I get so fucking annoyed whenever people say that "Ace was stupid and let himself get killed bc of his pride" and "Garp would have saved him but he clearly denied his help"
You clearly didn’t watch or listen to ANYTHING about Ace’s character or why he does the things he does.
"He died to ragebait, he’s stupid"
Yeah that got his attention and I’ll admit i was practically screaming at him to keep running but that’s not why he died at all. He was defending his Captain (and while i don’t like whitebeard) he was a huge part of Ace finding a home and actual peace even if it wasn’t for long, Ace loves and protects so fiercely, that it often becomes a problem bc he puts himself in danger but that’s who Ace has ALWAYS been.
And in the end Ace didn’t die bc of "ragebait" he died protecting his little brother (yk the only actual reason he didn’t kill himself. yk his "treasure" their bond, the thing that kept him going) sure he could have kept moving but Luffy was already exhausted and could barely move himself.
They wouldn’t have gotten away anyway. Ace gave his life to protect the one thing that truly held his heart, which is his little brother.
It wasn’t even a fight really, Akainu just straight up insults Aces entire family and his blood, which puts pressure on Ace as well bc yk Roger is his father. He felt responsible again, and Akainu doesn’t even give him a chance to fight and directly turns and aims his attack at a collapsed Luffy who didn’t have time to move…
And i really hate how people take his sacrifice. Now i could make an entire word document explaining my take but that would take very long. But we all knew that Ace didn’t want the Whitebeard pirates to save him, he literally said it wasn’t worth it.
Ofc it’s their way of showing they care and love him, but Ace already knew that, or he wouldn’t have stayed.
Ace knew he was gonna die, even when he was younger he literally admitted that he didn’t see worth in himself. We know that Ace knew that the government hated him, that the entire world hated him. Time and time again we are shown that Ace knew he was living on borrowed time, which is also why he wanted to live without regret.
Ace died protecting his family which is something he has always done, til the end he was himself, a person that values other lives above his own and a sacrificing brother who would give everything to make his brother happy and keep him alive.
He also literally apologizes ON HIS DEATH BED for not being able to follow Luffy til the end, and thanks Luffy for loving him.
Again i can analyze the entire scene even more but this is the smallest i could pull it together.