Spade Pirates

The Spade Pirates (スペード海賊団, Supēdo Kaizokudan) is the former pirate crew of Portgas D. Ace that was founded two years before the current storyline. The crew has been disbanded when they were integrated into the Whitebeard Pirates.

History
Sometime after Ace left Fuschia Village to pursue his path as a pirate, he eventually formed the Spade Pirates. Overtime, the crew gained reputation, and Ace was offered by the World Government to become a Shichibukai, but he refused. He has also attracted Whitebeard's attention through the newspaper.

Ace and his crew eventually decided to challenge Whitebeard for his head, but were stopped by Jinbei, who fought Ace to protect Whitebeard. They fought for five days without rest, until they both fell. After that, Whitebeard and his crew appeared. Whitebeard himself attacked the Spade Pirates, and utterly defeated them. When Ace knew there was no hope of victory, he formed a firewall to allow his crew to escape, while he continued to fight. Whitebeard then offered Ace to join his crew, to which Ace refused. Regardless, he was knocked unconscious and dragged onto Whitebeard's flagship.

The rest of the Spade Pirates tried to take Ace back, but they were all defeated in their attempt. However, they were fortunately spared and taken aboard. Ace has tried many times to assassinate Whitebeard (said by Vista to be at least 100), but eventually gave up and accepted the offer. The Spade Pirates have since then been integrated along with their captain into the ranks of their former enemy.

Crew Strength
The Spade Pirates were powerful enough to make it through the Grand Line. Their captain, Ace, managed to fight in terms of equal to Shichibukai Jinbei, as well as being offered a position as a Shichibukai himself. The crew also showed a lack of fear, as they attempted to attack Whitebeard in order to save their captain.

Pirate Flag
The Spade Pirates' Jolly Roger is that of a normal grinning skull with crossbones, wearing Ace's signature hat, which has two "smileys", one smiling and the other frowning. The top of the hat has flames protruding from it, a representation of Ace's pyrokinetic abilities. The background of the skull is the spade, and the word "SPADE" is beneath it.

Trivia

 * Their name "Spade", as well as their captain's name "Ace", are both references to the spadille.