all that into flowers and stuff, but the thought of it is kind of nice..." I refused to admit my lapse of judgement, and Ace allowed me to get away with it, settling himself in beside me and pulling me tight against his chest.

"Once this is all over, I'm sure Pops won't mind us going away for a bit. I'll take you to the most beautiful places the world has to offer. Hey, maybe we'll even accidentally stumble upon Laughtale while we're travelling?" He laughed heartily, and it was infectious.

Tangling my limbs with his, I absorbed the calming heat of his body, glad that at least he was starting to return to normal. I was aware that things would get rough once we actually managed to hunt Teach - Blackbeard - down, but that just meant I had to enjoy him as he was in the moment before that time came.

"Hey, Ace?" I called his name, and he showed me he was listening by kissing the top of my head. "Back when we were kids, the day I left...why did you choose to kiss me to seal that promise we made?"

I was genuinely curious, and I felt his chest rumble beneath my cheek as he reminisced.
"Ah, crap, well, I'd remembered reading something similar when I flipped through one of Dadan's trashy romance novels. She had a tonne of them, and there was this one part where the guy kissed the girl he loved to make a promise to come back from war to marry her. Dumb as hell, I know."

I didn't even think he could read back then...

Wriggling so we were face to face, I could see the faint pink in his peppered cheeks through the darkness, and smirked.
"Aww, so you wanted to find me again so we could get married, Acey-poo? That's embarrassing." I teased jokingly, welcoming the barrage of kisses as he squeezed me tight.

"Didn't realise it at the time, but hey, that's what happened, right? Maybe I should write to Dadan and thank her for the inspiration?" He snorted, finally settling back down again once I had stopped laughing.

"I'm sure she'd love to hear from you, though I'm betting she'd rather die than admit it." I yawned, appreciating the way Ace began to rub my back, soothing me closer towards sleep.

"Nah, she was all too keen for me to take to the seas and get out of her hair. But I'll bet any amount of money that if she ever found out we tied the knot she'd send a fifty page essay highlighting why you should divorce my sorry ass."

She loves you like a son, but yeah, I can honestly see her doing something like that.

I found myself closing my eyes and letting myself drown in the heat that radiated from Ace, trying to keep all thoughts of Thatch's death and Blackbeard's betrayal at bay with good memories.

"Mmm...You better get as much cuddling in now as you can...Alabasta is hot as balls, and you're like a furnace on a regular day..." I warned, melting into the man when he all but blanketed me with his entire body.

"Well, sorry to break it to ya, Pancake, but you're just going to have to suffer..."

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***Most boring chapter to date, and poorly written, in my opinion.

Don't worry, we'll reach Alabasta soon, and that means Luffy and the Strawhats!

Also, got another Ace in the mail today. I have a real thing for sitting figures and it shows. I've got no room left, so I have no idea where I'm going to put my giant Doffy when he arrives...

Next Time: Hide and Seek***