Trace D. Portgaz

**Trace D. Portgaz** (トレース・D・ポートガス, *Torēsu D. Pōtogasu*), born as **Trace D. Gol** (トレース・D・ゴール, *Torēsu D. Gōru*), also known as "**Fire Fist**" **Trace** (火拳のトレース, *Hiken no Torēsu*), and nicknamed as **Ace** (エース, *Ēsu*), is a fictional character and ally from the *One Piece* series. He was the adopted older brother of Luffy and Sabo, and son of the late King of the Pirates, Roger D. Gol and his lover, Rouge D. Portgaz. He was adopted by Garp D. Monkey and Rex D. Monkey as wished by Roger to him before his birth, and took his mother's surname "Portgaz" after the death of his father. Trace was the 2nd division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and one-time and original captain of the Spade Pirates.

When one of his subordinates, Sylvester Clown (who is actually a crewmate of the Blackbeard Pirates), killed another crew member, Trace swore to hunt him down only to lose track of him. Hunted by the World Government for his lineage, Trace ultimately met his end two years before the timeskip after being defeated in a duel and captured by Sylvester's true captain, Teech D. Marshall, alias "Blackbeard" and sentenced to death by the Navy, which resulted in the Battle of Navyford in an all out clash of powers, an event that took the lives of both Trace and Whitebeard.

Trace was freed, but he sacrificed his life to protect his younger brother from Akainu, who was a Navy admiral at the time. His death ultimately proved to be the catalyst leading to Luffy to train for two years to become strong enough to protect his friends, paving the way for the second half of the series. Trace's bounty was 550,000,000 Berries.

"*Who do you think you can beat?*"

—Trace D. Portgaz.

## Appearance

*Voice Actor*: Travis Willingham (English), Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)
*Voice Actor (child)*: Chris Burnett (English), Daisuke Sakaguchi (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

### Biography

2nd Commander of Whitebeard Pirates. Sworn older brother of Luffy and Sabo and son of Roger D. Gol's. His nickname is "Flame Fist" Trace.

With the power of the Logia Curséd Fruit, Flame-Flame Fruit, he can create, control, manipulate, and change his body to fire. The Flame-Flame Fruit- is truly one of the highest power levels of all the Curséd Fruits!

He hunted Joker and Blackbeard and caught up with him on Thriller Bark, but was defeated and condemned to death on Navyford. He died after protecting Luffy from Admiral Akainu.

### Appearance

Although they were not blood related, Trace looked remarkably like his foster brother, Luffy. However, Trace was more serious looking than Luffy's lighthearted design, and was also slightly taller and more muscular. He also sported rather childish freckles (inherited from his mother), and tended to make an incredulous facial expression by raising his left eyebrow. Interestingly, his facial features were almost akin to his biological father Roger D. Gol in his youth without his mustache.

#### The Young Past Days

As a child, Trace is shown to have often worn t-shirts with two-kanji phrases on the front (such as "innocence" and "violence"). On some occasions they are linked to the scene in which they were worn, like "independence" when the three brothers built their own tree house to live in. He often wore knee-length shorts and a black elbow guard on his left arm. Trace was always seen wearing dark brown, flat, slipper-like shoes, and in the winter, he wore a green cardigan over his normal clothes.

#### To The Days He Died

Trace's tattoos were among his most remarkable, trademark features. He had a tattoo on his back of the Whitebeard symbol — purple bones formed in a cross behind a purple skull with a white mustache — that he described as his pride and joy. Trace had another tattoo on his upper left bicep that spells "TRASCE" vertically. The "S" crossed out is a tribute to Sabo as that's his jolly roger. On the cover of *Chapter 596* indeed, Trace's tattoo is written as "TRACE" instead of the original "ASCE" as the cover is a "what if" image of Trace, Luffy, and Sabo together as adults with the latter being still alive.

Trace wore an open-front shirt until he received Whitebeard's tattoo - afterwards, he stopped wearing anything over his upper body except when on winter islands. He wore black boots, black knee-length shorts with an eyelet-studded orange belt, and a blue pouch belted around his left leg. He also wore a short second belt with a large red "A" on the silver buckle over his right hip, but left it unfastened and threaded the free end along the back of his shorts. A dagger in a green sheath hung at his left hip. On Trace's left arm, he wore a Eternal Compass and a red and white striped bracelet around his wrist, an orange elbow guard, and his "TRASCE" tattoo. He wore a red beaded necklace and an orange hat with two blue smileys, one frowning and one smiling, and a string of red beads sitting above the rim. Two long orange side straps hung down sides of his hat and met at a large medallion of a bull's skull with orange tassels.

Unfortunately, Trace lost his trademark hat, which he already had when he first began his journey as a pirate, on Thriller Bark as a result of his duel with Blackbeard. His knife was also apparently confiscated, as he no longer had it in his next appearance as a prisoner at Impel Down. The tattoo upon his back that he took so much pride in was later destroyed by the same blow that eventually led to his death. However, at his grave, Trace's hat and knife were placed at his tombstone — either they were retrieved, or they were duplicates in Trace's possession.

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Black
* Age: 20 (Deceased)
* Birthday: January 1
* Height: 185 cm. (6'1")
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

Trace was much more intelligent, polite, and generally more bearable than Luffy, which prompted the Straw Hat Pirates to question whether he was truly related to their captain. While several people who knew Roger D. Gol noted Luffy is quite similar to the late King of the Pirates, Whitebeard himself claimed that Trace's personality was not at all like his father's. It seems that among the very few things the brothers shared was their recklessness as pirates (and their near-bottomless stomachs). In addition, Trace liked to party as much as his brother does. When he boarded Buggy's ship, he was drawn by the smell of food and decided to enjoy himself while he was there. Trace could be a bit vulgar though as he once used a woman's skirt to wipe his face while he was dining at Spice Bean in Alabasta.

There were two running gags about Trace. The first was his rather extreme narcolepsy. He tended to randomly fall asleep while eating and conversing, leaving strangers around him wondering if he had died. This was first seen in Alabasta when they thought he died in the middle of eating. The second was that he did a "dine and dash" routine wherever he went. This went back to his younger days with Sabo and Luffy, when they would often dine and dash in the city of Goa.

His "politeness" is due to Makino's teaching after Trace asked her how to introduce himself to Shanks and (being his father's son's saviors). Before that, Trace was rather cold and rude to anyone he was not familiar with.

As the son of Roger, he lived in his shadow and is to date the first D. depicted to truly question his own right to exist, while displaying the fewest commonly seen D. related traits. Trace seemed to have lifelong problems dealing with his parentage, even after denouncing Roger D. Gol and accepting Rex and Whitebeard as his only father. This was in direct contrast to Luffy, who accepted his uncle's identity immediately upon learning his father's parentage and did not seem to care when he was told how dangerous of a man they (Rex and Dragon) were. However, Luffy did not grow up with knowledge or identity (or even existence) of any other of his relatives, other than his father and grandfather. Trace believed that it was natural if he were to really die as nobody in the world wanted the son of the devil (Roger) to live. Trace commented upon his own death that he had never sought fame or fortune - all he had wanted was the answer to his lifelong question of whether or not he should have been born, as this was the only thing preventing him from dying with no regrets as he and Luffy had vowed to do so and the fact he had a younger brother to look out for. Trace's only regret was that he would not live to see Luffy achieve his dream, which he believed Luffy undoubtedly would accomplish as he was his little brother.

Trace had a tendency to never back down from a fight, saying that he would never run once facing an enemy. Because of this, some people believed that Trace had a death wish, but in truth he wanted to prevent people he cared for from getting hurt. Dadan stated that he inherited this tendency from his father, Roger D. Gol, despite loathing him. While Trace emerged victorious over enemies he refused to run from, such as Porchemy and Bluejam, his stubbornness hurt him on a number of occasions, particularly when he refused to back down against Blackbeard or Admiral Akainu.

Trace was also easily provoked by and became violent towards anyone who insulted or harmed people close to him. In one of Garp's conversations with Dadan Curly, this was revealed to be a trait of Roger as well. During his childhood, Trace had a tendency to severely injure anyone who insulted Roger, though he himself disliked his biological father. After hearing about Sabo's presumed death at the hands of a World Noble, Trace quickly became bent on killing the Noble and Dadan had to pin Trace down and tie him to a tree to stop him.

Trace's temper got the better of him, especially in cases when Whitebeard, proclaimed by Trace to be his only father, was insulted. Believing that this was the case when Joker broke the iron rule and committed a crime against the Whitebeard Pirates, fled after murdering a crew mate, and learned a pirate named "Blackbeard", Trace pursued his traitorous subordinate despite his crew mates' efforts and even Whitebeard's orders to stop him. Trace later came to see that his stubbornness had gotten him into the ordeal of being scheduled for execution. Even though he managed to escape death on the scaffold thanks to the pirates' and Luffy's efforts at Navyford and was well on his way to freedom, Admiral Akainu got to him by insulting Whitebeard. Trace quickly turned back to face him, ignoring his crew mates' warnings to not become angered over Akainu's provocations. Unwilling to let him get away of speaking ill of Whitebeard, Trace attacked him out of fury only to have his arm burned by Akainu's Curséd Fruit powers. Akainu then took the opportunity to attack Luffy on the sideline, leading Trace to jump in, sacrificing his life to shield Luffy from the attack. While saying his last words, Trace sadly admitted to Luffy that he (Trace) wasted away all of his efforts to rescue him.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Red-Haired Pirates
	+ "Red-Haired" Shanks
* Straw Hat Pirates
	+ Zolo Roronoa
	+ Nami
	+ Usopp
	+ Sanji
	+ Chopper Tony Tony
	+ Robin Nico
	+ Franky
	+ Brook
* Buggy Pirates
	+ Buggy
* Kuja Pirates
	+ Hancock Boa
* Jimbei

### Family

* Roger D. Gol (father)
* Rouge D. Portgaz (mother)
* Tiger D. Monkey (adopted father)
* Dragon D. Monkey (adopted uncle)
* Garp D. Monkey (adopted grandfather)
* Makino (1st foster mother)
* Dadan Curly (2nd foster mother)
* Luffy D. Monkey (adopted brother)
* Sabo (adopted brother)

### Neutral

* Seven Warlords of the Sea
	+ Kuma Bartholomew
	+ Crocodile
* Navy
	+ Chaser Smoker

### Rivals

* Luffy D. Monkey
* Sabo

### Enemies

* Baroque Works
* Blackbeard Pirates
	+ Teech D. Marshall
	+ Ogre Van
	+ Burgess G. Zass
* World Government
* Navy

## Abilities and Powers

As commander of the 2nd division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Trace had authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. In addition, as one of the top commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, he was one of the strongest and most highly-regarded pirates on board under Whitebeard himself. At one point, while being captain of the Spade Pirates, he was even asked to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea but refused.

Luffy comments on how he never defeated Ace in a single fight, despite Luffy already having the power of the Gum-Gum Fruit (Trace did not consume the Flame-Flame Fruit until after he left: Luffy was surprised by Ace's new power when Ace stopped Chaser from capturing him in Nanohana). Trace was trained by Garp, who had hoped to turn him into a fine Navy, and possibly Dadan, the two of whom were responsible for training Luffy to the level of power he held before becoming a pirate.

Trace also held a fearsome reputation. It was revealed that Trace received an invitation to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea while he was still captain of the Spade Pirates, though he refused the offer. After he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, a civilian was seen commenting on how Trace's strength was supposedly "outta this world". The World Government granted Blackbeard the position of Seven Warlords of the Sea after he successfully defeated and captured Trace. His overall reputation and abilities had earned him a bounty of 550,000,000 berries prior to his capture and death.

He was also a capable navigator, as he was seen wearing a Eternal Compass on his left wrist, while travelling island to island in search for Luffy and Blackbeard on a simple raft.

### Physical Abilities

Aside from the powers granted by the Curséd Fruit he consumed, Trace possessed immense physical strength. Signs of his great physical potential were already evident at his early childhood, where he was able to beat some local thugs who spoke ill of his father "half to death", and was also shown sitting on top of a huge animal (possibly a bull) he killed with his staff, during his first meeting with Luffy. Also later on the same day he was shown to easily break a giant tree with ease. Trace was already very strong when he left his hometown, three years before Luffy did the same.

Trace demonstrated his strength during his battle with Blackbeard: he was able to take Blackbeard's punches, which were so powerful that the first made Trace cough up blood and the second nearly broke his neck, and retaliate. Ogre Van noted that, as expected of the Whitebeard Pirates 2nd division commander, Trace's basic combat skills were quite formidable even without his Cursed Fruit powers.

He fought equally with Jimbei in the past; they nearly killed each other in a fight that lasted for five days. Trace then survived a battle with Whitebeard that took place immediately after, showing immense stamina and durability. He was one of the few people to be able to take a "baptizing" in boiling water in Impel Down without flinching, which is considered an impressive feat.

### Curséd Fruit

*Main article:* *Flame-Flame Fruit*
The **Flame-Flame Fruit** (メラメラ実, *Mera Mera Mi*), a Logia-type Curséd Fruit, which was eaten by Trace, allows him to become the element of fire and control the flames from his body, which thus making him a "**Fire Human**" (火人間, *Hi Ningen*) and giving him his reputation as "Fire Fist" Trace. Trace displayed his immense power by destroying a handful of Baroque Works ships with ease. His main style is to launch columns of fire by punching, with his signature "Fire Fist". He is also immune to normal physical strikes, all of which will simply phase through his fire-composed body.

He skillfully sent his boat underwater as he leaped over the Billions fleet, timing it precisely so that it emerged underneath him just before he hit the water on the other side. Also, when he turned up on Drum Island, no snow fell at all on the island for an entire day. Later after his death, it was revealed that Trace's burning fists also had the ability to annihilate entire cities.

#### Techniques

The named techniques that are used by Ace that involve the Cursed Fruit are as follows:

* **Heat Haze** (陽炎, *Kagerō*): Trace shoots a stream of fire from the palm of his hand. This was first seen being used to stop Chaser from catching Luffy.

* **Flame Fence** (炎上網, *Enjōmō*): Trace creates a circle of fire around a selected area, preventing anyone from entering or leaving it. This was first seen being used against the Navy in Alabasta under the command of Chaser, and was named in a flashback against Whitebeard.

* **Fire Fist** (火拳, *Hiken*): Trace's apparent signature attack and the source of his nickname "Fire Fist" Trace. Trace turns his fist into flames and launches it as a column of fire at his target. This attack is so incredibly powerful that it is able to plow through several ships in one shot. However, it was completely neutralized by Akainu's Great Eruption.

* **Fire Gun** (火銃, *Higan*): Pointing the index and middle fingers of both hands at an opponent like guns, Trace turns his fingertips into flames and shoots bullets made of fire from them. This technique was first seen when Trace retaliated against Ogre Van's attack.

* **Flame Commandment** (炎戒, *Enkai*): Trace amasses a large amount of flames around his body (usually by first swinging his outstretched hand around him, summoning the flames) in preparation for an attack. This is apparently the prerequisite technique before Trace can use **Fire Pillar**.

* **Fire Pillar** (火柱, *Hibashira*): Trace shoots the collected flames straight upward, destroying a target above him. It can also be fired downwards to clear any enemies that might be below him while he's in mid-air. This technique and its prerequisite technique were first seen when Burgess G. Zass threw a hotel at Trace.

* **Firefly** (蛍火, *Hotarubi*): Trace creates many small, glowing greenish yellow fireballs that float around an enemy. The idea behind this attack's name is that before he attacks with them, the small fireballs look like fireflies in the air. This move is apparently used in preparation for **Fiery Doll** and was first seen in Trace's battle against Blackbeard.

* **Fiery Doll** (火達磨, *Hidaruma*): After using **Firefly** to send the fireballs floating around in proximity with the enemy, Ace sends them all flying into the target(s) all at once, burning them. This was first seen being used in Trace's battle against Blackbeard after Blackbeard performed his initial attacks.

* **Saint Elmo's Fire** (神火 不知火, *Shinka: Shiranui*): Trace hurls long lances made out of fire. The lances have the combined effect of simultaneously burning an opponent while piercing them. This was first seen being used against Blackbeard when Trace was being pulled forward by the former's power.

* **Cross Fire** (十字火, *Jūjika*): Trace puts his index fingers together in a cross shape before launching a cross-shaped column of fire directly at his opponent. In the anime, after crossing his fingers, a cross-shaped ray of light can be seen emanating from the fingers at the target followed by the column of fire. This was first seen being used against Blackbeard after Trace attacked him with **Saint Elmo's Fire**. This attack's name is a pun since "Jujika" refers to crossfire from weapons, yet Trace is making an actual cross out of fire.

* **Great Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor** (大炎戒 炎帝, *Dai Enkai: Entei*): Trace's ultimate technique. After creating great spiraling flames centered on his location before amassing it at a focused point (i.e. the palm of his hand), Trace then turns it into a gigantic fireball resembling the sun and hurls it at his opponent to try to obliterate them. This was only seen being used during the final moments of Trace and Blackbeard's battle. "Entei" sounds similar to "Enkei" meaning "circle," a reference to the attack's shape. In *One Piece: Unlimited Cruise*, Trace activates this move by first bending his knees slightly and then placing the outstretched palm of his hand towards the ground (with his other hand gripping the wrist for support), where the flames manifest themselves into a sphere.

* **Flame Mirror** (鏡火炎, *Kyōkaen*): Trace releases a wall of fire to block an attack. This was first seen to counter Aokiji's Ice Block: Pheasant Beak, the two attacks canceling each other out.

* **Twin Guns & Cross Fire** (): Trace fires a volley of bullets from his two guns before finishing the technique with Cross Fire. This technique appears as one of Ace special moves for his *Strong World DLC* costume in *One Piece: Burning Blood*.

### Haki

#### King Conqueror's Haki

*Main article:* *Haki*
While not portrayed in the main storyline, it was revealed in a flashback that Trace possesses King Conqueror's Haki, which at the time he had no conscious control over. Trace first demonstrated the ability at 10 years of age, when he knocked the Bluejam Pirates crew unconscious after an outburst of rage (only Bluejam himself remained conscious from the Haki release, and he was a high-tier of East Blue at the time). Much as Luffy used his Haki to knock out a crowd of Kuja warriors, Trace used his Haki to knock out the attacking members of Bluejam's pirate crew.

Trace was first shown to have knowledge about it when during the Battle in Navyford, he witnessed Luffy unknowingly unleash his Haki and remarked "You too?". He was never seen using it as he only relied on his Logia Cursed Fruit powers, save for in the video games (such as during the activation of his Kizuna Rush in Wizard Pirate Warriors 3).

### Weapons

Trace carries around a knife but is never seen using it. However, in flashbacks of attempts to assassinate Whitebeard, Trace was shown using various weapons, including an axe and a knife. As a child, he used a long bo staff made from pipe as a weapon.

In *One Piece: Burning Blood*, Trace (Strong World) wields two twin double-barreled firearms (which resemble a cross between a pistol and sawed-off shotgun) which he uses as part of his Twin Gun & Cross Fire special attack.

### Transportation

*Main article:* *Striker*
For some reason, Trace did not seem to mind his inability to swim. He traversed the seas in a one-man boat that seems to have been specifically designed for him, propelling it with flames from his feet.

## Legacy

Although already famous in life, the events of the war and the fact that he was the son of the King of the Pirates has given Trace almost legendary recognition, like his father before him. Although his death left many heartbroken, none suffered more than Luffy, who fell into a coma only to awake in complete and utter despair. Trace's death also proved to be the final debacle for Luffy's resolve to become stronger, next to his crew's defeat and separation at the hands of Kuma Bartholomew.

Similarly to Luffy, Sabo was distraught over his inability to protect Trace from death. After learning about his brother's demise, Sabo gained an immense protective-streak towards Luffy, vowing to come to his aid whenever and wherever he needed him - even going so far as to disregard his duties in the Revolutionary Army if he felt Luffy was in danger. Ultimately Whitebeard's prediction that someone would appear to inherit Trace's will came to fruition when the Flame-Flame Fruit was eaten by Sabo, who gained his brother's Curséd Fruit powers and also inherited his signature technique, the "Fire Fist".

## Battles

### Canon

* Trace D. Portgaz and Sabo vs. Porchemy
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Luffy D. Monkey (multiple times)
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Sabo (multiple times)
* Trace D. Portgaz and Dadan Curly vs. Bluejam
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Jimbei
* Spade Pirates vs. Whitebeard
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Whitebeard (at least 100 times)
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Doma and his crew (unseen)
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Chaser Smoker
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Billions fleet
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Ogre Van and Burgess G. Zass
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Teech D. Marshall
* Trace D. Portgaz, Natsu Dragneel and Luffy D. Monkey vs. Navy
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Admiral Aokiji
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Admiral Akainu

### Non-Canon

* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Naguri
* Trace D. Portgaz, Luffy D. Monkey, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet and Sabo vs. a giant tiger
* Trace D. Portgaz, Luffy D. Monkey, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet and Sabo vs. Bluejam's men
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Decalvan Brothers (offscreen)
* Trace D. Portgaz and Luffy D. Monkey vs. Billions (Nanohana)
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Scorpion
* Trace D. Portgaz vs. Impel Down guards (Impel Down)

## External links

* Trace D. Portgaz *One Piece Encyclopedia*