One Piece Confirms Luffy's Brother Has a Cooler Devil Fruit Power
Time after time, One Piece’s Monkey D. Luffy has shown that his Mr. Fantastic-like stretching ability is one of the most effective powers any pirate can have, however, according to this adopted brother Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's elastic abilities can’t hold a candle to his own Human Torch-like powers to generate and control fire. Like Luffy, Ace was born into seafaring greatness. His father, Gol D. Roger was the one and, so far, only Pirate King. His connection to Luffy is the result of temporary collaboration between his father and Luffy’s grandfather, Marine Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, to take out the Rock D. Exbec and his Rock Pirate crew. While the team-up eventually falls apart, both come away with a deep respect for one another. This is illustrated by Roger’s deathbed request that Garp adopt his son Ace and raise him as a member of his own family.
Interestingly, despite having a grandfather who was a major force against pirates, both Luffy and Ace grow up with dreams of becoming pirates. Luffy acquires his superpowers first after eating a Devil Fruit of the “gum-gum” variety that Red-Haired Shanks and his crew steal from an enemy. At the time he is told that his newfound abilities will “deep six” any dreams he has of being a pirate. After all, what good can a pirate be if he is unable to swim? But over the years, Luffy adjusts his use of the gum-gum fruit power to make it one of the most devastating on land and sea.
Ace was a latecomer to the power of the Devil Fruit. In the spin-off One Piece episode A, Ace is shipwrecked with Masked Deuce on a desolate island without much food. The two happen up a Devil Fruit stored in a chest on a shipwrecked ship. Hungry beyond compare, Ace devours half the fruit even though it tastes awful. Soon afterward, his newfound powers manifest when he suddenly begins to glow and hiss with flames. Specifically, eating the fruit gives Ace the ability to generate fire at will from his body, including the ability to shoot flames from his hands and fingertips. While this shocks Masked Deuce, Ace’s experience with Luffy has absolutely prepared him for this possibility. To Deuce’s amazement, Ace quickly embraces his new powers and make them his own. Almost immediately, Ace compares his powers to that of his younger brother Luffy.
Indeed, from Ace’s perspective, his fire-based powers provide more advantages than Luffy’s gum-gum fruit flexibility. While Ace does not go into details about the advantages he has, his subsequent actions demonstrated the accuracy of his analysis. First, there is the fact that with the power of fire, Ace can perform a number of essential pirate activities, like power a forge to smelt swords, screws, and bolts. He can also cure wood, cook food, boil water, clear foliage, and warm others on stormy winter days on the sea. Ace’s powers also provide an affirmative offensive capability. He can use his powers to launch long and short-range fireball attacks on opponents. Finally, Ace’s powers have substantial defensive capabilities. For instance, he can create a ring of fire around his ship or location that would force opponents to think twice before attacking.
When compared to Luffy’s stretch-flexible abilities, Ace is indeed correct. Having the ability to control fire not only provides him with the ability to conduct aggressive attacks and stalwart defenses, but it also provide non-martial yet essential services the pirate crews of One Piece are more likely to use on a daily basis.