Donquixote Doflamingo, also known by the nickname "Heavenly Yaksha", is the main antagonist of the popular Eiichiro Oda manga and anime series One Piece. He is the captain of the Donquixote Pirates, a former Shichibukai, and the former ruler of Dressrosa—perfected through manipulation and trickery. Known for his mean streak and incredibly strong Devil Fruit powers, Doflamingo is one of the most complex and dangerous people in the "One Piece" universe.
Background
As a member of the aristocratic Donquixote family, Doflamingo was born into privilege. However, his father, Donquixote Homing, refused their status as Celestial Dragons to mingle with commoners. The family was thus put under tremendous sufferings through harassments and persecutions from society. Doflamingo witnessed the cruel death of his mother and further killed his father to avenge her death. He returned to Mariejois in pursuit of reinstatement into the rank of Celestial Dragon but was turned down. His series of actions now fueled his hatred towards the world and got him on the path of power and control.
Appearance
Doflamingo definitely stands out as one with an outrageous and flamboyant personality, which goes perfectly with his style. His height is ten feet, with blonde hair, and he always goes with sunglasses concealing his eyes. His most memorable attire is his bright pink-feathered coat, which he seldom appears without, rarely accompanied by a loose white shirt and pleasing patterned pants. The attire makes a mark on a character as much as his personality does, but even that distinct mark sets him apart.
Personal Information
Name: Donquixote Doflamingo
Epithet: Heavenly Yaksha
Age: 41 (pre-timeskip) 43 (post-timeskip)
Birthday: October 23
Height: 305 cm (10'0")
Bounty: 340,000,000 Berries (former, revoked due to Shichibukai status)
Devil Fruit: Ito Ito no Mi (String-String Fruit)
Positions: Captain of the Donquixote Pirates, Former Shichibukai, Former King of Dressrosa
Personality
Doflamingo stands out by his sadistic and manipulative character. He is someone who enjoys causing pain and destruction. This is witnessed in Dressrosa, where he mercilessly used his powers from the Devil Fruit to enslave its people and stage horrific gladiatorial fights as a form of entertainment. At the same time, however, Doflamingo is incredibly intelligent and strategic, planning steps ahead of people. His charismatic leadership abilities and the power to inspire loyalty in his subordinates, much like his elite officers— his siblings, the Donquixote Family— further underline the complexity of his personality.
Motivations and Goals
The major motivations which guide Doflamingo's actions are power and revenge. Driven by the trauma of his childhood and the flat rejection by the Celestial Dragons, he tries to carve his niche as a ruler who commands fear and respect. His consumption of the Ito Ito no Mi Devil Fruit granted him the ability to manipulate individuals and objects around him using strings, thereby boosting his coercive powers. He didn't aim at just getting power but wanted to cause an upset in the world government by blackmailing it with the expose of the national treasury of the Mariejois, a secret whose revelation could potentially shake the roots of the world. His ambitions finally came to an end in the Dressrosa arc, where he was defeated by Monkey D. Luffy, ending his tyrannical reign and affecting majorly the scales of power in the One Piece world.
Fighting Styles
Donquixote Doflamingo's fighting style revolves around the powers granted by his Ito Ito no Mi, also known as a String-String Fruit, which is a paramecia-like devil fruit that allows him to create and manipulate strings.
Tamaito would, therefore, be one of the most versatile techniques in Doflamingo's arsenal. In this attack, he points his index finger at his target and fires a small bundle of strings off it that act just like bullets. This technique can let Doflamingo fight from long range, which might be very vital to give him an advantage over those enemies who specialize in close combat. The speed and precision of this technique will make it hard to avoid, especially when Doflamingo fires multiple rounds simultaneously.
Another of the most powerful techniques at his disposal is known as the infamous Torikago, meaning "Bird Cage." In this large-scale technique, Doflamingo creates a huge dome made out of razor-sharp strings that encloses an entire area, like an island. The Bird Cage has many functions: it allows no escape, can slowly contract and cut through everything inside, and can be used to manipulate and control. This technique was extremely showcased during the Dressrosa arc, where it was an integral part of Doflamingo's plans.
Doflamingo's Parasite technique is a much more insidious application of his Devil Fruit powers. Attaching his strings to people's bodies, Doflamingo is able to control bodily movements as one would with puppets. Such ability allows him to manipulate allies and enemies alike, which becomes an ability useful for combat and coercion.
Goshikito, which literally means Five Color Strings, is one of the techniques that would express, more than the others, Doflamingo's mastery over his Devil Fruit. The attack creates five strings of different colors, all having some sort of unique features. That is what makes Goshikito unpredictable and hard to counter, for there exists such a wide range of varying effects produced.
Probably the most significant issue of Doflamingo's fighting style would be his Devil Fruit Awakening. This extremely advanced state has an ability to turn anything around him into a string, thereby increasing the range and potency of his abilities by a very long mile. Inside his awakened state, Doflamingo could form the creation of vast quantities of strings from any surface, mostly repair damage towards his created strings, and even sew his internal organs back together after having faced severe injuries.
Sora no Michi is one of his signature techniques, by which he attaches his strings to the cloud, letting him move through the air with agility. This grants Doflamingo great mobility to outmaneuver and surprise opponents from a special dimension in attacks.
Another of his famous techniques is Overheat, which is a string-based attack that leaves a long distance and seems to flare up like fire. The range is extremely long, starting from the skies of Green Bit and as far away as Dressrosa. This goes on to show how Doflamingo's extent of operation is very vast, making him a threat to people even far away from him.
Along with the power of the Devil Fruit, Doflamingo has the potential to manipulate Haki, particularly Haoshoku. His proficiency in Haoshoku, an extremely rare kind of Haki that only one in several million possesses, seems to further prove his excellence in battle.
Doflamingo is physically fit, too. The agility, strength, and endurance show that he was an athlete in his young age. These physical attributes, added to his Devil Fruit powers and Haki abilities, make him a formidable opponent, both at close and far-range combat.
This became most notably evident in the case of Doflamingo, who demonstrated its overall effectiveness in fighting style during his successive fights in Dressrosa. He had to fight successive opponents of an extremely high level, Trafalgar Law and Monkey D. Luffy, and even withstand massive amounts of damage before he was finally defeated due in large part to his string-based regenerative powers.
Story
Royal beginnings and fall from grace
Donquixote Doflamingo was a member of the Donquixote house, one of the twenty royal families that held sway over the World Government. As a member of the World Nobles otherwise known as Celestial Dragons, Doflamingo lived a life of very absolute privilege and power in Mary Geoise. His father, Donquixote Homing, had made a rather drastic decision not to continue living such an elite lifestyle and instead preferred settling amongst the plebeians.
This made the family fall from grace at a dramatic rate. With no protection from above, they were brutally persecuted and terrorized by their angry former subjects. Young Doflamingo, his mother, and little brother Rosinante went through the most terrible hardships, poverty, and threats.
Tragedy and the birth of a tyrant
These were hard times to face, and the situation started to take a toll on the family. The illness brought his mother to her death, as she could not bear such an enormous gap in living standard. It was this, along with the constant abuse of those who surrounded them, which twisted Doflamingo's worldview. He came to detest his father, whom he blamed for their suffering, and also detested the common people who tormented them.
In a shocking turn of events, young Doflamingo killed his own father, which marked the beginning of his descent into darkness. This act of patricide hence formed the deciding moment in Doflamingo's life and carved out a cruel and ruthless personality.
Rise to Power
After all those painful events, Doflamingo gradually managed to form his own pirate crew—the Donquixote Pirates. He gathered individuals with extraordinary abilities and some completely dedicated men around him to build a quite fearful organization. By using his charisma, natural-born leadership skills, not to mention ruthlessness in the elimination of all possible threats from around his person, Doflamingo slowly rose in power in the underworld.
It was with this ambition and strategic mind that Doflamingo had been inducted in the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a band of powerful pirates working under the sanction of the World Government, with powers over political authority and freedom in their ventures.
Conquest of Dressrosa
One of Doflamingo's greatest feats was the conquest of Dressrosa, a country that had once been under his family's sovereignty. With manipulation and his Devil Fruit powers at hand, Doflamingo executed a coup that overthrew the ruling Riku family. He created for himself an adoration-filled kingship in Dressrosa, but operated underneath a black underworld empire.
Under Highflux Doflamingo's regime, Dressrosa was remade into a country of contrasts: on the surface, it is a country that coexisted in peace and prosperity, but actually, it had been shrouded by a sinister undercurrent of crime, slavery, and oppression.
The Smile Factory and Alliances
His ambitions did not end there, as he later opened the Smile Factory, where man-made Devil Fruits were produced for Kaido, one of the Four Emperors. This alliance with Kaido helped propel Doflamingo's position in the New World.
He was very much in touch with the broker of the underworld, Joker, and many other criminal enterprises. That meant his influence was vast. Doflamingo had an extensive network and resources at his side, making him a powerful existence within One Piece.
Battle against the Straw Hat Pirates
It was with the arrival of the Straw Hat Pirates and their allies that it marked the beginning of the end of Doflamingo's reign. Throughout the Dressrosa Arc, he was seen living a high point in his life. He held the tightly held, self-constructed world that started falling apart as Luffy and his allies brought out the truth behind Dressora's facade.
The result was one of the most hard-foregrounded and longest fights in the series. Doflamingo showed his standard incredible strength, Devil Fruit-based powers, and tactical mind to the limit as he faced off against Luffy and a few other enemies.
Defeat and Aftermath
With all of his might and machinations, Doflamingo fell before Monkey D. Luffy in one of the most challenging fights the two ever had, with both at the brink of human endurance. This defeat signaled the end of Doflamingo's tyranny over Dressrosa and his fall from grace.
After he was defeated, Doflamingo was arrested and put into the world's most secure prison, Impel Down. This had no bearing on the effect of his actions because, even through the bars, he continued to influence the world of One Piece.
Relationships
Doflamingo fosters a feeling of intense loyalty within his pirate crew, known as the Donquixote Family. This becomes most obvious with Vergo, a member of his crew since he was a boy, more than 30 years ago. Vergo is so devoted that he would destroy an entire city if he thought Doflamingo needed it. There are clearly other examples of this type of loyalty within the ranks of Doflamingo's subordinates, attesting to his charisma as a leader for whom they are going to follow through thick and thin.
Doflamingo's behavior while dealing with his officers, like Diamante, borders on manipulation. He flatters and complements so his subordinates will continue to work under him; he tells Diamante, "Admit you're a genius." This tactic effortlessly makes his officers follow his commands while feeling appreciated. Although these are manipulative tendencies, there are a number of signs that show, to an extent, Doflamingo really does care for his "family." This mostly gets trumped by his cruel and selfish acts.
In the greater scope of the One Piece world, he had influential business relationships, most notably with Kaido of the Beasts, one of the Four Emperors. Of course, this underlines the powerful influence Doflamingo had and how far his underground operations could stretch. This alliance shows just how strategic Doflamingo was in business if he wanted to keep up power and influence within the pirate world.
It was also unmistakable that Doflamingo has had romantic involvements. Series creator Eiichiro Oda stated that Doflamingo had a "romantic interest" in Viola, a member of the Riku family of Dressrosa. That being the case, given Viola's identity and the nature of Doflamingo's reign over Dressrosa, this relationship would have been complicated at best and quite probably coercive.
This sadistic nature of Doflamingo can be most noted in his relations with his enemies. He is shown to have taken great pleasure in watching people destroy each other. This nature of his transcended into every interaction the character had with other enemies and even allies, until it finally became one of his defining traits within the series.
His rapport with other strong men within the world of One Piece, such as that of Crocodile, further defines Doflamingo. In what seemed to be a positive idea for both parties to Doflamingo, Crocodile declined, showing the highly convoluted relationships between top-level pirates and, especially in this case, Doflamingo's intentions to collaborate with other powerful figures.
Major Battles
One of the most prominent confrontations within his storyline is his fight against Monkey D. Luffy during the Dressrosa Arc. The struggle was very intense, ranging over some episodes, peaking at episodes 721 to 730 of the anime.
The battle between Doflamingo and Luffy became a show of high-level techniques by the two fighters. Doflamingo puts his powers of Ito Ito no Mi to great work, with techniques such as Parasite, which gives him control over opponents, and Overheat, intended for long-range fights. On the other side, Luffy depicts his Gear Four form, one of his most powerful forms that massively increases his strength and speed.
He is very enduring and tactically strong during the fight. Although Doflamingo had to face Luffy in his Gear Fourth, enhanced abilities, Doflamingo took many power attacks and could give as good as he got. His ingenuity in using his Devil Fruit abilities in ways such as stitching up his internal organs after being mortally damaged shows he can adapt in situations even in battle.
The fight is not only physical as there is also an ideological struggle. Doflamingo's despotism in Dressrosa and Luffy's burning desire to free it of such tyranny create another level of emotion that comes with the fight, since Dressrosa balances in uncertainty.
Although defeated at the end by Luffy, this fight is anything but one-sided. Prolonged fighting before defeat chases the defeat, hence putting both fighters to the very last drop of energy. What makes out Doflamingo's ranking among the strongest opponents Luffy has ever fought is the length and brutality involved in the fight.
Another influential fight in Doflamingo's history is the one he had with Trafalgar Law. This fight shows just how ruthless Doflamingo is and how he could counter the powers of the Ope Ope no Mi user, Trafalgar Law. Busoshoku Haki serves as a linchpin in this fight because through it, Doflamingo could defend and turn down Law's space manipulation.