Such a lovely question…!
To begin with, it took a while for me to gather the courage to drop the bomb, as it were. I was so scared she’d say no… Who’d want a monster like me as a husband? Certainly not an angel like her – though we were dating at the time.
But that was exactly what drove me to it – I was tired of just dating, being her boyfriend. I was tired of all the Agency and even Port Mafia members who knew me telling Sara that I was just toying with her. I was not, but how to prove it?
Make it serious, because I was serious. I needed her to know… Dating wasn’t enough anymore, not for me, not if everyone told her that I’d drop her at any moment. So after a few months of working together, and a few more being her boyfriend… One warm day in May I invited her up onto the Agency roof at night, a stargazing date, nothing more.
Or so she thought… We gazed all around at the lights of Yokohama – not so many stars in sight, but what can you do when you’re in the city? It didn’t matter, though, the look of wonder on the face of my precious princess was beautiful all the same, whether looking at natural lights or man made ones.Â
Soon enough I knew I had to ask, then or never. I pulled out a ring – I still wonder if I should have gotten a diamond, but she just loves the ocean so much… I’d gotten her a pearl instead. A little rose-gold ring with a pearl at the center, nothing too fancy but I hoped, I prayed even, that she’d like it regardless.
She did, a little too much…! I had never intended to make her cry, when I said what I did, what I’d rehearsed in the mirror and once even with Kunikida:
“When you first met me, Sara… I asked you, as I’ve asked many before you, if you would do me the honor of dying with me. To my shock and surprise, you gave me a reply I’d never heard before – instead of a no, you invited me to live with you. Now I’d finally like to accept the invitation… I want to live with you, forever. Will you live with me?"Â
I didn’t use the words “marry me” per se… Though that was the request. Afterwards I had to tell her lots of silly jokes to get her to calm down, poor sweetie… But once the sobs turned to sweet little sniffles she said yes, a hundred times yes. She said it over and over and over and I still hope she didn’t notice that I started crying, too.Â
But of course, I had to have my dramatic moment, didn’t I? So the very next day I proposed a second time, in front of all the Agency members, now that I knew I had nothing to be afraid of. She said yes, of course, and I quickly slipped the ring off and popped it back on her finger, just as the entire Agency cheered – and one exasperated FINALLY! sounded from Kunikida, to our collective surprise!