@Captain:
Perhaps I could have made myself clearer there. Obviously they're not the same character and the circumstances are very different, but there are a lot of definite and clear similarities in their arcs, and I think Oda handled all the similar elements much better with Gin. I could understand Gin's loyalty to Don Kreig, even when Kreig was doing things he didn't agree with. I enjoyed seeing Gin start to make little stands against his boss in his choices to personally battle/not kill/save Sanji. Gin's loyalty seemed to have come from being treated well by Kreig, and from his admiration, and I always interpreted his suicidal willingness to follow orders as a mark or regret and an unsureness of what to do without his boss more than a sign of unwavering loyalty. He does say he's decided to plot his own course as he departs.
Bellamy however has never once been treated well by Doflamingo. He has no debt to the man, he came from a well off country and joined the family of his own free will. Doflamingo was dismissive of him then and has nearly killed him or had him killed three times since. There's literally no reason for Bellamy to remain loyal. He's said himself that Doflamingo was the wrong man to follow. In the spoiler thread that week I remember his actions being compared to the mentality of a samurai, but I still struggle to come to grips with his train of thought.
The Gin comparison is probably overdone at this point, but a shallower version of that is what it feels like to me. But hey, I shake my head almost every time 'death before dishonor' comes up as a plot point. I guess it's something of a cultural gap, Japan having a far greater concern with honor than what I'm used to, but I just can't come to grips with the mentality. Especially in Bellamy's case. Where's the honor in following a man who has repeatedly stabbed you in the back?
(And on the topic of honor, Bellamy's always been known for an underhanded and 'dishonorable' fighting style, full of cheap shots and unnecessary brutality. Kinda funny that this is where he draws the line.)
It's not out of character though. He's always been an idiot, and he's always had messed up priorities. It's just such a frustratingly poor decision on his part it had to go among my worst moments of the year.
I just want to say that my posts purpose was not to argue that this moment shouldn't have been your worst surprise of the arc despite me not believing it is but to argue against your statement on Bellamy simply being a lesser version of Gin.
With Gin in my interpretation you see there's stuff. There's a reason why when we meet Gin no one had been kind to him in his entire life other than Sanji, there's a reason why Gin was able to become this merciless hardcore killer at the drop of a dime, there's a reason Gin has these deep seeded insecurity/confidence and people issues that we'll never no about. It's blatantly obvious that Gin has some sort of tragic history pre-Baratie that made him into what we saw then and why he wanted to be used by Kreig and why Krieg was able to use him. This wasn't some simple mutual respect thing going on there Don Kreig was only using Gin as a tool.
He wasn't kind to him like you said may be the reason why Gin was so loyal and Gin was using Don Kreig as well he was using Krieg as a way to mask his own problems, like he said at the end of the arc it wasn't Krieg he respected it was his strength his shield a shield that Gin could use to hide behind so he wouldn't have to step out into the world and be his own man just like Sanji was using his debt to Zeff as an excuse not to go out on his own and search for the All Blue and why he was incredulous at how Zoro and Luffy were able to put their convictions on the line. That's what Gin's character arc and the entirety of Baratie was about for all the major characters not just Gin and Sanji, putting your convictions on the line and what it means to be a man which Luffy and Zoro were able to show both of them how to do while Bellamy's arc is different then that ans instead of making a new argument I'll just post something I made before:
" The way I see it is that Bellamy simply thought Doflamingo was cool and wanted to join him but when he was given Doflamingo's symbol, and made the oath to never lose again otherwise he would lose Dofla's endorsement everything after that point in Bellamy's pirating career was for the sake of that symbol, all of his wins, any strength, he gained, his pride, all amplified by the promise and overtime that got to his head and we ended up with the strength obsessed Bellamy who never lost and thought that he could coast on Doflamingo's symbol but once he got beat by Luffy, attacked/kicked our by Doflamingo, and had his crew die on him the only thing he could hold onto was his old oath which was directly connected to his self worth and representative of his life's work and so he made achieving what he hadn't before into his new dream.
It would be so easy for Bellamy to switch sides and blame Doflamingo for how how he turned out but instead of Oda making him Brownbeard 2.0 which would have been the generic route and what most series do he took the unconvetional route (which is one of the reasons I love that scene so much) and has Bellamy admit he's a massive fuck up idiot who took the wrong path in life on his own volition but just because things didn't go as Bellamy imagined they would Bellamy won't act as though he has no fault in this scenario and take the moral high ground/easy route.
He made his bed and he's gonna lie in it regardless of the outcome because switching sides on a whim just because he's at his wits end is the most shameful thing he believes he could do and wants to go out fighting the new man he admires Luffy. It's a very samurai/warrior decision to make.
His dream is gone and now he's a husk of body bouncing around trying to hold onto whatever bit of pride he can."
And also on what you said about Doflamingo being dismissive of him in their first encounter Bellamy didn't notice it and be was a teen then he was just excited to talk to his idol.
And then on what you said about Dofla trying to kill him three times the first time while what Doflamingo did to him was ridiculously cruel he wasn't trying to kill Bellamy he even have him some advice and a compliment (not to say he still didn't hate Bellamy).
The second time was after Bellamy ruined his chance that he'd been working towards for two years to join the family so he was desperate for something to hold onto and it wad all denial that Doffy had did that which is why he went to confront him and make sure it was true.
And then this instance isn't loyalty to Doflamingo imo.
And lastly his fighting style that really has nothing to do with his outlook on life.
I don't think this post is that coherent but whatever it's kate.