One Piece has been the best-selling manga for quite a well now. Fans have loved the series since its birth and they have always supported the creator Eiichiro Oda by appreciating his life’s work. However, there has been one instance that brought a lot of hate to the mangaka. The incident involved the death of one of the major characters of the series. The Marineford arc witnessed the death of Portgas D. Ace, brother of Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist. Since his introduction in the Alabasta Saga, fans have fallen in love with the elder brother who resembles Luffy in many ways.
Ace’s character after losing the battle and being caught by Blackbeard was certain to witness his death at some point. While everyone was certain that Luffy and his crew had saved Ace’s life, his sacrifice in which the young pirate resolved to save his brother from Akainu surprised many fans. Not only did it surprise the fans, but the editor of One Piece also felt that this was a harsh move and even warned Oda san about his decision.
One Piece Editor Warned Eiichiro Oda
During the Summit War, Ace passed away while attempting to protect Luffy from Akainu’s attack, leaving fans in tears. Given Ace’s popularity, the editors were hesitant to have him write so much sadness. Fans have been outraged by this horrible tragedy both then and today. It has been widely panned for what many see as an unneeded plot twist and poor execution. For weeks, the editor badgered Oda about the fate of the adored character. The editor thought it was a bad decision to kill off such a beloved figure. They kept asking Oda “Are you gonna kill Ace? It isn’t a good idea.”
Even after being warned by the editors, Oda san decided to move on with the story and let the character meet a tragic end. However, once the anime series was released, Oda confessed that he had some hesitations over Ace’s death. Oda found himself reflecting on Ace’s death, commenting that the character’s demise should not have been so terrible.
Eiichiro Oda regretted Killing Ace
Oda’s thoughts on the character’s death were recently posted on Twitter by @SandmanAP, a reliable One Piece news reporter. It appears that the mangaka only realized in retrospect that he had pushed the rules too far, exposing Ace to a needlessly tragic demise. While Oda eventually carried out his initial plans, witnessing the death in the One Piece anime made the artist doubt his actions. After watching the anime episode, Oda said, “I wonder why Ace had to be killed in such a harsh way.”
The decision to kill Ace and later regretting it got a lot of hate from fans and Oda had to face a lot of backlash as he has said on many instances that he hates killing a character in his series and wants to end the series with a grand party.
Source: X(Twitter)
