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As the clash dragged on, Nika Luffy's blows were clearly losing strength. Even with the Drums of Liberation echoing in his chest, every time he crashed to the ground now, his body stayed down longer. At the start, his wounds had snapped back in an instant. Now, they stubbornly remained.
Saint Garling glared coldly at the Sun God before him.
"Which time is this now? Even the Sun God is starting to get tired!"
Through Observation Haki, everyone could feel it: Nika Luffy's aura was fading. That faint, steady decline filled the Gorosei with hope. If this so‑called infinite revival were truly without end, even they would have found it troublesome. But from the looks of it, even "the world's most ridiculous power" had its limits.
"Don't give him time to rest. Continue."
At that command, the Gorosei surged forward again, launching another wave of attacks at Nika Luffy.
"Hahahahaha…" Nika Luffy was still laughing, but the sound now carried a tired, ragged edge—pain, and even a trace of despair. Yet that was the essence of the Sun God. No matter how desperate the situation, he could only meet it with laughter.
"You guys are really tenacious! Hahahaha…"
The Gorosei didn't respond. They simply pressed on, unleashing lethal attacks one after another, pounding Nika Luffy until his body was beaten bloody and broken.
On the Marine side, all the Amazon Lily warriors had already been captured. But with the battle between the Gorosei and Nika Luffy still undecided, the Marines stayed on high alert, waiting. Once the Gorosei finished off Nika Luffy, they would storm the town and plunder Amazon Lily without restraint.
The fight raged for twelve straight hours, from blazing daylight into deep night. Luffy fell, rose, and fell again, over and over in an endless cycle. The repetition wore on even the Gorosei, leaving them drained and bearing wounds of their own.
At last, after one more brutal fall, Luffy did not rise.
This time, he stayed down.
Most of his hair had fallen out; the few strands that remained were white—not the radiant white of the Sun God, but the dull, brittle white of age.
Nika Luffy now looked like an old man of eighty or ninety. His body had shriveled to less than a meter tall, his face speckled with age spots. The once thunderous heartbeat of the Drums of Liberation had become a faint, weakening murmur.
Using the power of the Sun God for so long had clearly drained his very lifespan. Now, he couldn't even stand.
The Gorosei stared at the silent Drums of Liberation and the fallen Straw Hat Luffy. One of them asked gravely, "This time, has he truly fallen?"
Hours earlier, Straw Hat Luffy had collapsed again and again. Each time, they were sure he'd hit his limit. Yet whenever they moved in to land the killing blow, the Drums of Liberation would roar back to life. It hadn't happened just once—every time they thought he couldn't possibly rise again, he did.
So now, they advanced with far more caution, closing in on Luffy step by step.
They finally reached his side. Luffy still lay sprawled on the ground, motionless, and the Drums of Liberation remained silent. Garling's voice was ice-cold as he said, "It seems this time he has truly reached his limit."
Lying there, Luffy was sunk in despair, his consciousness on the verge of fading out. In the darkness of his mind, scenes of his journey flickered by—his adventures with his crew, his brother Ace, his grandpa Garp, his foster mother Dadan, and Shanks.
'It seems I won't get to wait for Ace to save me,' Luffy thought in his final moments.
'Sorry, everyone… I'm afraid I'm gonna break my promise. Sorry, Shanks… I'm afraid I'm gonna break my promise to you too.'
The Gorosei looked down at him, sprawled on the ground like a dead animal. Nusjuro drew his kitetsu and said coldly, "Seeing you like this, you probably can't enter that Sun God state anymore. I'll finish you off right now."
Just as Nusjuro was about to drive his blade down, an overwhelming Haoshoku Haki suddenly surged in from afar, crashing against the Gorosei and freezing their bodies in place.
"What is this Haoshoku…?" The next instant, that powerful will locked directly onto them, and their faces twisted in anger and shock as they all turned to look toward its source.
With their sharp senses, they quickly caught sight of a black bird soaring toward them through the distant sky.
Saint Nusjuro's eyes widened. "That's… Marco…"
"Fire Fist…" From far off, Ace launched a massive Fire Fist straight at the Gorosei.
Garling stepped forward and, with a single slash, cut Ace's Fire Fist apart.
"It's Phoenix Marco and Fire Fist Ace…!" The Marines finally spotted the two figures in the sky.
Garling's face went pale. He said coldly, "Hmph. I really didn't expect Straw Hat Luffy's cry for help to actually bring Fire Fist Ace and Phoenix Marco. Still, it seems there are only two of them."
Ace's voice rang out at that moment, loud and furious. "You bastards are not allowed to lay a hand on my brother!"
"I really didn't expect them to actually show up…" Warcury sounded genuinely taken aback.
He narrowed his eyes, then asked in a low, serious voice, "Do we deal with Marco here?"
Saint Peter spoke up, his tone grave. "My suggestion is to kill Straw Hat Luffy and then withdraw. We didn't bring any God's blood this time. We might not be his match."
Nusjuro nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Now is not the time to wage war with Marco. Our immortality can't withstand his Haki, and that fight with Nika Luffy already drained a lot of our strength. Our mission this time is only to eliminate Straw Hat Luffy, the reincarnation of Joy Boy."
"That's reasonable." Saint Garling turned to Gorum and barked, "Gorum, the mission is complete. Take the Marines and retreat immediately."
"Yes, Father." Gorum nodded, then shouted to the Marines, "Take all the slaves and pull back!"
"Yes, Lord Ashura!" The Marines moved at once, like handlers yanking vicious dogs. They dragged the captured Amazon Lily warriors by ropes, forcing them toward the waiting warships.
A few Marines held chains whose other ends were locked to the collar around Hancock's neck. Their faces twisted into lecherous grins.
"Move it, Empress," one of them sneered. "Get on the warship already. Your life as a slave is about to start."
They hauled Hancock forward step by step toward the ships. Staring at the looming warships, her face went white with fear. Once she boarded, it would mean an endless life of darkness. Tears streamed from her beautiful eyes as she looked toward Marco and Ace closing in from the sky, clinging to that final shred of hope.
"No, don't! Save me!" she cried, voice breaking. "Anyone, please—someone save me! I beg you, save me…"
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