One Step Behind

Regrets we've made

He... he was going to die here. Wasn't he.

It was strange. All his life he'd thrown himself into the face of danger, tempting fate every chance he could, but now that he was here? At the end of it all?

This was a fragile platform he'd built for himself. A small and lonely stage.

Ace practically laughed at himself. The hell was he doing now, waxing poetic? He was about to get executed in some dumbass public show of power and he was philosophising? God if Sabo could see him now.

... Though they'd be seeing each other again far sooner than he'd expected.

He'd never been an introspective person. But it wasn't as if he had much else he could do. His hands were bound. The guards spat at him if he tried to talk. The only place he had to retreat to was among his thoughts.

And his thoughts welcomed him with open arms.

"Do you regret it?"

The spectral figure walked through the crates behind him before turning and leaning against the wall as if she was actually something solid.

"Going after Blackbeard I mean. Now that you've ended up here."

This was another thing he'd started doing. Seeing her. At first it had been a self defence mechanism, bought about by his time of malnutrition and emotional turmoil in Impel Down. He wasn't sure at first why it was her of all people, instead of Pops or Marco or even Deuce, but through time... he could kinda figure it out.

She'd been one of the few people who just listened. Just the two of them, on Strider, travelling the seas together. It sounded dumb but... that was rare. For him at least. Especially when she refused to sugar coat things and gave her thoughts plain and simple. But even then, she never tried to dissuade him from his task. Never once tried to change his mind.

Because she knew she was doing something just as dumb as he was.

The figment still stood there, blinking those colourless eyes at him. Since he couldn't even remember the basic details about her anymore. He hadn't bothered to try and remember. If he could go back... well. There were a lot of things he would've done differently if he went back. But one of them would be to properly look at her. To try and memorise the way she scowled. The way her toes curled while she stretched. The way when her face softened at the very mention of Luffy's crewmate.

Maybe he could even have asked her to tag along with him for longer. Just for the company.

Nah. He mentally rolled his eyes. That would never have happened, and was only something he was thinking about now out of desperation. She'd had her own mission the same way he'd had his.

Phantasmal Strauss cocked her head, still waiting for an answer even now. "Well? Was it?"

Good question. One that she'd asked time and time again and he'd never quite had the answer for. Ace felt the shackles dig ever deeper into his wrists. A reminder of his fate even now. Did he regret it? After all that had happened, and that absolute shitfest of a fight?

No.

He... didn't.

Even though it had inevitably led to... well... this, he knew deep down that if he hadn't gone after Teach he'd be consumed by guilt. Thatch had died under his watch, and that fact would have eaten him away from the inside out if he hadn't left. Perhaps it was stupid, and perhaps he was just a stubborn fool, but that was the honest truth.

He had no regrets about what he'd done. The only thing he was ashamed of was letting Pops and the rest of the crew into this mess. That was it.

"I see."