Spade Pirates

The Spade Pirates was the former pirate crew of Portgas D. Ace that was founded five years before the current storyline. The crew later disbanded when its members integrated into the Whitebeard Pirates.

Jolly Roger
The Spade Pirates' Jolly Roger is a normal grinning skull and 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 fire-based abilities. The background of the skull is a spade and the word "SPADE" is beneath it.

Organization
The crew was small enough to have a loose structure with little rigid hierarchy beyond Ace being the captain. However, Masked Deuce alleged that Ace, Skull, Mihar, and himself formed a "brain trust" of officers that did most of the leadership and decision-making for the crew, with the rest being "brawlers". Saber, Banshee, and Wallace were also prominent members of the crew, with Banshee serving as the ship's cook and Wallace's familiarity with the waters around Fish-Man Island proving critical once they reach the Sabaody Archipelago. It also usually fell to Wallace to keep Ace out of the sea.

Crew Strength
The Spade Pirates consist of 20 members: 16 humans, a fish-man, a mermaid, a member of the Longarm Tribe, and a lynx, who were powerful enough to make it through Paradise. Their captain, Ace, managed to fight on equal terms with one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Jinbe, for five days straight, as well as being offered a position as a Warlord himself. The crew also showed a lack of fear, as they attempted to attack Whitebeard in order to save their captain despite knowing that they were outmatched.

According to several members of the crew, their main weakness was their lack of an official cook. They managed to somewhat get through by having Banshee prepare their meals.

Piece of Spadille


The Piece of Spadille was the ship used by the Spade Pirates. After integrating themselves into the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace burned down the ship and his jolly roger.

The figurehead of the ship is similar to the design of their Jolly Roger; a flaming skull, with this one being a horse's. There are also chains linked to the skull and the sides of the ship. The foremost sail bears the crew's Jolly Roger. The back sail on the top contains the word "SPADE", and has the crew's flag on top of it. As only the front of the ship is shown, it is unknown what the rest of it looks like.

Striker
The Striker was first built by Masked Deuce when he and Ace were shipwrecked on Sixis. The ship was adapted to work with Ace's Devil Fruit ability at some point, and he kept the ship with him when his crew assimilated into the Whitebeard Pirates.

Biography


Sometime after Ace left Dawn Island to pursue his path as a pirate, he become shipwrecked on Sixis, a beautiful desert island. There, he met a man who became his friend, who he dubbed "Masked Deuce". After a few days and a discussion about Ace's lineage, Ace found a large fruit which he split with Deuce. Ace was granted the fruit's powers of fire, and Deuce agreed to build him a ship. From there, the pair founded the Spade Pirates.

One day, the Spade Pirates were confronted by an entire battalion of Marine battleships, and Deuce prepared to lead them into a rocky reef. An Ensign named Isuka came onboard to keep the Spade Pirates occupied while the battalion converged, but Deuce's plan was in full motion and he was successful as one of the Marine ships hit the reef and started sinking. Isuka went to save her sinking comrades and nearly drowned in the process, but Ace threw a life preserver to her.

Isuka continued chasing the Spade Pirates, but they did not take her very seriously. They eventually reached Sabaody Archipelago, and while they waited for their ship to be coated, they were confronted by her again. Three days later, Deuce and Ace were in the slums when they were approached by Isuka and Vice Admiral Draw, who came with an invitation for Ace to join the Warlords of the Sea. Ace refused, and he and Draw started fighting as a result. Ace defeated Draw and Isuka let them go. The two of them then headed back to their ship as it prepared to sail to Fish-Man Island, bidding their farewells to Isuka.

Ace was known as a "super rookie" and, during this first year of piracy, defeated one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Ace was later offered the Warlord position but refused it. He also attracted Whitebeard's attention through the newspaper. When they finally entered the New World, Ace immediately went to meet "Red Haired" Shanks in order to thank him for saving his little brother.



At one point, the Spade Pirates were shipwrecked in Wano Country. The people from Amigasa Village were starving to death, so they tied the entire crew and stole all their food. The crew watched as the villagers finished their meal and then broke out. Instead of attacking, Ace asked the villagers where he could get them dessert. They stayed in Amigasa Village for a few weeks and became good friends with Tama. They also went to Onigashima to liberate the abducted children from the Beasts Pirates. They never encountered Kaidou and his top subordinates because they were away on an expedition. After Ace did so much damage to Kaidou's castle, the Spade Pirates met Yamato. After a scuffle, Ace and Yamato became acquainted.



Ace and his crew eventually decided to challenge Whitebeard for his head, but were stopped by Jinbe, who fought Ace to protect Whitebeard. They fought for five days without rest, until they both fell in a tie. After the battle had ended, Whitebeard and his crew appeared. Whitebeard announced to whoever wished to kill him that he would take his head himself. Whitebeard then 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 alone. Whitebeard then offered a heavily wounded Ace a chance to join his crew and (in his words) to become his son to which Ace outright refused. Regardless, he was knocked unconscious and dragged onto Whitebeard's flagship.

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

Marineford Arc


Skull was amongst the reinforcements to arrive late in the battle on Whitebeard's fifth ship. He was later with Kingdew when Whitebeard yelled at his crew to leave him.

Afterwards, they mourned their former captain's death at the end of the Summit War of Marineford, along with the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Trivia

 * Their name "Spade", as well as their captain's name "Ace", are both references to the ace of spades.
 * They are the second pirate crew revealed to have joined another crew, the first being the Fanged Toad Pirates joining the Foxy Pirates; although, unlike the Fanged Toad Pirates, of whom only the most important members were taken, the entire Spade Pirate crew was integrated into Whitebeard's crew.
 * The crew's Jolly Roger has been colored differently in the anime and the ONE PIECE Dramatic Stage THE METAL ~ Marineford of Remembrance ~.

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