Chapter Text
The sun met a star, just one in a million. Look at the sky, they all seem the same, look again. Once you come closer to one, you notice all the beautiful, unique power that one tiny star has inside. The sun saw that star in the distance, hiding among 3 hundred more, but this star was different, and only the sun would know why.
Red. The dirt tasted red when his jaw hit the floor. Red like love. Emotions and feelings he sometimes wished he didn’t have. Then the memories would hit and he’d see his smile and feel his touch and the overwhelming sensation that filled his heart like nothing ever would (If he even had a heart). Red like blood, too. Painting the floor, his clothes, claws, mouth, and even the sky had been tainted, crimson red, like blood. Crimson red, like love.
‘’Filthy traitor, you betrayed our lord, our god’’ Said the huge named demon that had just crushed him. A couple of ribs were damned for sure, but he stood up anyway, scoffing while wiping blood off his face, not even sure if it was his or someone else’s.
***
Since the moment his feet touched the ground of the battlefield, thoughts floated blurry in his mind, he just knew one thing. Let them focus on me. Whatever to make himself the center of attention to the horde of a billion demons in front of them. Forget about the god. Forget about my love. Focus only on me. That was the plan.
Nika chuckled and suddenly it was a slaughter. The floor turned into a pool of boiling blood and stone corpses. He soon memorized the feeling of fresh blood under his nails- claws? And the metallic taste of it in his tongue. How many demons had gone down under his hands? He’d lost count, his muscles complained, starting to burn under his skin. Keep going. It’s not over yet. Forget it.
The attention finally turned towards him, only half of it but it didn’t matter, they’d never ignore a god on a battlefield. More like a playground for him honestly. Two against a Billion. A million slaves walked like zombies, like pawns on a chessboard, numb to the pain, too used to it. A hundred winged demons flew like bats in the sky, trying to mimic the dark of the night.
Just one didn’t. Back at the very end of the army of flying demons, a female one. Only bits of flesh were left of her ripped wings, her body adorned with scars, she had only one arm left, with her wrist still shackled (her neck was too), and broken horns. They locked eyes and she smiled, her hair, black like coal, her eyes teary, pain and hope dripping from her soul.
‘’A demon’’ The god said and while his expression didn’t change, his voice carried sadness and guilt. He noticed her even in the middle of the chaos, too.
‘’From another level of hell, it seems’’
He brought half of them down jumping to rip their wings off. Screams ringing in his ears. His body was already soaked in blood anyway.
A few feet away from him, he could hear the god fighting, every time his fist hit the floor, hundreds of demons crumbled, the ground wobbled and he’d feel chills run down his spine, assuring him that he was all right, ‘’No need to turn around, I’m fine’’.
Good. Because he wasn’t. He was a demon too. He had shared a cell, a meal, a punishment with some of them. The pain in their eyes threw daggers at his heart. ‘’why?’’ in some ‘’thanks’’ in others. He couldn’t falter.
His heart returned to the cheerful voice of his love, the sun god in the distance- He faced the warrior in front of him. The countless slaves and living curses they had met in their travels, their eyes filled with rage, flashing through his memories. They all hated the sun god but welcomed a demon, someone punished, like them. He blocked an attack- He told them stories of a white warrior, a god, but of freedom, he named him Joyboy, to all the ones that couldn’t stand ‘’Nika’’. And he saw their eyes glow with hope, desperate hope.
He bit the demon’s throat and faced the next one. Three warriors at the same time. Ten slaves went down and his mouth was sticky.’’ Where the hell are the named ones?’’.
He looked around, slicing almost automatically every demon that went his way. There. At the end of the lines. Behind the horde of millions. Ten against one wasn’t fair. All the named demons and the two kings, fighting against Nika. Am I not a threat to you yet?
The god did everything he could to go through the block, but named demons were named for a reason. Too good to be defined by numbers. He could hear Zao fighting behind him, and he smiled.
‘’Move, Enma’’
‘’I’d rather die’’
‘’Well, your weak ass isn’t worth my energy, my partner is a hundred times stronger than you’’
The king laughed, pointing his thumb behind him. ‘’That little demon? He’s just another slave, a tool’’
The god’s eye ticked, and he forced a smile. ‘’Only I can call him little’’. ‘’Tool? He’s not mine, he’s not yours, he’s him and he’s with me’’
‘’Shut up, he’s as strong as any of you, he’s a named demon too now, I named him myself’’
And not after planets, that was lame. After a mountain, now that was cool and it fit way more. Behind him, he saw the shadow of his little demon wipe out a hundred demons, approaching them. The god couldn’t help but smirk.
Back then he was just a number, 1111, proof that his life had been no more than a tool for someone else. But now he had a name, he was someone, he was Zao, and he was planning on being so much more. Enough. For Nika. For the sun god.
He noticed the god was busy with the king of demons. A fucking joke of a king. So he went for one of the named demons around, his name was Pluton, the weakest and smallest among the 8 of them. The reaction was fast and the demon swung his arm trying to catch him almost immediately, but failed. No time to lose. He grabbed one of his horns and went for his neck from behind. Don’t you dare underestimate me. His claws were already digging through his skin.
‘’It’s useless, just give up, you can’t kill a demon, only the queen can’’ Pluton spat along a bunch of blood, and he stumbled. Zao’s gaze darted towards the hundreds of stone corpses lying on the floor, feeling again the way his muscles ached, pleading for the fight to end. Finally, he gazed at the god, smiling but sweating, panting, still having 8 huge demons over him. No
Pluton’s sharp tail stabbed him. He’d gotten distracted. And when he folded, inevitably, grabbing his stomach and succumbing to the pain, he heard a laugh come from behind the 8 demons left, a female voice he knew, was the moon.
The end of the tail, still piercing him, pulled him away and slammed him against the floor. The demon said something about betraying them but he couldn’t care less. He stood up, wiped what he could of the blood, and turned around to slice the tail of the next named demon, Neptune.
A wave of dark energy hit the entire battlefield, and in the glimpse of an eye, every demon they had gotten rid of was back on their feet, walking towards them. He felt his wounds heal too. He saw the god’s eyes open wide, and the moon lifted her arms to the sky, to call someone’s name.
Zunesha, she yelled.
[A year ago]
They met an elephant one day. Something felt off and by the puzzled frown on his- the god’s face, that wasn’t one of his creations. Zunesha, he said, and he’d been completely terrified when their eyes met.
‘’I can’t talk to you; she’ll kill me’’
But they talked. He was a ‘prototype’, her confidential… something. His legs were a phenomenon none of the two had ever seen before. They shrank and enlarged and he’d walk wherever he wanted, his feet even reached the fricking bottom of the sea. The sun was high in the sky and they talked.
‘’Why… do you feel so warm… and funny… and confusing… you make me want to speak and be close to you’’
The elephant asked innocently, staring at them with its huge open eyes, and Zao couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘’Right??’’
Zunesha carried them on his back (but be sure to hide behind his ears) he heard them, their stories, their dreams, he loved their laughs and their silence too. He walked and followed orders, wishing secretly that he could free himself from her, wishing he could do something to help them. Wishing to see them together and happy forever.
[Back to the present]
The huge elephant walked close enough for them to see him, reached the shore, and lifted his leg heavily, which shrank until it became the perfect length for him to walk on the ground easily. The mass of demons didn’t bother to move out of the way, letting themselves get crushed under him.
‘’Yes, master’’
He answered plainly, then grabbed Nika (whose eyes popped out while he tried to run away) with his trunk and left towards the sea. The moon smiled pleased. ‘’He’ll drown him and then bring his corpse to me’’.
‘’So they’re leaving without me?’’ They had been friends for a long time, Zunesha wouldn’t harm them…would he?? With the god gone, finally, all the attention turned towards him. He tried to focus only on the two named demons in front of him. If he couldn’t die, he would go all out. He heard the king, Enma, snort as he approached, ‘’Yeah right, just as strong as me, we’ll see about that’’. And he joined their battle, 1 against 3.
Everything around him was nothing more than a blur, no matter where he swung his claws they would land on someone’s chest or slice through someone’s throat. The slaves went back down in a minute, the moon groaned and healed them all back, and he grinned, his wounds would heal too every time. And the moon was draining her stamina just as much as he was, keeping a billion demons alive couldn’t be so easy.
‘’We don’t have much time’’ Said Zunesha once he made sure they were deep enough in the sea. ‘’Why are you fighting, Sun god? You’ll die, you know that…’’
‘’Yeah, I’m aware, hey, can you do me a favor?’’ The god climbed his trunk and stared at one of his eyes. The elephant’s heart sank as he nodded slowly.
‘’Thanks, man! Hey, no matter who created you, for me, you’ll always be another of my companions, you got some rocks??’’
In just a minute, something not so impossible for a sun god. He polished a huge stone, turned it into a perfect cube, and wrote some weird symbols on it at the speed of light, he did that twice, then wrote down a letter, folded it like a paper plane, and sent it flying through the wind.
‘’Hey, I promise you, I’ll be back, you can trust me! Can you give this to the fish-men?? Oh, and if someone falls on your back, please take care of them’’
And with that said, he jumped away without turning back, without saying goodbye, but with a smile, back to the battlefield, leaving behind just two stone cubes and promises. And the elephant walked away. ‘’Just because you are my friend, Joyboy’’. And he soon found them. The fish-men.
[A few months ago]
Waves slammed against the shore. Nika created fish-men as a gift to the ocean. To show how beautiful life was and prove they could work together. The sun god talked slowly, his voice was low and dreamy, he stared at the night sky and the stars reflected in his eyes. And the demon admired, dazed.
‘’So… it was never just ruling the seas’’. No matter how much time they spent together (more hours than he could count), his heart would never get used to how things seemed to be around him, wanting to laugh the problems away, far away. It’s never just that with him.
‘’Just that is boring’’
Both the demon and the king of the fish-men chuckled.
‘’Hey, Poseidon, when I win, I’ll come back for you and bring you all up here to have the biggest party on the planet and show you the world, it’s a promise, so you better get a big ship’’
Joyboy told the fish-man smiling, then turned to look at Zao, the god’s eyes sparkling like two more tiny stars, his heart danced in his throat, there was something else. The demon smirked. The king just stared, feeling out of place and left out, but not really mad about it, the way they stared at each other made him want to fall in love himself. If only someone would look at him that way.
Nika whispered something in the demon’s ear and then chuckled when he saw his mate’s face go red to his horns, complaining about how unfair and shameless it was for him to say such things to him just like that. After the king left with Nika’s promise, they spent another sleepless night, dreaming and talking. Admiring the stars. The demon didn’t need alcohol anymore, Joyboy’s touch was enough to send him floating, and right there, the stars seemed to be a hundred times shinier, reflected in his eyes.
[Back to the present]
The demons were healed again, and he sliced them, they came back, and his fangs bit their neck off. An endless confrontation, him against a horde of a million demons. His heart pounded loudly and wildly in his head, clouding his thoughts. Again. Again. Again. Where was he? Perhaps that elephant’s fear was stronger than their friendship after all. No. Trust him.
The eight named demons, the king, Enma, and the Moon were all sitting down, playing chess. Screw them. He focused again on the warrior in front of him, not wanting to listen to the way his own lungs gasped for air, or his muscles struggled to move.
‘’Heeeeeey!! Zao!! I’m back!!’’
The ten creatures sprung to their feet in a second. ‘’So he actually betrayed me?!’’ Everyone could hear the moon’s furious voice. Zao’s racing mind froze and he sighed. They all looked up and saw the sun god falling from the sky, punching every winged demon out of his way. The moment he landed every single demon standing fell to the ground unconscious for no apparent reason. The moon took a few steps back as the only demons left conscious, the named ones (and the king), turned around to find Nika behind them, a few inches away from the moon, smiling widely. ‘’Hey there’’.
‘’Don’t you dare move another muscle, or I’ll destroy all the slaves’’ She said. Her eyes blazed with pure decision.
The smile on Nika’s face faded.
‘’Yeah, I saw that little demon of yours, it doesn’t matter if you ‘named’ him, he’ll forever be slave number 1111, it’s still a win for you anyways, you lose one slave. I lose a million. I was a fool for trusting you honestly’’
The god kept quiet, frozen. Wanting to smile for messing with his enemy, but how could he be happy about it?
‘’You know how exhausting it is to create a new living thing, you knew I was spending all my energy on them, I almost died!! Do you know how I felt when I realized if I destroyed just one of them, all of them would be gone and I’d have to start again?!’’
‘’…yeah, that’s what you get for stealing my techniques and not being original, a million?? Seriously?? If you had made each of them unique, this wouldn’t have happened’’. He finally answered. Smiling faintly. Because whoa turns out she isn’t very smart either. But still.
Just when she opened her mouth to answer, screams interrupted her, just at the edge of the island, near the shore, a group of humans. Their wide eyes stared at the massive pool of boiling blood and corpses and then landed on the sun god. And his clothes, drenched in that same blood.
They were far away but one was holding a letter in their hand. ‘’Humans!!’’ The sun god lifted his arms. One of his kingdoms. Another black wave hit the battlefield and the corpses, once again, were healed perfectly. The moon was sweating, but she smiled.
All the humans backed away, terrified, as all the revived demons turned to look at them.
‘’The letter wasn’t lying after all! He was a murderer all along’’ Said one of them to the rest.
The moon’s smile widened.
‘’Listen slaves’’ She made sure no human would hear her. ‘’Get rid of them, and then, I’ll destroy you’’. Almost every single demon lifted their arms and cheered. For the first time ever they smiled excited, pure bloodlust. The mass of demons ran wildly towards the humans, and they just screamed, terrified.
Zao watched Nika’s eyes, he heard his voice. The only demons left where they stood were the named ones, the king, and one female winged demon, missing an arm. Neptune and Pluton both did everything they could to stop him from interrupting. Move. Nika would never hurt the humans. Let me go. How had It come to this? Stop- Nika don’t you dare-
‘’Wait! - Wait- Stop- Don’t touch them- what do you want from me?’’
‘’Isn’t it obvious? I want to kill you’’
[A few weeks ago]
Zao had asked Nika if he was immortal.
‘’Nope, I can die’’
‘’What?! But aren’t you a god?!’’.
‘’A God's physical form can be killed idiot, it’s a living body, a stab in my case would be more than enough, but as long as the god’s life force stays intact, they’ll be able to come back’’
‘’…Do you happen to know what’s the moon’s life force??’’
‘’Absolutely no idea’’
Oh. They knew the topic was serious. But they still stared at each other, and the god smiled amused. ‘’You really thought I’d know?’’. Written on his face.
The demon chuckled lightly, closing his eyes to avoid his partner’s stare, shaking his head slightly in disapproval. ‘’Yeah, I don’t know what I was expecting, he obviously didn’t… but what about his-’’.
‘’Mine? Mine’s my heart. They could chop my head off, drown me, or whatever, and yeah, I’d die, but as long as my heart’s left untouched, I’ll be back’’. And he smiled proudly.
Ah. Of course. His heart. After all that time together, if he focused, even from the other side of a room, he could hear its funny bouncing, dancing to the rhythm of a song he had yet to hear, beating softly in his eardrums.
[Back to the present]
A Heartbeat pounded loudly against his ears, making his head bang. If that was his or the god’s heart, he couldn’t tell. Suddenly that sound was the only thing he could hear, their voices faded, and so did the screams, and the cheers, everything faded. He could hear only a heartbeat.
The god’s expression was only pain, regret, guilt. ‘’Please stop this.’’ Their mouths kept moving, blurry and distorted. ‘’Don’t listen to her’’ His entire body was burning with energy he didn’t know he had left. Every cell in his body begged him to do something, to move, to help.
‘’If you surrender, I’ll spare all of their lives’’ The moon offered him.
‘’You promise? All right then let me just- ‘’ Nika said and before even finishing, his arm stretched and grabbed a random little human girl from the crowd. The moon flinched. Zao’s claws ripped something and Pluton screeched. ‘’Whatever she says is a lie, don’t listen to her, don’t do this, don’t you dare’’
‘’Hey! What’s ur name?’’ The god asked the girl.
The little one just stared at him, with her eyes wide open. ‘’K-Kozuki-‘’
‘’Do you mind?’’ He asked before she could say another word. His finger flicked her forehead and the girl was sent flying through the sky, disappearing between the clouds and the red sunset.
''...Did you just kill a child? Okay, are you done now?''
Joyboy smiled.
‘’As long as they know my name, you’ll never get rid of me’’
Her eye twitched. Nika raised his arms, and his smile widened.
‘’Fine, I deserve it anyways, I’ll let you kill me-‘’. He sighed and the moon smiled pleased, she raised her arm, aiming directly at Nika’s chest. They lost.
And a claw stabbed him clean.
Zao’s lungs refused to let him breathe. Wait. The heartbeat clouding his mind stopped. No. Tears flooded his eyes before he could even process what had happened. Red. Blood started dripping from the god’s mouth, his torso drenched in blood, his eyes widened, and time stopped.
The moon was standing right there, and yet, when their eyes met, the world faded around them. Zao’s voice broke, and tears fell. And Nika could still afford one last chuckle.
‘’So…you were serious about killing me, huh?’’
Damned tears. He just wanted to see his smile, just one last time
‘’I- I-… I asked for permission first… I’m- You know I-’’ Fuck. A weak chuckle was all he could get out, and then he cried. Joyboy’s voice weakened, fading, no one would hear him anymore.
‘’Hey…let’s do something… if you come with me… I’ll let you try to kill me…’’
‘’Deal, I’ll trust you’’ And he wondered if he could understand him in between the tears and the sobs. ‘’I’ll owe it to you then… since I already killed you’’
He wouldn’t dare speak his mind. ‘’Don’t leave me’’ They hadn’t been strong enough. He couldn’t be that selfish. ‘’I love you’’.
‘’You promise?’’
‘’I promise’’
And Nika smiled. If that would be the last time, before returning to his eternal solitude. He’d make sure to remember everything about him. Dying for blood loss was so damn painful. It hurt to see him so broken. ‘’Sorry, I wasn’t strong enough, Sorry, I asked you too much, but don’t worry, this wasn’t your fault, I promise we won’t ever be alone again, Sorry, I can’t speak anymore… But I hope you know I will forever trust you, I’ll forever choose you, I’ll forever love you’’.
And that was it.
Nika was gone. Zao placed him gently on the floor. And everyone got over the shock. The moon raged. Every demon was over him. Red. Everyone would end up dead. Red. They all tried to steal the god. ‘’You won’t touch him. Not until I’m dead’’.
The moon screamed desperately. Drums started to play in their heads. Light of all colors spread. The god’s corpse glowed, fading. Their time was ending. In the entire battlefield grew flowers, trees, weird-looking fruits, and plants of every kind. He turned around, just for a second. One last thing was left in the newly grown grass, a heart. His heart. And forget red. He liked green more. Green, like the beautiful life the love of his life had created.
Every slave, from 1 to 1000,000 turned to stone and shattered in an instant. And they wouldn’t be back. The moon freed herself, screaming, that damned winged demon had stopped her even with just one arm. So she destroyed her. Every winged demon turned into stone and shattered in an instant, and they wouldn’t be back. That damned slave that had betrayed her was in the way, the heart was fading.
Only 110 demons were left. She dug desperately under the pile of rocks. Nothing. That stupid slave had made it. ‘’Kill them all’’. That wouldn’t help at all, but she just wanted to see more blood, to see at least one person die because of her. The warriors, the only demons left, did what they were told. She’d wipe that name off everyone’s minds, she’d erase his very existence and declare herself the winner to all those fools that god had called humans. But not because of fear. She wasn’t afraid. Why would she? That name meant nothing, and even if it did, it was gone. She’d make sure it stayed gone.
Zunesha walked slowly back to the battlefield. He’d heard the drums; He’d seen the lights. Joyboy was gone. One last task to do, one stone cube, and one little girl, hiding on his back. He found the moon, but only 5 of the named demons remained, Enma was gone too. So did all the warriors and only 20 humans were left. The moon stared directly at him. ‘’You betrayed me, you should know that’s a crime, how should I punish you...’’
Inside a cell, a little boy heard their cell companions talk about a god, a warrior of freedom, one of the men sighed, assuring them that if such a person ever existed, they were probably already dead. The glow in the kid's eyes faded, but just a second. ''No! I believe in him! In fact, that was his plan all along, he'll be back even stronger than before! I met him once, he’ll come to save us himself, I'm sure it won't take him much'’ It was a lie, but his friend still smiled, then rolled her eyes. ''Yeah well, I’d rather save myself, are you going to help me steal the key or not??''
But soon after, all that was left of the place were ashes and bones, the corpse of a little girl kneeling in the entrance but turning her back against the exit, holding a key in one hand, and a burned wooden stick stained with blood in the other. And a few meters away was the charred corpse of a boy, crushed under a wooden beam, stretching his hand towards her.
The moon would kill everyone if that meant getting rid of his name. He’d be back. ‘’Get rid of anyone who dares to sail the seas again! One of them has got to be him! Get rid of every… pirate!’’ She made everyone forget about that island, that battle, her face. But his name was still there, tattooed in every feeling she didn’t have, Joy, happiness, sadness, hope, there he was and there he’d be. Back. He’d bring everyone back.
***
‘’So…Luffy, was it?’’ His deep voice messed with the beating of the teen’s heart.
‘’Yep! Monkey D. Luffy!’’ He answered while turning around. Smiling widely at who was once a stranger. But there was something in his eyes, and the way his face relaxed. That wasn’t an introduction, it was a welcoming.
‘’So… you’re a pirate? What are you doing around here??’’ He asked, and other questions came to mind too, foggy and nonsensical, but something told him those questions had already been answered.
‘’I already told you!’’ And technically, the boy did, a few hours ago, but honestly, how long ago? ‘’I’m here to conquer the seas’’ He answered calmly. ‘’And I came looking for you’’.
And though the swordsman had heard that a million times before from all those jokes that had called themselves pirates. Those words were familiar in another way. Like his sweet, cheerful voice, where had he heard it before?
‘’Oh right….’’ Their hearts beat loudly, both trying to hide yet understand at the same time, this ridiculous excitement that bounced in their chest and mind. As if they knew deep inside.
‘’Well, I owe it to you anyways, I’ll go with you, let’s see if you make it out alive’’