Portgas D. Rouge

Portgas D. Rouge was Ace's mother, Gol D. Roger's lover and the first known female to have the initial "D" to appear.

Appearance
Rouge was a slim woman with long, wavy strawberry-blonde hair. She wore a six-petaled red flower in her hair on the left side of her head, and had freckles on her face that were passed on to her son. She also wore a long, short-sleeved, light blue dress that reached down to her feet, and sandals. While her eyes were obscured by her hair in the manga, the anime version shows that her eyes were brown. In Episode 0 and before her introduction in the anime, her hair color was depicted as blonde.

History
She was living on Baterilla in South Blue when she was pregnant with Ace before Roger died. She held her pregnancy for 20 months through sheer willpower in order to deceive the world of Ace's connection to the Pirate King. When the child was finally born, Rouge held him in her arms and named him "Gol D. Ace". The result of holding Ace for so long however led to her death from exhaustion after giving birth.

As a result of this sacrifice to save his life from the World Government, Ace claimed that he owed her a debt and took Portgas as his surname.

Translation and Dub Issues
"Rouge" is the French word for "Red".

Anime and Manga Differences
Portgas D. Rouge's face is fully shown in the anime while it was never fully visible in the manga.

Trivia

 * She is the first known D to both cry and smile at the time of her death.
 * Her name appears to derive from the term "jolly roger", as one supposed origin of the word jolly roger was the words "jolie" and "rouge" (especially as her lover, Gol D. Roger, also has his name derived from this).
 * Not only is Ace named after the first ranked card in standard playing cards but "Rouge et Noir" (French Red and Black) is a name that several card games possess.

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Portugues D. Rouge