User blog comment:Meganoide/Friendship between Luffy and Bellamy/@comment-10543621-20140911050253

Luffy doesn't hold grudges. To him, Bellamy wasn't actually 'evil' or really bad. Just ignorant. Luffy didn't even want to retaliate when Bellamy first tauted and attacked him and Zoro. Luffy only got pissed when Bellamy hurt his friend, Cricket. Luffy really only gets angry at people who hurt his friends, or hurt their own comrades. Even against his enemies, the ones he truly gets pissed off at are those that hold no regard to other people's welfare.

To him, Bellamy has changed, and he has no qualms about forgiving him. To Bellamy, after he saw he error of his ways, he probably realised that what Luffy did was justified, and kinda cool,.so deep down he probably started respecting him.