Doflamingo had not merely stood in the sky talking before; he had been stalling for time.
When Doflamingo unleashed his Conqueror's Haki and ambushed Dawn, Pica moved at the same time. This had long been part of their plan.
As the user of the Stone-Stone Fruit, Pica had not failed to accompany Doflamingo. He had simply been hiding underground all along, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Taking advantage of the instant their clash erupted, Pica used a stone hand to rescue Mahabais and Gladius. However, his other stone hand failed when it tried to attack Dawn and rescue Baby 5!
Pica had launched his surprise attack from the ground while Dawn's attention was focused overhead. Most of his attacks had also been aimed at Dawn, who should have been stunned and unable to fight back.
Pica believed that even if Aokiji and Garp defended against Doflamingo's attack from above, they would leave an opening against his all-out strike from underground.
That brief opening would be the perfect chance for Pica to save them, and Gladius and Mahabais had indeed been rescued according to plan.
Though the pirate world had no saying like "besiege Wei to rescue Zhao," that was precisely the sort of plan they had displayed. Unfortunately, they had miscalculated one thing: Dawn's reaction speed!
By normal standards, someone Dawn's age should have either blanked out for a moment or lost consciousness outright when faced with Conqueror's Haki. On top of that, Doflamingo personally making a move would surely occupy one person in defense.
The other person would then inevitably prioritize attacking him, allowing them to complete the rescue during that opening.
But Doflamingo had miscalculated. He had not expected Dawn to have no reaction whatsoever to Conqueror's Haki.
Thus, when faced with Doflamingo's ambush, Dawn's Observation Haki