Am I the only one who believes firmly that Gyro became Meruem? He is even wearing half a BLACK NGL drug trafficker coat, for goodness sake. And that backstory helped give a good perspective on Meruem's mentality compared to everyone else. Even the Royal Guards, despite their lack of human memories, possessed quirks likely rooted in their former personas. It happened with Yuupi, at least, going from Magical Beast intelligence to a more Human-based one.
It also fits with how Welfen kept insisting that Gyro was the only King, and yet didn't seem to recognize the truth. I think he even mentions how Meruem reminds him of Gyro, in a way. Not sure though about that. But my rewatch of the series did run across an odd quote that compared the two.
And then we have the fact that Kite became the King's twin sister. Kite and Gyro were sent to the queen around the same general time, or would have been. I'm pretty sure it was implied the Chimera Ant soldier sent him to the Queen for feeding, and we know Kite's brain was fed once Pitou learned he couldn't be resurrected. the timing fits perfectly for Gyro to be eaten, gets lucky and becomes the baseline for the King, Kite pursues a couple days later and is slain, fed and follows as the princess, but doesn't gain much nutrition thanks to the greedy nature of an infant Meruem.
I highly doubt we will ever see Gyro again. He planned to destroy the world or render everyone as miserable as himself. ALL of this is touched upon heavily in Meruem's dialogue attempt with the Chairman. His conflicting, wavering views were not from his Half-ant/Half-human nature, but his nature as the reborn Gyro wrestling with the same dilemma he suffered in life, the difference between ant and man, and how he himself was treated as an ant by his father, and later as a true, apex ant, treated humans as something to squash. His conflict with his greater, more temperate ambitions created a flaw, one that had him wavering between great leader, as he was to his NGL subordinates, and the tyrant he planned to be to the Human World. There were ant-specific complexes attached, but Gyro already had an inhuman pyche, so again it fit the whole theme perfectly, as expected of Togashi.
Without Gyro being Meruem, the entire thing falls apart for me. Meruem's plans outlined to Netero feel sudden and from nowhere, as well as the conflict suddenly escalating from basic appreciation for weaklings like Komugi to complex political and ethnic breeding schemes. And Gyro is a random piece of backstory and worldbuilding that feel incredibly relevant and poignant, only to seemingly vanish.
But they don't. The themes live on. In his second life and death as Meruem.
Visual evidence from the anime is trite in comparison to the philosophical arguments, but the eyes of Gyro as a kid, though black, stare in that same, focused and unblinking way as Meruem's violet orbs, harkening to the similarities shared. This happens with Kite using the same bodily motions in his Chimera Princess body, though his memories were retained.
Let's also not forget the Koala discussing the vicious cycle of how reincarnation did NOTHING to stop him from following the same path he'd taken as a man. Gyro and Meruem ended up following extremely similar goals. And since Gyro's full plans weren't given beyond drug distribution, we have no certainty they weren't along the lines of mass genocide, though we can be sure he would have loved nothing better than to unleash the Ants on the rest of the world, had he known prior to their arrival what would transpire in East Gorteau.
