Recaps

Steve, a transmigrator enslaved by the Celestial Dragons, endured a damaged Soul Sign-in System that bombarded him with chaotic soul fragments and threatened his sanity. After gaining Saint Donquixote Homing’s protection and using the Illusion Fruit to control his soul-infusions, he finally turned his lethal cheat into an advantage.

• Wang Sen transmigrated into Steve, a Celestial Dragon slave, and received a damaged Soul Sign-in System that forced chaotic soul fragments into his mind.
• Steve survived his master’s cruelty by enduring the daily soul bombardments, which left him increasingly vulnerable to schizophrenia.
• Saint Donquixote Homing reclaimed Steve among several sick and injured slaves, and Steve earned Homing’s regard by telling stories.
• Steve persuaded the story-loving Celestial Dragons to find him an Illusion Fruit by promising to bring his tales to life.
• After eating the Illusion Fruit, Steve immersed the Celestial Dragons in his stories and found a way to turn his deadly cheat into an advantage.

Wang Sen used his Illusion Fruit to prepare for a body seizure, targeting the young Donquixote Doflamingo. After absorbing Doflamingo’s fragmented soul and memories in his Illusion Space, Wang Sen returned to his body, ready to proceed.

• Wang Sen concealed his contempt from the Celestial Dragons and performed an illusion for them, leaving himself exhausted.
• Wang Sen returned to his room and entered the Illusion Space he had created with the Illusion Fruit.
• Wang Sen forced the young Donquixote Doflamingo toward the blood-red sea, where the boy’s soul dissolved into the waves.
• Wang Sen drew out and absorbed Doflamingo’s blood-colored soul puppet along with its fragmented memories.
• After recovering from the memories’ effects, Wang Sen left the Illusion Space.

Wang Sen possessed the young Doflamingo, gaining a healthy body and a chance to build strength outside Mary Geoise. After deciding to change the Donquixote family's fate, he asked Homing to arrange combat training and was sent to learn from Bell.

• Wang Sen transferred his soul into the dying young Doflamingo and woke the next morning in his body.
• Doflamingo resolved to leave Mary Geoise with the Donquixote family and use his new life to oppose the Celestial Dragons.
• At breakfast, Homing mourned Steve, unaware that Doflamingo had taken over Steve's former body.
• Doflamingo asked Homing to teach him combat skills, claiming he wanted to become the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.
• Homing agreed to have Bell train Doflamingo, and Doflamingo hurried off to find him.

Bell reluctantly began training the seven-year-old Doflamingo in the Navy Six Styles after Doflamingo threatened his family. Months later, Doflamingo was enduring brutal workouts and had far exceeded Bell’s expectations, leaving Bell stunned by his talent and determination.

• Bell initially tried to fob Doflamingo off with radio calisthenics instead of proper training.
• Doflamingo exposed Bell’s deception and demanded that he help him master at least three Navy Six Styles within five years, threatening to enslave Bell’s family if he failed.
• Bell began putting Doflamingo through CP0’s harsh physical training and sparring regimen.
• Doflamingo kept up with the demanding workouts, driven by his talent and refusal to yield to pain.
• After several months, Doflamingo practiced ten thousand weighted sword slashes while Bell watched in disbelief.

Doflamingo trained relentlessly in Mary Geoise and used Rosinante’s mysterious daytime sleep to keep his family from leaving before he was ready. Five years later, he had become a formidable swordsman, though his growing strength and collection of weapons and Devil Fruits still left him cautious about relying on borrowed power.

• Doflamingo trained through four grueling sessions each day, using self-hypnosis to recover and planning to delay his family’s departure from Mary Geoise.
• Doflamingo made Rosinante sleep through the day with his Illusion Fruit ability, and Homing and Donquixote stayed in Mary Geoise while doctors searched for a cure.
• Five years passed as Doflamingo continued building his physical strength and swordsmanship.
• Doflamingo defeated Bell with a Flying Slash and ordered a doctor to take the badly wounded man for treatment.
• Doflamingo kept using an ordinary steel blade for training despite having collected seven or eight Devil Fruits, two Supreme Grade Swords, and five Great Grade Swords.

Doflamingo agreed to leave Mary Geoise with Homing’s family, despite recognizing that settling nearby would put them in danger. Before they departed, he gave his family three Devil Fruits so they could protect themselves.

• Homing told Doflamingo that the family planned to leave Mary Geoise and settle on a nearby island, and Doflamingo agreed.
• Doflamingo reflected that Homing’s choice to stay near the Holy Land would expose the family to civilians’ resentment of the Celestial Dragons.
• Doflamingo gave Homing, his wife, and Rosinante three fruits disguised by his illusions, and they discovered they were Devil Fruits.
• Homing gained the Hair-Hair Fruit ability, Rosinante transformed into a gorilla, and their mother refrained from using her fruit.
• Doflamingo said he wanted his family to have the strength to protect themselves from the dangers outside.

After leaving Mary Geoise with the Donquixote family, Doflamingo parted from them and traveled aboard a merchant fleet, planning how to oppose the World Government. He decided that guiding the Navy—and possibly joining forces with Monkey D. Dragon—offered the best path forward.

• Doflamingo buried his treasured possessions around Mary Geoise before Homing led the family away from the Holy Land.
• Doflamingo entertained Rosinante with an illusion of tiny people acting out Gulliver's Travels after the family settled on an island.
• A week later, Doflamingo left the island alone and hid aboard a merchant fleet sailing from Sabaody to Alabasta.
• Doflamingo reasoned that he could not recruit allies as a fallen Celestial Dragon and concluded that the Navy was the force most capable of overthrowing the World Government.
• Doflamingo hoped to meet Monkey D. Dragon and used his Illusion Fruit to make a fruit pit appear to be bird droppings to a sailor.

Doflamingo assessed the limits of his Illusion Fruit and planned to build strength and Navy connections by joining the G-2 Branch. After training painfully in the Illusion Space, he sailed with a merchant fleet to Malin Island to resupply.

• Doflamingo used Dream Hollowing on his arm but recognized that his physical strength limited his abilities and that he could not yet hollow out his whole body.
• Doflamingo decided to join the Navy through the G-2 Branch and later use his illusions to infiltrate Navy Headquarters, while continuing to work toward mastering Iron Body.
• Doflamingo trained against three Illusion Space versions of Bell, died three times, and stopped after realizing the pain was burdening his mind.
• Doflamingo took the merchant ship's best room using an illusion and rested during the safe voyage.
• The fleet arrived at Malin Island to resupply.

Doflamingo sensed powerful pirates on Malin and expected them to ambush the merchant convoy, but discovered they were a disorganized crew whose ship had sunk and who were simply trying to rob the merchants. The two sides began fighting, with neither gaining the upper hand.

• Doflamingo sensed several unusually strong, bloodstained figures on Malin and suspected they planned to ambush the merchant convoy.
• The Three-Headed Hydra Pirates emerged at the docks and demanded food, then remembered they were supposed to rob the merchants.
• The captain ordered his sailors to defend the convoy, and the pirates rushed into battle.
• The pirate leader accidentally trampled Aji, and the convoy's larger numbers balanced the pirates' greater individual strength.

Doflamingo fought the Three-Headed Hydra Pirates’ leader and struggled to overcome his strength and newly awakened Armament Haki. He used Dream Hollowing to bypass the leader’s defenses and leave him defeated, while the battle around them remained unresolved.

• Doflamingo disguised himself as a sailor and challenged Three-Headed Hydra, who overpowered him in their first clash.
• Doflamingo used Observation Haki, Soru, and Paper Drawing to dodge Three-Headed Hydra and cut him without slowing him down.
• Three-Headed Hydra awakened Armament Haki during the fight, preventing Doflamingo from injuring him with his blade.
• Doflamingo feinted with Finger Pistol, hollowed his arm with his Illusion Fruit ability, and plunged it into Three-Headed Hydra’s abdomen.
• Three-Headed Hydra collapsed and wailed as Doflamingo revealed that his Dream Hollowing attack had pierced the man’s defenses.

Doflamingo defeated the Three-Headed Hydra Pirates while disguised as Steve, then discovered that his Illusion Space could absorb the souls of nearby dead people. After absorbing Andrew’s soul, he found and absorbed a glowing pearl that carried a power similar to his Observation Haki.

• Three-Headed Hydra tried to kill Doflamingo with a surprise slash, but Doflamingo dodged with his intangibility and killed him.
• Doflamingo’s tentacles frightened the pirates into fleeing, and the sailors cut them down; the pirate leader’s two brothers also fought each other until they collapsed.
• The merchant captain and crew accepted Doflamingo as Steve, a Devil Fruit user, and treated him as a hero after the battle.
• Doflamingo learned that Andrew’s bounty was worth fifty million and collected his body’s bounty before the convoy left the island.
• Inside the Illusion Space, Doflamingo absorbed Andrew’s soul, found a glowing pearl in the remains, and absorbed it into his body.

After absorbing Andrew’s soul experience, Doflamingo awakened Armament Haki and realized that growing stronger required defeating powerful enemies. He reached Water 7, where he planned to use a fabricated identity to join the Navy, and began preparing while enjoying the local cuisine.

• Doflamingo awakened Armament Haki after reliving Andrew’s battle experience, though his weak body kept it from reaching Andrew’s strength.
• Doflamingo concluded that his cheat only benefited him when he defeated powerful people whose souls met its requirements.
• Over half a month later, Doflamingo disembarked at Water 7 and erased the merchant ship’s crew’s memories of him.
• Doflamingo decided to fabricate an identity and enlist at the local Navy branch, avoiding Navy Headquarters because its strongest officers might recognize him.
• Doflamingo exchanged Andrew’s head for a bounty, worked on his new identity, and sampled Water 7’s Water Water Meat while posing as Steve.

Doflamingo used his fabricated identity as Steve to enlist in the Water 7 Navy branch, where his Devil Fruit ability earned him a Petty Officer appointment and a place in the next year’s Elite Training Camp. He settled into an easy routine at a branch too weak to challenge most of the pirates around Water 7.

• Doflamingo arrived at the Water 7 Navy branch and enlisted after an elderly soldier handed him a form.
• A Navy Petty Officer registered Doflamingo, issued him supplies, and learned that he could turn intangible.
• The Navy Captain appointed Doflamingo a Navy Petty Officer and promised him a place in the next year’s Elite Training Camp.
• Doflamingo began showing up for roll call while the Water 7 Navy branch avoided confronting pirates unless they caused trouble.

After half a year of intense training, Doflamingo had improved his swordsmanship and learned to coat his blade with Armament Haki, but he remained bored with the quiet Navy branch. In the Illusion Space, a Blood-colored Puppet gave him a fragment of Ye Gucheng’s memory and the name of a sword technique, leaving him curious but unable to use it.

• Doflamingo trained throughout the day and night, and after six months he could coat his fine blade with Armament Haki.
• Doflamingo defeated Andrew and his two younger brothers with ease in the Illusion Space.
• A Blood-colored Puppet unexpectedly attacked Doflamingo with a sword, and he pinned and absorbed it.
• Doflamingo swallowed the tiny crystal sword left behind and experienced a memory of two sword flashes, along with the name Outer Heaven Flying Fairy.
• Doflamingo suspected the puppet held a fragment of Ye Gucheng’s obsession, but he could not perform the technique without inner force.

After inheriting Ye Gucheng’s swordsmanship talent, Doflamingo discovered he could sense the frequency of objects and cut them with extraordinary precision. When the Cyclops Pirates attacked Water 7 and stole a Navy warship, he joined Captain Alexander’s force to confront their captain, Buck.

• Doflamingo practiced with his quick blade and effortlessly sliced a training stone without using Armament Haki.
• Doflamingo realized Ye Gucheng’s obsession had improved his swordsmanship talent and considered whether other souls might leave him talents to inherit.
• Hearing fighting and seeing smoke over Water 7, Doflamingo learned that pirates were attacking the city.
• Captain Alexander ordered the Navy soldiers to reinforce the Seventh Shipyard after the Cyclops Pirates stole a Navy warship.
• Doflamingo caught up with Captain Alexander and learned that the pirates were led by Buck the “Cyclops,” whose bounty was 120 million.
• Captain Alexander relied on Doflamingo’s strength as the Navy branch charged toward the Cyclops Pirates.

Cyclops Buck attacked the Seventh Shipyard to seize the Navy’s secret Seastone Warship, and Captain Alexander arrived with Marines and Doflamingo. Buck’s enlarging weapons left them facing a gigantic axe crashing down on them.

• The Cyclops Pirates overwhelmed the shipwrights, and Buck hurled an enlarging stone that crushed several of them.
• Buck demanded that the shipyard director identify the Seastone Warship, but the director refused to hand it over.
• Captain Alexander arrived with Marines and accidentally revealed that their branch had a secret weapon.
• Buck declared his ultimate move, Spinning Wheel, and threw his double-bladed axe at the Marines.
• Doflamingo unleashed a Flying Slash as the axe grew to nearly fill the sky and came crashing toward them.

Doflamingo fought Buck, the Captain of the Cyclops Pirates, and overcame his Shrink-Shrink Fruit tricks. He killed Buck by removing his heart, while Buck mistook Doflamingo for a Logia user.

• Buck enlarged a giant battle axe and crushed most of the Marines, while Doflamingo and Captain Alexander escaped by dropping to the ground.
• Doflamingo charged Buck, dodged enlarged stones, and broke Buck’s oversized sword after a fierce exchange.
• Buck shrank Doflamingo’s swift blade by touching it, revealing that his power could shrink objects but not living beings.
• Buck enlarged a hidden spear and pierced Doflamingo’s chest, but the attack passed without harming him.
• Doflamingo revealed his own Devil Fruit ability, pulled Buck’s heart from his chest, and killed him.

Doflamingo defeated Cyclops Buck and helped the Water 7 Navy capture most of the Cyclops Pirates after their attack on a Sea Stone warship. At Navy Headquarters, Sengoku learned the warship was safe and that the newcomer Steve had defeated Buck, while the leak of Plan Three remained unexplained.

• Captain Alexander sprang up after Doflamingo defeated Buck, and the Cyclops Pirates fled rather than avenge their Captain.
• Captain Alexander, the surviving officers, and the shipwrights captured nearly all the fleeing pirates, though several officers escaped.
• Vice Admiral Tsuru told Sengoku that Plan Three had been exposed and that pirates had nearly seized a Navy warship.
• Tsuru explained that the Cyclops Pirates had attacked the ship, but the Water 7 Navy branch had defeated them after Steve took down Cyclops Buck.
• Sengoku and Tsuru discussed the leak, but could not investigate its likely sources within the World Government.

After gaining a Navy promotion and the Grade Sword Chidori, Doflamingo sailed out to hunt pirates and encountered the Iron Fist Pirates. Their captain, Goriki, leaped from his ship toward Doflamingo’s warship, setting up a fight.

• Doflamingo exchanged Navy merit for the Grade Sword Chidori and gained authority to sail as a warship captain.
• After training for another month or two, Doflamingo took a small warship to sea and hunted pirates, growing stronger from their experience.
• Doflamingo’s crew spotted the Iron Fist Pirates, whose captain Goriki had an eighty-six-million bounty.
• Doflamingo ordered his crew to close in, and Goriki ordered his ship to charge the warship.
• Goriki leaped toward Doflamingo’s warship, making his own ship’s bow plunge beneath the water.

Doflamingo fought Goriki, an Iron Fist Pirates captain whose strength far exceeded his bounty. Though Doflamingo was faster and better at sensing attacks, Goriki’s overwhelming power and stamina left him struggling to find a way to win.

• Goriki shattered Doflamingo’s Flying Slashes with his Armament Haki and praised him for being a strong Marine swordsman.
• Doflamingo’s blade wounded Goriki’s fist, but Goriki’s counterattack sent the young Marine crashing through several cabins.
• Doflamingo decided to try again and use his illusion technique if he could not overcome Goriki.
• Goriki used Soru to pursue Doflamingo, who relied on his superior Observation Haki and agility to dodge his attacks.
• Doflamingo’s attacks failed to break Goriki’s iron-fist defense, and Goriki taunted him that dodging alone would not win.

Mingo fought Goriki, using a phasing attack and Tsukuyomi before Goriki awakened Conqueror's Haki and shattered the illusion. Mingo then unleashed Tenbu Hōrin, which overwhelmed Goriki and left him completely controlled.

• Mingo used a feigned sword strike to draw Goriki in, then phased his hand through Goriki's chest and tore away flesh before Goriki escaped.
• Mingo trapped Goriki in Tsukuyomi and tortured him for twenty-four hours, but Goriki endured the illusion.
• Goriki awakened Conqueror's Haki, shattered Tsukuyomi, and knocked out the marines and pirates aboard the ship.
• Goriki declared that he would spare Mingo and urged him to grow stronger, angering Mingo.
• Mingo used Tenbu Hōrin to sever Goriki's senses and Observation Haki, completely controlling him.

Doflamingo defeated the powerful pirate Goriki at great cost, then returned to Water 7 with his crew and the spoils of their voyage. After celebrating and recovering, he entered the Illusion Space to examine the Blood-colored Puppets he had collected.

• Doflamingo used Tenbu Hōrin and Black Tiger Seizes the Heart to tear out Goriki’s heart, but Goriki broke free and shattered several of Doflamingo’s ribs with a punch.
• Goriki asked Doflamingo his name before dying, and Doflamingo ordered the Marines to wake their comrades and capture the pirates.
• Doflamingo recovered aboard the warship and recognized that low bounties did not necessarily mean weak opponents; he also kept Goriki’s soul to absorb later in Water 7.
• Doflamingo and his Marines returned to Water 7 with pirate crews whose combined bounties totaled around three hundred million, earning promotions for many of his men.
• After the Marines celebrated, Doflamingo inspected the seven or eight Blood-colored Puppets representing the pirate captains he had defeated.

Doflamingo absorbed Goriki’s Skill Pearl, gained experience with Conqueror’s Haki, and spent a year training until he could nearly defeat Goriki in the Illusion Space. His latest battle ended with Chidori piercing Goriki’s heart, bringing Doflamingo closer to victory than ever before.

• Doflamingo absorbed Goriki’s soul and Skill Pearl, gaining substantial training experience and an understanding of Conqueror’s Haki.
• Doflamingo awakened Conqueror’s Haki and knocked out Marines across half the naval branch, then used illusions to conceal what had happened.
• Doflamingo trained intensely for a year, improving his physical abilities and Haki while remaining wary of powerful enemies.
• Doflamingo fought Goriki more than a hundred times in the Illusion Space and gradually extended their battles from half an hour to twelve hours.
• Doflamingo’s phantom Chidori turned solid at Goriki’s heart and pierced it, giving Doflamingo his closest approach to victory.

After a year of training, Doflamingo traveled to Navy Headquarters under the identity of Steve and joined the fifth Elite Training Camp class. During the camp’s first combat tournament, he faced Admiral Candidate Chaton Tokikake.

• Doflamingo improved his intangibility, which he could briefly extend to Chidori, but it still consumed too much stamina and could not be sustained.
• In 1495, fourteen-year-old Doflamingo left the Water 7 naval branch and traveled to Navy Headquarters with Rear Admiral Gulmi as an escort.
• Doflamingo disguised himself as Steve with an optical illusion and began training at Marineford under Chief Instructor Zephyr.
• Zephyr started a combat elimination tournament, and Doflamingo easily defeated the trainees he faced, impressing Zephyr.
• Doflamingo recognized Chaton Tokikake as another Admiral Candidate when the two were matched against each other, and the referee started their fight.

Doflamingo fought Tokikake in a fierce sparring match, initially gaining an advantage before being overwhelmed in hand-to-hand combat. He revealed a dangerous illusory blade and claimed it came from the Intangibility Fruit, leaving Tokikake wary.

• Tokikake teased Doflamingo before their match, and Doflamingo opened with a surprise Haki-coated slash that wounded Tokikake's arms.
• Tokikake admitted he had been pretending to be weak, and he and Doflamingo resumed their fight as Tokikake corrected Doflamingo to call him big brother.
• Tokikake gained the upper hand in their prolonged exchanges, while Doflamingo recognized the gap in their physical strength and Haki.
• Doflamingo announced he would use his Devil Fruit and attacked with an illusory Chidori, prompting Tokikake to retreat from its threatening presence.
• Doflamingo told Tokikake that he had eaten the Intangibility Fruit and could shift his body and weapons between illusory and real.