Portgas D. Ace
| Portgas D. Ace | |
|---|---|
| One Piece character | |
| File:OnePiece94.PNG | |
| First appearance | Manga Chapter #154 Anime Episode #91 |
| Created by | Eiichiro Oda |
| In-universe information | |
| Nickname | "Fire Fist Ace" (Original Anime/Manga and FUNimation Uncut English dub) "Trace Heat Fist" (4Kids dub/ FUNimation Edited TV dub) |
| Species | Human |
| Occupation | Pirate (Whitebeard Pirates) |
Portgas D. Ace (ポートガス・D・エース, Pōtogasu Dī Ēsu) is a character on the One Piece anime series. He is known as Portgaz D. Trace in the edited TV version of the series, and he is the older brother of Monkey D. Luffy.
About Ace
Ace left Fuusha Village three years before Luffy, and he commands the Second Division of Whitebeard's fleet.
Ace and Luffy bear a family resemblance; however Ace is more muscular and sports childish-looking freckles. Like other members of his family, Ace is apparently narcoleptic and falls asleep without warning, making passers-by wonder whether he has dropped dead.
Ace's most recognizable features are his tattoos. His back bears the Whitebeard symbol–a skull with a white mustache superimposed over a manji. To eliminate confusion between the Buddhist manji and the Nazi swastika, the manji was changed to white crossbones in the animated version, as well as in recent chapters of the manga. His back tattoo was left intact in the 4Kids dub, despite previous editing of cross symbols; e.g., Mihawk's Kokutou Yoru.
Ace has another tattoo on his upper left arm: it reads "ASCE" with the "S" (an apparent mistake on the part of the tattoo artist) crossed out. In the 4Kids dub, this tattoo was edited out since the character had been renamed "Trace", but the Funimation version aired on television has the tatoo left in, despite still keeping the name Trace. He also appears without his arm tattoo in the U.S. release of One Piece Grand Adventure.
Ace travels the Grand Line on a specially constructed boat propelled by his Mera Mera abilities.
Ace was featured in the end of movie previews for the second One Piece movie Clockwork Island Adventure. However, his color scheme was very different from his official screening.
In a recent Japanese fan poll, Ace ranked the tenth most popular character, making him the third most popular character outside the Straw Hat crew.
Personality and Relationships
Ace is more intelligent, polite, and generally more bearable than his ebullient younger brother. However, he does have the idiotic side that all D's seem to share. He has a close relationship with Luffy, as shown when he asks the Straw Hats to keep an eye on his little brother.
Due to the difference in surnames (Portgas and Monkey), it is possible that Luffy's grandfather Vice Admiral Garp may not be Ace's grandfather, although Garp said that he had trained both boys. For the same reason, it is possible that Monkey D. Dragon is not Ace's father. However, since Ace carries The Will of D and appears to have inherited Garp's narcolepsy, the possibility cannot be ruled out entirely. It is a belief that D is Ace's Family's last name and that Luffy, Dragon, and Garp are first names. In the one-off supplement Grand Line Times, the question of their different surnames was raised and the idea put forth that Ace and Luffy may be stepbrothers.[1]
Although Red-Haired Shanks has not been depicted as having a close relationship with Ace, he seems deeply concerned by Ace's hunt for Blackbeard. His concern even led him to consider fighting Whitebeard to get Ace to stop.
Ace's dream is to make Whitebeard the Pirate King, as he declares before his desperate final attack against Blackbeard.
Ace is constantly in dire financial straits; this has become a literal running joke, as he often pulls a dine and dash.
History
Neither on the side of the Straw Hats' nor against them, Ace was introduced in the Alabastan city of Nanohana, where he was sleeping in the Spicebean restaurant.[2] Ace had come to Alabasta in search of his former Whitebeard crew mate, Blackbeard, who had murdered his own division leader over a Devil Fruit and fled to assemble his own crew. Ace seeks to avenge the death of that division leader.
Before that, Ace was briefly seen on Drum Island.[3]. It should be noted that his hat, instead of red, was black and he was wearing a black jacket, clothing he usually is not seen wearing, though this can be attributed to the two islands different climates. During the Jaya Arc, Ace, lured by the smell of good food, boarded Buggy the Clown's ship and offered to show Buggy how to find Luffy.[4] However, in his most recent appearance, Ace seems to have ditched Buggy.
- Note: In the manga, Ace met the Straw Hats in Nanohana, gave Luffy a slip of paper, then sailed off; however, due to his popularity with the fans, his part was expanded in the anime series, where he travels with the Straw Hats to Yuba before parting ways.
Ace was also given a mini-arc in the chapter titles of the manga where he infiltrates a Marine ship to deliver a letter to the parents of a milk maiden who saved his life, while searching for information on Blackbeard. This story apparently chronicles his adventures after leaving Buggy's crew, and it seems that his efforts bore fruit: Ace has presently tracked down and confronted Blackbeard.
Recent Chapters
Currently, despite Shanks' effort to avoid it, Ace has finally caught up with Blackbeard.[5]. Chapter 440, Ace is seen on top of a building confronting Blackbeard and his crew, Blackbeard mentions turning Luffy over to the marines and angers Ace. The members of Blackbeard's crew begin to attack Ace but are no match and Blackbeard calls them off. After he is hit by Ace's Hiken, Blackbeard reveals his Devil Fruit power of darkness.
Blackbeard demonstrates the powers of the Yami Yami (darkness) fruit by demolishing an entire town. Ace, however, is confused by the fact that Teach is vulnerable to physical attacks. Blackbeard explains it's due to the Yami Yami fruit's power of controlling gravity, and because of this, he takes damage as a normal human would or even more. He then demonstrates his power to nullify Devil Fruit users' abilities by physically holding them, drawing Ace towards him using his gravity powers close him to hit him.
Blackbeard inflicts more damage to Ace and reiterates his offer to let him join his crew. Ace retorts by stating that surrendering his powers would forfeit the point of being born a man. Ace professes to make Whitebeard the Pirate King and attacks Blackbeard. A giant fireball bearing a close resemblance to the sun is emitted from Ace's right hand. In response to Ace's gigantic fireball, Blackbeard creates his own gigantic warp of darkness. The two great powers clash in a brilliant contrast. Afterwards, it has been discovered that Blackbeard has become a Shichibukai, implying that Ace has been defeated. His current fate is unknown.
Abilities and powers
Ace left his hometown 3 years before Luffy when he was already very strong and skilled. He was able to beat his brother Luffy in every fight they had, despite Luffy having the power of a Devil Fruit already.
Ace has eaten the Devil Fruit Mera Mera no Mi (メラメラの実, Flare Flare Fruit), a Logia or elemental type fruit, giving him fire manipulation abilities and his reputation as "Fire Fist Ace" ("Trace Heatfist" in the 4-Kids dub). Ace is the only person in One Piece so far to fight toe-to-toe with Smoker. Luffy was almost captured by Smoker in Loguetown and has since resorted to running away from the man instead of fighting.
Ace also displays his immense power by destroying a handful of Baroque Works ships with ease[6] and harming Blackbeard during their encounter. Much like the other D's, Ace seems fearless, proven as he does not seem to mind his inability to swim, despite the risk that destroying the Billions' ships could have left him in the ocean. This is a similar situation Luffy was in when fighting Don Krieg, and Blackbeard is in by sailing on his raft (assuming that he still does sail on a raft), even without his Devil Fruit powers.
References
- ^ One Piece Grand Times
- ^ One Piece Manga - Vol.18 Chapter 157, Ace in Nanohana
- ^ One Piece Manga - Vol.17 Chapter 154, Ace's first appearance
- ^ One Piece manga - Vol.25 - Chapter 233, Ace meets Buggy
- ^ One Piece Manga - Chapter 434, Ace catches up to Blackbeard
- ^ One Piece Manga - Vol.18 Chapter 159, Ace destroys the Billions fleet.
See also
External links
- Fahrenheit451, the Official Fanlisting for Portgas D. Ace
- Challenge Life, a Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace fanlisting
- One Piece Encyclopedia - Portgas D. Ace
