Chapter 1 (episode A)

One Piece episode A Chapter 1 is titled "The Formation of the Spade Pirates".

Cover Page[]

Color Spread: Luffy holding Ace during the Summit War of Marineford, as Ace dies.

Short Summary[]

After meeting while stranded on Sixis, Ace and Masked Deuce form the Spade Pirates.

Long Summary[]

Masked Deuce writes in a book, introducing himself and explaining that he will tell the story of a "man who lived like fire."

Stranded on Sixis, Deuce writes his own story, debating his word choice. He gives up, believing he's too hungry to write, and contemplates the end of his career on a stranded island. He thinks back to his childhood, disappointed in himself for amounting to so little, when he hears a crash beside him. Looking over, he sees a man with a makeshift boat, who wants to set sail from the beach. He introduces himself as Ace and explains that he's stranded on the island, like Deuce, and asks if he wants to try to sail out with him. Instead, Deuce points out the many issues with his makeshift boat, and realizing that Deuce has more knowledge about boats than he does, Ace asks if he wants to help build an escape boat. While Deuce declines, he is ignored, and Ace runs off to a cove where scraps commonly wash up.

Deuce follows him, and finds a large ship split in two. While they talk, and after seeing that the materials were of good quality, Deuce agrees to help construct a boat, and they begin working together. As they work, the two men discuss their dreams, and begin to grow closer over time. Despite their growing relationship, however, Deuce notes Ace's seemingly boundless energy, and begins to grow suspicious that he's been hiding food. Finally, as their boat neared completion, the island is hit by a storm, and they find their boat crushed by a tree, breaking it into two.

Optimistically, Ace states that the next boat would be better, but Deuce angrily interrupts him. He points out that unlike Ace, he hadn't eaten any food so he wouldn't be able to able to build another, and points out that the food stores on the boat had been ransacked after it washed up despite there not being any animals. Despite his argument, Ace denies eating any food, and Deuce hits him before running away.

Sitting in a cave on the mountainside, Deuce regrets pinning his hopes on Ace, and justifies his assault to himself. Suddenly, he hears a noise from behind him, and turns to see a giant bird, which immediately attacks him. As he runs, and begins rolling down the side of the mountain, Deuce realizes that the bird likely came to the island for food, and was the one who ate the food in the ship ruins. Landing back on the ship, with the bird above him, Deuce cries over having ruined his relationship with Ace over nothing, when Ace himself suddenly jumps down, breaking a giant sword over the bird's head before punching it. Landing on the deck, he glares at the reeling animal, causing it to fly away in fear.

Deuce questions why Ace was there, and Ace forgives him over the accusation of hiding food, stating he would regret it if their argument was their last interaction. However, Ace's lack of food finally catches up to him, and he collapses to the floor. Deuce promises to find food somewhere, and notices that a chest had fallen out of the bird's mouth; opening it, he finds a large fruit inside, which he offers to Ace. Ace, though, argues that Deuce should eat it since he found it, and the two men begin arguing over who should eat it.

Finally, they decide to split it, cutting it in half and each taking a part. Ace quickly eats his half, and after promising to fight to get off the island until his death, Deuce does the same. Feeling revitalized, Deuce asks Ace to build another boat with him, looking up at him to see his head on fire. The two men begin panicking before Ace realizes the fire isn't hot, and after shooting a burst of fire for confirmation, he realizes that he ate a Devil Fruit, using his younger brother as a reference.

With Ace's newfound abilities, Deuce realizes they can finally escape the island, using the fire as a power source. Set on escaping, the two men begin working on their next boat, eventually completing a smaller paddle boat that uses Ace's fire to turn the paddles.

Naming it the Striker, they set out to sea. As they sail out, a flock of the monstrous birds fly down towards them, and Ace blows fire at them; motivated, Ace asks Deuce to become his first crewmate, and Deuce accepts, taking his alias. With the birds scared away, they finally escape the island.

Having taken the name Spade Pirates, Ace and Deuce began to recruit more followers, eventually gaining a proper ship and making their way to the Grand Line. During a party one day, Deuce logs the events of the day when Ace goes to speak to him. As the crew is approaching the New World, Deuce reaffirms his promise to follow Ace and asks if he's serious about his goals; in response, Ace promises to target the man who was once equal to the Pirate King, Whitebeard.

Somewhere in the New World, Thatch brings medicine to Whitebeard, who's reading the newspaper. He questions why a rookie pirate declined an invitation to the Seven Warlords, as Ace promises to be greater than the Pirate King.

Quick References[]

Novel and Manga Differences[]

• In the manga, Deuce and Ace find the wreckage of a large ship and use it as material.
• Deuce does not discover the fact that Ace is Roger's son.
• The manga adds the encounter with a monstrous bird that lives on the island. In the novel, Ace simply found the Mera Mera no Mi somewhere on the island, instead of the bird spitting it up in a chest.
• In the novel, Ace comes up with Deuce's pen name after Deuce threatens to use the name 'Ace'. In the manga, Deuce chooses the name himself after agreeing to join Ace.
• The manga ends with the prologue to the second volume of the novel.

Characters[]

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