Portgas D. Ace, the older brother of Monkey D. Luffy, will get his own One Piece manga spinoff in 2024.
The iconic supporting character from Eiichiro Oda’s legendary series will take to the page once again as the English translation of his light novel series manga adaptation will have a Spring 2024 release date, as confirmed by Sportskeeda. This manga will bring the two-part One Piece: Ace’s Story novels, written by Sho Hinata and Tatsuya Hamazaki, to life with an official English translation. Boichi, the artist behind the popular Shonen series Dr. Stone, illustrates the spinoff. VIZ Media’s account revealed all of this information in a tweet, featuring a look at the cover art.
Announcement: Based on the novel series One Piece: Ace’s Story, this action-packed prequel features the adventures of Luffy’s beloved brother Ace! One Piece: Ace’s Story–The Manga, with art by Dr. STONE’s Boichi, releases Spring 2024! pic.twitter.com/U8hijgumxz
— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 9, 2023
One Piece’s Spinoff Manga Will Follow Ace’s Adventures
This supplemental miniseries is a prequel to the mainline One Piece manga and follows Ace as he leads his first pirate crew, the Spade Pirates. It also delivers the origin of his discovery of the Mera Mera no Mi Devil Fruit, which grants the character his fire powers, earning him the nickname “Fire Fist” Ace. As the story progresses, it falls into the events of the official manga and has been confirmed as canon by Eiichiro Oda.
Ace is a popular figure in the One Piece franchise, known for his powerful Devil Fruit abilities, his role as an inspirational figure to Luffy and his compassion. The character is not biologically related to the protagonist but still takes the position of a “sworn brother” to him and Sabo. While incredibly powerful, Ace still has many flaws, leading to an infamously heart-wrenching moment within the story.
One Piece is a hectic series at the time of writing, as the prolific anime adaptation from Toei Animations is currently receiving a boatload of praise for its latest season. The newest One Piece episodes adapt the “Wano Country” arc and have been proclaimed some of the strongest in the anime’s history. The franchise will also become a live-action as a Netflix series is in development. Fans have already seen the live-action version of the Going Merry and hope the company will adapt the property well. Eiichiro Oda has confirmed that it will only be released once he is happy with it.
One Piece’s Hiatus for Eiichiro Oda’s Health
While the adaptations are thriving, the manga is set to take a break as it’s currently on a four-week hiatus. This is due to Oda preparing for eye surgery, which many hope will allow the artist to manage his health struggles better.
The mainline One Piece manga is available to read through Viz Media, with the One Piece: Ace’s Story novels’ English translations purchasable at most participating bookstores.
