What was the point of Ace as a plot device? He was clearly written from the start to be killed off later due to what little screentime he had and his connection to Luffy, but what was supposed to be the purpose of his death? Teach Luffy? Teach him what? His death didn't teach Luffy anything he didn't already know:
- Grief? Check
- Self-sacrifice? Check
- Muh Nakama? Check
- "Can't win 'em all"? Check
- "Shoulda tried harder than that"? Check
And so on and so forth. His purposely clearly wasn't to merely shake the status quo of One Piece world, or else Luffy's trauma of seeing his brother die right in front of him and his emotional baggage wouldn't have been central to the arc.
So, again, just what was the point of Ace in the story?
Brandon Brooks
He didn't need to die but for some reason, Oda needed him to die.
Ryder Brown
>One piece has a shit writing In other news water is wet
Blake Myers
>He didn't need to die but for some reason, Oda needed him to die.
Exactly. Ace's death is treated like such a YUUUUUGE event for Luffy as a character (and it's supposed to be), but I never saw the point of it. Luffy didn't develop further as a character by his death at all. There was no point whatsoever to killing Ace, or at least, if there was, Oda delivered it terribly.
Ayden Nelson
I thought he was used all this time to establish Blackbeard, his motives and his crew. After all, he was one of the most important roles in the Marineford arc by proving himself as final boss material to everyone and being used as a way to drop more hints about Raftel and what’s there.
Connor Perry
To justify a two year timeskip.
If not for the Ace incident Luffy would have rushed right back to Sabaody to meet back up with everyone and continue the journey. His experience in the war, seeing how little he changed anything and the vast difference between him and the New World players, is what gave him the drive to stop his journey and ensure he had the power to protect everyone else.
That said, Sabo seems to be the one who's inherited your idea of Ace's death being a big personal tragedy. He's the one with the build-up to take down Akainu at the end, the one haunted by his inability to be at the war, and who's closeness to Ace was much better portrayed in the flashback to their childhoods. Which is really weird, since Sabo wasn't introduced UNTIL he died and in a lot of ways feels like a replacement for Ace, but that's how it is.
Benjamin Young
So that Sabo, a better designed character, can take over his Devil Fruit and be much more badass with it's usage.
Parker Sanchez
>Be Ace >Get tauntedd with cheapest bait >Instead of keep running and honor the wish of all those who scraficed themselfs fall for it >Die and ruin everything
Henry Gomez
He killed off Ace only to introduce an exact same character that is easier to draw
Tyler Diaz
To make the audience hate Blackbeard To accelerate the plot and introduce us to the big players To give Luffy a greater tragic background and motivation to become pirate king since his crewmembers had more emotionally gripping motivations compared to his original flashback
