Author's Note: Words cannot describe how much my heart broke while writing this chapter. I was pretty much crying by the end of this chapter. Why? Because Aki's father is a horrible monster.

Disclaimer: Eichiiro Oda owns both One Piece and the song Black Handkerchief of Happiness.

"The things I do for love." - Jaime Lannister, Game of Thrones

Ch. 73: "The Things I do For Love."

That night, as most of the people in the mansion slept, Aki's father was awoken by a knock at the front door.

"What now?" Aki's father asked himself as he put on his robe. He went downstairs and answered the door to Teinosuke.

"May I please see Aki?" Teinosuke asked Aki's father.

"She's asleep right now. But, please, stay a while," Aki's father explained as Teinosuke entered the house. "What do you need to see Xiaojiang for?"

"I… I want to tell her how much I love her, even though she's with another – I mean, even though she doesn't really have feelings of love for me," Teinosuke explained, almost telling Aki's father about how his daughter was in love with her butler.

"Okay, then. Please don't do anything crazy and/or harmful to Xiaojiang," Aki's father explained.

"Thank you, Mr. Chung-Feng," Teinosuke said before he walked up the stairs. Aki's father sighed.

"That boy does some crazy things for love," Aki's father commented before he went beck to his own bedroom.

In her bedroom, Aki was fast asleep when Teinosuke entered the room. Right when Teinosuke walked in, Aki awoke.

"Sarutobi-kun?" Aki asked, too tired to tell who was in her room.

"No, it's Teinosuke," Teinosuke corrected as he sat down beside Aki.

"What are you doing?" Aki asked groggily. Teinosuke only responded by pulling Aki into his arms.

"I'm loving you, Aki. You don't need Heathcliffe. He is too dark and brooding for you," Teinosuke said re-assuringly as he kissed Aki. At that point, Aki became more aware of what was going on.

"Teinosuke, what are you doing?!" Aki cried. Teinosuke pulled Aki closer to him.

"Wanting you, honey. You've always belonged to me," Teinosuke explained as he kissed Aki.

"No! Stop, Teinosuke! What's gotten into you?!" Aki yelled.

"Honey, don't you want us to marry?" Teinosuke asked as he slid his hand into Aki's nightgown and down her back. Aki grabbed Teinosuke's hand.

"No! Don't touch me! Why do you even love me?!" Aki cried before she slapped Teinosuke really hard.

"Aki, wait –" Teinosuke yelled before Aki screamed and ran out of the room. Aki ran next door and began to bang and claw against the door.

"Sarutobi-kun, help me! Help me!" Aki screamed. Heathcliffe then opened the door.

"What is it, Aki?" Heathcliffe asked angrily, since he had just woke up.

"T-Teinosuke… He… He…" Aki stuttered. Heathcliffe's eyes grew wide.

"Aki, come in. You'll be safe with me," Heathcliffe whispered as he led Aki into his room, closing the door behind him. "Now, what happened? Tell me everything."

Aki sighed.

"Teinosuke… Came into my room and forced me into his arms. He kissed me and told me that I belonged to him and that I don't deserve you since you're too dark and brooding. Then, he… He… He put his hand inside my nightgown and touched me on the back. At that point, I slapped him and ran off," Aki explained before she broke down into tears. Heathcliffe then hugged Aki tightly.

"Don't cry, Aki. I'm here. Nothing can hurt you now," Heathcliffe whispered to Aki.

"Sarutobi-kun, I want to go back to the Hyperion! I don't feel safe here anymore! I don't know if my father planned this, and I don't know what Teinosuke or my father will plan to do with us! We can't go on like this!" Aki sobbed.

"We will, Aki. We'll get to leave tomorrow night," Heathcliffe said re-assuringly.

"No, Sarutobi-kun, I want to leave this mansion TONIGHT," Aki said defiantly.

"Tonight?" Heathcliffe asked. Aki just nodded in response. "Well, if you insist. Go change and meet me back here. If you run into any danger, call me."

Aki nodded and went back to her room, where Teinosuke was waiting.

"Where did you go, honey?" Teinosuke asked. Aki glared at him.

"Get out of my room. NOW!" Aki yelled. Teinosuke grew pale.

"I don't… I don't have to," Teinosuke said. Aki pushed him out of her room.

"Well, you do not force yourself onto a lady! I can see why I stopped loving you – Joining Yuriko's crew has left you as a former shell of yourself! You're deprived, shallow, and fake! All you care about is my love, which you will never get!" Aki explained.

"You're one to talk. You act vain and shallow. Why does that Heathcliffe boy love –" Teinosuke asked before Aki slammed the door on him.

"I don't love you anymore!" Aki screamed from behind the door. From the other side of the door, Aki took a deep breath. "I can't believe it… I just yelled at the one guy I loved before Sarutobi-kun entered my life…"

"Ready?"

"Ready, Sarutobi-kun."

A few minutes later, Aki and Heathcliffe were dressed, and they were preparing to leave the mansion.

"Are you sure you want to leave right now?" Heathcliffe asked Aki.

"Yes, I'm sure. The night will cover us from my father," Aki explained. Heathcliffe grabbed her hand.

"Let's do this," Heathcliffe said before he and Aki walked hand-in-hand out of the mansion.

"How far are we from the Hyperion?" Aki asked Heathcliffe.

"A few miles. We should be there shortly," Heathcliffe explained. Then, something grazed Heathcliffe's neck. "What was that?"

"Don't worry about it! We have to run!" Aki yelled before she began to run.

"Wait! What's going on?!" Heathcliffe yelled as he tried to catch up to his girlfriend.

"My father murders any butlers or maids who desert him! He makes it look like either an accident or a suicide so he wouldn't get arrested! He probably saw us escape!" Aki yelled. But, Heathcliffe tripped on a rock and fell to the ground.

"Fuck…" Heathcliffe moaned as he held his ankle. "Aki, help!"

Sadly, right when Aki turned back, Aki's father approached Heathcliffe.

"What do you think you're doing with my daughter?" Aki's father asked Heathcliffe, who got up despite the pain in his ankle.

"Protecting her. A little bird told me that the fianceé you picked out for Aki forced himself on her. Had she not screamed for help, she would be in a lot more mental pain," Heathcliffe explained. Aki's father got out a knife and made a cut on Heathcliffe's forehead.

"Xiaojiang should've loved her fianceé back. She never deserved you," Aki's father explained to Heathcliffe as he made a thin cut down Heathcliffe's neck.

"Sarutobi-kun! No! Don't hurt him!" Aki screamed as she gripped her spear. Aki's father walked over and grabbed Aki's spear from her.

"Xiaojiang, I told you that you don't need this!" Aki's father yelled.

"Yeah, well, I don't need you meddling with MY life! You are a sadistic, cold-blooded murderer! And, you know what?! I want nothing to do with you anymore! I am severing all ties with you! You are no longer my father!" Aki told her father, who smirked.

"Fine, then. Since you don't plan on seeing me ever again, I plan on murdering this boy so you will never see him again," Aki's father explained.

"Sarutobi-kun, run!" Aki yelled. Heathcliffe got up, but Aki's father threw the spear into Heathcliffe's thigh. When Heathcliffe fell back to the ground, Aki's father removed the spear.

"What do you plan to do to me?" Heathcliffe asked as he sat up.

"I plan to kill you, my boy. I respected you, but you lied to me. You've made my daughter into a rebellious whore," Aki's father explained. Heathcliffe wiped the blood from his face and smeared it onto the face of Aki's father.

"Go ahead," Heathcliffe said with an evil smirk. "But, remember that you'll be the one who burns in Hell."

"Much oblidged," Aki's father said as he lifted up the spear.

"Sarutobi-kun!" Aki screamed right before he stabbed Heathcliffe in the hand with his knife.

"Aki!" Heathcliffe screamed. Aki's father just laughed.

"Let the poor lover cry, for he will be dead!" Aki's father proclaimed before he raised the spear again. Aki closed her eyes, and she heard Heathcliffe scream.

"Sarutobi-kun!" Aki shouted as she opened her eyes. When she opened her eyes, her father was gone, but Heathcliffe was bleeding all over.

"Aki," Heathcliffe gasped as Aki ran up to him. Aki wiped the blood off of his face.

"Sarutobi-kun, please don't die. We're almost to the Hyperion… Ageha will take care of you… Just… Please don't die. I love you," Aki sobbed as she took off her dress and ripped it into strips. Aki then tied the fragments of her dress to the places where Heathcliffe was stabbed.

"I… Won't. You're so beautiful. I love you," Heathcliffe said as he weakly reached out and tucked a lock of Aki's hair back behind her ear. "If I die… Remember me. Always."

With a smile, Heathcliffe closed his eyes. Aki burst into tears.

"Sarutobi-kun!" Aki screamed before she picked up Heathcliffe and carried him back to the Hyperion. "Please don't die, my baby. I love you."

Aki took a deep breath and began to sing.

"Shiroi hankachi
Mitsukaruna yatsu ni
Nigero
Shiroi hankachi
Tsukamaruna, tako ni
Sore sumi da ika mo
kita zo
Mata sumi da
Shiroi hankachi
Sumi darake shiawase no kuroi
hankachi," Aki sang soothingly to Heathcliffe as tears fell from her eyes.

On board the Hyperion, Ageha was reading a book on medicine, when Aki entered with Heathcliffe.

"Ageha! Ageha!"

Ageha looked up, and she saw a very distraught Aki carrying a beaten and bandaged-up Heathcliffe, who was mostly unconscious.

"Help me! Sarutobi-kun is dying! You have to save him!"

Ending Note: That was really depressing. Excuse me while I go write about Garp and Sengoku going to a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic convention for the next episode of The DysFUNctional Pirates.

Anyway, review if you cried during the last quarter of the chapter.