If there’s one thing that One Piece is famous for besides its breathtaking storyline, it’s the fact that the characters never die in the series easily. Even if it means bringing them back from the verge of death, Eiichiro Oda is famous for hardly ever eliminating his characters. However, Portgus D. Ace was never on the list of characters he would spare, despite being one of the biggest fan-favorite characters in the entire series.
Yet, while the traumatic event in which Ace lost his life brought about a lot of hate and criticism from fans worldwide, there was a very good reason why Oda decided to chop off the character right from the beginning–something that was related to the plot progression of the series.
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Portgus D. Ace’s Death In One Piece Wasn’t Meaningless
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Introduced in the “Arabasta Saga” of One Piece, Portgus D. Ace was portrayed as Monkey D. Luffy’s easy-going big brother, and soon earned the approval of fans worldwide with his beyond-charming personality.
But he was soon eliminated during the Summit War while trying to protect Luffy from Akainu’s Fire Fist attack. And although he gave a short yet touching speech to Luffy before giving up his life, fans were still as enraged about it as ever.
However, just like every other time, Eiichiro Oda didn’t eliminate the fan-favorite character without a reason. If anything, the mangaka intended to kill him off in the brutal death that he died right from when he first introduced the character to the series.
The reason behind Ace’s death, especially the barbaric way he died, was Monkey D. Luffy. As fans saw afterward as the series progressed, the character’s death gave Luffy the push he so desperately needed to become the Pirate King.
Then there were the Straw Hats, who also trained tremendously and became stronger only after the beloved character left them to make sure the events of the war didn’t repeat themselves. All of this was Oda’s intention right from when he decided to create the character in the first place.
Thus, even though Portgus D. Ace’s death was one of the most tragic events, if not the tragic event, in the entire series, one can say that it was essential for the progression of the plot and development of the characters of One Piece.
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Eiichiro Oda Was Equally Distressed With Ace’s Brutal Death
While Portgus D. Ace’s miserable death not only disheartened and emotionally broke the fans but Monkey D. Luffy as well to the point where he even started to find his life meaningless, they weren’t the only ones who suffered the heartbreak. As surprising as it might be, the entire event tragically broke One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda as well.
As everyone already knows, Akainu’s Fire Fist is considered to be one of the worst ever attacks to be ever created in the series. This was why even the editors warned Oda beforehand not to bring such a terrible death to the character that had earned such massive fan approval.
However, the mangaka had his own reasons, as already discussed above, and he went ahead with the plan in the manga. But it was the time when the time for the animation of the manga came that Eiichiro Oda started to truly regret his decision to bring such a brutal end to Ace’s fate, as shared by Dexerto.
Nonetheless, what’s comforting is that at least Portgus D. Ace didn’t die in vain, but ended up helping both Monkey D. Luffy as well as the Straw Hats even in his traumatic death in One Piece.
