Krieg Pirates

Don Krieg's Pirate Armada (海賊艦隊, Kaizoku Kantai) is one of East Blue's most feared pirate crew, led by Don Krieg.

They consisted of a fleet of 50 pirate ships and 5,000 pirates that posed as a fearsome force in the East Blue until Don Krieg attempted to conquer the Grand Line. Their crew was wiped out by Hawk-Eyes Mihawk, leaving one sole remaining ship that managed to escape, carrying Don Krieg and his surviving crew members away from the Grand Line.

Baratie Arc
The crew is first seen when a starving Gin goes into the floating restaurant Baratie and demands food. Due to his lack of money and status as a pirate, he is kicked out, but Sanji takes pity on him and gives him free food. Delighted, Gin returns to his crew and brings all of them to the Baratie, too. When Don Krieg recovers his strength, he reveals his intentions to steal the Baratie and use it to return to the Grand Line. This shocks his crew, who were both feeling gratitude towards the chefs and didn't want to go back that pirate graveyard, but out of fear of their captain, they comply.

However, as luck would have it, Mihawk trailed them and wrecks their last ship. However, once he defeats Roronoa Zoro, who had challenged him to a duel, he decides that he has had enough fun and leaves everyone to their own devices. Krieg decides to continue his attack. When Gin is forced to kill Sanji, however, he comes to a tough decision and goes against his orders. In response to this, Krieg uses a poisonous gas in an attempt to kill him.

After a long battle, Luffy manages to defeat Krieg, but even after the battle is over, Krieg unconsciously gets up and demands to continue the battle, only to be knocked down by Gin. Gathering the entire crew in a small boat, Gin declares that as a dying wish, he wants to bring his captain back to the Grand Line like he wanted, and sets off. It is unknown if they have survived.

Pirate Flag
Krieg's flag is a standard Jolly Roger with two hourglasses to the sides, to show to their victims that their time is up.

Crew Strength
Don Krieg's Pirate Armada was militarily the most powerful pirate crew in the East Blue, due to their vast numbers of men, weapons and ships. However, contrary to their reputation as the toughest crew in East Blue, the Krieg Fleet appears to rely on numbers over strength, individual crewmen appearing less skilled than their counterparts in other East Blue crews with Don Krieg, Gin and Pearl being the only ones with any real fighting abilities. They overestimated their crew's strength against Hawk-Eyes Mihawk and the Grand Line itself. They were finished off by Luffy and Sanji. Don Krieg himself relied on weaponry, believing with enough weapons you can win anything, a mistake that cost him and his crew victory. Krieg keeps his crew together using fear--despite how mad and ridiculous some of his orders may seem, his crew will follow them out of fear of being killed, which is another factor that limits their strength. However, some crewmates like Gin have genuine respect for Krieg.

Related Articles

 * Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk
 * Baratie arc