#I just need to know more about rouge but I fear that oda will never mention her again

[drowning-moonlight]

Ever since I read the Marineford arc in the manga, I've been intrigued by that part of Sengoku's speech in chapter 551 where he says that Ace took on the name Portgas D "two years ago" and I have not seen anyone talk about it.

I have always found the fact that he had only been going by Portgas D for two years to be interesting. Before reading this, I thought Ace had always used his mother's surname. In the same chapter, we learn that Rouge gave him the name Gol D Ace, which was chosen by Roger:

Ace never goes by 'Gol D' as far as I can remember and that's due to the fact that Ace hated his father and didn't want to be associated with him due to the danger being Roger's son put him in. Garp also probably didn't want to go around calling him 'Gol D Ace' in order to protect his identity.

Though Ace hated his father, he did love his mother, as she died protecting him. Thus, he chose to go by her name:

My question is, why did Ace only start going by Rouge's surname two years prior to the main story? When and from who did he learn about the name Portgas D? In the flashbacks of Ace's childhood with Sabo and Luffy, he doesn't go by Portgas D. Why not? I think it's safe to assume that Ace would have gone by his mother's name as soon as he learned about her. However, we don't know when Ace learned about Rouge. Ace does know about Roger though, as some of his earliest childhood flashbacks show him beating up people who say that Roger's child should be killed. So Ace knew in childhood who his father was but doesn't seem to know who his mother was, or at least didn't know her family name.

I think we as a fandom just assume that Garp told Ace about Rouge early on, and maybe he did tell Ace some things, but there's actually no indication that Garp told him about the name Portgas D. So if not from Garp, then who could Ace have feasibly learned that from?

(Now there does seem to be a little inconsistency with the timeline here. Sengoku also implies that Ace formed the Spade Pirates two years prior to the main story but that can't be true because when we first meet Ace in Alabasta, Luffy says that Ace set sail three years prior, when Ace was 17. The brothers made a pact to leave Dawn Island at 17 in honor of Sabo. Ace is 20 in Marineford so he had to have formed the Spades three years before that.

The first Ace Novel seems to take place very soon after Ace sets sail, meaning he's still 17 then. If he left on his birthday, January 1, then he's probably no more than a few days/weeks into being 17. He forms the Spades with Masked Deuce very early on in his time as a pirate, likely still 17. This is probably just a little continuity error. Or I'm looking too deep into something that's not really important lol.)

(And speaking of the first Ace Novel, Ace doesn't ever call himself Portgaz D in that book. I read it a few months ago and skimmed it just now and he only introduces himself to Deuce as simply "Ace" in chapter one. The book is written from Deuce's POV and reads a bit like a memoir, like it was written after the events took place. The only time I remember even seeing the name Portgaz D was in the prose right after they met on Sixis. No one ever refers to him with his surname though, it's always just "Ace" or "Fire Fist" or "Captain/Boss." This leads me to believe he wasn't going by Portgaz D at that point early in his pirate career.

However, in the second Ace Novel, he is referred to as "Portgaz D Ace" right from the prologue, which follows Whitebeard before he even meets Ace. So idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Anyway, "two years" prior to the main story had to have been when Ace was already part of the Whitebeard pirates. It's not clear from the manga or Ace Novels exactly how much time passes between Ace forming the Spade pirates and joining Whitebeard. At least a few months but probably not a whole year. I think a little less than a year could be likely. He spent a few months taking the Spades through Paradise, then a little ways through the New World. Then they get captured by Whitebeard and spent another couple of months on board where Ace tried to kill Whitebeard before deciding to join him.

We know it was after Ace joined that he told Whitebeard about Roger being his father. It's not really shown but I think it could be very likely that Ace asked about Roger. I don't know how that conversation could have went because Ace very much still hates Roger after he joined the Whitebeards. If Newgate had told Ace about his friendly rivalry with Roger, it didn't seem to change how Ace felt about Roger.

Maybe this is a reach but I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that Ace asked Whitebeard about Rouge as well. A "You knew my father, did you know my mother too?" kind of thing. There's no indication that Whitebeard could have known Rouge or anything about her but I think it could be a possibility. Maybe that's how he learned the name Portgas D and decided to start using it, two years prior to the main story?

Anyone have thoughts on this?