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I hate to do this because I love Ace but Ace's profile has issues.
I couldn't find all the threads that approved each AP justification, so if there's truly a sound argument for each of them a link would be appreciated, but as I see it the justifications for Ace scaling to the top tier values (High 6-A soon to be 6-A?) are tenuous at best.
Additionally, as Pre-Gura Gura Blackbeard scales primarily to Ace, this is also a BB CRT.
Which brings us to the first justification:
1. "Was called strong by Shanks, Blackbeard and was said to have have put up one hell of a fight against the latter."
For Blackbeard's Pre-Gura key, his main AP justification is that he can hurt Ace, so using Ace hurting BB in the same fight as a justification for Ace's AP is circular and inadequate. He is additionally compared to his fellow WB crew mates, which is a poor way of scaling (addressed later in justification 3).
Also, when it comes to Shanks calling Ace strong, this justification only works out of context. The entire point of Shanks meeting with Whitebeard is for Shanks to ask WB not to let Ace fight BB. In the linked chapter, Shanks says Ace is strong but it's not time to face BB yet. In this case, strong definitely does not apply a comparison to established top tiers like Shanks or WB, and can't even truly be taken as a comparison to Pre-Gura BB's strength - which as previously mentioned only scales to Ace himself anyway.
2. "Stated to have one of the most powerful Devil Fruits."
These scans seem to be a generous interpretation on Ace's behalf. The first of the three scans, from Databook Red (2002), contrasts Ace's DF with Luffy's and calls Ace a very powerful man. Pre-TS Luffy is nowhere near top tier and the title of powerful is thrown around in One Piece by practically every pirate from Syrup Village to Wano; this scan really provides no context on Ace's power relative to established top tiers. The second scan, from Databook Blue (2022), talks about Ace's DF's immense power, specifically citing the ability to destroy five battleships; while early on in OP this could be considered a top tier feat, OP's power has greatly grown in scale, and destroying 5 ships being the metric for Ace's power hardly justifies top tier scaling. Also within the second scan is the statement that his DF is in a class that is among the strongest; my understanding was that this was referring to Logias as a whole but maybe someone with knowledge of Japanese can clarify. The third scan generally speaks to fire's destructive qualities in nature as well as its use by man to conquer the world; it again provides no solid scaling to any other characters in OP. To be clear, regarding these scans, they aren't awful supporting statements but certainly aren't good enough to be the main scaling justifications, and as the rest of this CRT addresses, the other statements aren't either.
3. "Should be somewhat comparable to his peers, Marco and Jozu"
Based on what? There's no solid justification that each of WB's commanders are comparable, most are not given top tier scaling, and the fleet numbers are never presented as being a ranking, so Ace being 2nd commander makes no difference than if he were the 15th commander.
4. "matched an attack with Akainu before getting defeated by his elemental superiority."
He did not match Akainu. Their attacks hit each other in one panel and then Ace is immediately overwhelmed in the next. There is no implication that Ace produced any real pushback/matched Akainu.
5. "made him guard with his Devil Fruit in their last two duels."
This is in reference to WB finally using his DF after not using it in many clashes with Ace. However, this scan explicitly states that WB used only used a small portion of his power. Despite only facing a small portion of WB's power, Ace still fell into the see unconscious at the end of this battle. This can in no way be used to scale Ace to WB.
The above justifications are those that I think are completely unjustified. The next two I still believe are highly dubious with but they are the ones I think might deserve some debate.
6. "Burned the hand of a casual Old Whitebeard"
In this scan the only thing they're worried about is infection. This seems like a case of durability negation at most; especially since heat is already viewed as durability negation, I would think a burn-induced infection would certainly fall into that category. And again, this was Ace's hundredth time and he only got WB to use a small portion of his power.
7. "Circumvented an attack from Aokiji with his own"
I don't think circumvented is the right word here but I assume it should be matched/canceled out. Which Ace did, but... this is where I think there's really the biggest gray area. Ace cancels out an attack from Aokiji but has a clear elemental advantage (fire vs ice); they ultimately stalemate and Ace runs away. To what extent is this attributed to Ace's AP vs just elemental advantage? Granted Aokiji fought Akainu for ten days despite Akainu's elemental advantage but the fight was off-screened and we don't know whether it was Aokiji's ice or his Haki that actually damaged Akainu; how much are we willing to infer/guess about that fight?
There are a few possible outcomes for this CRT if any of it is accepted:
1st option: Justifications 1,3-5 and probably 6 are removed as they are poor/baseless justifications. 7 remains as the major scaling and 2 remains as a relevant supporting detail.
e.g. Attack Potency: Continent level Canceled out an attack from from Aokiji with his own. Ace is stated to have one of the most powerful Devil Fruits.
2nd option: Justifications 1-5 and probably 6 are removed. 7 remains as a "likely" justification. Ace is scaled to this feat.
e.g. Attack Potency: Large Mountain level Melted all the snow in the atmosphere above Drum Island, likely Continent level Canceled out an attack from from Aokiji with his own, although he had an elemental advantage.
3rd option: Justifications 1-7 are removed and Ace scales to his Drum Island feat.
e.g. Attack Potency: Large Mountain level Melted all the snow in the atmosphere above Drum Island.
Pre-Gura Gura Blackbeard scales to whichever option is accepted, if any.
I couldn't find all the threads that approved each AP justification, so if there's truly a sound argument for each of them a link would be appreciated, but as I see it the justifications for Ace scaling to the top tier values (High 6-A soon to be 6-A?) are tenuous at best.
Additionally, as Pre-Gura Gura Blackbeard scales primarily to Ace, this is also a BB CRT.
Which brings us to the first justification:
1. "Was called strong by Shanks, Blackbeard and was said to have have put up one hell of a fight against the latter."
For Blackbeard's Pre-Gura key, his main AP justification is that he can hurt Ace, so using Ace hurting BB in the same fight as a justification for Ace's AP is circular and inadequate. He is additionally compared to his fellow WB crew mates, which is a poor way of scaling (addressed later in justification 3).
Also, when it comes to Shanks calling Ace strong, this justification only works out of context. The entire point of Shanks meeting with Whitebeard is for Shanks to ask WB not to let Ace fight BB. In the linked chapter, Shanks says Ace is strong but it's not time to face BB yet. In this case, strong definitely does not apply a comparison to established top tiers like Shanks or WB, and can't even truly be taken as a comparison to Pre-Gura BB's strength - which as previously mentioned only scales to Ace himself anyway.
2. "Stated to have one of the most powerful Devil Fruits."
These scans seem to be a generous interpretation on Ace's behalf. The first of the three scans, from Databook Red (2002), contrasts Ace's DF with Luffy's and calls Ace a very powerful man. Pre-TS Luffy is nowhere near top tier and the title of powerful is thrown around in One Piece by practically every pirate from Syrup Village to Wano; this scan really provides no context on Ace's power relative to established top tiers. The second scan, from Databook Blue (2022), talks about Ace's DF's immense power, specifically citing the ability to destroy five battleships; while early on in OP this could be considered a top tier feat, OP's power has greatly grown in scale, and destroying 5 ships being the metric for Ace's power hardly justifies top tier scaling. Also within the second scan is the statement that his DF is in a class that is among the strongest; my understanding was that this was referring to Logias as a whole but maybe someone with knowledge of Japanese can clarify. The third scan generally speaks to fire's destructive qualities in nature as well as its use by man to conquer the world; it again provides no solid scaling to any other characters in OP. To be clear, regarding these scans, they aren't awful supporting statements but certainly aren't good enough to be the main scaling justifications, and as the rest of this CRT addresses, the other statements aren't either.
3. "Should be somewhat comparable to his peers, Marco and Jozu"
Based on what? There's no solid justification that each of WB's commanders are comparable, most are not given top tier scaling, and the fleet numbers are never presented as being a ranking, so Ace being 2nd commander makes no difference than if he were the 15th commander.
4. "matched an attack with Akainu before getting defeated by his elemental superiority."
He did not match Akainu. Their attacks hit each other in one panel and then Ace is immediately overwhelmed in the next. There is no implication that Ace produced any real pushback/matched Akainu.
5. "made him guard with his Devil Fruit in their last two duels."
This is in reference to WB finally using his DF after not using it in many clashes with Ace. However, this scan explicitly states that WB used only used a small portion of his power. Despite only facing a small portion of WB's power, Ace still fell into the see unconscious at the end of this battle. This can in no way be used to scale Ace to WB.
The above justifications are those that I think are completely unjustified. The next two I still believe are highly dubious with but they are the ones I think might deserve some debate.
6. "Burned the hand of a casual Old Whitebeard"
In this scan the only thing they're worried about is infection. This seems like a case of durability negation at most; especially since heat is already viewed as durability negation, I would think a burn-induced infection would certainly fall into that category. And again, this was Ace's hundredth time and he only got WB to use a small portion of his power.
7. "Circumvented an attack from Aokiji with his own"
I don't think circumvented is the right word here but I assume it should be matched/canceled out. Which Ace did, but... this is where I think there's really the biggest gray area. Ace cancels out an attack from Aokiji but has a clear elemental advantage (fire vs ice); they ultimately stalemate and Ace runs away. To what extent is this attributed to Ace's AP vs just elemental advantage? Granted Aokiji fought Akainu for ten days despite Akainu's elemental advantage but the fight was off-screened and we don't know whether it was Aokiji's ice or his Haki that actually damaged Akainu; how much are we willing to infer/guess about that fight?
There are a few possible outcomes for this CRT if any of it is accepted:
1st option: Justifications 1,3-5 and probably 6 are removed as they are poor/baseless justifications. 7 remains as the major scaling and 2 remains as a relevant supporting detail.
e.g. Attack Potency: Continent level Canceled out an attack from from Aokiji with his own. Ace is stated to have one of the most powerful Devil Fruits.
2nd option: Justifications 1-5 and probably 6 are removed. 7 remains as a "likely" justification. Ace is scaled to this feat.
e.g. Attack Potency: Large Mountain level Melted all the snow in the atmosphere above Drum Island, likely Continent level Canceled out an attack from from Aokiji with his own, although he had an elemental advantage.
3rd option: Justifications 1-7 are removed and Ace scales to his Drum Island feat.
e.g. Attack Potency: Large Mountain level Melted all the snow in the atmosphere above Drum Island.
Pre-Gura Gura Blackbeard scales to whichever option is accepted, if any.
