There had been no place for gratitude in Teach's world.
For the Dark-Dark Fruit he had dreamed of, he could smile as he killed Thatch, who had lived alongside him for over twenty years and regarded him as a brother.
Facing Whitebeard, Pops, who had raised him for decades and treated him as a biological son, he could weep and beg for forgiveness one moment, then launch an encirclement without hesitation the next.
Kindness, morality, bonds—things that weighed as heavily as mountains to ordinary people were, in his eyes, nothing but trash that could be trampled and discarded at will on the path to his ambition.
Even if he knew that Whitebeard had once risked his life to aid Rocks, he would only see it as "Whitebeard's own choice." He might even sneer at that "foolish" loyalty, and would never feel the slightest extra gratitude or hesitation toward Whitebeard because of it.
Teach might not have felt any father-son affection for Rocks, either.
He might have admired Rocks, but what he admired was the power and dominion Rocks represented—the power to overturn everything and stand above all else, the ambition of the "King of the World"—not the warmth of blood ties.
He had likely named his pirate ship Xebec's Sword not to commemorate Rocks, but to declare that he would become someone like Rocks, or even surpass him.
If Rocks were resurrected and stood in his way, Teach would raise his blade without hesitation.
Bloodline was never a restraint to him, nor was it something worth cherishing. "Regret" required at least a shred of conscience, and Teach possessed no such thing.
He could carry out the most despicable betrayal with a smile, and he could also laugh with a gambler's manic fervor in the face of despair.
His emotions were