Just a girl

I cannot believe that Garp has the audacity to get hostile towards Shanks and blame him for Luffy becoming a pirate after he arranged for Luffy and Ace to be raised by literal criminals, failed to actually guide them or provide structure and boundaries that kids thrive on, only came by to visit once or twice a year to beat them up and yell at them to become marines, failed to actually protect them when they needed him the most (Higuma, Lord of the Coast, Bluejam, burning of Grey Terminal), forcing said boys to rely on criminals as their only consistent adult supervision and role models, only to wonder why they didn't grow up to be upstanding Marines like he expected them to.

What's even more appalling is that Garp knowingly let his colleagues murder Ace, the boy who he personally swore to Roger and Rouge he would protect from the very same institution that he worked for, and at one point actively prevented Marco from saving his life. Why? Because Ace rejected the path that Garp laid out for him, that he refused to pledge loyalty to a system that killed babies and pregnant women and drove his mother to her death in the hopes of killing him and extinguishing Roger's bloodline. And he has the nerve to tell Ace he brought his death on himself by becoming a pirate, even though Garp knows deep down that Ace is being executed solely due to his lineage, not because of his piracy. That he knew Ace would still end up dead for being Roger's son even if he joined the Navy. Garp's fatalist attitude towards Ace's life directly contributed to his death, despite fans' claiming that he didn't actually want Ace to die.

Honestly, Shanks should've killed Garp the moment he started mouthing off to him. Not only did he let Akainu murder Ace when he could've saved him, he let Akainu brutally injure nearly kill Luffy in the process. Shanks will never have the opportunity to bond with his little brother, and his failure to save Ace will haunt him for the rest of his life. Garp isn't just a failure as a grandfather, but as a self-proclaimed defender of the people. He knowingly validated the Marines' horrendous policy of killing people for their parentage/ancestry by letting them kill Ace, because he valued the Marines' warped justice and his own reputation over Ace's life. Ace and Whitebeard's deaths didn't abolish piracy, but actually kickstarted a new pirate era, allowed Blackbeard to rise to power as an Emperor, left Whitebeard's territories (including Fishman Island) vulnerable to pirates, slavers, and the Celestial Dragons, and plunged the world into mass chaos, thereby endangering the innocent civilians that Garp claims he was protecting by upholding Ace's execution.

Of course, he tells Luffy when he meets him on Alabasta that he wants to make Whitebeard King of the Pirates, but since that was never really Whitebeard's goal, I'm guessing it's just Ace's way of saying that he respects the Whitebeard, thus indirectly telling Luffy that it's actually a pretty cool goal to have. Ace also tells other people who are not Luffy that Luffy is so cool and strong and is going to be King of the Pirates! He only directly tells Luffy to become King of the Pirates before he dies though :(

Sabo, on the other hand, is just fully ride or die for Luffy lol. None of that, "Oh, Luffy I support you but sort of indirectly" schtick that Ace seemed to have. Even before he got amnesia, he always was more accepting of Luffy's dream. Later he just blatantly goes "Yeah, Luffy is going to become King of the Pirates! What about it!?" to random people lol. (Probably because of the immense guilt :( )

I just miss them.

Ace was executed for being Roger's son with the added bonus that he was a pirate.

Hell, Akainu hardly cared about Ace being a pirate as much as he did about Ace being Roger's son. To him Ace's existence alone was reason enough to kill him.

And throughout Marineford, Ace himself is shown to be aware of that fact, and at one point says he'll accept either being saved or being executed. He accepted his existence warranted his execution, until he no longer does accept it.

Sengoku also put a heavier emphasis on Ace being Roger's son, than he did about Ace being a pirate, let alone a division commander of an emperor's crew. Sengoku never even mentioned what crimes Ace commited as a pirate. Ace having been at sea for years, you'd think he'd mention a couple of reprehensible things Ace did that would warrant imprisonement and execution. But Sengoku didn't name one thing.

Ace died for him.

Ace found what he was looking for with the Whitebeard Pirates, or at least the start of it. Why would he, at that point in time, wish for more?

He became a Pirate to surpass his father to overcome the hatred he'd been faced with due to being Gold Roger's son (unbeknownst to the people who said Roger's child deserved to be tortured).

Whitebeard becoming his father freed Ace of some of his demons, and for the first time Ace was told that his parentage didn't define his worth.

He went out to sea because he wanted to find the answer to whether or not he deserved to be born. And joining the Whitebeards did give him an answer.

@captainportgasdace @aceismyhyperfication @perfectlyimperfectcharacterfan @drowning-moonlight @local-dairywizard @ssiggss @one-piece-thoughts-only Why can't these haters have anything original to say other than "he threw his life away over a yo' daddy joke" or "Ace is weak and he relied too much on his devil fruit" or "Ace was an idiot for going after Blackbeard" or "Ace is just a plot device rather than a character" or "I'm not sad that Ace died bc he deserved it, I'm only sad because of Luffy's reaction"? SMH These ppl are unreal. The comments are so mind-numbingly dumb I felt my IQ drop by 5 points just by scrolling through them.

I get why some fans find it frustrating that Ace let Akainu provoke him, but there is a reason he did that, and they completely ignore all the context behind it (including his upbringing) and fail to remember that his actions are not only consistent with his character, but is consistent with some of One Piece's foundational themes: demonstrating your loyalty and gratitude to your family and friends, defending the honor and dreams of your loved ones, unwavering dedication to your principles even when faced with death, and standing your ground to protect someone or something that's important to you. From our perspective, a character's actions or principles seem irrational or pointless, but in the One Piece universe, they make perfect sense within the narrative.

Ace does have flaws: he can be stubborn, impulsive, hot-headed, short-sighted, insecure, self-loathing, slow to trust, has a intense need for validation from others, and has trouble backing down from a fight even when outmatched. But his actions do not indicate that he is immature, selfish, arrogant, or ungrateful for the sacrifices everyone made to save his life. On the contrary, these flaws are a by-product of his strengths. Ace loves deeply and selflessly, and he will always put the happiness and wellbeing of his loved ones before his own. He is kind, considerate, and generous, like sewing a Kasa hat for Little Oars to protect him from the sun, going out of his way to infiltrate a Marine base to deliver a letter to a young girl’s parents, or letting Tama and the other villagers eat his food while he was stranded on Wano.

Ace pursues Teach after he murdered Thatch despite Whitebeard’s warnings because as his commander, Ace felt that he was responsible for his subordinate’s actions and that he had a duty to punish Teach for violating Whitebeard’s number rule. To Ace, for whom gratitude is a core value, it’s unfathomable that Teach would spit in the face of the man who raised him as his son and the crewmates who treated him like a brother. He had every right to be angry, because he was very close to Thatch and his death affected him deeply.

When Teach informs Ace of his plan to capture Luffy and hand him over to the Navy in exchange for being made a Warlord, Ace decides to fight him. Even when Teach has him on the ropes, Ace refuses to surrender; his determination to protect Luffy is a greater motivator than his pride.

When Ace was captured and handed over to the Marines to be executed, Luffy and the Whitebeard fleet literally went to war to rescue him, even though Ace felt that his life had no value to anyone. When he sees how far everyone is willing to go for him, he cries in happiness because he realizes how much he is loved and cherished, and it fuels a desire to live.

So when Akainu slandered Whitebeard and his crew, he was essentially spitting in the face of every single person who fought tooth and nail to save his life. When Ace yelled at Akainu not to mock the man who "saved his life", he wasn't just talking about Marineford: Whitebeard was the father that Ace needed and craved throughout his childhood, provided him with a stable environment that he never had, and he validated Ace’s existence as a good thing. Sure, it was the wrong place, wrong time to confront Akainu and it turned out to be a terrible mistake. But Ace's inability to back down from a fight stems from a desire to protect his friends and family, and that extends to their reputation along with their safety. Why wouldn't Ace get angry when someone disrespects his family after all they've done for him?

Lastly, and this is something that fans constantly overlook, is that Ace didn’t die from ragebait; he died for Luffy. He could’ve turned intangible to protect himself from Akainu’s attack, but doing so would allow the magma to reach Luffy, so he consciously remained solid. Ace sacrificed his life for Luffy because there is no universe in which pride will ever be more important to him than his little brother. As he lay dying in Luffy’s arms, his last words to everyone were, “Thank you for loving me.”

Being the Pirate King's son, Ace's life was never going to be 100% normal or safe, but him never even being told that he deserved to be alive, isn't something that should have been part of the unsafe/abnormal aspect of his life.

Garp arranged Ace's living situation because of his promise to Roger. Dadan took Ace in because Garp blackmailed her. It's easy why Luffy literally became Ace's reason to live.

Luffy had no obligations in regards to Ace, and would have been within his right not to like him (we as the audience know why Ace acted the way he did, Luffy did not) yet when asked if he wants Ace to live he doesn't hesitate.

Adults whose duty it was to look after him failed to do what the 7 year old Ace had been so far cold and ruthless to, did. And Luffy, again, didn't hesitate in saying he wanted Ace to live. Even after everything Ace did to him.