@Maju:
problem is ,care about dignity in time of needs it is seen as an extremely stupid things to do in onepiece..since vivi taught to luffy to bow down to the guards of the drum kingdom because they needed their help.and the same thing is repeated plenty of times.
That's where the problem lies, at least for me.
I don't mind a character being as good as they come, being a pacifist, throwing his pride away in order to acheive something - or, better, know that such a thing doesn't hurt his pride as Shanks not giving a damn about those guys "humilliating" him in the first chapter.
Actually, a king bowing to his people counts as something pretty badass in my book and that scene would be quite impressive if not for that red part above.
The problem is not the character itself, but how Oda abuses of this "untainted good ruler that is able to give anything and everything for his people without any shred of grey in his character" to oppose the villain.
On the other side, the CD suffer from the same thing. First time we saw them in Sabaody I was one of the readers hoping for the scene when Luffy would shove his fist down that guy's throat. But then another noble appeared and he was pretty much the same, then every noble in Luffy's flashback, then that guy with Otohime… every single noble was the evil incarnated! Not simply despotic racist people, what would be pretty bad already, but a demon in human shape without any redeemable trait. When that noble appeared in Jinbe's flashback I simply couldn't care less anymore, I was only annoyed by the whole situation.
Even if King Riku's behaviour was not the best, I wouldn't mind, I would probably love the way he acted. Problem is that Oda abuses the formula so much that it doesn't affect me anymore. One Piece lost its ability to make me cry and/or get angry three flashbacks ago because everytime Oda tries to do so, he resorts to the same thing.