Portgas D. Ace

All about: Portgas D. Ace, born as Gol D. Ace and nicknamed "Fire Fist" Ace, was the biological son of the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, and Portgas D. Rouge, as well as the sworn older brother of Monkey D. Luffy and Sabo. Ace was first adopted by Monkey D. Garp, as had been requested by Roger before his execution. Ace was captain of the Spade Pirates before being recruited into the Whitebeard Pirates and becoming its 2nd division commander. He ate the Mera Mera no Mi, giving him the power to transform into and manipulate flames.

Appearance: Ace was a tall muscular young man with jaw-length curly black hair. 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 taller and more muscular. He also sported rather childish freckles (inherited from his mother) and tended to make a skeptical facial expression by raising his left eyebrow. Interestingly, his facial features were almost akin to his biological father Gol D. Roger 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. Ace had another tattoo on his upper left bicep that spells "ASCE" vertically. The "S" crossed out is a tribute to Sabo as that's his jolly roger. 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.

Personality: Ace was much more intelligent, polite, and generally, more bearable than Luffy, which prompted the Straw Hat Pirates to question whether he was truly related to their captain. 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 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 inappropriate though as he once used a woman's skirt to wipe his face while he was dining at Spice Bean in Arabasta. 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 Arabasta 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, and carried over to adulthood, as shown on three occasions when he was on Drum Island, Arabasta, and Lulusia Kingdom. 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 of the identity (or even the 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. This caused him to be surprised and shocked that Whitebeard would easily accept him in his crew despite him being the son of Whitebeard's rival and that the entire Whitebeard Pirates' crew and allies and Luffy would risk their lives in order to save him.

Relationships: Ace initially intended to take Whitebeard's head but was defeated. Whitebeard invited him to be one of his sons, which Ace vehemently refused; despite this, Whitebeard abducted the entire Spade Pirates onto his crew.

After trying to assassinate Whitebeard many times, Ace was eventually drawn in by Marco's description of the love the Whitebeard Pirates bore for their father. He decided to give up on his struggles and take up Whitebeard's symbol on his back; this tattoo became his greatest pride and joy. Ace held great respect for his captain. As far as Ace was concerned, Whitebeard was the greatest pirate alive, and even went so far as to describe Whitebeard as a type of father figure.

Ace was a loyal crewman and commanded the 2nd division of the Whitebeard Pirates. It is revealed that Thatch was one of the first of Whitebeard's crew to interact with him and they appear to have been good friends. Ace and Marco also seemed to have a close friendship due to Marco explaining the bond between Whitebeard and his crew. Ace and his brother, Luffy, were very close as children and remained so as pirates, even after more than three years of separation. Though they were not related by blood, they were still bound by a brotherly bond. Luffy was also aware that Ace was Gol D. Roger's son. As a child, Ace was initially aloof and hostile towards Luffy. Such an example was when Luffy innocently followed Ace onto an old rope bridge and Ace (being greatly annoyed by his presence) knocked Luffy off the bridge and into the ravine. After learning how lonely Luffy was, Ace warmed up to him, but got annoyed whenever Luffy cried. Ace later grew very protective of him, particularly from Garp, even insulting their grandfather in an attempt to stop his abusive behavior towards Luffy. This protective streak continued into the current storyline. Ace first intervened to protect Luffy from Smoker in Nanohana.