Ace shook his head. "Don't say that," he mumbled hoarsely, there were tears already welling up inside of him, threatening to take over. "I don't want you to change, I don't want you to choose, but if I'm just... If I'm just..." he sniffed, he didn't even realized when he'd started to cry. "If I have to pick where I'm supposed to be... we both know that isn't here." He was really crying now. This wasn't what he wanted! Not at all. "My nakama, my loyalty... I can't..." Tears rolled down his cheeks and he tried to get up. "I'm sorry. You're right."

This was dumb.

Pirate and marine, so what? Hadn't he always said, so what? Hadn't he always said it didn't matter? Smoker was the one who thought it mattered. "Don't ask me where I want to be. I already know." Ace took a deep steady breath, stopped the flow of tears and started walking through the sand, his wet boots still squishy. "But I can't sacrifice my justice to do it, right?"

Fuck.

He really hated himself now. "Just do what you must."