#ch574

[opbackgrounds]

I don't know if there's much else I can add to this that Oda didn't say himself in the SBS for Volume 61

[perfectlyimperfectcharacterfan]

Something I noticed in ch 574, is that Akainu seems more surprised that Ace is still breathing, than the fact that he hit Ace instead of Luffy. Coupled with the fact that he commented on Ace still breathing has me thinking he absolutely knew Ace would take the hit for Luffy. Akainu essentially used Ace's love for those who loved him, his family, to kill him.

[iiloffy]

for @iknwnofillers

[starswallowingsea]

Made the terrible decision to read the chapter Ace dies in

[opbackgrounds]

I think it’s interesting that Oda ends the chapter on a panel of Garp. The last couple pages are interspersed with memories from various characters from over the course of Ace’s life. Garp is naturally the only person left from when he was born, and it’s a common storytelling technique to juxtapose life and death. He was the one who was present for both events.

I also think it really hammers home the tragedy of what could have been. Ace was born with the name Gol but died as a Portgas, as emphasized by the volume and chapter titles. Rouge herself dies in an act of loving sacrifice, and Ace is killed because of the burning hatred of the world. Garp saw and was in a position to shape the person Ace would grow into but chose to stick with the marines, leading a boy to grow up with a burden of self-loathing that would contribute in part to his death. He saw it all, could have helped, and instead did nothing. Garp loved Ace and weeps for his grandson while allowing himself to be held down—metaphorically shackled—by the same military power that had hunted him since before he was born.

I’ve had people argue that Garp doesn’t truly care for his family because of his choice to stay by the marines, and I think this is categorically untrue. But there are times where a feelings of love and affection aren’t enough to overcome harmful actions.

Ace is dead, and while Garp isn’t the one who killed him, he certainly did nothing to save him either.

[opbackgrounds]

I recommend you go and reread this chapter in its entirety, because Oda does some fantastic and subtle character acting for both Luffy and Ace. There comes a point in Ace's final speech that Luffy can't bring himself to even look at Ace. He's too shell-shocked as he stares blankly into the distance

It's only as Ace slips out of his arms that he snaps back to reality: His brother is dead, and he wasn't strong enough to save him

And that's when Luffy breaks. I've seen some people who don't like Luffy's final expression, thinking it's a little too goofy and takes them out of the scene, but having the main character sit catatonic, his mouth open in a silent scream, is extremely effective in portraying where exactly Luffy is at this moment

[opbackgrounds]

The big internal question that has been the focus of this war is whether Ace should or should not have been born,

And the conclusion Ace ends up with is yes, he has the right to exist. But the thing that leads him to that conclusion is the love he received from other people, and the bonds of chosen family he forged. Ace wouldn't have made it out of childhood if not for his brotherhood with Luffy and would have been nowhere near the pirate he became if he hadn't been adopted as a son by Whitebeard. Oda's answer to a cruel and unforgiving world is to search for your place of belonging, and argues that everyone has a place where they do belong

[opbackgrounds]

This outburst is the most emotion we see out of Garp this war. Since visiting Ace in Impel Down we've seen little of his boisterous nature, and I think in addition to being sad, he was emotionally preparing himself for Ace to be executed. A flip was switched when he threw the fight with Luffy where he for the first time chose his family over the marines, and like the rest of us I think he expected Ace to be home free after being released from his cuffs.

I think at the end of the day Garp is inherently selfish in the way Luffy's selfish. He wants to go out and do as he pleases--which in his case is be a marine and hunt down pirates--and refuses to make it any more complicated than that. But unlike Luffy his selfish desires clash with the fate of the people he loves. While Luffy brings his found family under his wing as he goes out on grand adventures, Garp's adventures never include his loved ones in a positive way. Garp wants to both care for the people he loves and follow his heart's desires, but he can't do both, and it's one of the reasons his grandson ends up dead