**Some Spoilers.
_Just a warning, because I know some people might not have seen
the Baratie/Don Krieg Section yet, possibly.
I think Don Krieg is extremely looked down upon as a character, and as his right hand man Gin would say "Don't look down on Don Krieg! - He's the strongest in the East Blue!" - And, I do agree with him, on terms of attitude and confidence, Krieg is a powerhouse to be reckoned with. Even if he's not the strongest character in One Piece, he's definitely one of the proud, fighting Captains.
He'd make a good ally, if he wasn't such an arrogant and proud man with such terrible standards of judging people based on strength and unquestionable loyalty. However, when it was revealed that Don Krieg had actually entered the Grand Line before, I found it pretty amazing, because I figured the Grand Line wouldn't come into the story until much later, obviously.
People talk about how Krieg uses cheap weapons, such as the net, the spiked cape, small bombs… even the Great Spear. And of course, his famous armour. However, I say to them, Krieg is making the best of his ability... unlike Luffy, who doesn't entirely even manage to knock Krieg out, Krieg has no Devil Fruit ability. He's a feared man in the East Blue, and possibly one of the most 'Pirate-Like' Pirates, for that matter. Just from using East Blue villains, the fat Alvida and , Captain Kuro are a normal enough premise, as for Buggy the Clown and Arlong, well.. they're more fantasy, obviously.
Some of those great moments involving Krieg, such as firing off the MH5, Luffy striking the explosive Great Spear, Krieg's armour being cracked, and then breaking entirely… I literally thought that Luffy might not have survived the battle with Don Krieg. And I never had the same feeling when he took on Arlong, the next time.. I sort of knew that he'd survive drowning, and kick Arlong's ass... the breaking of Arlong's nose was especially pathetic, to me, just because it was sort of like a phallic symbol of Arlong's pride. Don't ask, I mean.. it was a great insult
to see Arlong's nose broken into a bend like that, even if he did re-arrange it.
Oh, and when Krieg stood up after Luffy's final attack, at which point Luffy was drowning and unconscious, I was pretty stunned. Even if his eyes had became whited over, and he was knocked out in a swift punch to the gut by Gin, I could sort of see what Gin was talking about in how he respected Don Krieg, because he never really knew when to give up. Despite being poisoned, and possibly not surviving, Don Krieg's toxic MH5 gas, Gin still had an ultimate level of respect for Don Krieg, which wasn't earned overnight, obviously.
Even Gin gave Sanji a hard time of it, and sadly, if not for Gin's sensitive and caring side, he probably would've smashed his head in right there and then, he did have the chance to do so. However, Gin had a mutual respect for Sanji, even in the end, the attitude between them was still a friendly one.
Just my personal feelings on the whole Baratie section, and of course, the introduction of Sanji. There was a lot of emotional drive behind that part of the story, but from what I see, people do still tend to look down on Don Krieg, somehow. He's not such a bad character, in my opinion, and possibly one of the most threatening villains that Luffy faced off against... of course, not counting people like Sir Crocodile, that is.
I don't know if either Don Krieg or Gin have made a second appearance, but.. I would say that the fight between Luffy and Don Krieg is definitely one of those overlooked moments. What sparked this off was reading one of those kind of threads like, "ARLONG VS. DON KRIEG LOLZ." .. and wondering how people just had such blunt opinions about Krieg, one comment even making reference to his sideburns as a reason to not liking the character, which was entirely ridiculous.
Of course, all of these Versus threads are always the same, one of the most hated I've ever encountered being "Sanji Vs. Zorro." - Some extremely immature opinions, there, too._**
