” What the hell did you do?! You fucking moron, you had one job!” A red suited man whoops loudly from the bottom of his lungs. This man is furious.

You looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression on your face, tilting your head. “I let them escape. They did nothing wrong; they were just protecting themselves from an unnecessary attack YOU ordered.” You explained to him with a smug tone, rolling your eyes.

“They were pirates! We need to eliminate every criminal from this world!” He replies, standing up from his chair, smashing his hands covered with black gloves on his desk. You flinched.

“I did what I thought was the right thing to do. They didn´t cause any trouble like I said. They just beat up some other pirates that were causing trouble.” You uttered, staying behind your argument.

“You are my SUBORDINATE, and you do what I say…” He replied and glared at you.

You sigh in frustration and your body language messages the furious man that you aren't interested in what he is saying.

“You are one of our best Vice Admirals, yet you still act like that. You never follow orders… What the hell is wrong with you?”

You stayed silent. You had nothing more to say to him, but he continued:

“Very bold of you to act like that towards your superior. You are almost as bad as the pirate scums.”

Wrath is taking over him as you just gazed at him, staying quiet. You were really irritated too, but you didn't let it show. This wasn´t your first nor probably the last argument with him and you were getting ready to leave his office, but he suddenly storms towards you.

You take a fright and make a fast movement to back up a little, but he grabs your arm, gritting his teeth and his eyes almost burning in rage. He tears you to the ground and stares at you for a moment as you desperately try to get up. You feel your heartbeat rise rapidly and you manage to raise your hand just in time to block his incoming kick. He looked at you contemptuously and grunted.

He didn't waste any time and he launched another kick, hitting you with the side of his shin, knocking you from sitting position to lying on the floor on your back. You quickly lift yourself up with your hands placed behind you and you try to crawl backwards, away from this man who you despise. You couldn't get a word out of your mouth, you were in shock, but adrenaline was flowing through your veins.

He didn't seem to care if you were a friend or foe. He took his hand near his face and bit his black glove, pulling it off his hand. His autumn colored, beautiful but terrifying magma started to heat up in his hand as he reached you with it. You panicked a little, feeling thrilled but you feared. You might be Vice Admiral, but this is not like any battle you´ve had with pirates before.

His hand, burning and boiling with his magma reached for your shoulder and as you back up, you reach a wall. Now you have nowhere to run. You closed your eyes and tried to block your face with your hands, and you could feel the heated magma burn your clothes but then suddenly it stops as another, tall man rushes into the room.

You hear that man speak up.

“Ara, ara… Sakazuki, stop it! You are going too far!” He scoffs the man in the red suit and grabs his thermal hand with his own icy hand and counters the attack before Sakazuki could hit your skin with his magma.

You open your eyes, looking at both men. You were breathing superficially and intermittently, shaking in fear.

“T..Thank you Kuzan…” You mumbled with a shaky voice.

You didn't have the strength to get up. Kuzan was looking at Sakazuki with disappointed eyes, but Sakazuki doesn't seem to be noticing him because he is still staring at you in anger.  Kuzan pushed him further away from you and he turned his head to the side, sighed and strolled to sit back behind his desk, putting his black glove back on while doing so.

“Sakazuki, are you fucking out of you mind? Trying to kill someone because you disagree with them…” Kuzan said, crossed his arms and kneeled next to you.

“Are you okay? Do you want me to carry you to safety?” You gazed at him with your worn eyes and nodded. He took you in his arms and walked out of the room.

Kuzan carried you to the room where Marines usually come to take a break, have some coffee and sit. There was a big couch in the room, and he placed you there.

You opened your eyes wider, and you were already calming down. You saw that Borsalino was sitting by the table and Kuzan took seat next to him. Borsalino took questioning looks at both of you.

“Hmm~ What´s this?” He asks out loud, being curious.

Kuzan rubs the back of his head. “She had an argument with Sakazuki again and this time he almost killed her” he explains to the man dressed in yellow, who is sipping his coffee.

“I see.” He comments and both remain silent after.

You were staring at the ceiling, thinking how much you dislike Sakazuki. You don´t want to see his mean face ever again but you still have duties as a Marine. You are a Vice Admiral under his command after all.

Time passes and Borsalino and Kuzan leave the room. You were now alone with your thoughts. How could there be a person on the same side as you who you disagree with so much?

His “Absolute Justice” isn't for you. You are more like Kuzan and you know not all pirates are bloodthirsty criminals. You though how much you liked Kuzan. He was such a warm person, and you would love to be around him more.

Meanwhile, Sakazuki was sitting in his office. He has cooled down a little from all the anger and frustration. He feels like he is lost.

As much as he despises you, he didn't actually try to kill you. He didn't even want to hurt you fatally in the first place, he wanted to scare you, but things escalated. He had no intention to hit your shoulder with his hand, he just wanted to show authority.

He aimed the kicks to hit you in places where there wouldn't be any other harm than some bruises. He gets up and walks out of his office, with a heavy feeling in his chest. He feels like he has some explaining to do since now Kuzan knows about the situation as well and he might have misunderstood.

Sakazuki reaches for the doorknob and enters the break room you are lying in. You flinch as you hear and see him enter. He looks at the ground and takes his cap off his head and walks closer to you. He bows slightly.

“I apologize, Vice Admiral. I did not want to kill you nor hurt you, it is a misunderstanding.” He said quietly and you felt like his voice had lost all the confidence.

You stared at him.

“You have some guts to say that to my face. You were dead serious trying to kill me back there!” You said and he took a deep breath.

He lifted his head, and his eyes met yours.

“You know me. I am a man of my word; I would never lie. Please accept my apology.” He said now with a slightly more confident tone.

“Aww, are you begging me to forgive you, Admiral Akainu?” You ask mockingly. You have never seen him like this.

Sakazuki was painfully aware of the situation, and he just wanted it to be over. He just nodded at your words looking miserable.

As much as you would've liked to disagree and just not forgive him you knew he was right.

“All right. I will forgive you but that shit you did hurt me physically and emotionally.” You stated and made him feel embarrassed.

“I understand...” He started and struggled to continue his sentence, but he finally swallowed his pride.

“I was trying to show you the authority I have. I threatened you.” He explained as he felt like he wanted to disappear from this world and never come back.

You were kind of satisfied to see him suffering internally. The man, Admiral Akainu himself, known as the ruthless leader, was now apologizing to his subordinate. The situation was rather comical to you, and you could see on his face how he prayed inside his mind that no one walks in the room, seeing him like this.

He finally just grunted, got up and left without saying a word. You stare at his leaving back.

He wanted to show authority, huh?

You chuckled to yourself and took this as a win for yourself. You got up from the sofa, gently rubbing the spot on your side where Sakazuki kicked you earlier. You lifted your shirt and looked at it for a while in silence and then you walked out from the break room too.

In the hallway you saw Kuzan taking a nap and you decided to tap on his shoulder to wake him up. He lift's his mask covering his eyes and looks at you.

You smiled and looked at him in his eyes.

"Guess what Kuzan."

"What is it?" He answers with a tired tone.

"Sakazuki just apologized to me. Seems like he didn't want to kill or hurt me after all" you told him, and you couldn't hold back your smile for some weird reason.

Kuzan looked surprised.

"I have never seen Sakazuki apologize to anyone... Weird. Maybe he is not that cold hearted after all." Kuzan replies to you and yawns.

"I just wanted to let you know what he said." You said to him, leaving him to nap in peace.

You walked down the hallway and you hear your snail phone ring. You reach for it and pick up the call. Fleet Admiral Sengoku assigned a mission to you, and you signed for it. You didn´t get that many details about it, but apparently this mission would be on another island near the HQ, and it was a mission for two-man squad.

Before the call ended you could identify Borsalino´s voice and he was there discussing something with Sengoku. The call ended before you could hear what they were talking about, and you headed outside straight away.

On your way you wondered who your partner will be on this mission. Maybe it is Borsalino since he was there with Sengoku? Or maybe you got to go on a mission with Kuzan, because you got similar beliefs and get well on together. Or maybe you get someone from lower ranks to work with you?

You are sure that Borsalino or Kuzan have told Sengoku about the situation between you and Sakazuki, so there is no way it can be him either.

You arrive to the yard, near the docks. You see Borsalino standing there, smiling lazily and waving at you.

You sprint towards him.

“Hmm~ Hello there, Vice Admiral! Ready for your mission?” He spoke as you reached him.

You nodded and looked around you.

“So… Who am I going on a mission with? You or…?” You asked him.

He chuckled lightheartedly and shook his head. “Oh, you will see soon.” He said with now a rather creepy smirk growing on his face.

You stood there for a moment and soon you notice a buff man in a red suit walk closer to you and Borsalino. All joy dissappeares your face as you realize where this was going.

Borsalino saw your sudden expression change and he leaned down, whispering in your ear calmly:

“Don´t worry, it will go well.”

Shivers of disgust go down your back as you glared at Sakazuki standing in front of you, being quiet. It was an awkward situation, but Borsalino broke the silence.

“So, the island is just few hours away and I am here to take you there. I will also pick you up when the mission is over.”

He explained with a smile. His smile made you relax a bit you bridled trough your nose because you had to do this mission with Sakazuki. Borsalino went behind him and put his hands on his shoulders.

“Cheer up, big dog.” He told him with a sarcastic tone and Sakazuki grunted.

“Orders are orders.” He rasped out and shook himself off from his grip. After that you three boarded a small ship and set sail.

The trip sure was quick but it felt like forever when you were stuck on this ship with him.

Sooner than you realize, you were now standing next to him on an island, watching Borsalino head back to the HQ with the ship. The island he left you two to stay on was relatively small which had no registered population.

There was a forest that seemed safe, with beautiful cliffs and near where you were now standing there was a wooden cottage you were supposed to sleep and live in for the next few days.

Neither of you were sure what was your mission exactly and you expected the other one to know, but neither of you didn´t want to talk with each other.

Sakazuki headed to the cottage and left you alone. You felt the breeze of the wind touch your skin and it felt pleasant. You closed your eyes and inhaled some fresh air as your ears were tickled by the sound of the waves.

You felt good right now. You decided to go check out the cottage too and headed towards it.

You opened the door, and you flinch a little as you realize that you just walked in Sakazuki changing his shirt.

He stood there shirtless, and you glared at his wide chest and his abdominal muscles forming an undoubtedly sexy sixpack.

Your eyes wandered on his upper body for an unnecessary long time and your face turns completely red as an instant.

He raises his eyebrow, having a slight blush on his cheeks and quickly covering his tattoo with his bare hands, and putting a white T-shirt on. You could see a expression you indentified as discomfort on his face, and you felt embarrassed.

You bury your face in your hands trying to hide the redness of your face and you took a quick glance at his forearms between your fingers.

You almost slap yourself to stop looking at him. You don´t know why you are looking at his body like this. It feels like your eyes were glued to his bare skin and you absolutely hated it. This made things even more awkward between you two.

You cough awkwardly and quickly rush yourself into the bathroom.

You look at yourself trough the mirror and sigh. This is going to be a living hell for you.

You flush your face with some cold water and go sit on a couch. With the side of your eye, you see how Sakazuki was preparing food. You sat down and stared at the wall.

“So… You know what we are supposed to do on this island?” You asked with a dull tone.

You didn´t want to speak to him, but it was kind of necessary as you were colleagues and now on a mission together. 

He stops whatever he was doing for a moment. It´s quiet for few seconds and then he speaks up.

“No, I don´t know. Borsalino told me that he or Sengoku will call later and tell me about the details. He told us to take it easy before then.”

Afterwards he just continued what he was doing, and you got annoyed. This is so pointless, you thought and stormed outside. You ran deep into the forest, screaming in frustration.

You punched a tree along the way, and you fell on your knees, your knuckles covered in blood from the punch.

This day has been already horrible enough and now you were here stuck with him. Why the hell didn´t Sengoku or even Borsalino tell neither of you what is going on?

As thoughts flowed in and out your head, Sakazuki pops up in your mind and a grim look creeps on your face but it fades away as quickly as it came.

Your mind starts to fill up with images of him without a shirt on and you scream. Shirtless Sakazuki haunts your mind, and you feel emotionally troubled.

You curl up and lay on the ground, trying to forget the sight that has now burned in your retinas trying to deny the fact that you kind of liked the sight.

Hours pass as you just lay there and soon it is getting dark. A creepy howl of a wolf wakes you up from your thoughts and you notice how dark it is around you.

You get up and start running, hoping that you chose the right direction.

You are running as fast as you can, but soon your path is blocked by a huge wolf in front of you. Your heart skips a beat, and you get ready to protect yourself.

You take a battle pose, lifting your arms in front of you and getting your fists ready. That big, grey wolf rushed towards you, and you try to dodge, but that animal was incredibly fast, and it manages to bite your forearm.

You try to shake and punch it off. It rips off your uniform shirt and leaves a bloody bite mark there.

You huffed angrily in pain and started running away from the wolf. It ran after you, and you stop to kick it and you were successful as the wolf flew on the ground a few meters away from you.

You took the opportunity to ran further, but your gloom filled your face as you realized that you were probably lost. The island was small but it wasn´t that small you couldn’t get lost in there especially in the dark.

You were running forward.

“Someone! Help meee!” You yelled as you ran, hoping that Sakazuki would hear you.

Of course, you didn´t want to rely on him but you basically had no other choices. You ran and soon you encountered another wolf.

It growled at you and the one who was chasing you were now catching up. You tried to activate your armament haki, but you haven´t learned to control it fully yet so you struggled and just dodged the attacks, trying to punch and kick back.

You hold up the fight and you didn´t really struggle, but you were getting tired so your performance wasn´t on its peak right now. You tried running again but you stumble on a root, and you fell on the ground on your stomach.

You cough as "all the air were punched out of you" literally by the impact. You get up quickly, but one of the wolves grab your leg between its sharp teeth.

You yell, trying to scare it but you were helpless. On the moment you thought you were done for you hear someone run towards you with a lantern.

You tried to get the wolf off your leg and that someone has a hand spreading with magma as he punches the wolf that is biting your leg. The other wolf backs off, whining as it goes.

Sakazuki saved you.

He was panting, catching his breath. You stared at his shoes as he was standing right in front of you.

You lifted you sight along his body. He looks down on you.

“Thank you.” You say quietly, struggling to stand up.

Your leg is hurting like crazy and it´s bleeding. Sakazuki notices that and his mouth twitches.

He picks you up on his arms without saying a word and starts walking towards the cottage, holding you with one arm and lantern with his other hand.

You disliked the thought of this situation but in reality, you felt pretty comfortable there. Resting your head on his chest, hearing his breathing and heart beating.

You disliked him as a person, and he probably disliked you too, but your bodies did not dislike each other. You didn´t know how he felt, you could just guess. The look on his face was blank. He was neutral but he looked like he had something he wanted to say.

“Hey. I want you to understand something, so please listen to me.”

He suddenly spoke up.

You turned your head to look at him. You heard his heartbeat rise.

“Just like you, I am doing what I believe is the right thing to do”

Your eyes widened as you heard him speak. He gritted his teeth slightly.

“We are all serving for the same purpose. We are all supposed to be on the same side.” He continued, his expression glooming.

You stared at him in silence, and he squeezed you subconsciously, pressing you against his chest tighter. You didn´t know what to say and after that, he did not say a word either. Rest of the walk back to the cottage was a bit awkward again.

He puts you down on a bed and went to grab some first aid needs.

“Take your shirt and roll up your pants so I can treat your wounds!” He said with a demanding tone.

You were a little confused because he was treating you actually nicely and he even opened up during your way back here.

You did what he ordered you to do and you didn´t dare to speak back. He came to sit on the edge of the bed, took your legs on his lap and he cleaned the wound on your leg, then wrapped it up with some roll bandages.

He leaned on his side to reach your arm, basically lying next to you now. You felt excitement when he got so close to you.

He grabbed your arm and cleaned the wound on it. He analyzed the wound after cleaning it and decided to not cover it. He got up and went to the bathroom.

You let out a shaky breath as it was all over now. You were safe, but internally you were having a huge conflict. You almost thought that maybe Sakazuki isn´t as bad.

Sakazuki was washing his hands in the bathroom. He stared as the blood from his hands washed off and escaped with the water to the sewers.

You weren´t the only one who was struggling internally. Sakazuki had a huge mess going on inside his mind too.

He finally steps out from the bathroom and glances you quickly as he goes to sit on the couch. You stare at his side profile, and he looks to the side, locking your eyes.

You feel a burning red running on your face and you look away. He kept his eyes on you. He placed hand on his chest and continued staring at you.

You felt cold shivers, and you shook your head. You decided to get some sleep and you tucked yourself under the blanket.

The morning arrived and you woke up early. You opened your eyes and saw Sakazuki snoring on the couch, sleeping on his back.

You rub your eyes and get up. Your leg is hurting, but it´s not as bad as yesterday. You opened the fridge and saw a meal stored there. You assumed that it was the food Sakazuki was preparing yesterday, and you decided to warm it up and eat.

You were so hungry and your stomach war growling, craving for food. As you took first bites, a warm feeling filled you. The food was delicious!

You thought that it was kind of funny how Sakazuki was such a good cook. You ate every last bite from your plate and washed it. That was when you heard Sakazuki´s snail phone ring in the pocket of his red suit.

Sakazuki himself huffed in his sleep. He didn´t wake up. You went to grab his suit jacket and searched for the snail phone. You found it and answered.

“Hmm ~ Morning Sakazuki-kun! I am here to tell you details about your mission!” A slow male voice speaked up.

It was Borsalino.

“Sooo, there is no mission. I just want you to make up with you-know-who and become closer with her! I am going to pick you up in… Wait, I won´t tell you. Take care!” Then the call hung up.

You stared at the snail phone, still holding Sakazuki´s suit jacket on your shoulder. You were confused. There was no mission?

They just wanted you two to make up and become closer. What the hell?

As you were standing there confused, you notice how Sakazuki was glaring at you.

“So that is what he wanted.” He commented, implying that he heard the call after all. You nodded, still looking confused.

Sakazuki sighs loudly as you put his jacked and snail phone back on their places.

“I am not sure what you think about all this, but I certainly do not hate you. I am just an arrogant, short-tempered person you know.” He tells you as he gets up and goes to get some water to drink.

“There are not too many people in this world who can tolerate my fiery personality…” He says with sadness in his voice.

You looked at him, mouth half open as you are surprised how appropriate and soft person he actually was.

“I… I um, understand.” You managed to say. He chuckled which surprised you.

“You don´t have to say that. I know you are almost speechless since I am like a completely different person than I am at work. Honestly, I can´t even imagine what is going on in your head right now. It must be shocking to see that I am a human being too.” He continued to speak and took a look at you with a slight smile on his face which disappeared quickly.

He was in a vulnerable state right now. He felt a heavy feeling in his chest, and you saw how an anxious feeling is taking over him. You look at him and you felt a sting in your heart. You wanted to hug him, squeeze him tight.

And that is what you did. You sprinted towards him and wrapped your arms around his waist, hugging him from the behind.

You buried your face in his back and held him even though you were much smaller and shorter than him.

He is shocked about your reaction but he didn´t push you away.  Instead, he gently brushed his hands against yours.

His body was slightly twitching as he was holding tears. You heard him call you by your first name with a shaky voice.

Tears were now running down his harsh features as he couldn´t hold it anymore.

His nose started to get runny, and he sniffed. You tried to comfort him silently, but you felt like you were unsuccessful. You didn´t really know what to say or do, you were quite unsure about everything right now.

The whole situation was so weird. This isn´t the Admiral Akainu you know.

At last, you decide to speak up your mind.

“I never thought that under your hard, vicious shell there was a person like this. I am so sorry to hear you are lonely. I always disliked… No, that´s too mild. I always hated you because you were so loud, angry, nasty and always disagreed with almost everyone and especially with me. Now I understand partially, Sakazuki.” You spoke from your heart, with soft, calm voice.

It probably wasn´t comforting for him to hear that you hated him, but you wanted to let him know. He gasped for air feeling a lump in his throat, pressing your arms against his body gently and then grabbing them and removing them from his waist.

You took this as a hint that he wanted to be alone, and you left and went outside. You took a quick look at him before you disappeared.

You saw him trying to wipe his tears desperately. You couldn´t believe that this sobbing man was the harsh Admiral himself.

You decided to go for a little walk by the seaside, but a weird feeling was haunting you as you tried to enjoy your walk.

You felt somewhat guilty for hating Sakazuki now, but at the same time you didn´t. You had very mixed feelings.

If you thought you had mixed feelings before, that was nothing like this. You still disliked him, but something inside you wanted to forgive him.

The more you thought about him, you and your feelings, realization hit you like Borsalino hitting supernovas.

You might have... No, you do have romantic feelings towards Sakazuki.

You froze. You stared forward, seeing a pretty sunrise spreading in the horizon.

Your mind went through your emotions, experiences and everything. You´ve always had this tiny, almost unnoticeable feeling when you were around him.

You can´t put it into words, but now you finally identified the feeling as it has now grown notably.

You squeezed the collar of your shirt and sighed. You sat down on the grass and your sense of time vanished.

You excluded everything around you until you feel something touching your shoulder.

You turn your head to see who is behind you and you see Sakazuki. He looks at you questioningly and you nod.

He sits next to you, and you can see a puzzled look on his face.

“What´s the matter Sakazuki?”

“I trust you a lot, Vice Admiral. That is why I told you how I feel, but now I feel dumb. We have been hating each other mutually for so long and now we share a connection.” He told you while you listened to him and nodded as an agreement.

“I think I have developed romantic feelings for you…” He suddenly said and you feel your face flush bright red again.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he saw your reaction. You could see embarrassment on his face. Neither of you had almost no experience with relationships but there was a somewhat natural flow going on that progressed things between you two slowly but surely.

He had his usual grumpy-like expression on his face. He grunted in awkwardness. He was already almost back to his usual self, and he acted like he never had shown any weakness.

You took a quick glance on him, and you see how his wide chest covered in a white t-shirt release as he breaths out. He explored you with his gaze silently.

Sakazuki is a very straightforward person after all, it seems. You gently placed you hand over his and you tried sneaking your fingers under his gloves.

He allowed you to do so and soon your significantly smaller hand was between his palm and the glove.

You smuggled your fingers in between his fingers and held his hand. You smiled ear to ear, noticing a slight happiness on Sakazuki´s face too.