Ace's Tattoo Speculation

[nero]

Is the crossed out S just a coincedence or a tribute to Sabo? What do you guys think?

[|The SHAKINATOR|]

I thought the dude just spelt it wrong. XD

"ASCE"

or it could be because maybe he used only AS (Ace Spades)
then when he joined the WB crew he crossed the S and made it into an Ace.

I read that somewhere and it could make sense.

SPOILER: Click to show

However - On the cover of Chapter 596, Ace's tattoo is written as "ACE" instead of the original "ASCE". This suggests that the S was a tribute to Sabo, as the cover is a "what if" image of Ace, Luffy and Sabo together as adults.

[nero]

He couldn't just be poking fun at his name's pronunciation.

[deciduous]

I think that the S in the tattoo has to do with the Spade pirates. Just like shaki said, he crossed it out after joining the Whitebeard pirates.

[velvetnico]

I had always though the ASCE thing was just a silly joke about tattoos gone bad, but this thread makes me wonder...

SPOILER: Click to show

I wouldn't put it past Oda to foreshadow Sabo's death/disappearance years before it was actually drawn.

[EriChar]

It's possible it was planned all along, after all Brook was designed before the series was even made, he's in some of the original concept art.

images.wikia.com/onepiece/images/e/ef/Early_Crew.png