Portgas D. Ace

✔

Portgas D. Ace, born as Gol D. Ace and nicknamed “Fire Fist Ace“, was the adoptive older brother of Monkey D. Luffy and Sabo, and the son of the late Pirate King Gol D. Roger and his late lover Portgas D Rouge. He was adopted by Monkey D. Garp as wished by Roger to him before his birth. Ace was the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and one-time captain of the Spade Pirates. He was the major supporting character of One Piece.

He is voiced by Toshio Furukawa and Daisuke Sakaguchi as a child in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Travis Willingham and Chris Burnett as a child in the English version of the anime.

Appearance

Personality

Ace was a intelligent, polite and caring man. While several people who knew Gol D. Roger noted Luffy is quite similar to the late Pirate King, Whitebeard himself claimed that Ace’s personality was not at all like his father’s. It seems that among the very few things the brothers shared was their recklessness as pirates (and their near-bottomless stomachs). In addition, Ace liked to party as much as his adoptive little brother does. When he boarded Buggy’s ship, he was drawn by the smell of food and decided to enjoy himself while he was there. Ace could be a bit vulgar though as he once used a woman’s skirt to wipe his face while he was dining at Spice Bean in Alabasta.

There were two running gags about Ace. The first was his rather extreme narcolepsy. He tended to randomly fall asleep while eating and conversing, leaving strangers around him wondering if he had died. This was first seen in Alabasta when they thought he died in the middle of eating. The second was that he did a “dine and dash” routine wherever he went. This went back to his younger days with Sabo and Luffy, when they would often dine and dash in the city of Goa.

His “politeness” is due to Makino’s teaching after Ace asked her how to introduce himself to Shanks (being his brother’s savior). Before that, Ace was rather cold and rude to anyone he was not familiar with.

As the son of Roger, he lived in his shadow and is to date the first D. depicted to truly question his own right to exist, while displaying the fewest commonly seen D. related traits. Ace seemed to have lifelong problems dealing with his parentage, even after denouncing Gol D. Roger and accepting Whitebeard as his only father. This was in direct contrast to Luffy, who accepted his father’s identity immediately upon learning it and did not seem to care when he was told how dangerous of a man he was. However, Luffy did not grow up with knowledge or identity (or even existence) of his father. Ace believed that it was natural if he were to really die as nobody in the world wanted the son of the devil (Roger) to live. Ace commented upon his own death that he had never sought fame or fortune – all he had wanted was the answer to his lifelong question of whether or not he should have been born, as this was the only thing preventing him from dying with no regrets as he and Luffy had vowed to do so and the fact he had a younger brother to look out for. Ace’s only regret was that he would not live to see Luffy achieve his dream, which he believed Luffy undoubtedly would accomplish as he was his little brother.

Ace had a tendency to never back down from a fight, saying that he would never run once facing an enemy. Because of this, some people believed that Ace had a death wish, but in truth he wanted to prevent people he cared for from getting hurt. Dadan stated that he inherited this tendency from his father, Gol D. Roger, despite loathing him. While Ace emerged victorious over enemies he refused to run from, such as Porchemy and Bluejam, his stubbornness hurt him on a number of occasions, particularly when he refused to back down against Blackbeard or Admiral Akainu.

Ace was also easily provoked by and became a violent child towards anyone who insulted or harmed people close to him. In one of Garp’s conversations with Curly Dadan, this was revealed to be a trait of Roger as well. During his childhood, Ace had a tendency to severely injure anyone who insulted Roger, though he himself disliked his biological father. After hearing about Sabo’s presumed death at the hands of a World Noble, Ace quickly became bent on killing the Noble and Dadan had to pin Ace down and tie him to a tree to stop him.

Ace’s temper got the better of him, especially in cases when Whitebeard, proclaimed by Ace to be his only father, was insulted. Believing that this was the case when Blackbeard broke the iron rule of the Whitebeard Pirates and fled after murdering a crew mate, Ace pursued his traitorous subordinate despite his crew mates’ efforts and even Whitebeard’s orders to stop him. Ace later came to see that his stubbornness had gotten him into the ordeal of being scheduled for execution. Even though he managed to escape death on the scaffold thanks to the pirates’ and Luffy’s efforts at Marineford and was well on his way to freedom, Admiral Akainu got to him by insulting Whitebeard. Ace quickly turned back to face him, ignoring his crew mates’ warnings to not become angered over Akainu’s provocations. Unwilling to let him get away of speaking ill of Whitebeard, Ace attacked him out of fury only to have his arm burned by Akainu’s Devil Fruit powers. Akainu then took the opportunity to attack Luffy on the sideline, leading Ace to jump in, sacrificing his life to shield Luffy from the attack. While saying his last words, Ace sadly admitted to Luffy that he (Ace) wasted away all of his efforts to rescue him.

History

Past

After his father’s execution and his mother’s death during the childbirth, Ace was taken under Monkey D. Garp’s wing as his grandson.

He was raised with the mount bandits to become a pirate instead of a marine like Garp. He was trained with his adoptive brothers Monkey D. Luffy and Sabo. At age 17, Ace began his pirating actions as captain of the Spade Pirates. He became infamous and even refusing to become a Shichibukai. He fought Jinbe for five days and nearly killed other until Whitebeard arrive to fight Ace and defeated by the Strongest man in the world. Later, he became the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Until one day, one of his subordinates, Marshall D. Teach (also known as Blackbeard) killed the 4th division commander, Thatch and took Yami Yami no Mi. Ace chasing Teach to kill him to avenge Thatch until ended into a failure and got imprisoned to Impel Down Level 6 with Jinbe (who refused to aid the World Government against Whitebeard) and announced his public execution in Marineford. However, Luffy arrived with powerful impel down escapees to Marineford to rescue him. Although being freed, he sacrificed his own life to save Luffy’s life and died with his inner organism burnt by Akainu. After his death, Doflamingo took Ace’s devil fruit to use it as a bait to lure Luffy into a trap. But, Sabo (who Luffy and Ace thought he died) came to Dressrosa and eaten Mera Mera no Mi.

Alabasta Saga

Sky Island Saga

Water 7 Saga

Summit War Saga

After learning of the murder of fellow Whitebeard Pirate commander Thatch at the hands of Marshall D. Teach, AKA Blackbeard, for his Devil Fruit powers, Ace sought him out to get revenge. Unfortunately, Ace was overpowered by Blackbeard in a one-on-one duel, captured, and turned over to the World Government in return for Blackbeard getting a position in the Shichibukai, the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Ace was imprisoned in the World Government’s most secure prison, Impel Down, while both the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines prepared for the war that was sure to follow. Visited by his grandfather, Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp of the Marines, Garp tried to talk to Ace, but Ace seemed unresponsive to his grandfather’s attempts to talk to him. By the time that Monkey D. Luffy arrived at Impel Down, Ace was being taken to Marineford to be publicly executed with the Marine Admiralty and Seven Warlords in attendance, with the execution broadcasted around the world via Den Den Mushi, and Marineford was fortified in preparation for Whitebeard’s arrival with his fleet and allies in other pirate groups. Blackbeard departed beforehand on a Marine ship with his reasons being kept anonymous, and the civilians in Marineford were evacuated as well so they would not be caught in the crossfire.

Newgate soon arrived with his armada of Whitebeard Pirates and allies on his flagship, the Moby Dick. All the while during the Summit War, Ace remained trapped on the execution platform as the swordsmen assigned to terminate his life prepared to decapitate him, especially after it was announced that he was the legitimate blood son of Gol D. Roger. However, with the arrival of Luffy and several escapees from Impel Down, Ace’s execution was prolonged by the executioners being blasted away by Crocodile/Mr. 0, but two more swordsmen came up to take over beheading Ace, but they were knocked away when Luffy unconsciously activated his Haki to protect Ace, knocking them out. As Luffy arrived with Mr. 3 to free Ace after being forced to take down his own grandfather in Garp when he tried to intervene due to his duty as a Marine Vice Admiral, but hesitated at the last second to strike his grandson, letting Luffy K.O. him, Admiral Kizuna destroyed the key Luffy was given to Ace’s cuffs by Boa Hancock, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku himself appeared to take down Luffy in his Buddha form, but Luffy tanked Sengoku’s punch with his inflated Gear Third body, supported by Mr. 3’s Candle Wall, and Mr. 3 provided a wax key to free Ace, allowing him to use his Devil Fruit powers to protect Luffy and Mr. 3 in return for saving him. With Ace freed, Whitebeard’s primary objective was complete as Ace was safe, and ordered Luffy, Ace, and the Whitebeard Pirates to withdraw while he remained behind to hold off the Marines and Shichibukai since his body was not going to last much longer and he refused to retreat himself and be shot in the back if he did.

Unfortunately, there was one member of the Marine Admiralty who refused to let the bloodline of Monkey D. Dragon and Gol D. Roger escape Marineford, and that was Admiral Akainu, who wielded the power of a Devil Fruit that let him control magma, much stronger than Ace’s Devil Fruit powers over fire. Confronting the fleeing brothers, Akainu taunted Ace with calling Whitebeard a loser and his crew cowards. Enraged by Akainu’s insults towards Newgate since he considered Newgate a father figure to himself, Ace, despite Luffy and the Whitebeard Pirates’ pleas to withdraw, attacks the Admiral, but finds his powers are no match for Akainu’s. Then, when Akainu sees a chance to attack a vulnerable Luffy, Ace is forced to throw his own body in the way of Akainu’s strike on his younger brother, resulting in his internal organs being critically damaged by Akainu’s magma fist strike. As Ace collapses into Luffy’s arms, Luffy pleads for someone to help Ace, but the damage is done. A doctor confirms that Akainu’s strike has crippled Ace’s internal organs beyond repair, and Ace shares one last moment with Luffy and his final words with the Whitebeard Pirates before he passes away with a smile on his face as his Vivre Card burns up completely, leaving Luffy howling in grief-stricken anguish before his mind shuts down from the emotional trauma, leaving him vulnerable.

Enraged at Ace’s death, Whitebeard attacks Ace’s murderer in grief-stricken fury, not only severely injuring Akainu, but flat out demolishing Marine Headquarters as well, moments before Blackbeard arrives with his crew and finishes off the already-battered and bruised captain of the Whitebeard Pirates. With his dying breaths, Whitebeard declares to all who can hear his voice, both in Marineford and in the Sabaody Archipelago via the Den Den Mushi snails that One Piece, the location of Gold Roger’s treasure, does exist, much to Fleet Admiral Sengoku’s fury that Whitebeard has ruined everything.

Shortly thereafter, Blackbeard is able to possess Whitebeard’s Devil Fruit powers, and plans on using them to decimate the world to ring in his era of piracy, but is intercepted by Sengoku and Garp, while Akainu continues his vain pursuit with Aokiji and Kizuna to eliminate Luffy, but is interrupted when Coby demands that everyone stop fighting as the Marines have won with Ace and Newgate dead and there’s no need for further bloodshed and loss of life. Angered by Coby’s apparent insubordination, Akainu prepares to kill him, but is stopped by Shanks, who arrives with his Red-Hair Pirates to officially end the Summit War, threatening both Blackbeard and Sengoku to fight his crew if they wish to continue. Not wanting to face Shanks, Blackbeard orders his crew to withdraw, having already gotten what he wanted, and Sengoku also orders Akainu and the rest of the surviving Marine Admiralty to stand down, as they’ve already completed their primary objective. While the Marines collect their dead and treat their wounded, Shanks takes it upon himself to have his crew aid the Whitebeard Pirates in laying Ace and Newgate to rest.

Postmortem

Thanks to Shanks’ aid, Ace and Whitebeard are laid to rest back near Whitebeard’s home island, with Ace’s grave set up next to Whitebeard’s and adorned with his hat, dagger, and other effects. Whitebeard’s crew, along with Shanks and his crew, lay flowers, weapons, and other memorials on the tomb to honor their fallen crewmate and captain. In the meantime, Ace’s death would have a long-lasting effect on Luffy until he could overcome his grief and remember he still had the Straw Hat Pirates to support him as he prepared a two-year long training regiment to prepare himself for when he rejoined Nami, Nico Robin, Roronoa Zoro, and the rest of the crew at the end of that two year hiatus to face the World Government and resume the search for One Piece.

Legacy

Abilities and Powers

As commander of the 2nd division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace had authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. In addition, as one of the top commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, he was one of the strongest and most highly-regarded pirates on board under Whitebeard himself. At one point, while being captain of the Spade Pirates, he was even asked to join the Shichibukai but refused.

Luffy comments on how he never defeated Ace in a single fight, despite Luffy already having the power of the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Ace did not consume the Mera Mera no Mi until after he left: Luffy was surprised by Ace’s new power when Ace stopped Smoker from capturing him in Nanohana). Ace was trained by Garp, who had hoped to turn him into a fine Marine, and possibly Dadan, the two of whom were responsible for training Luffy to the level of power he held before becoming a pirate.

Ace also held a fearsome reputation. It was revealed that Ace received an invitation to join the Shichibukai while he was still captain of the Spade Pirates, though he refused the offer. After he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, a civilian was seen commenting on how Ace’s strength was supposedly “outta this world”. The World Government granted Blackbeard the position of Shichibukai after he successfully defeated and captured Ace. His overall reputation and abilities had earned him a bounty of 550,000,000 prior to his capture and death.

He was also a capable navigator, as he was seen wearing a Log Pose on his left wrist, while traveling island to island in search for Luffy and Blackbeard on a simple raft.

Physical Abilities

Ace demonstrated his strength during his battle with Blackbeard: he was able to take Blackbeard’s punches, which were so powerful that the first made Ace cough up blood and the second nearly broke his neck, and retaliate. Van Augur noted that, as expected of the Whitebeard Pirates 2nd division commander, Ace’s basic combat skills were quite formidable even without his Devil Fruit powers.Aside from the powers granted by the Devil Fruit he consumed, Ace possessed immense physical strength. Signs of his great physical potential were already evident at his early childhood, where he was able to beat some local thugs who spoke ill of his father “half to death”, and was also shown sitting on top of a huge animal (possibly a bull) he killed with his staff, during his first meeting with Luffy. Also later on the same day he was shown to easily break a giant tree with ease. Ace was already very strong when he left his hometown, three years before Luffy did the same.

He fought equally with Jinbe in the past; they nearly killed each other in a fight that lasted for five days. Ace then survived a battle with Whitebeard that took place immediately after, showing immense stamina and durability. He was one of the few people to be able to take a “baptizing” in boiling water in Impel Down without flinching, which is considered an impressive feat.

Weakness

• Inability to Swim: When he was a child, Ace used to be a good swimming. But now, as a Devil fruit user, He lost the ability to swim and leaving drowning.
• Seastone: Like other Devil Fruit Users, Ace is vulnerable to Seastone.
• Magma: As a Fire Devil Fruit, his greatest weakness is Magma which is more burns everything even fire as a result of his death by Akainu.

Haki

Ace was one of the very small number of people in the world who could use all three types of Haki. Ace’s Haki had been described by Shanks and Benn Beckman to be fiery in nature, to the point that Ace’s very presence was able to stop blizzards on an island for as long as he was there. As such, when he turned up on Drum Island, no snow fell at all on the island for an entire day.

Haoshoku Haki

Ace possessed Haoshoku Haki, which he initially had no conscious control over. He first demonstrated the ability at 10 years of age when he rendered the Bluejam Pirates except for Bluejam unconscious after an outburst of rage. He later gained knowledge of the power, as he recognized it when Luffy used it at the Summit War of Marineford.

He was never seen using this Haki apart from in his childhood, save for in video games (such as during the activation of his Kizuna Rush in Pirate Warriors 3) and the manga adaptation of the novel.

Busoshoku Haki

It was stated in One Piece novel A that Ace could use Busoshoku Haki. Upon awakening it, he was capable of fighting on equal grounds with Vice Admiral Draw with Busoshoku Haki. However, it is not known how proficient he was in using it since then, though the manga adaptation of the novel about his character suggests he was skilled at it, to the point he leaned on it too much and was negligent in training the other forms of his Haki.

Kenbunshoku Haki

Although Ace has never been seen using Kenbunshoku Haki in the main story or the novel, nor has he been confirmed to have it in the databooks, in the manga adaptation of the novel, he was shown to have been trained by Thatch in its usage and uses it in conjunction with his Devil Fruit powers in his duel against Whitebeard.

Quotes

Trivia

• Universal Studios of Japan has built a replica of Ace’s and Whitebeard’s tombs. Ace’s epitaph says: “Ace, may your soul be eternal. Your brave soul will always be with us.” This epitaph was also shown in Episode 663 of the anime.
• Ace has had three different pictures in his Wanted Poster throughout the series: the first in a filler episode in the Alabasta Arc; the second in an episode of Marineford Arc (originally as an image of the newspaper in the manga); and the third in the second volume of One Piece Magazine (taken from Chapter 158).
• Ace being captain of the Spade Pirates is a pun on the “Ace of spades”.
• In the 6th Japanese Fan Poll, Ace ranked as the fifth most popular character in the series, making him the most popular of the Whitebeard Pirates and also the most popular deceased character.
• Had Ace been a girl, he would have been named “Ann”.
• Ace would have been 21 when he died if he was born on time. Instead he was 20 because his mother held him in her womb for eleven months past his due date, meaning he spent a total of twenty months inside her womb, instead of the usual nine.
• Ace is the first known Devil Fruit user to die.
• His bounty, being at 550,000,000 before his death, was the highest amount revealed in the series before the timeskip.
• Ace’s birthday, January 1, comes from his name since Ace is the first card in the deck.
• His height was confirmed by Oda to be “about 185 cm” in the end Q&A of chapter 460.
• Ace’s favorite food is Bhut jolokia peperoncino (ghost pepper spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino).
• Ace is the first One Piece character to die outside of a flashback.

Navigation