Ace Needs His Own One Piece Spin-Off Anime

Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace’s tragic death at Marineford eliminated one of One Piece‘s fan-favorite characters almost 700 episodes before its current timeline. Monkey D. Luffy lost a key piece of his family when Admiral Akainu killed his adopted brother. Unlike a lot of manga and anime, he didn’t return either. There was no resuscitation, a multiverse, or anything to bring him back and that’s what makes that scene so shocking and captivating after all these years.

However, two small novels (One Piece Ace’s Story: Formation of the Spade Pirates and One Piece Ace’s Story: New World) released in 2018 and gave fans a prequel glimpse of Ace’s life and ascension to captain of the Spade Pirates. Eiichiro Oda didn’t write the stories, but was involved in the supervision of the project. This means that the story sits in the official canon timeline. Although no content is set up for Ace’s future, the prequel stories give an opportunity to detail his past on screen. One Piece‘s next movie should absolutely make these two volumes into a film, or even create a short series that can go beyond the novels.

Ace Of Flames Changes Family Legacy

A bit of a spoiler alert, but the two novels quickly tell how Ace and the Spade Pirates came to be. The first novel explores Ace’s upbringing and pirate roots going back to his father Gol D. Roger. Ace and his first crew member Deuce are stranded on an island, but eventually escape through building a ship, but not before Ace unknowingly eats the Flame-Flame Fruit to gain his powers.

The duo eventually escape and from there and begin a journey much like his brother’s. Ace is a pirate, but certainly doesn’t act like one. In the novels, he regularly goes out of his way to help the innocent and even rivals like Marine Ensign Isuka. His behavior dispels any notion that he’s exactly like his father. In fact, he commits wholeheartedly to showing everyone around him that his heritage doesn’t define him. Ace wants to chart his own path to pirate glory.

A Heroic Life Cut Short Deserves More Lore

The dichotomy in Ace’s and Luffy’s approaches is what makes anime like One Piece so intriguing, and their characters so likable. While they’re pirates, which is usually synonymous with heinous acts like pillaging and murdering, both protect the vulnerable, show deep loyalty to their friends and family, and are only guilty of fighting and resisting establishment authority.

His father’s life was cut short for his many crimes, but Ace’s was ended for defending his brother. One Piece fans continue to follow Luffy’s journey to the top of the pirating world, but lost the chance to see how Ace’s career would turn out. It only makes sense that they’d at least get to see the genesis of his pirate life. Would you like to see more Ace content in One Piece? Let us know in the comments.

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