Portgas D. Ace
Template:Infobox OPchara/Header Template:Infobox OPchara/Devilfruit Template:Infobox OPchara/Footer
Portgas D. Ace (ポートガス・D・エース, Pōtogasu D. Ēsu) (Portgaz D. Trace in the English version of the anime) is the older brother of Monkey D. Luffy.
About Ace
One of the most obvious features on Ace is his tattoos. Ace has a tattoo on his back of the Whitebeard symbol —a skull with a white mustache and a manji (which looks very similar to a swastika) behind it. To avoid confusion between the two symbols and avoid slander for being a nazi, this was changed to crossbones in the shape of a "cross" in the anime, as well as in the most recent chapter of the manga. Ace's back tattoo is left intact in the English version of the dub despite 4Kids' previous edits to crosses. At the same time Ace also promotes his tattoo to Luffy, something which is truly considered odd by 4Kids standards.
Ace has another tattoo on his left arm by the shoulder: it reads "ASCE" with the "S" (apparently a mistake on the part of the tattoo artist) crossed out. In the English version of the anime, Ace's shoulder tattoo signifying his name is edited out, as he is referred to there as "Portgaz D. Trace." He appears in One Piece Grand Adventure, once again without the tattoo on his arm.
Ace travels around the Grand Line on his boat which is constructed so his Mera Mera no Mi fuels the engine on the rear end allowing it to move.
Currently, Ace is one of the two known pirates to ever escape arrest by the Marine captain Smoker (Chaser), the other escapee being Ace's younger brother Luffy. Ace and Smoker fought to a standstill in Alabasta.
In a recent Japanese fan poll, Ace ranked in as the tenth most popular character, making him the third most popular character outside the Straw Hat crew.
Personality and Relationships
Template:Spoiler He left Fuchsia Village three years before Luffy, and he is a loyal crewman and commands the Second Division of Whitebeard, his captain.
In appearance, the two brothers are obviously related, despite the fact that Ace is more muscular than the rather lanky Luffy. He also sports rather childish freckles. He is apparently narcoleptic (a trait common amongst Ace's family) and therefore falls asleep on random occasions, making people wonder if he has dropped dead. As far as personality goes, Ace is much more intelligent, polite, and generally more bearable then his younger brother, which prompts the Straw Hat crew to question whether he is truly related to their bumbling captain. However, the brothers themselves are very close, Ace portraying typical good-big-brother behaviors such as asking the crew to keep an eye on his little brother.
Red-Haired Shanks, though never featured having a relationship with Ace, isdeeply concerned of Ace's hunt for Blackbeard. Shanks displays strong disapproval for Whitebeard's response to stop Ace chasing Blackbeard, having experienced his power before. His concern led him to even consider fighting Whitebeard to get stop Ace.
While Garp has been revealed to be Luffy's grandfather, this does not necessarily means that he is Ace's grandfather, nor that Ace's father is Dragon. Due to the difference of family names (Portgas and Monkey), it cannot be concluded absolutely that Ace's father is also Dragon, since Dragon and Garp both have the surname of Monkey. Since Ace still carries the initial "D" and appears to share Garp's habit of randomly falling asleep, the possibility that he is as much Garp's grandson as Luffy is cannot be ruled out, either.
Ace, apparently, is in a bad financial situation; this is running joke, as he has been described many times as an "eat n' run", shown when he leaves a restaraunt without paying the bill or, as seen in an ending in One Piece : Grand Battle 3, leaving it to someone else.
History
Neither really on the Straw Hat's side nor against them for that matter, he was in Alabasta to search for his former crewmember Blackbeard, who used to be in Whitebeard's Crew. Blackbeard killed his crew and fled and now Ace is looking for him to kill him for his crimes.
Ace was first seen (albeit for a brief period of time) on Drum Island,[1] and is later introduced in the Alabastan city of Nanohana; he was seen sleeping in the Spicebean restaurant.[2] Later during the Jaya arc, Ace hopped in Buggy the Clown's ship for food and promised to show him the way to Luffy.[3]
- Note:Originally in the manga, Ace briefly meet the Straw Hats in Nanohana, gives Luffy a slip of paper then sails off. However due to his popularity with the fans, his part was expanded a bit 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 apperantly chronicles his adventures after leaving Buggys crew, and it seems that his efforts bore fruit: Ace has presently confronted down Blackbeard.
Current Chapter
Currently, despite Shanks' effort to avoid it, Ace has finally caught up with Blackbeard.
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 pyrokinetic abilities and his reputation as "Fire Fist Ace" ("Trace Heatfist" in the English dub). Ace is the only person in One Piece so far to fight toe-to-toe with Smoker (Since the pirate controls fire and the Marine Captain controls smoke, they effectively cancel each other out.). 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.[4] For some reason, Ace does not seem to mind his inability to swim, despite the risk that destroying the Billions' ships could have left him in the ocean.
Attacks
- Kagerou (陽炎)/ Heat Wave: Fire is shot out as a wave. - First seen used on Smoker to block an imcoming attack on Luffy.
- Hiken (火券, Fire Fist) / Heat Fist: Ace fires off an extremely powerful fireball toward his opponents. This attack - witnessed by the Mugiwara Pirates, destroyed a fleet of Baroque Work's Billion's Ships.
Trivia
- 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.
- Ace is a playable character in the U.S.-only game One Piece Grand Adventure and the Japanese-only game One Piece: Grand Battle 3.
- Ace's Tattoo and Whitebeard's Jolly Rodger seem to have been changed to look like the crosses in Chapter 434 (like the anime version) most likely from the negative effect it had on people who didn't know the difference between a Manji and a Swastika
References
See also
External links
- Fahrenheit451, the Official Fanlisting for Portugas D. Ace
- Challenge Life, a Monkey D. Luffy and Portugas D. Ace fanlisting
