I really should be sleeping but I am just having SO many Helmeppo emotions right now I gotta get them off my chest. This is gonna be a ramble so sorry in advance.
A headcanon I have for Helmeppo that I just hold so near and dear to my heart is that he doesn’t have any big dream. Sure in the anime he mentions wanting to get back the life he had, but I think that dream died early on. By the Marineford war at the very latest, possibly even by the end of Water 7. But that’s ok, you know? Not everyone needs a big dream. He’s got his hands full enough watching Coby’s back. And besides, I know he was angry and hated life as a chore boy but I’d bet that even when he was the asshole son of a Marine Captain he wasn’t ever truly happy. I mean, just think of how alone he really was. The people in Shells Town hated him. The marines were afraid of Morgan and can’t have liked Helmeppo much better with how he treated them. Even Morgan didn’t give a shit bout him.
But now? Now he’s not ‘Morgan’s son’, he’s Lt. Commander Helmeppo! He earned the for himself! He’s surrounded by people who love him and who he loves in return! Like! Babygirl you did it! You get to be happy!
On a tangential note, I also enjoy a good time travel scenario every now and then. So just. Imagine. Imagine younger Helmeppo, as a cabin boy or maybe even earlier, seeing his future self. Seeing that things get so much better for him.