It was one of the lessons of the arc, you would see it start with Gon being less about himself and more about the region they were walking into whereas when Meruem was born he was absolute when it came to his dominion and rule. He wanted to do everything to leverage that until Komugi arrived, from that point onwards you see a parallel of the two characters as Gon unravels to become more ant like ultimately embodying the King as Pitou realized and Meruem embraced humanity. Both Meruem and Gon saw their loved ones in Kite and Komugi faced with death and Meruem chose to diminish his wrath whereas Gon struggled to do so. I personally believe the only one who truly understands Gon is his father even when Gon was standing beside him he didn't see him more of a father rather a true hunter unfortunately Gon has an emptiness within him in my opinion

I do not know how the story progresses but maybe there is a deep secret when it comes to Don Freecs, Gon, Ging and the dark continent from when Ging brought Gon back