Strings

First I will say that it is impossible to bring a dead person back to life; this is what truly separates humans and associated beings from animals and plants. I can kill a dog, let it lie on the ground for an hour and then put it back together and return life to it as though it never died but once the soul has fled, the body of a person is no more than an empty shell, even if it breathes and responds to external stimuli. What I did was therefore not resurrection; I did not bring my lover back to life. Rather I caught his soul before it could leave, trapped it within my own body and then infused myself within my asura, healing him from the inside while holding his soul in place. Doing so caused our souls to adhere, expanding the bond that already existed between mind and body to encompass the spiritual aspect of our selves. He and I became a single being with two wills, two minds and two bodies yet a single soul. This tricked his body into surviving, as where before he had possessed a single set of organs, all heavily damaged; now he was aware of two full sets half of which were in full working order. This convinced his subconscious mind that death was not feasible, so he survived.

So I pulled my lover back from the brink of death and bound him to myself for as long as we both live. The changes in both of us were immediately apparent: my asura wandered through my mind so long in his unconsciousness that he lost much of his physical awareness and had trouble adapting to his own body and limited number of limbs. I on the other hand moved instinctively to balance him when he stumbled, responded to him without ever hearing a request aloud and we both moved together like a parts of a single being. It took well over a week of rigorous training to reach a stage where we were no longer liabilities to our captain and even then we had moments of clumsiness.

That was not however the only problem I was faced with: while my captain and the crew faced the shadow warlord the letter I had written to Fire Fist had been returned to me alongside his hat and a newspaper, which told me something that filled me with dread. My dear friend had been captured and handed over to the Marines and was due to be executed. I had hoped my captain would hurry to his rescue, but in his ignorance the young pirate with the Will to rule decided that his brother's adventures were his own and that the older man would not appreciate his younger sibling hurrying to assist him. I wished he had decided otherwise, but could not oppose his decision, so I made do with writing to everyone I could think of, begging or demanding help for my friend.

So I sailed on with my asura, our captain and his crew in our new ship, which was called Sunny. Sailed onwards until we came in sight of the Red Line, where Paradise ends, and made our way to the Yarukiman Groves. I was pleased to have reached this far, as my mother dwells among the mangroves with her household and I longed to see her face-to-face again. I also wished to introduce my lover to her, hoping she would approve of my choice. She did not precisely approve, but neither did she disapprove. I took that as hopeful but was then informed of my own pregnancy, which I had not noticed. It came a shock to my asura as well, but he recovered well and swore to protect me and do his part in raising our child. However it was not to be: scant hours later my captain's entire crew was scattered to the winds by the warlord who had all but killed my lover little over a week before, separated by miles of open sea and all hopelessly lost.

I was sent to Red-Hair, who I have known since childhood, and he took me in without question. My asura found himself on the island my father calls home, though my father was not there, having been called away by the powers he serves in preparation for the execution of Fire Fist. My captain awoke on the home of the Pirate Empress and somehow won her affection, though I'm not entirely sure how that came about.

Wait, wait, wait… Boa Hancock fancies Luffy? My little brother? My blunt, dumb, disrespectful baby brother?"

"She's completely smitten: blushes every time he talks to her, swoons whenever he does or says anything remotely friendly."

"Hot damn."

Before we were torn from one another I ensured my captain would be able to call me to his side if he needed me, which he did so a few days later to ask my help in rescuing Fire Fist, whose plight he had just discovered. I was forced to decline: I had promised my asura that I would be careful during my pregnancy. However I had a plan to assist my captain regardless. I gave my captain a means to summon my phantom servant and instructed him in how to word his requests, so that if he found himself in need of an assassin's aid he would not be caught short. Then I returned to Red-Hair and waited. Waiting is the hardest part of any campaign.

Indeed, my captain summoned my servant to the battlefield to defend Fire Fist and even managed to free his older brother, but at the last moment the older pirate was struck down, dying in my servant's arms. However my captain's last order –to keep his brother from death no matter what– remained and so my servant brought Fire Fist to me and I took his soul into myself for safekeeping as I threw myself into healing his devastating injuries. So it was that Fire Fist died, for his soul left his body and the body he eventually returned to was not the same as the one he had left, the healing necessary having changed it beyond recognition. So it was that my best friend was bound to me as my asura had been, and they to each-other.

Sako did not immediately speak once his goddess' change in posture indicated the story was over, nor did he move from his thoughtful study of her and her consort.

"You have loved this one for a long time, have you not Rokuseizon-sama?" he said eventually. "You called him your friend but you would have done anything for him."

"Friends love one another, Sako," his goddess said calmly, sipping her drink. "Friends also look out for each-other."

Sako shifted his line of attack slightly. "Kajin-dono, you have loved her for years now have you not? Such a deep bond could not form quickly. You desired her long before this new closeness brought you together."

The indigo-haired man shifted uncomfortably. "She's who she is," he muttered. "What's not to love?"

"I always had an inkling that he found me lovely to look at," his goddess said candidly, making her consort redden, "but he is male and I am reliably informed that I have a stunning body that any man would kill for a chance to get his hands on."

Sako chuckled. "You really do." He leered teasingly. "You should show it off more often." His wife snorted next to him and his goddess laughed aloud, shaking her head.

"I am six months pregnant Sako and swollen like a balloon. Not so lovely to look at right now."

"Asura wishes you to know that he finds you current figure extremely sexy," Kajin said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "and is willing to prove it later."

Sako watched his goddess giggle, the bright sound lightening his heart. He loved the woman he had named dearly, but he had never been able to coax that kind of pure joy out of her.

"You said reliably informed," Kajin said, "so who told you exactly?"

The smirk on Rozuseizon's face was pure mischief. "A certain redhead."

Kajin choked. "He said that?!"

"I was seventeen, going through residual body issues that had finally surfaced as a result of my time in captivity and he cornered me in the bath and made it quite clear that I was one of the sexiest women he had ever seen."

Sako stared in bemusement as the large, blue-haired man spluttered, his face scarlet. He guessed there was something going on between his goddess and her consort, but it was too subtle for him to read.

"And yes, he really did all that," his goddess added, smiling slyly. "Let's just say my body issues died a death and leave it at that, hm?"

"What is it with you and Shanks?" Kajin muttered grumpily. The pale goddess tugged on his hair.

"He was the first person I met who really made me feel safe. Not just safe to sleep at night like Marco did, but safe to do stupid things with and mess around and live dangerously with. I know he'll never hurt me and I have a soft spot for him that he is not above teasing me about. He loves to tweak my father's tail, so he often takes things a little further than he probably should but it's all in good fun. He isn't in love with me and I'm not in love with him, but we care and we bring out the worst in each-other at times. He's sort-of family, sort-of not and he plays both sides of that fence for all it's worth." She paused pensively. "He was my first crush and I never really grew out of it. It's all of those things and none of them."

Sako understood. There were all kinds of love in the world, binding it together with strings of all colours and thicknesses. His goddess loved the man she spoke of as a damaged student loves a patient teacher who helped them grow into themselves, and he loved her in return with a love that healed and uplifted. A strong bond, but altogether different to the deep, passionate and powerful force that bound her to her consorts.

"Why didn't you join Shanks crew?"

Sako's goddess smiled wistfully. "I'd never have stepped out of that safety and tested myself until I was too old to enjoy the risks," she said sadly. "I wanted to grow and I couldn't do that if I clung to those who made me feel safe. Think about it Kajin: how much would I have missed out on? My father is who he is and my mother is just as precious to me, but Shanks has always been home."

Kajin blinked. "Ah. I get it." He looked up at her. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I don't exactly do conventional relationships."

Sako chuckled. "Rokuseizon-sama, in relationships the mere idea of 'conventional' is a myth. There is no such thing. People talk about it but the truth is that there is love, which wears a hundred thousand different guises. How people subdivide that love for their own mental comfort is purely subjective."

His goddess smiled radiantly. "Thank-you Sako."

The end of the story and a little more of Fox' history with Shanks. No, there was no sex, but there's more to intimacy than that.