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You taste like sunshine
Just like you've been kissed
By the morning light
And I was the darkness
Dancing with the stars
Carelessly, breathlessly
And our lips meet softly,
Color erupting in the atmosphere
The absolute lightest darkness
Dawn is breaking:
A fleeting moment
When the sun can kiss the moon.
—AKR
Once upon a time, the Sun fell in love with the Moon.
Wait. Before we get to that part of our story, we have to go back even further. Let’s try again.
Once upon a time, the Sun shone brightly in the sky above the Earth. But the Sun’s light was so bright and so hot that no one, god or mortal, could come close. And the Sun God, Nika, who watched over the mortals living out their lives, was lonely. He watched the mortals, despite lives that ended practically in the blink of an eye, live fully and wholly. They did everything and felt everything with all of their beings, from love to hate, happiness to sadness, fucking to fighting.
Nika, on the other hand, was bored. He rose in the morning, watched over the world, and set in the evening, allowing the stars—the Celestials—to take to the skies for the night. He wanted to see the world he watched over from the perspective of the mortals. More than that, though, he wanted to meet other mortals. So, Nika decided to take human form and walk among them for a time. He tore a part of himself from his chest and left it in the sky so there would still be sunlight and made his way to Earth.
Or, perhaps more accurately, he fell to Earth. Nika was not used to being with only half his power, and in his weakened state, he could not control himself and fell like a shooting star, crashing into the Earth and creating a large crater where he landed.
Enter the other hero of our story: a young healer named Law. As a master of healing magic, Law was said to be able to heal any ailment presented to him. Though this was likely an exaggeration, it was not far from the truth, for healing magics were incredibly potent in the hands of their most adept practitioners. Indeed, this was because they derived their power from the Sun.
Law was not originally from the village of Lvneel, the outskirts of which he had settled on one day, and no one in the village knew for sure where Law came from. However, the splotches of white Law bore on his skin led to rumors that he had been his village’s only survivor of the white plague, which had led to the quarantine of the entire Kingdom of Flevance in the North some years earlier. No one dared ask the young healer whether that was true, however, as, for all that he was kind and caring, he also had some sharp edges about him that spoke of a rough life, and he did not suffer fools.
Rough edges aside, Law soon became a mainstay in the village. Tales of his abilities spread, and people came from great distances to be seen by the talented young healer. Rarely was there a day that Law’s clinic did not have a line at its door. Eventually, he had to bring on some assistants to keep up with the demand, and Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin soon became as integral members of the village as Law himself.
On the day that the Sun suddenly dimmed and a shooting star fell from the sky, Law was in the woods gathering plants. He looked up in surprise as the sky darkened but was almost immediately knocked from his feet by the force of a nearby explosion. Despite the danger, Law was curious so followed the trail of burned and fallen trees until he reached a large crater. He stood at the edge and peered inside. He was shocked to see a figure curled up in a ball in the middle of the crater.
When Law dropped into the crater and approached the figure, he had to use a shield of magic just to get close because the figure radiated heat. Kneeling at the figure’s side, Law found a young man—a boy, really—a few years younger than himself. The boy was unconscious, and his skin almost seemed to glow, but when Law reached out to touch him, it faded, and the heat cooled. Law managed to turn the young man onto his back, he was shocked to find a large, bloody wound on his chest.
Law, ever the healer, immediately set to work to save the boy. He used his magic to stabilize the worst of the damage before carefully moving the boy through the woods and back to his clinic, where he sent away the day’s patients before pulling in Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin to help him heal. After hours of intense magical work, Law finally sealed the boy’s chest closed. There had been numerous internal injuries, almost like someone had shoved a hand into the boy’s chest. The wound would leave a scar, Law knew, but the boy would live.
When Nika awoke, he found himself in a bed. A mortal stood near his bed, and he gasped when he looked up to see that Nika was awake. “Ah! You’re awake!” he cried. “I’ll get Law!” He then hurried from the room without giving Nika a chance to speak.
Nika did not know who Law was, so he looked around the room. It was a plain room with a bed, nightstand, chair, and half-closed curtains hiding the window. When Nika peered toward the window, he saw that it was daytime, but the sun was dimmer than usual.
Ah, that is because I only left half of myself in the sky, Nika realized. I cannot stay in the mortal realm too long. For he knew how important the Sun was to the survival of the mortals over whom he watched.
He did not have time to think further on this, however, as another mortal entered the room then. Nika’s breath caught in his throat. The mortal man was tall with sharp eyes as golden as the Sun’s own rays. His skin was tan, but he also bore curious white splotches that Nika suddenly had the urge to touch. He tried to reach out toward the mortal, but the man cursed under his breath and hurried to his side.
“Don’t move,” he said. “You’re still heavily injured.”
“Who are you?” Nika asked.
“My name is Trafalgar Law,” the mortal replied. “I am the one who healed you.”
“Trafal— Tragal— Torao!” Nika settled on with a pleased grin.
“No, it’s—”
“Thank you for helping me, Torao!” he said as he allowed Torao to gently press him back into the soft pillow on the bed.
Torao was a healer, Nika realized as Torao held his hand out and a blue dome formed over Nika’s bed. Nika shivered at the feeling of Torao’s magic, cool against his heated skin. Healing magic got its power from the Sun—from Nika—yet there was something unique about Torao’s magic that Nika had never seen before; it was almost as if it had Celestial magic entwined in it. But Nika did not know how that could be possible, as the two types of magic were polar opposites.
Torao closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and dropping the dome. Nika’s skin prickled even after the magic was gone.
“You are healing incredibly fast,” Torao said with a frown. “Are you a mage as well?”
Nika did not know how to answer that. He knew those who practiced the various magical arts called themselves mages, but Nika was something else entirely—however, he found himself enchanted by this mortal and did not want to scare him with the truth. So, he said, “Something like that.”
Torao nodded thoughtfully. “What is your name?”
Nika could not use his real name, not when he simply wanted to explore the mortal world for a time without drawing attention to himself before returning to the sky. So, he said the first thing that came to mind: “Luffy.”
“And how did you end up in a crater from a falling star, Luffy-ya?”
“I…”
“Never mind,” Torao said at Nika’s hesitance. Perhaps Nika was not the first patient of Torao’s not to want to answer a question; Torao did not seem put off. “Do you have any family looking for you?”
Nika shook his head, and Torao nodded. “You can stay here until you are recovered, Luffy-ya.”
“Thank you, Torao,” Nika said, pleased that he would get the chance to spend more time with the beautiful healer. “You’re the best!”
Curiously, a faint dusting of pink appeared on Torao’s cheeks before he muttered, “I’m just doing my job,” and left the room.
Over the next several days, Nika continued recovering from his injury and found himself spending a lot of time with Torao and his assistants. By his third night in the clinic, Nika had convinced Torao to have dinner with him in his room. As Nika got to know Torao, he learned some about Torao’s background. For instance, Torao was the son of two great healers, and he’d trained to follow in their footsteps. Before Torao was old enough to complete his initiation into his kingdom’s clan of healers by making an offering to the Sun God, however, a plague ravaged the kingdom.
Despite the endless prayers to Nika, everyone became sick with the plague, as white splotches spread over their skin. There was nothing Torao’s parents and all their great healing magic could do to stop the spread, and, eventually, even they and Torao fell sick. Meanwhile, the surrounding kingdoms had sent soldiers in to kill the infected to prevent the plague from spreading beyond Flevance’s borders. Using the last of their magic, Torao’s parents hid him from view so he could flee the ruined capital and into the countryside.
It was at this point that Torao refused to share any more of his story, and he swore Nika to secrecy about what he had told him. Nika promised not to tell, though after Torao left that night, Nika was left thinking about a kingdom praying to him but not receiving any aid. In truth, Nika had not heard their prayers at all, and he was disturbed by Torao’s story. It broke his heart that people who revered and worshipped him had been completely unheard and suffered so greatly as a result. Nika resolved to look after Torao and his people now to make up for that failure.
Before long, Nika was almost completely healed due to the return of his magic—or the half that was not still in the sky, at least. Nika dreaded Torao declaring him healthy, however, because he did not want to leave Torao, not when he’d seen the kindness Torao showed the people who came to him day after day for help despite the suffering he had endured with no help in his own life. He did not want to leave after spending hours talking with Torao after he’d closed his clinic for the day, finding the mortal man both intelligent and funny despite the gruff exterior he put up. Nika did not want to leave after he realized his heart raced whenever Torao was near and something inside his chest ached when he went away. He did not want to leave when he felt Torao’s pulse quicken and saw his ears turn red when their hands brushed.
Law, likewise, dreaded having to give Luffy the all-clear. Despite his protestations and grumblings, he found himself drawn into Luffy’s orbit, magnetized by the bright young man. He was intensely curious about how Luffy had appeared, but more than that, Luffy made Law feel seen and accepted in a way he couldn’t remember feeling in a long time. For some reason, he found himself sharing some of his life story that he’d only shared with Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin after years of knowing them. There was just something about Luffy that made Law feel safe. Law also couldn’t help but notice that Luffy was handsome, his smiles making something in Law’s chest flutter.
As Nika and Law grew closer, they were unaware that the stories of a healer who could heal any affliction had reached the ears of the Celestial Donquixote Doflamingo. Doflamingo ruled the Kingdom of Dressrosa, and, as both a god and a king, Doflamingo was incredibly powerful. Yet, he continued to seek more power. After all, there were nineteen families of Celestials to whom mortals bowed while there was only one Sun God. He wanted to become more powerful than Nika himself, to become the King of the Gods. To amass that power, Doflamingo constantly sought out those rare mortals who were special and brought them into his Family.
He was also incredibly possessive of those he took under his wing, and when he heard the rumors of this magic healer, he immediately sent his most trusted man, Vergo, to look into them. Vergo left Dressrosa for Lvneel, and, within a fortnight, he returned with the news Doflamingo had been waiting to hear for thirteen years: he’d found Trafalgar Law. Doflamingo called his most trusted vassals to his side and set off for Lvneel to collect his wayward protégé.
It was under this unknown cloud of danger that Law reluctantly entered Luffy’s room one afternoon. He found the young man looking out the window, eyes toward the sky. It hadn’t escaped Law’s notice that Luffy had appeared the same day the Sun had dimmed to almost half its usual brightness, but he hadn’t pushed. Still, he had a feeling the other boy knew more than he was letting on behind that sunny, mischievous smile.
“Luffy-ya,” Law called, pulling his patient’s attention from the window.
Luffy turned at the sound of his name, his expression brightening when he saw Law. “Torao! What is it?” he added when he noticed Law’s stoic expression.
“I have news for you,” Law said, and Luffy’s shoulders slumped as though he knew what Law was going to say. “Please, sit.” Law gestured to the bed, and Luffy reluctantly moved from the window to sit on the bed. Law, for his part, took a seat in the chair next to the bed to retain an air of healer-patient distance. Luffy frowned when Law sat away from him but, thankfully, did not comment. “You are healthy, Luffy-ya,” Law finally said. “There is no reason for you to stay at the clinic any longer.”
“No reason?” Luffy asked, raising an eyebrow at Law.
“No reason related to your health,” Law clarified, feeling warmth in his cheeks.
“What if I don’t want to leave?” Luffy asked quietly, dropping his gaze to the floor in front of Law’s shoes.
“You cannot stay in the clinic any longer, Luffy-ya,” Law said. “This room is for patients only.” But when Luffy’s expression fell, Law found himself adding, “But there is an extra room in my house. If you want,” he added stupidly as Luffy looked up, eyes wide and bright.
“I do want,” Luffy said, jumping to his feet with a grin. “Very much!”
Law felt warmth spread in his chest as Luffy took his hand and pulled him from the chair so he could wrap Law into a hug. Law had initially tried to stop Luffy from touching him so much, but when it became clear nothing he said would stop the younger man, he’d reluctantly given in. He was startled to realize that he would miss Luffy’s constant touch were he to leave.
Luffy let Law go and stepped back, though he slid his hands into Law’s. He opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the door slamming open and a panicked Bepo hurrying in. “I’m sorry!” he said when he saw Law and Luffy in what Law was coming to realize was a compromising position. “But there’s trouble, Law.”
“What kind of trouble?” Law asked, eyes narrowing.
“Big trouble,” Bepo said. “You need to see it for yourself.”
Exchanging a concerned look with Luffy, Law followed Bepo out the door, through the halls of the clinic, and out the front door with Luffy on his heels. Law froze when he saw the trouble Bepo was talking about.
“Law,” Doflamingo purred. He stood in the street across from Law’s clinic, flanked by Vergo, Trebol, Diamante, Baby 5, and Buffalo. It had been a long time since Law had seen any of them, but he would recognize them anywhere. “It’s so good to see you, my boy.”
Nika watched as Torao’s back stiffened at the words of the tall man standing across the street from him. Wondering what had gotten Torao so upset, Luffy peered around Torao’s back, and his eyes widened in surprise. Nika would recognize a Celestial anywhere. But what was a star doing in Torao’s village, acting like they were old friends?
“I can’t say the same,” Torao replied through clenched teeth.
“You wound me, little bird.” There was something possessive in the Celestial’s voice that set Nika’s teeth on edge.
“How did you find me?” Torao asked.
“Why, your reputation, of course. As soon as I heard of the healer who could heal anything, I knew it had to be you,” the Celestial said. “After all, only a healer who uses magic from both the Sun and the stars could truly heal as effectively as you do.” He scoffed. “I suppose my good-for-nothing brother did something right when he died, imbuing you with his magic.”
Nika looked between the Celestial and Torao, and when Torao didn’t argue what the star was saying, things clicked into place. The reason Torao’s magic felt strange despite healing magic coming from the Sun itself was that it was mixed with Celestial magic. Torao’s magic was unique and incredibly powerful because it included both Sun and star magics despite their opposing natures. Torao was truly amazing.
“What do you want?” Torao demanded tightly.
“For you to come home, of course, dear boy. To return to the Family.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Torao said immediately.
“I would not be too hasty with your answer, little bird,” the Celestial said. “I would hate for something to happen to this little village you’ve come to call home.”
A jolt went through Torao, and Nika had had enough. He narrowed his eyes and stepped around Torao. He was not going to allow a mere star to threaten the people who had been so kind to him since he’d come to the mortal realm. He might not be at full strength, but he was still the Sun God.
“You need to leave Torao and the village alone, Celestial.”
The Celestial’s gaze, shrouded by tinted glasses, slid from Torao to Nika. He looked Nika up and down for a moment before laughing. “And who is this, Law? Is this who you abandoned the Family for?”
“He’s a patient, that’s all. Leave him out of this,” Torao said, trying to move back in front of Nika, but Nika refused to let him.
He made a frustrated sound at Torao calling him a patient. Hadn’t he just invited Nika to live in his house? “I’m not a patient,” Nika said, ignoring Torao’s furious look. “I am Nika, the Sun God. And I have laid claim to Torao.”
For a moment, everyone was silent as Nika’s words sank in. Then Torao was looking at Nika with wide, shocked eyes while the Celestial started laughing.
“I don’t believe it. The reason the Sun has been so dim is because you took a mortal form?” the star said with a grin.
“I wanted to experience life among the mortals I have watched over for millennia,” Nika said. “Stars get to return to the mortal world each day and live among them if they choose, but I do not. I was lonely,” he added to Torao, who looked hurt by the truth. “I’m sorry for lying to you, Torao.”
Torao blinked at Nika’s words and shook his head. “I should have figured it out sooner. It’s pretty obvious in hindsight.”
“You aren’t angry?” Nika asked, surprised.
“No,” Torao said. “I haven’t told you everything about me, either.” His eyes slid back toward the Celestial for a moment before adding under his breath, “Though my secrets aren’t quite as big as being the Sun God.”
“You cannot claim Law,” the Celestial said, breaking up the conversation. A vein in his forehead bulged in anger, though Nika was not afraid. What were mere stars to the Sun? “I claimed him when he was ten years old. He is mine.”
“Cora-san broke that claim,” Torao growled, though his right hand suddenly clasped his left bicep—where the claim mark had been placed, Nika realized. “He used his last moments to break the claim the Donquixote Family had on me and imbue me with the remainder of his magic. I am not yours. I will not be yours again!”
The Celestial raised a furious hand and shot something at Nika. “I will not let you claim what is mine!” he snarled. “I will be King of the Gods!”
Unfamiliar with the Celestial’s magic, Nika did not react quickly enough to dodge the attack. He realized in horror, however, that Torao had, as the mortal man jumped in front of Nika, taking a spear made of strings right in the chest. He looked down at the spear in shock for a moment before crumpling to the ground.
Looking at Torao’s bleeding body, Nika saw red. With a scream of primal rage, he threw his hands up and summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky. It slammed into the Celestial, shredding him apart and sending stardust in all directions. Celestials were hard to kill, and this one would likely reconstitute eventually, but it would take centuries, if not millennia, for all the pieces to come back together. His vassals cried out in shock and fury, but the villagers who’d gathered to watch the confrontation made a wall between them and the scene at the clinic.
Nika, however, saw nothing but Torao as he dropped to his knees and pulled the healer into his lap. The spear had fallen apart the moment the Celestial had burst apart, but the wound remained. Torao’s tunic had been torn apart, and blood soaked the fabric. Torao coughed, and blood splattered on his chin. Nika vaguely sensed Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin circling them, but he only had eyes for the human he’d come to love.
“Why did you do that, Torao?” Nika asked, heartbroken. He’d seen mortals suffer heartbreak in infinite variations over the millennia, but now that he was experiencing it himself, he did not know how they coped. “I’m a god.”
“You’re. In a mortal body,” Torao replied, straining for his words. His eyes blinked slowly. “I couldn’t. Let him hurt. Someone else. I love.” He forced his eyes, their golden color dull and glassy, open and met Nika’s gaze. “Doffy took me in. When I was ten. After the plague. But his brother. Cora-san. He got me out. To protect me. And Doffy killed him.” He coughed again, and Nika used a thumb to wipe the blood from Torao’s chin. “I couldn’t lose. Anyone else.” His voice was growing weaker and his eyes heavier. “I’m sorry. We didn’t. Have more time.” Nika was stunned when Torao smiled, his teeth crimson. “Thank you. For everything.”
Torao’s breathing was strained, and his pulse was weakening with every second that ticked by, but Nika refused to accept this. He was the Sun God, and he refused to accept this.
“You’re not going to die, Torao,” Nika said resolutely. He took Torao’s hand in his own. “Will you accept my claim?”
Law blinked tiredly, but he offered a weak smile anyway. “I already have,” he rasped. “Yes.”
Nika nodded, tears stinging the corners of his eyes, and he bowed his head. He’d never laid claim to a mortal before, but he knew what to do. He felt his power flow through him and into Torao. There were awed gasps and murmurs, and when Nika looked up, he saw that both he and Torao were glowing gold. A moment later, the glow faded, and at the center of Torao’s chest, where the spear had struck him, was Nika’s sigil, a circle with rays coming out of the sides. He’d given Torao enough of his magic to heal his injury.
“Let it be known from this day and all days forever more,” Nika said, “that I, Sun God Nika, lay claim to this man, Torao.”
“Trafalgar,” Torao muttered under his breath, but he smiled at Nika, and the Sun God had never felt so warm as when he met his mortal lover’s gaze.
And one would think this is where we say the two lived happily ever after—and they did, for many years. Nika chose to remain in the mortal world at Law’s side. But Law was still a man and Nika a god. Law aged like any mortal, and all too soon, he was dying.
Just as Nika had refused his lover’s death at the hand of a cruel Celestial, he refused his death to old age. And so, as Law breathed his last mortal breath, Nika took both forms of magic within his body and wrapped Law’s soul within them, creating a body much like Nika’s own true form but inspired by Torao’s white spots that he loved so much. He could not send Law into the daytime sky with him because he was too bright and hot, even for his most beloved, so he sent his lover into the night sky, where he would watch over mortals as Nika did during the day.
And though Nika was tied to the day and Law the night, the two lovers met every dawn and dusk, their love coloring the sky so beautifully.