After a bout of horseplay, Ace had not untied the knot in his heart, but at least some of his attention had been diverted.
In truth, Doflamingo had always dismissed Ace's thoughts. Things like one's origins and identity only became huge psychological shadows if you cared about them. If you did not, then they were simply what they were.
Doflamingo had been a slave, a Celestial Dragon, and a Marine. Yet only his identity as a Marine gave him even a slight sense of belonging. He did not give a damn about the other two.
He neither felt inferior because he had once been a slave, nor did he think himself superior to others because he had once been a Celestial Dragon.
At the end of the day, Ace's fierce rejection of his identity as the son of the Pirate King came from caring too much.
Look at Luffy. He was the grandson of a Navy Hero and the son of the Revolutionary Army's leader! Did he care about any of that? He still wanted to become the One Piece.
Forget caring—at first, he did not even know whether he had a father!
After lying around for a while and talking nonsense for a bit, Garp immediately became interested when he heard that Doflamingo was teaching his grandsons how to train.
After watching his grandsons practice for a while, Doflamingo spoke up. "Vice Admiral Garp, there should not be any problem with the way I am teaching them, right?"
That old bastard Garp had never had much patience and did not know a damn thing about teaching. Unfortunately, he was weak but overly enthusiastic, always thinking he was amazing.
"What use are the Navy Six Styles? Let me tell you, a person's potential is forced out. Throw them into a