this stands in contrast to luffy, who always rejected garp's attempts to make him a marine, not out of a moral dispute but because he wanted to be a pirate and be free to do whatever he wanted without professional responsibility or oversight. luffy just wants to have fun and protect his friends, and the universe is lucky that this often results in him liberating entire countries.

on the other hand, dragon's motivations are PURELY moral. he gets no joy out of any of this and has no personal connection to god valley or its inhabitants. he wasn't a teenage rebel trying to stick it to his dad. he wasn't an agent of chaos who regularly shoots celestial dragons with tranq darts. he probably would've been perfectly happy to fulfill his dad's expectations and be the best marine he could be...until he realized what doing so entails.

Thank youuu <3

That's exactly what I'm trying to go for with him lately.

Bonus trials at an accurate dragon