World of ONE PIECE: Portgas D. Ace

The subject of this article is sometimes called "Portgaz D. Ace" and "Portgaz D. Trace".

Portgas D. Ace (born Gol D. Ace) was the adopted older brother of Monkey D. Luffy and Sabo, and son of the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger and his lover, Portgas D. Rouge (both deceased). He was adopted by Monkey D. Garp per wish of Roger before his birth. Ace was the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and onetime captain of the Spade Pirates. The plots of the Impel Down andMarineford arcs revolved around rescuing Ace from execution by the World Government; during these events, Ace met his death at the hands of Admiral Akainu.

Appearance

Although they were not blood related, Ace looked remarkably like his foster brother, Luffy. However, Ace was more serious looking than Luffy's lighthearted design, and was also slightly taller and more muscular. He also sported rather childish freckles, and tended to make an incredulous facial expression by raising his left eyebrow. Interestingly, his facial features were almost akin to his biological father Gold Roger's in his youth without his mustache. Ace's tattoos were among his most remarkable, trademark features. He had a tattoo on his back of the Whitebeard symbol — purple bones formed in a cross behind a purple skull with a white mustache — that he described as his pride and joy.^[2] Ace had another tattoo on his upper left bicep that spells "ASCE" vertically with the "S" crossed out. The S is very similar to the one Sabo wrote on the letter to Ace and Luffy, and bears a striking resemblance to the S on his jolly roger. The fact that the S does not appear on the Chapter 596 cover where Sabo, Ace and Luffy are seen together as grown up enforce the theory that it is a tribute to his deceased brother but it has yet to be confirmed.

Ace wore an open-front shirt until he received Whitebeard's tattoo - afterwards, he stopped wearing anything over his upper body except when on winter islands. He wore black boots, black knee-length shorts with an eyelet-studded orange belt, and a blue pouch belted around his left leg. He also wore a short second belt with a large red "A" on the silver buckle over his right hip, but left it unfastened and threaded the free end along the back of his shorts. A dagger in a green sheath hung at his left hip. On Ace's left arm, he wore a Log Pose and a red and white striped bracelet around his wrist, an orange elbow guard, and his "ASCE" tattoo. He wore a red beaded necklace and an orange hat with two blue smileys, one frowning and one smiling, and a string of red beads sitting above the rim. Two long orange side straps hung down sides of his hat and met at a large medallion of a bull's skull with orange tassels.

Unfortunately, Ace lost his trademark hat, which he already had when he began his journey as a pirate, on Banaro Island as a result of his duel with Blackbeard. His knife was also apparently confiscated, as he no longer had it in his next appearance as a prisoner at Impel Down. The tattoo upon his back that he took so much pride in was later destroyed by the same blow that eventually led to his death. However, at his grave, Ace's hat and knife were placed at his tombstone — either they were retrieved, or they were duplicates in Ace's possession.^[3]

During the ending credits to the second movie, Clockwork Island Adventure, previews of upcoming characters from the Baroque Works Saga were featured. Ace was also included amongst the many characters, but while his clothes were almost identical, he boasted a very different color scheme to the one he was given in his official appearance in the anime.

As a child Ace is shown to have often worn t-shirts with two-kanji phrases on the front (such as "innocence" and "violence"). On some occasions they are linked to the scene in which they were worn, like "independence" when the three brothers built their own treehouse to live in.

Portgas D. Ace

Statistics
Japanese Name:	ポートガス・D・エース
Romanized Name:	Pōtogasu D. Ēsu
English Name:	Portgas D. Ace (uncut dub); Portgaz D. Ace (Viz, FUNimation subs); Portgaz D. Trace (edited dub)
First Appearance:	Chapter 154;Episode 91
Affiliations:	Whitebeard Pirates;Spade Pirates(former); Dadan Family (former)
Occupations:	2nd DivisionCommander; Pirate;Captain (former)
Epithet:	"Fire Fist Ace" (火拳のエース, Hiken no Ēsu); "Trace Heat Fist" (edited dub)
Japanese VA:	Toshio Furukawa;Daisuke Sakaguchi(young)
4kids English VA:	Frank Frankson
Funi English VA:	Travis Willingham
Real Name:	Gol D. Ace (ゴール・D・エース, Gōru D. Ēsu)
Age:	20 (deceased)
Birthday:	January 1^[1]
Height:	185cm (6'1")^[1]
Devil Fruit
Japanese Name:	Mera Mera no Mi
English Name:	Flame-Flame Fruit (Viz, FUNimation); Flare-Flare Fruit (4Kids)
Meaning:	Mera Mera is the sound fire makes.
Type:	Logia