Push23: Many of my stories (the majority, finished and unfinished) never make Teach the good guy. I hate him too much to even make him better than he is in cannon. I hope he dies in the anime/manga.

Much shorter chapter this time. Looks like the last couple of chapters will be shorter. We're nearing the end. T-T I'm gonna be sad about finishing posting this one. It's the most popular story I've posted. Readers wants to overdose on fluffy content I guess. lol. Anyways, enjoy~

It seemed the Spade's hangovers disappeared in their worry. When they reached the infirmary, Ace and Sabo were now both awake, on either side of Luffy, who was the only one left unconscious. The Spades ran to their captains' sides and asked if they were okay.

"We're fine. Sabo can't speak for a little while. Teach choked him good," Ace said angrily. Sabo sighed, irritated he couldn't say a single thing with his neck like this. His eyes were slightly red from being choked until knocked out. "The doctor said Luffy's head should be fine, based on what we've told her about his healing powers. He just has to wake up."

"So, what are we gonna do, cap?" Deuce asked Ace.

"Well, we can't exactly go anywhere right now. We're still staying on this ship, at least for now. Izo said the next island is a week away. We can decide what to do when we reach that island. Water 7 is still a while away from here," Ace said, observing the crew's reactions to what he said. Some of them smiled in relief. Ace finally asked what had been bothering him for awhile. Since almost the beginning of being on this ship. He'd worried about it for weeks and he was tired of being worried about it.

"If we decide to leave, will you guys go with us?" Ace asked in a tight voice. Worry was evident on his face. His crew looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Of course we'd go with you. You're our family, brought us misfits together," Jojo said, a bit exasperated. The others nodded with her looking at Ace like he was being silly. And maybe he was. He grinned brightly, so relieved. "And you decide to stay, we'll stay, too."

Luffy woke up not long later, everyone talking quietly. He made a confused sound when he opened his eyes to the bright room. Then he started sobbing, remembering what had happened. Ace reached to him and drew him into his arms, soothingly running his fingers through Luffy's hair. "Shh, you're okay. We're all okay. The bad man will never get us again," the teen assured his baby brother. Luffy still cried. It was very traumatizing.

"He threw me into the ocean!" Luffy cried. Ace hugged him closer, Sabo rubbing his back softly. He would reassure his brother, but couldn't talk, so he counted on Ace being the one to calm him.

No one but Thatch had seen Luffy get tossed into the raging sea, and the two had heard what had happened, but hearing Luffy recount it was sickening. "It was so far, an-and then I h-hit the wat-ter and went as-sleep! It wa-was scary!"

"I know Lu. It must have been very scary, but no one is badly hurt. No one died, and you were saved," Ace said gently. "We're all okay. Teach is locked up and badly hurt. The Whitebeards will protect us from him. And me and sabo will try our best to fight back if something bad like this ever happen again."

Both Ace and Sabo were ashamed of how weak they had been. Ace had only given Teach a bad burn, but it hadn't stopped him. It was most likely Luffy's power that incapacitated the traitor. "Luffy, did you see what happened to Teach after he grabbed you?" Luffy sniffled loudly and shook his head. "We think you ended up saving us. Teach started acting weird after he hurt you, and we think it was some of your powers. So, Thatch said thank you."

"Why did the bad guy want to hurt us?" Luffy wondered, wiping his runny nose along his arm. Sabo took a tissue off the bedside table and wiped the snot off of Luffy's arm.

Ace replied, "He wanted the devil fruit." Luffy frowned, not understanding why someone would want a fruit over family. "We don't know what it does yet, but whatever it is, Teach wanted it badly." Luffy switched to sit in Sabo's lap, while Ace still talked. "He is going to be severely punished." Luffy nodded, hoping he wouldn't have to see the man again. Ever again.

-x-

Marco, Thatch, Whitebeard and Izo all stood in front of Teach's cell. They each gave him looks that said they thought he was the most disgusting piece of trash they'd ever seen. Teach glared back, but it was clear he was afraid. Whitebeard had a dark look on, one full of disappointment and sorrow, also with anger buried underneath.

"Why did you betray us?" Marco asked, his arms crossed. Thatch had the devil fruit in his hand, which hung by his side. "Was it all for this devil fruit?"

Teach glowered at them and nodded. "What does it do?" the phoenix asked. Teach didn't answer, just glowered at them.

"Marco," Whitebeard said darkly, Marco knowing what to do. He flew into the cage and transformed partially so his taloned foot now grasped around Teach's head, pushing painfully and cutting both sides of his head and face. He tried to thrash out of Marco's grip, but he just tightened it further. "What. Does. It. Do?" Marco demanded. When Teach didn't answer, Marco sighed. He looked to his father and captain, earning a nod.

It always amazed the others how Whitebeard and Marco seemed to be able to carry out conversations without speaking out loud. Marco released Teach's head only to bring one of his talons up to Teach's eye. "Would you like to see out of both eyes, traitor?"

"Fine! It's called the yami yami fruit!" Teach shouted, and then explained everything it does. Thatch asked him what he was planning on doing once he got it, since he'd admitted to only staying on this crew this long to find the fruit.

"I would kill that useless man! The most powerful man in the world, and he spends his time playing house!" Teach shouted angrily. "I will be the pirate king with that fruit!" Whitebeard looked down at him coldly, while the others were outraged by Teach's disrespectful words and heinous plan.

Whitebeard took the fruit from Thatch's hand, and crushed it into nothing in his hand, right in front of the man who tried to kill for it. When Whitebeard opened his hand, it was just blue, gooey fluid, like any other citrus fruit would have ended up looking like after being crushed.

"You will never be the pirate king, Teach," Whitebeard said. Teach shouted out in rage, seeing the fruit he'd been searching for become inedible. Whitebeard dropped what was left of it to the ground and stomped on it for good measure. "I sentence you to execution. Betrayal on any pirate crew is a sin, but especially on our ship." Teach just glowered at Whitebeard, though both vampires could smell his fear. "I will allow our resident fellow captains do with you what they wish, as they were unable to protect Luffy from you. Look forward to it," Whitebeard said, and he and his remaining sons left the brig, slamming the metal door shut behind them and locking it.

Marco, Thatch and Izo still felt rage at Teach's plan, to kill his own father. Well, he was no longer anyone's son or brother anymore. Thatch and Izo went to get the commanders and tell them the news while the first mate and captain headed to the infirmary to talk to the Spades, who deserved an explanation for Teach's behavior.

They were both glad to see all three brothers awake and alert, though Sabo's throat was swollen and horribly bruised. Poor kid. Luffy's injury was gone, and he seemed perfectly coherent, thankfully. They were all worried about him having such a bad head injury, but he was part vampire after all. He was tough.

The Spades all turned to the door, and Ace smiled at Whitebeard and Marco. The other crew members were on their other beds, as Ace, Luffy and Sabo were now on one bed. "What's up?" Ace asked for everyone.

"We'd like to tell you Teach's plan," Marco said. Luffy covered his ears at the name. He didn't want to hear anything about the man. He wanted to pretend it had never happened. Jojo took pity on him and said, "Luffy, why don't we go get some yummy food from Thatch while everyone talks about the bad man?"

Luffy nodded and jumped off the bed, trotting over to Jojo and taking her hand. While the Spades, minus Jojo and Luffy, were filled in, the duo headed to the kitchen, where they assumed Thatch was, and even if he wasn't, Jojo felt comfortable enough that he wouldn't get mad at her for using his kitchen.

Thatch wasn't there, so Jojo asked, "Want to help me make some chocolate juice candies?" Luffy nodded, effectively distracted from that night's events. They still had over three hours of nighttime, so it wasn't dinner time yet. The other Spades would come in for food sooner or later.

Jojo got out the ingredients for the plain blood candies and cooked them while Luffy brought her tools and utensils. She was very acquainted with this kitchen by then, so she knew where everything was. Luffy watched the candy harden on the wax sheets, smelling it deeply as they smelled very good and sweet.

It was his turn when Jojo had a small bowl with melted chocolate and had Luffy dip the candies into the chocolate and put them back on the wax sheet. She made quite a lot so it took up more time. Then, she had him put some rock sugar on the top. They were pure sugar honestly.

"Why don't we save some for the other vampires tomorrow night? I'm sure they'd be impressed that you helped with them." Luffy grinned and nodded in agreement. "Now, we have to clean the kitchen," she said, and had Luffy help her tidy things up, and put the clean dishes back in their closets. He may be four, but Luffy wasn't clumsy and had good reflexes, so she trusted him handling glass bowls.

He and Jojo sat at the table as he ate the candies and talked about the fun part of his adventure that night. Luffy made sure that the bad ending didn't ruin the whole thing. That would not be nice if he hated all of it because of the end. "I like my explorer outfit, and everyone was nice when I left the ship. You were hunover, though, so you didn't see it." Jojo knew he didn't mean anything by it, but it left a bitter taste in her mouth. She knew the others were feeling the same: responsible for this happening since they hadn't been there for their family.

"Jojo, I like people here. Do you like people here?" he wondered.

"I do. I like people and I like this kitchen. It's so big and sparkly. Though, part of me misses my own kitchen," she admitted. "It was cozy, just like the rest of our ship."

Luffy put his finger on his chin for a moment. "I wish I could take my room from our ship and put in here." Jojo looked a bit surprised.

"Does that mean you'd like to stay here for good?" she asked curiously. Luffy thought for a moment before giving a big shrug. Jojo chuckled, wondering what other answer she had been expecting.