Attachment to belief is always a difficult concept to broach. Cognitive dissonance is a mental discomfort that happens when 2 of our own ideas conflict with one another. We see this happen to Kaya in this episode when Merry tells her that Klahadore attacked him, and Kaya does not believe him at first because of how strong her belief that Klahadore is a good guy is. Especially after pushing Usopp away for saying the same thing, and now seeing Merry covered in blood trying to warn her, she hesitates to accept this new belief that contradicts a previously held one. This is a very important topic for young minds to become familiar with because an inability to overcome cognitive dissonance is synonymous with an inability to grow and develop as a human being.
In his dying moments, we see a new side of Merry than was previously portrayed, full of deep wisdom and compassion. He urges Kaya to stay calm and think through her options with pragmatism, insisting she give her family fortune to Captain Kuro without a fight in order to ensure her own survival. My immediate thought here is how did he not sooner identify Klahadore to be an evildoer before this when he is apparently such an intelligent and well-adjusted character. I suppose that it simply goes to show the depth of Klahadore’s scheme and his great ability to deceive.
Last note, we get another new twist on the concept of reputation in this episode in which the Meowban brothers pretend to be weak & afraid in order to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. By playing the part of scaredy-cats who don’t want to do battle with Zoro, they are able to get the jump on him and gain the upper hand in the battle. A false reputation can be advantageous if properly curated.