One Piece Novel Ace Vol.1, the review: the spin-off series on Portuguese D. Ace
One Piece Novel Ace: the meeting between Deuce and Portuguese D. Ace
The first volume of this series spin-off, created by Sho Hinata under the supervision of Eiichiro Oda, takes the name of The Birth of the Pirates of Spades and is set on the island of Sixis lost in the middle of the sea and which cannot be abandoned in any way. of the strong currents that characterize the waters that surround it. A totally lonely and decidedly demoralized boy lives on this island, or at least that's what he believes before meeting Portuguese D. Ace and discovering that he too is stuck on that same island.A strong friendship will be born between the two that Deuce, the protagonist of the story whose name is given by Ace, wants to describe in the form of a personal diary. Coexistence is anything but simple and the two will have to learn to get to know each other and get closer, as well as defend themselves since they are the only two inhabitants of an island scattered in the middle of nowhere. In short, they are in the same boat and will have to make sure to escape. They succeed by starting the Ace crew, as well as the Pirates of Spades, but their adventure in the New World and in the Grand Line will be anything but simple. At his heels there will be not only the Navy, but also an unexpected person: Ace's father, Gol D. Roger.
Between unpublished tales and curiosities about the birth of the Pirates of Spades
This series begins with a first volume that not only tells an unknown side of Ace through the words of the narrator Deuce, but also a part of the story not present in the canonical manga. The narrative similar to a personal diary gives a sort of unexpected realism especially when Deuce, after describing himself and his most intimate desires regarding the desire to venture to the open sea in order to be able to put his passion as a writer into practice, decides to put a magnifying glass on Ace and their friendship.In the manga we have seen Ace as a very generous person, sincere, cheerful, but just as fearful due to his great strength given by his Mera Mera no Mi. It is precisely discovering the way in which he obtains the powers of the Foco Foco fruit that makes this first volume of One Piece Novel Ace really interesting and curious. This aspect mainly concerns the first part of the volume as the second part mainly tells the Pirates of Spades and their adventure on the Sabody Islands before entering the New World.
Here it is impossible not to notice the similarities between Ace and the brother Luffy. The metanarrative continues showing us a good-hearted but authoritative captain and allows us to get to know some members of the ramshackle crew and their most original peculiarities. Among the most important antagonists stands the Ensign Isuka who tries to continually capture Ace, but who in the end turns out to be more similar than they themselves imagine.
The first volume of One Piece Novel Ace consists of a prologue and three chapters, for a total of 112 pages that are enriched by some tables regarding the new characters introduced in the novel by Oda so as to physically define them within the story itself so as to imagine them as characters from the manga or anime. The language used for the narration is very simple and the reading flows quite easily.
It is a work that is aimed mainly at fans of the world of One Piece, but its simple and not very articulated narration can be also appreciated by those who approach the story for the first time and will be able to get to know the character of Ace better since in the manga he is only partially described through flashbacks. The story is well-paced and light-hearted especially in the second part since the first is slow for obvious reasons related to the description of the characters and their initial cognitive embarrassment.
