Magenta, CEO of Red Pharmaceuticals, seeks to revive the Red Ribbon Army that his father Commander Red led and was ultimately destroyed by Goku and his friends. Magenta and his assistant Staff Officer Carmine seek to recruit Dr. Gero's surviving grandson Dr. Hedo, a superhero-obsessed mad scientist who was released from jail after serving a grave robbing sentence. Hedo accepts the offer despite his initial reservations after Magenta made him assume that Capsule Corp and the Z Fighters are an evil organization. While Goku and Vegeta are training under Whis on Beerus' planet alongside Broly, who is being taught to control his power, Piccolo is annoyed over Gohan wasting his potential while training the latter's daughter Pan. Piccolo is then attacked by a Red Ribbon android named Gamma 2, managing to elude the android and follow him to the Red Ribbon Army's base. Piccolo disguises himself as a Red Ribbon soldier to infiltrate a Red Ribbon meeting, learning that Gamma 2 was created by Hedo along with Gamma 1 as superheroes to deal with the Z-Fighters and that Hedo reluctantly used his grandfather's schematics on Cell to create an improved version: Cell Max. Piccolo contacts Bulma of the situation to contact Goku and Vegeta while convincing Dende to upgrade the Dragonballs so he can wish Shenron to unlock his full potential. After granting the wish while learning Bulma is unable to contact Whis, Piccolo learns of Magenta's scheme to kidnap Pan to force Gohan to face them. Piccolo volunteers himself for the kidnapping party and talks Pan into playing along, with Gohan launching a full-scale assault upon learning of his daughter's "abduction" and fights Gamma 1. Gohan assumes an "Ultimate" form during his fight with Gamma 1 while Piccolo discards his disguise to face Gamma 2, his full potential manifesting in a new form dubbed "Orange Piccolo". Piccolo manages to convince Gamma 2 that Magenta was lying about the Z Fighters as Carmine is knocked out by Pan as he attempted to kill her when Magenta runs off to prematurely activate Cell Max, with the Gammas having a change of heart soon after. Despite managing to kill Magenta, Hedo was unable prevent Cell Max's activation in time while Bulma arrives with Goten, Trunks, Android 18 and Krillin as reinforcements. Krillin remains behind with the others while Gohan, Piccolo and Gammas, Goten, Trunks, and Android 18 fight Cell Max while learning Hedo removed Cell's regeneration ability while adding a weakness in the monster's skull. After Cell Max's head is damaged by a botched Gotenks formation, Gamma 2 sacrifices himself in an attempt that only destroyed Cell Max's left arm. Piccolo is overpowered Cell Max after combining his "Orange Piccolo" and "Great Namekian" forms to battle the monster, with the eruption of Gohan's inner rage evolving his "Ultimate" form into "Gohan Beast". Piccolo restrains Cell Max so Gohan can finish him off with a supercharged Special Beam Cannon, the group escaping the blast radius when Cell Max's corpse detonates. With the battle over, a repentant Hedo and Gamma 1 are given positions in the Capsule Corporation. At that time, Vegeta finally defeated Goku when the two engaged in a hours-long sparring to the point of exhaustion. Whis finally responds to Bulma's message while Cheelai is overall irritated by the sparring match despite Broly and Lemo being awestruck of it.
