Hearing Marco's words and seeing him withdraw his flames, Portgas D. Ace's pupils shrank violently.
"How is that possible?" Ace shouted, his voice breaking. "How can Luffy be beyond saving? Marco, use your Regeneration Flame. It should be able to save him, right?"
Marco met Ace's desperate gaze. He did not offer false hope. He simply shook his head and spoke plainly.
"His life force is already exhausted. Most of the cells in his body are dead. My flames only accelerate cell regeneration to heal injuries, but Straw Hat barely has any viable cells left. Using my power now would only speed up his death. At most, he has one hour left."
"How could this happen…" Ace collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he stared at Monkey D. Luffy's frail and withered body.
Nearby, Shanks stood frozen, struggling to accept what he had just heard. He had placed his hopes on Luffy, the one he believed would shape the future, the boy who had eaten that legendary Devil Fruit and awakened its power. Yet now, everything was slipping away.
Shanks looked at Marco again, his voice low but firm. "Marco… is there truly no way to save him?"
Marco shook his head again. "His body is already empty. His organs are failing. If this were an ordinary fatal injury, I could keep him alive with my flames. But this is different. His life itself has run out. Even my abilities can't change that."
Shanks' expression darkened further.
Not far away, the Gorosei heard everything. Relief quietly spread among them. With the arrival of the Red Hair Pirates, killing Straw Hat directly had become far more difficult. However, from Marco's explanation, it was clear that Luffy had overused his Sun God form and burned through his lifespan.
Even if they had not delivered the final blow themselves, the result still fulfilled the will of Imu-sama.
After exchanging brief glances, their figures dissolved into white smoke. The teleportation technique dispersed, and they returned to the Holy Land.
As the Gorosei vanished, the pressure on the battlefield eased. Members of the Red Hair Pirates exhaled quietly.
Shanks turned to the ship doctor Hongou and then back to Marco. "Is his condition really that severe?"
Hongou nodded grimly. "It's even worse than it looks."
"Red Hair, do you think I was lying to mislead them?" Marco replied coldly.
Ace, still clinging to a shred of hope, looked up at Marco. "There has to be something. Think of a way, please."
Marco felt the weight of that plea but answered honestly. "There's nothing I can do."
He paused briefly, then added, "If Trafalgar D. Water Law were here, there might be a chance. But even then, if he's thinking clearly, he wouldn't agree to save Straw Hat."
Ace's eyes widened, grabbing onto that possibility. "You mean Law can save Luffy?"
"In theory, yes," Marco said. "The Ope-Ope no Mi has a final technique that grants immortality to someone else. It might be able to save him."
Hope surged through Ace again. "Then I'll take Luffy to him. I'll beg him if I have to."
"It won't work."
Before Marco could respond, Benn Beckman spoke calmly from behind Shanks.
"That technique can only be used once. And the cost is the user's life."
Ace froze, the fragile hope shattering instantly.
Marco continued without hesitation. "Even if we wanted to try, we don't know where Law is. And Luffy doesn't have that kind of time."
He looked down at Luffy, his expression steady but heavy.
"There's only one thing I can do."
"I can use my flames to briefly restore his consciousness. It will give him a short burst of vitality. If you have anything to say to him, say it then. But it will only last a few minutes. After that, his life will end."
Marco had already confirmed it. The man destined to become Pirate King had reached the end of his life.
Even someone like Luffy could not overturn this outcome.
Unless Trafalgar Law appeared immediately and performed that ultimate surgery, Luffy had, at most, two hours remaining.
Marco's thoughts drifted for a moment.
Things had already changed far too much.
In another course of events, Luffy would have trained quietly near Amazon Lily for two years. But now, before even a year had passed, he had already been hunted by the Marines.
Silvers Rayleigh was gone. The Pirate Empress had been captured. The Gorosei themselves had descended upon Amazon Lily.
Everything had shifted beyond recognition.
Even with Luffy awakening the power of the Sun God fruit early, the gap between him and the Gorosei had been too great. Facing their Immortality and their combined strength, he had been pushed beyond his limits and burned out his life.
In another timeline, Luffy would have continued to grow, refining his Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Conqueror's Haki, eventually reaching the level needed to challenge monsters like Kaido.
But here, against five immortal opponents, even that power had not been enough.