@Katzztar:
We only know what the public (both citizens and marines) says about Barto, they got Luffy wrong saying he's a monster, and misunderstood some occasions (thinks of Water 7 where CP9 frames SHs for the attempted assassination of Iceburg, or how other pirates and marines mistook Luffy's ringing the Ox Bell as an act of war or claiming its his age when Luffy was actually sending a message to his namaka)
Like I said though its too early to say one way or the other. Barto could be a misunderstood brat like Luffy or a mass murdering jackass like Kidd. We need more exposure of the real deal, not just what the rumors of the public say.
I will admit that I am assuming he used a smaller one previously as the audience commented he was turning attacks against the attacker when comparing Hack & Bellamy's attacks on Barto. We don't see a huge square with Hack like we did with the King Punch, that is where its possible that he used a smaller one, closer to his body size. But re-looking at ch 708 as Hack's attack, we don't see the shield at all, just the 'special effects' shown when the attack fails. (I mistook the inner circle as a shield) So the shield could be any size there.
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I really have to disagree here, where as Luffy does have a bad reputation these are all based on innuendo and rumour where as with Bartolomeo we've seen in these few short chapters that for the most part he's a nasty piece of work. Look at his first appearance;
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He's behind something called the "skewered pirate barbeque broadcast" suggesting that he not only burnt pirates alive but that he also broadcast this to the world, this doesnt suggest someone who's misunderstood this suggests someone who is just as described a nutter. More importantly, the fact that it was broadcast suggests that it can't be something that the press/WG can distort to fit a particular narrative (like the incidents reported in the paper). After being booed he throws a stink bomb into the crowd yet another thing a particularly nasty person would do.
Bartolomeo's reputation for the most part seems to be based off real world events that people have seen with their own eyes eg. the skewered pirate barbeque broadcast. From what we've seen of him I think he's for the most part what they say.