Is Doflamingo Really Dead in One Piece?

Donquixote Doflamingo is one of the more ruthless characters in One Piece, and that is saying something when the cast is mainly crazy pirates. But after his capture and imprisonment, is Doflamingo really dead in One Piece?

Donquixote Doflamingo is not dead and just rotting in prison, although there is a chance he could be killed in jail. He ended up there after being defeated by Monkey D Luffy and captured by the Marines and put on trial for his crimes.

Let’s look at the path of Donquixote Doflamingo as he goes from nobility to killer to Warlord of the Sea and underworld as Joker to eventual imprisonment. We’ll consider what has become of him and whether he’ll be kept alive in prison.

Was Donquixote Doflamingo Killed in One Piece?

Donquixote Doflamingo was formerly a member of the elite, as his father came from a line stretching back to the founding of the World Government.

Due to his father’s decision to leave, that action also stripped the title off Donquixote Doflamingo. Enraged by this, he ended up killing his father and tried to get back in, but the banishment was final.

This led him to try and endear himself back to the World Government, which started his journey to redeem his name.

He decided to regain the throne of his family from centuries ago, and eventually succeeded at becoming king of Dressrosa after taking the throne from Riku Doldo III.

After ruling over the kingdom for many years which included being known as Warlord of the Sea, Monkey D Luffy came in and with the assistance of Trafalgar Law, defeated Doflamingo eventually leading to his arrest.

Donquixote Doflamingo was one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and also ruled the underworld in the New World under the alias ‘Joker’. With this massive criminal connection network, he works on creating artificial Devil Fruits among many other schemes.

Being one of the main antagonists of the New World, Doflamingo ruled Dressrosa as a tyrant until his defeat by Monkey D Luffy. At this point he collapses in the underground port, unconscious with the Marines moving in to arrest him on the orders of Admiral Fujitora.

Doflamingo then finds himself aboard a Navy ship, vowing that the Celestial Gods will be defeated and also announces that the Celestial Dragons should prepare to be shamed by him or someone else.

To keep him subdued while in custody, he is shackled with Seastone manacles to prevent him using his Devil Fruit abilities.

Finding himself tried and convicted of several crimes at Impel Down, he is basically confined to a cell from this point onwards.

He is found guilty of three major crimes that are: Abused Warlord of the Sea title privileges, attempted mass murder of the people of Dressrosa, and engaged in criminal Underworld activities as the go between and broker Joker.

The permanence of this sentence was perhaps understood by Kaido, as a ship belonging to Emperor Kaido’s fleet attempts to capture and free the former king. 

Instead, Doflamingo is still in the hands of the Marines, condemned to Level 6 in an isolated cell, although he does mention that he is worried about an assassination attempt.

This refers back to the special privileges that allowed Doflamingo to gain so much power in his rise to be king, so much so that he expects killers from Mary Geoise to be dispatched from the Holy Land.

He’s also been seen as recently as in the Wano Country Arc, meaning he is alive in prison as of very recently.

Has Doflamingo Died Before?

There have been some very close calls where Doflamingo seems to have died, but he is a very powerful adversary and has come back or it was a decoy that was killed instead of Doflamingo.

He was decapitated in a previous episode by Kyros, but it turns out that Doflamingo has a secret weapon of a clone.

It is revealed that Doflamingo ate the String Fruit, making him a string human. This allows him to manipulate strings so that he can create a marionette duplicate of himself and move it around as if it were him.

Many assumed that Doflamingo would be executed upon capture, specifically for his Underworld activities and also for the apparent massacre plan of the people of Dressrosa, which would only be allowed if Doflamingo was still a Celestial Dragon.

Indeed, the World Government and the Marines have killed people for much less.

Otherwise, if the World Government could not get him, then certainly Governor-General of the Beasts Pirates Kaido would consider putting a hit out on him, if not Kyros or Riku.

It is important to remember that Doflamingo is a villain, and One Piece is known for one thing: villains don’t tend to just die so easily. Monkey D Luffy is generally loathe to kill people shown by him just making Doflamingo unconscious.