Doflamingo may have a secret One Piece fans never noticed

Modified Jan 09, 2025 05:59 GMT

Doflamingo may have a secret One Piece fans never noticed (Image via Toei Animation)

One of the most popular characters in the entirety of author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga series is ex-Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo. Despite being a villain, he is an incredibly well-written and memorable character, cementing him as one of the series’ best-written characters in general— and to many, its best antagonist.

Arguably the single biggest factor in this love Doflamingo receives from the fanbase is his incredible backstory, which is one of the best in the entire series. Likewise, despite how often fans revisit and comb through his origins, there may be a small detail about his character that One Piece fans have only just realized all these years later.

One Piece fandom’s most beloved antagonist may actually be blind in one eye

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Donquixote Doflamingo’s origins in One Piece see him start life as a young Celestial Dragon of the Donquixote Family, descended from Dressrosa’s original ruling family pre-Void Century. However, Doflamingo’s father, Homing, withdrew from the position for wanting his children to experience a “normal” life.

Doflamingo was unable to accustom himself to this new lifestyle, and eventually killed his father two years after they left Mariejois.

One of the most pivotal and memorable scenes in this origin story sees Homing, Doflamingo, and his brother Rosinante being strung up by local civilians. Arrows are then fired at them, with both the anime and the manga using imagery suggesting that an arrow pierces Doflamingo’s left eye.

In the manga, this is followed by a panel of his right eye opening, clearly distressed and seemingly in pain, given the context and what fans can tell.

One Piece presents this portion of the flashback as a dream Doflamingo is having about his youth, seeing him wake up shaken and distressed after the above scene. It’s also worth emphasizing that, in both the anime and manga, his face is fully silhouetted or obstructed here until he puts his glasses back on.

This is a unique choice, as Oda typically only silhouettes new characters or character designs, with Doffy’s design at this time having already been seen.

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Considering all of this evidence, it seems as if Doflamingo is actually blind in his left eye due to the arrow that was fired at him when he was a child. The flashback dream sequence is the only time in the series where Doflamingo’s eyes are seen, with only the right being seen even then.

Equally noteworthy is the fact that the Donquixote Pirates’ Jolly Roger features a skull and crossbones with an eyepatch over its left eye.

Also serving as narrative evidence is the fact that Fujitora, the series’ first fully blind character, is introduced in the Dressrosa Arc. While Doflamingo was already introduced well before the Dressrosa Arc, he serves as its main antagonist, and is the most involved and present he is in the entire series. With all of this in mind, it seems likely that Doflamingo is indeed blind in his left eye.

Final thoughts

Doflamingo's origins may have a major secret hidden within (Image via Toei Animation)

While the aforementioned is speculative, it nevertheless begs the question of why Oda left these clues but never addressed this in the mainline story. One answer could be his utilization of the SBS question corners to discuss such points which aren’t significant enough to merit discussion in-story.

However, with the theory still speculative, fans will have to wait for Oda to confirm before speculating upon why he didn’t directly address this in-series.