Updated October 28, 2022 by Ernie
What is one of the greatest mysteries in the One Piece series? Vegapunks identity? Well, that was just revealed? The D. in Luffy’s name, what’s the One Piece, what happened during the Void Century? Of course, we are curious, but that will all be unveiled in time!
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However, there is one thing that we overlooked, something that was already explained actually and that is the meaning behind Ace’s tattoo.
You know Ace right? One of Luffy’s brothers, he has a habit of randomly falling asleep anywhere at any time and was also turned into a human donut by the most powerful marine admiral, Admiral Akainu (Eukhk). That Ace!
Now, most of us brushed it off believing that the baka miswrote his name. He’s capable of it after all, but turned out we were WRONG! That tattoo holds some deeper meaning.
So, my dear Otaku friends, welcome back for another video on QuoteTheAnime where the mystery behind Ace’s tattoo is going to be revealed in full. Fasten your seatbelt, it’s gonna be one hell of a ride.
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WHAT SECRETS LIE BEHIND ACE’S TATTOO?
Ace’s Origins
Enough of the marketing speech and let’s get down to real business. As most of you probably know, Ace is the Pirate King’s son. As per his request, Garp took him in and hid him from the marine. Why did a marine officer follow a criminal’s order? Well, Garp simply owned him and let’s get real, he is not that dedicated to the cause of the World Government after all.
The boy grew up on Dawn Island under the care of Curly Dadan and this is where he met a runaway noble brat called Sabo who rejected his origins from his very core.
They hit it off real fast, and the two boys with a messed up past became family to each other, brothers.
Not long after, the duo turned into a trio when Luffy joined the gang. They did try to kill him when he found out about their secret, but that’s all water under the bridge now. The three of them shared the sacred cups that bonded them. They created ties that might have been stronger than the ties of a real family since their link was chosen and not forced upon them.
The three of them had a dream, form a crew, set out on the sea, and discover the vast world together, all they had to do was wait a few years until they were old enough to not stupidly die on the way.
However, things didn’t go exactly as intended. Forced by his parents to return home, Sabo decided to fast forward his plans a bit and went ahead of his brothers on a tiny boat to escape the destiny he loathed.
His adventure hadn’t yet begun when evil people bombarded his boat, supposedly killing him in the process. Devastated, the ones he left behind were left with a gaping scar that might never heal.
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Ace’s Leaving
It was maybe because of that that Ace decided to leave ahead of Luffy, however, he left with a smile on his face, promising his younger sworn brother that they will meet again, one day, on the blue ocean.
He formed his own crew with the goal of becoming the next Pirate King. He got his hands on a lit Devil Fruit, turned into a rocket man, and for some reason was determined to steal Whitebeard’s title which meant that he had to somehow defeat him.
He fought him several times, came after him relentlessly, and the mighty Yonko always humiliated him with a bored look on his face.
When Whitebeard had enough of the tantrums of a stubborn kid, he decides to capture him and make him join his crew to calm him down. However, his idea backfired, it just got him even more fired up and Ace ended up challenging him to a duel almost every day.
At some point in time, Whitebeard became more than an enemy to Ace, he became a father figure to the young pirate. Ace no longer wanted to become Pirate King himself, he dedicated his life to try and help his adoptive father to conquer the seas.
Regardless of his change of heart, he still kept coming after his Captain’s life, because, you know, you’re no longer a real man if you show any kind of emotions, boys’ logic…
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What Does ASCE Stand For?
Anyway, it was at that time that an enigmatic tattoo appeared on Ace’s arm. Inked of his ripe bicep you could read the letter A S C and E however, the S had a cross on it, I wonder why that is…
Since Ace spent most of his time on the ship, the fans came up with the conclusion that it must have been one of his crewmates who inked him and that crewmate is most probably Thatch, the commander of the fourth division, considering they were practically glued to each other.
Multiple fan tattoo theories started popping up after the big event and the most credible one went like this.
The A represented Ace’s name, boring, but okay, makes sense. The crossed S was meant to represent Sabo and the fact that he was dead.
Now the C was a tricky one. If we go back to the brothers’ flashback of their time together on the Island they grew up in, you will realize that Ace almost never called Luffy by his name. The nickname Ace came up with was Cry Baby since the rubber man almost never stopped bawling. And that would explain the C.
Finally, the E was an homage for his Captain, Edward Newgate, a man he respected and loved, a man he considered his father.
So, that tattoo can be considered his family tree in a way, a cute idea to honor all the most important people in his life.
As credible as that theory might be, we were far from the truth, not super far but far nonetheless, we got one thing right at least.
Oda kept his mouth shut for a long time before finally spilling the beans and he did it to commemorate Ace’s death at Marine Ford.
After the death of this awesome character, who should have not died by the way, Oda gave us the answer to all of our questions.
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What It REALLY Means
The Tattoo is actually just his name, as simple as that. The S is a memorial for Sabo, but it does not represent his name but the symbol on his Pirate flag, and that’s it. Disappointed? Well, don’t be the reason why Oda meant it like that is actually super interesting, so stay tuned to hear the rest.
So, first of all, the guy wanted his own name tattooed, don’t judge, it’s a choice, he added the S later on as memorium symbolizing his brother’s death.
If you think about it there was absolutely no reason why he would add Luffy’s name on his arm, that would be just cringing.
In the cover art of chapter 596, a very special scene was depicted. You could see the three brothers all grown up and together. This chapter was a representation of a world where Sabo and Ace did not lose their lives.
If Oda wasn’t so grim the three of them would have gone to sea together and experienced the most fantastic of adventures, fought the strongest of enemies and just had the time of their lives like they always wanted.
In that chapter as well, Ace had a tattoo on his arm, it was the same tattoo that is depicted in the current timeline except that the S is missing. And this would be the proof behind this theory, as if Oda’s words weren’t enough…
Conclusion
Sometimes it’s just better to take things figuratively, not everything has a deeper meaning. Truth is, I think we just like to play detective from time to time and overthink everything we come across.
Oh, and don’t get things wrong, it’s not because Luffy didn’t get a place on Ace’s body that Ace favored Sabo over him. He loved them equally and they have one of the most touching relationships in the series. A relationship that became a 100 times stronger after they thought that Sabo had left this Earth. They only had each other now after all.
But we have to give it to him, Ace had to endure a lot, I mean, Luffy was super annoying when he was kid, scratch that he is still super annoying, to the point where we can’t even blame Ace for pushing him off a bridge.
They fought a lot, argued a lot, but in the end, there was no one more important than each other in their eyes.
All Ace would talk about on the Whitebeard’s ship was how amazing his brother was. He was so proud when Luffy got his first bounty that he showed it to Newgate himself.
Every time Luffy was in danger, he would jump in to save him and even went as far as to threaten the most dangerous pirates in the new world when he learned that they were planning to kill him.
And of course, Luffy was just as considerate, the crazy man infiltrated Impel Down all alone to get Ace out of prison. What’s even funnier is that Ace wasn’t even surprised when he learned the news since he knew that Luffy was absolutely capable of doing something so stupid.
We are getting to the end of this… however, I would love to know what insane theories you guys came up with before discovering the truth.
Thank you for being here till the end my anime enthusiastic friends and hope to see you at the next one!
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