One Piece: Doflamingo’s Devil Fruit Ito Ito No Mi Explained
Although first introduced during the Jaya Arc, its name and powers were not revealed until the Dressrosa Arc.
Doflamingo was one of the most interesting and powerful Warlords of the Sea. His strength came not just from his use of Haki but also from his Devil Fruit, Ito Ito no Mi.
In my opinion, it is simply one of the most overpowered Devil Fruits!
In this article, we will discuss the power Ito Ito no Mi, aka String-String Fruit (in English) grants. So get ready, and let’s dive into it!
What Are Devil Fruits?
Ito Ito no Mi is Devil Fruit, a unique concept that exists in the world of One Piece.
Devil Fruits are mystical fruits that grant the consumer a special ability when eaten but also take away the consumer’s ability to swim.
There are many different types of devil fruits, each with its own unique power, but they can be generalized into three main types: Zoan type, Paramecia type, and Logia type devil fruits.
Zoan-type devil fruits provide its user with the ability to transform into a specific animal and transform into a hybrid form of the combination of the gained animal species and their own.
Paramecia-type devil fruit is the most common type. This type of fruit grants its users a wide variety of powers. This includes things like shock waves, splitting their own bodies, and pretty much any superpower you can think of.
The distinguishing feature of Paramecia fruits is that they provide talents other than the power to morph into animals or convert their bodies into natural components, as do the fruits of the other two kinds.
Logia-type devil fruit provides the power of natural forces and is the rarest type. It allows the user to create, control, and transform their body into their natural element.
This effectively makes its user intangible and allows them complete control of their body.
Now that we have some basic understanding of what Devil Fruits are in One Piece, let’s learn about Ito Ito no Mi.
Ito Ito No Mi (String-String Fruit)
Although first introduced in chapter 234 during the Jaya Arc, its name and powers were not revealed until the Dressrosa Arc in chapter 724.
Ito Ito no Mi is gourd-shaped and has a pale lilac color with a typical devil fruit swirly pattern. It also features a fuchsia stem on its top.
It is a paramecia-type devil fruit that grants the user the power to control strings.
As mentioned, it allows the user to control strings. These strings are wafer-thin, razor-sharp, and can attach to seemingly anything—literally anything.
Don’t believe me? The current user, Doflamingo Donquixote, literally attached them to clouds to go from place to place.
Furthermore, the strings are extremely strong, as we see the Warlord cutting Isso’s meteorite into pieces. Forget about them breaking; the flaming meteorite could not even burn these strings.
If you still don’t understand why I am calling them overpowered, then let me tell you what Doflamingo did by just controlling these threads.
Let’s start with the first technique, Parasite.
Parasite: Using his devi fruit, Doflamingo attached his strings to his target’s spine. These strings attach to the base of the target’s neck, giving Doflamingo complete motor control of his target.
With strings attached now, Doflamingo can freely control the movements of its target. Except for the head, everything below it is now in Doflamingo’s control.
Not only this, but he can control multiple people at the same time. The victim cannot even resist the forced movements, such is the strength of these strings.
Jozu, who is physically extremely strong, and Sanji could not do anything against Ito Ito no Mi’s Parasite technique. Sanji was even stopped mid-air, leaving him floating on the spot.
Eight years ago, using this technique, he took control of King Riku, the previous King of Dressrosa, and many of his soldiers at the same time.
Sora no Michi: This is the technique I mentioned before in the article. Using the devil’s fruit powers, he attaches the strings to the clouds and then moves through them.
The only weakness of this skill is that he can’t use it without clouds in the sky, of course.
Goshikito: Doflamingo swipes his hand and slashes his targets with strings of five different colors. This is the same technique he used to cut down Issho’s flaming meteor by forming a net of these strings.
Overheat: You really do not want to be at the receiving end of it. Doflamingo shoots a thick rope of highly condensed strings from his palm and whips it at the opponent.
Although exact measurements for the range are not available, Doflamingo used it from the Sky of Green Bit all the way to Dressrosa. So, yeah, the range is very large.
It can easily cut through buildings at any range.
Tamaito: Doflamingo shoots bullets made of threads as he folds his finger to make the shape of a gun.
You must be asking, So what? It’s just threads, right? No, the attack power of these bullets is similar to that of the Shigan, also known as the Finger Pistol. Yes, the technique that Cipher Pol uses
We first saw him use it against the Law in Chapter 729 on the Iron Bridge.
Black Knight: By compressing lots of threads, Doflamingo was able to create his own clone. Just like Tamaito, although made of threads, this clone is very strong.
Doflamingo was also proficient with it, allowing him to orchestrate combined attacks with his real body, such as double Goshikito in chapter 745.
By unravelling the clone, Doflamingo unleashes Torikago, one of the most overpowered techniques in his arsenal.
Torikago: As I mentioned, I believe it to be one of the most powerful techniques of Ito Ito no Mi.
Doflamingo shoots lots of strings from his palm towards the sky. After reaching a certain height, these strings rain down on all sides, creating a dome-like structure.
When used in Chapter 766, it completely covered the entire region of Dressrosa! The strings of this dome can cut literally anything, even the intangible signal of Den Den Mushi.
These are so strong that even Issho’s multiple mountain-sized meteors can’t do anything against them.
Torikago will exist as long as Doflamingo is conscious. and if he chooses, it will start moving towards him, albeit very slowly.
The movement of the cage can be halted for a brief period of time by using immense strength.
In Viz’s translation, it is aptly named Bird Cage.
Ito Ito no Mi was the first Paramecia devil fruit we saw achieve awakening, so let’s discuss that.
Shufuku Sagyo: This ability to literally stitch his internal organs using his strings. This acts as a rudimentary form of first aid.
However, this is only a temporary fix, as it is just a fix and not actual healing, it simply minimizes any further damages.
We saw Doflamingo use this after being hit by Law’s Gamma Knife.
Awakening
When a paramecia-type power awakens, it allows its user to spread their power beyond their own body. They are able to alter the properties of the materials around them.
After awakening, Doflamnigo was able to convert the ground and buildings around him into his strings without even touching them.
This also provided Doflamingo with new abilities, which are:
- Break White
- Off White
- Billow White
- Ever White
- Flap Thread
- God Thread
To know more about them, you can refer to this article on Doflamingo’s devil fruit awakening.