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♠ anonymous
There it was, the million beli question! Sure Ace preached more than he performed, always willing to share a personal mantra disguised as a catchphrase. Live a life without regrets. The recipient of the words would change and thus would the quote, but even if the structure suffered a little modification, the intention would always be the same - a reminder to himself. If anyone hearing Ace wanted to take the words for a lesson and do as he spoke, so be it. It was not for him to tell people what to do.
Oh, Ace had some regrets all right… For one, he regretted not having been smart enough or alert enough to see right through Teach and learn what he was up to. He’d always regret not having been the responsible commander his division deserved in that aspect, for which he had endangered them and which had resulted in the death of fellow commander and sea brother Thatch. Then there were lesser but still serious regret about this or that course of action as captain and as a man which would eventually lead to Ace questioning himself on matters of morals, worth and humanity….
Nonny’s question was quite sharp. Eatery-owners were not bandits, even if some demanded exorbitant amounts of money (in Ace’s evaluation as a professional eater). They were law-respectful people doing their business. Some had families to provide for.
Under this light, Ace’s dine and dashes were a bad thing to do and something he should feel bad about. It was not like he’d ask questions before deciding whether the restaurant could afford a freebie! Who knew how much damage this kind of behaviour had done to many a house? And it was not like he had the habit of picking really wealthy places to dine at, either… Those could certainly afford a few beli missing from their registers.
All in all, Ace knew fleeing from a restaurant check was not a good thing to do and the money in his pocket would grow heavy every time he mused on this as if, in all the morality it had and that Ace was apparently lacking, it wanted to burn a whole in his pocket, fall through it and run into the rightful hands. He just couldn’t help it! After years of doing it so as not to go to bed on an empty stomach when the day’s hunt had been fruitless, his self was just programmed to dine and dash and had no more control over it than it had over his narcolepsy, even if he had the money to cover the expenses.
To answer nonny’s question…
“Nah” he said like it was no big deal, even shrugging in reinforcement. “Look, I’m not proud of it but I don’t regret it either. It’s just what I do”
