Enter Doflamingo

Caesar absorbs Shinokuni and transforms into a massive poisonous form, but Luffy defeats him and sends him flying from the laboratory. Franky overcomes Baby 5 and Buffalo, allowing the alliance to secure Caesar. The Straw Hats, G-5 Marines, rescued children, and surviving inhabitants escape the laboratory before the gas consumes it, while Trafalgar Law explains that destroying the SAD facility has disrupted Doflamingo's production of SMILE artificial Devil Fruits for Kaido.

Doflamingo arrives on Punk Hazard and attacks the G-5 Marines while searching for Law and the Straw Hats. Kuzan intervenes before Doflamingo can kill Smoker, forcing the Warlord to withdraw. Law then contacts Doflamingo and demands that he resign from the Seven Warlords of the Sea in exchange for Caesar.

News of the Straw Hat–Heart Pirate alliance spreads throughout the world as other pirate crews react to the emerging conflict. Doflamingo publicly relinquishes his positions as Warlord and king of Dressrosa, apparently accepting Law's terms. Before the alliance reaches Dressrosa, however, Doflamingo prepares a trap centered on the Flame-Flame Fruit once possessed by Portogas D. Ace.