[Nonplussed by the shaking, but blue eyes burn with inner rage.]
Marineford happened because a bunch of people took an opportunity to turn you into a scapegoat. Ace... do you remember what I first told you? Why we call Pops our father? We're all hated around the world for who and what we are. There isn't a single damn person in our family who hasn't been an outcast. Devil fruit users, fishman, okama, Pops' size, Pops' dream, being the strongest damn pirate in the world, do you think people outside the crew, liked him for those things?
Do you think before you came along no one ever hated me, hated Pops, hated all of us? What do you think would have happened if I fought Teach instead? The exact same fucking thing. It didn't matter which of us got nabbed, they would have used any of us and all of us to get a chance at Pops' head. Teach used us, used them, and all while they thought they were using him.
What is blood? Some construct of someone else's design? You're Portgas D. Ace. You know why? Because you say you are. If I call you a cowboy, you tell me you're not. So why is this different? Why does them hating you for your blood matter over them hating you for being a pirate? Or hating you for having freckles? Or hating you for having tattoos? No one can choose to be born, no one can choose their blood, their species, any of it, so what does it matter? You wouldn't hate anyone for their blood; no one worth talking to will hate you for yours, so leave the rest behind. They're too shallow to think in a grand scale. They've done nothing of worth so they hide behind something they think will make them special. Then they drown in their own stupidity.
[action]
Marineford happened because a bunch of people took an opportunity to turn you into a scapegoat. Ace... do you remember what I first told you? Why we call Pops our father? We're all hated around the world for who and what we are. There isn't a single damn person in our family who hasn't been an outcast. Devil fruit users, fishman, okama, Pops' size, Pops' dream, being the strongest damn pirate in the world, do you think people outside the crew, liked him for those things?
Do you think before you came along no one ever hated me, hated Pops, hated all of us? What do you think would have happened if I fought Teach instead? The exact same fucking thing. It didn't matter which of us got nabbed, they would have used any of us and all of us to get a chance at Pops' head. Teach used us, used them, and all while they thought they were using him.
What is blood? Some construct of someone else's design? You're Portgas D. Ace. You know why? Because you say you are. If I call you a cowboy, you tell me you're not. So why is this different? Why does them hating you for your blood matter over them hating you for being a pirate? Or hating you for having freckles? Or hating you for having tattoos? No one can choose to be born, no one can choose their blood, their species, any of it, so what does it matter? You wouldn't hate anyone for their blood; no one worth talking to will hate you for yours, so leave the rest behind. They're too shallow to think in a grand scale. They've done nothing of worth so they hide behind something they think will make them special. Then they drown in their own stupidity.
Why do you care?