Short novels that explored the adventures of Luffy’s brother Ace have been adapted into manga with incredibly epic results thanks to exquisite artwork, making One Piece: Ace Story The Manga, Vol. 1 worth any manga fans’ time. Ace became a fan-favorite character almost immediately after being introduced to audiences during One Piece‘s Alabasta arc. However, the hot-blooded pirate had several encounters and close calls to death before Luffy set out on his own. Manga readers can now see them with stunning art from Boichi, the Dr. Stone manga illustrator.
The two light novels that explored Ace’s backstory were written by Sho Hinata & Tatsuya Hamazaki with the guidance of One Piece‘s author Eiichiro Oda. Those stories explored how Ace became a commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. However, even before that, Portgas D. Ace successfully made a name for himself and formed his own formidable pirate crew with the help of his first crew mate and the story’s narrator, Masked Deuce.
Volume one of the manga adaptation of Ace’s Story contains three separate chapters. Two explore different periods of Ace’s life, while the third is a stylish recreation of One Piece‘s greatest early fights: Zoro vs. Mihawk. Each section tells a compelling story with Boichi’s striking and bold artwork. His work, combined with stories told in the light novels, effectively captures the essence of Oda’s pirate-filled world, but in a style that allows its characters to breathe with dramatic angles and excellent shading that paint One Piece‘s characters in a way they’ve never been seen before.
A Spark That Ignited One Piece’s World
Instead of focusing solely on the titular Ace, the side story is told through the perspective of Ace’s first mate, Deuce. However, the manga begins with the two meeting each other and nearly starving to death on a seemingly barren island. Thanks to effective character writing, the intricacies of Ace’s mind feel more explored in the side stories. His tendency to dive into trouble before thinking of the consequences, to the benefit of readers, consistently shifts the course of the story into more entertaining waters. Events that are barely mentioned in the One Piece story are explored in the new manga, including epic fights that feel grand with Boichi’s illustrations.
Deuce’s narration adds extra depth to Ace’s journey, especially during Chapter 2: Son of a Demon. Once assembled, Ace and his crew go full speed ahead into the oceans of One Piece‘s New World, or as Deuce put it, “Like a fireball from Hell, Ace tore across the seas burning from both ends.” Many familiar locations and characters appear in the manga, each represented and drawn like never before. Ace made a considerable name for himself before his hunt for Blackbeard began. Those large fires attracted the attention of some of the series’ most notable pirates, some of whom appear in Chapter 2.
Volume 1 is packed with satisfying encounters with beloved characters like Shanks and even a five-day-long duel with a future Straw Hat pirate. Including iconic characters in previously unseen scenarios is a significant highlight of One Piece: Ace’s Story. However, new characters like Deuce and Ace’s Spade Pirate crew members are disappointingly not explored with the depth or charm fans often associate with Oda’s Pirate-filled world. It may be because they have so little screen time, but cast members like Skull and Mihal feel like extras in a series that otherwise specializes in making its world and cast seem alive.
Mihawk’s Bigger And Better Clash Against The Straw Hats
Ace’s story stops with a dramatic cliffhanger at the end of Chapter 2, but it is not the final section of One Piece: Ace’s Story The Manga. The previous issue of characters lacking depth goes out the window with the third and final section of Volume 1: One Piece Remix – Zoro Overboard. Oda personally requested Boichi to draw characters like Zoro and Nami with his signature style, which resulted in the Dr.Stone artist completely redrawing Zoro and Mihawk’s poetic first duel, in possibly the best portrayal of the fan-favorite encounter.
Mihawk’s introduction and immaculate design remain one of Eiichiro Oda’s best works. Still, Boichi’s interpretation makes One Piece‘s strongest swordsman look sharper than ever. Details like muscle structure and the sense of space and movement portrayed in this adaptation make the already iconic moment even more epic. Zoro’s three-sword-style and even Luffy’s stretchy Devil Fruit powers feel heavier with Boichi’s thick linework, especially during an extended battle between Luffy and Mihawk. The encounter with Dracule Mihawk on the Baratie has been adapted several times, but the version found in Ace’s Story Volume 1 might be the most cinematic yet.
Ace’s Character Burns So Bright, He Dims Others
While most of Eiichiro Oda’s manga captures the sense of adventure and whimsy of being a pirate at sea, Boichi’s art gives the world a more dramatic and sometimes more sensational visual identity. Intense shading and framing make One Piece‘s world feel more perilous than the often goofy-pirate manga that Oda’s been crafting masterfully for 25 years. Still, the Dr. Stone artist’s work does a fantastic job of capturing each beloved character’s likeness in both comedic and serious moments. It’s a compelling tribute that takes nothing away from Oda’s version.
Readers don’t need to be caught up with One Piece to enjoy Volume One of Ace’s Story, but it does help fuel the enjoyment of the new manga. Long-time One Piece fans will encounter a few exciting moments in the material that will lack the impact without the context of at least the first half of Oda’s story. Boichi included a massive spoiler for Ace’s character in the manga’s first pages. Still, it ultimately provides an additional layer of context to Ace’s story and how the tragic character lived like a candle burning at both ends in a desperate attempt to overcome his demons.
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga has entered the final saga of its story. Each chapter is packed with developments thanks to the author’s desire to include a lot of story with each release. However, certain chapters can feel cluttered with so much going on and with the formatting of their pages. Boichi’s attempt to draw One Piece‘s world gives its moments and characters room to breathe. His talent, combined with Sho Hinata and Tatsuya Hamazaki’s stories, gives Ace a closer look at which fans will be excited to see more after reading Volume 1 of One Piece: Ace’s Story – The Manga.
You can purchase One Piece: Ace’s Story—The Manga, Vol. 1 through Viz Media and Amazon
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One Piece
Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a multimedia franchise that began as a manga series and follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as led by Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy, an enthusiastic pirate with a thirst for adventure, is afflicted by a mysterious curse that gives him various powers he uses to protect himself and his friends. The manga eventually gave way to the anime series, with the two being some of history’s longest-running anime and manga series. Along with over fifty video games made over the years, the series entered the live-action world with Netflix’s 2023 adaptation.
