Portgas D. Ace

Filler Battles

 * Ace vs. Naguri
 * Ace, Monkey D. Luffy, and Sabo vs. a giant tiger
 * Ace, Monkey D. Luffy, and Sabo vs. Bluejam's men
 * Ace and Thatch vs. Decalvan Brothers (offscreen)
 * Ace and Monkey D. Luffy vs. Billions (Nanohana)
 * Ace vs. Scorpion
 * Ace vs. Impel Down guards (Impel Down)

Arabasta Arc
When Ace first meets Luffy's crew, he tosses them a piece of paper and leaves. However, in the anime, his time with the Straw Hats was extended and he journeys with them for a while. During the journey though, Ace's bead necklace kept appearing and disappearing in-between scene changes, most likely due to mistakes from the animators.

Mera Mera no Mi
In the manga, it is unknown if Ace can light things on fire from a distance without spouting flames that make direct contact. However, in the anime, he is shown lighting a cigarette for Sanji simply by pointing his finger.

Ambition
During his meeting with Shanks in the anime, Ace stated that he would become the Pirate King. At no point in the manga did Ace show this ambition, and later he would aim to make Whitebeard the Pirate King. Also in the anime, Ace stated that he wanted to show the world his power by taking Whitebeard's head. Ace's reason for going after Whitebeard's head was never explained in the manga.

Impel Down Arc
In Episode 439, Ace is depicted as a child similarly to how he appeared as an adult. While in the manga, Ace is almost always wearing a tank top during his childhood, in this episode he is depicted without a shirt, and is seen wearing a red beaded necklace identical to what he wore as an adult. This can be considered a contradiction to the manga, as Ace didn't start wearing his necklace until he was a teenager, and only stopped wearing shirts when he joined the Whitebeard Pirates in order to showcase his "pride and joy" - Whitebeard's Jolly Roger. It can be presumed that Toei Animation did this because Ace's actual childhood appearance hadn't been revealed yet in the manga.

Marineford Arc
In the anime, Ace and Luffy's fight against the Marines (after Luffy unlocked Ace's handcuffs) was expanded and Ace showed more of his attacks.

Death
Throughout the manga, the anime adaptation, and the specials 3D2Y and Episode of Sabo, Ace's death has been somewhat censored and slightly changed.

In the anime, when Ace was struck through by Akainu, his beaded necklace broke apart and fell all over the ground, and one bead ended up rolling to Whitebeard's foot, who picked it up tearfully. In the manga, as well as the specials, the necklace remained intact.

In the anime, Ace also was covered in less blood than in the manga and the specials. The anime and 3D2Y also omitted the smoke coming from his wound. In the Romance Dawn PSP game and its cutscene, Ace only had smoke coming from his wound and the blood was absent.

Other oddities include most of the artwork being largely uninspired by the manga.

Merchandise


Ace has been a choice character in many forms of merchandise. He has been featured in the Portrait of Pirates Figuarts Zero, One Piece DX Figure, S.H. Figuarts One Piece, One Piece High Spec Coloring Figure, Master Stars Piece, One Piece Styling Figures, One Piece Digital Grade and One Piece Super Effect Lines.

He is also in the One Piece Full Color R Gashapon, Anichara Heroes, Ichiban Kuji, One Piece Logbox World Collectable, One Piece Attack Motions, Super Modeling Soul One Piece, Half Age Characters One Piece, Chibi-Arts One Piece, One Piece Super Deformed Figures, Deformeister Petit One Piece, One Piece Gashapon Grand Battle, One Piece Super Effect, One Piece Full Color R Gashapon, One Piece Amazing Log Collection, One Piece Full Face Jr. and CharaColleCan series.

Ace has also featured on several keychains/cellphone straps sets, including the One Piece Desert Kingdom Mascot Keychain/Cellphone Strap collection, alongside his brother Luffy. He even appeared in crossover Merchandise like Dragon Ball Capsule Neo - Weekly Shounen Jump 40 Years Limited Edition with One Piece and Co-Starring of Dream!! Dragon Ball Z x One Piece.

Enemy Appearances

 * Treasure Wars 2 Welcome to Buggyland

Support Appearances

 * Aim! The King of Berry
 * One Piece: Pirates Carnival

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Treasure Wars

Early One Piece
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces, it is revealed that Ace was planned to have the name of "Portgas D. Lang" (ポートガス・D・ラング) in the early concepts. His looks apparently have not changed much from the original, except for his hat design and the fact that he was supposed to wear sunglasses.

Translation and Dub Issues
Ace's manji is very similar to a swastika. To avoid confusion between the two symbols and avoid slander for being a Nazi, this was changed to crossbones in the shape of a "cross" in the original Japanese anime and later in the manga also. This change was also done in the Shonen Jump serialization of the English manga, but was left unedited in the actual volumes. Because of the increase in the number of anime and manga being adapted for sale outside of Japan, this has become a common occurrence amongst mangaka and publishers alike to avoid the manji symbol.

Ace's back tattoo is left intact in the English dub, despite 4Kids previous edits to crosses. At the same time, Ace also promotes his tattoo to Luffy, something which is truly considered odd by 4Kids standards. In the 4Kids version of the anime, Ace's shoulder tattoo signifying his name is edited out, as he is referred to there as "Portgaz D. Trace". However, in the edited for TV FUNimation dub it is retained; they reverted his name to the proper "Portgas D. Ace" for the DVD dub. He appears in Grand Adventure, once again without the tattoo on his arm.

In the Digitally Colored Manga, the early apparitions of the tattoo were fixed to match the later ones.

Other Media

 * Ace appears in One Piece Premier Show 2012 as one of Chameleone's transformations. Ace appears in One Piece Premier Show 2017 during the retelling of the events of the Marineford Arc. He also appears in One Piece Premier Show 2018 during the retelling of the Impel Down Arc. Ace is set to appear in One Piece Premier Show 2021.
 * A statue of Ace appears in the "Luffy's Endless Adventure" exhibit at Tokyo One Piece Tower. In One Piece Live Attraction: Phantom, Ann created a mirage of Ace to help Luffy defeat Buggy and Puggy, and the pirate said a farewell to the show's audience at the end.
 * Ace appears in One Piece Dramatic Stage THE METAL ~Marineford of Remembrance~ during a flashback of the Battle of Marineford. A statue of Ace was set out on display outside the DMM VR Theatre.
 * Ace appears in Super Kabuki II: One Piece during the retelling of the Summit War Saga.
 * Ace appears in all four versions of the Hungry Days commercials.
 * A guest comedian on the fifth episode of One Piece Variety: I Will be the Pirate King TV dressed as Portgas D. Ace for a skit.

Trivia

 * Universal Studios of Japan has built a replica of Ace's and Whitebeard's tombs. Ace's epitaph says: "Ace, may your soul be eternal. Your brave soul will always be with us." This epitaph was also shown in Episode 663 of the anime.
 * Ace has had three different pictures in his Wanted Poster throughout the series: the first in a filler episode in the Arabasta Arc; the second in an episode of Marineford Arc (originally as an image of the newspaper in the manga); and the third in the second volume of One Piece Magazine (taken from Chapter 158).
 * Ace being captain of the Spade Pirates is a pun on the "Ace of spades", which is also named the "Death Card", a possible hint at his eventual death.
 * In the 6th Japanese Fan Poll, Ace ranked as the fifth most popular character in the series, making him the most popular of the Whitebeard Pirates and also the most popular deceased character.
 * Had Ace been a girl, he would have been named "Ann".
 * Ace would have been 21 when he died if he was born on time. Instead he was 20 because his mother held him in her womb for eleven months past his due date, meaning he spent a total of twenty months inside her womb, instead of the usual nine.
 * Ace is the first known Devil Fruit user to die.
 * His bounty, being at 550,000,000 before his death, was the highest amount revealed in the series before the timeskip.
 * Ace's birthday, January 1, comes from his name since Ace is the first card in the deck.
 * Ace's favorite food is Bhut jolokia peperoncino (ghost pepper spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino).