User blog comment:Montblanc Noland/Bartolomeo's Identity/@comment-1595565-20130831215809

Stelly and Luffy were never aware of each other's existence. Stelly has absolutely nothing tying him to Luffy except a single mutual friend. And why would he further disgrace the family name by becoming a pirate himself? Not to mention you forgot the one thing that could save the family, disownership. All the family would have to do is disown Sabo and distance themselves from him. You also didn't factor in time. That whole flashback was twelve years ago and Bartolomeo is a rookie from the last year or so. So Stelly just sat on his ass for twelve years and then decided to become a pirate? Also, a lot of characters have similar facial features, it's called artistic license, and it doesn't mean they're related or one in the same.