Push23: He deserves it. For all of the shit he's pulled and how unlikable he is. Oda did a good job making him a hated villain.

Feeling sad, both just stopped posting my longest one so far, Sons of Beasts. It had lasted for 7 months and now it's over. Plus I just failed my programming midterm (F-YOU C++). And this fic is getting close to finished as well. Only one chapter left. I'm sad because this was by far my most viewed and followed fanfiction. :( I hope everyone enjoys the ending. This chap is a bit short, but one more after it. Enjoy~

No pirate was in a good mood for the next couple of days after setting sail. They all wanted away from this island. Teach was still alive, starving down there. The ship was getting as far from an island as they could so Teach had no possible way of swimming to an island. They were planning on dropping him into the ocean after baiting some sea kings to come over with bloody fish.

The commanders had taken a vote on what to do, a dark vote, and it was decided death by sea king. It would be gruesome, and Luffy most definitely wasn't going to be there to watch. He cringed every time he heard Teach's name, and cried a few times after being reminded of the scary thing that had happened to him. So, no one talked about the betrayal in front of the child. Something that showed progress with Luffy's powers were that he had nightmares, but it never was projected outside of his mind. There was no traitor Teach during the day, showing up after occupying a nightmare by the boy.

With many of the crew feeling depressed and like they'd been living a lie with Teach as a brother, people started to hang out with Luffy. It was like they didn't even notice it. It just made them happy to be around Lu. And he liked the attention a lot. Even more attention than usual! After all, people had been gravitating towards him for over a week. They'd been on the ship a little over three weeks now, and the time flew by for Luffy. And for some of the Spades. Well, most of them.

Everyone noticed that Ace was in a much better mood, and was more open with everyone after Teach's betrayal. This confused many, and some were a bit irked by it, because they didn't know why he was so happy. It had nothing to do with Teach or any of the pirates, really. It was after his crew told him they'd follow him anywhere.

He trusted the others more, that they weren't going to steal away his family, and smiled more often with people besides Luffy. Nobody asked him for awhile, not wanting to hear what they thought he'd say and ruin their image of him, but eventually, Izo asked a breakfast a couple days after the incident. Luffy was completely healed, and Sabo only had faint bruising and could speak again.

"Ace, why are you so happy now?" Izo questioned at the bar counter. The few commanders at the table behind them listened in, including Marco. Whitebeard was sleeping, emotionally drained from the betrayal. Well, Teach's execution was tomorrow. He was still down there, starving and dehydrated, but kept alive just barely.

Ace blushed a bit, something he hadn't done that much anymore. Not even around Marco, as he wasn't embarrassed around him, and Marco seemed to do his best to not encourage the blushes and attraction, even if Ace still had a more subtle crush on the vampire.

"My crew told me they'd always stick with us," Ace answered vaguely. Izo asked for clarification. Ace blushed even deeper, though the vampires could tell it wasn't attraction, but probably shyness. "I asked them if they would choose to stay here or come with us."

"They said they'd come with us!" Luffy chirped between bites.

Izo smiled. It was cute, and made Ace look away in embarrassment. "And would you stay here?" Izo asked. Ace's face fell, and Izo was worried he'd said something that would have been better left unsaid. The commanders at the table behind listened quietly, wanting to know the answer. They all knew they wanted the Spades to join.

Ace just shrugged and said he wasn't sure. Izo didn't turn to Luffy and ask him, not wanting to risk upsetting Ace. But, Luffy spoke anyways. "I want my room to be here. I have a nice room," he said, and began to speak fondly about his favorite place.

"Well, I'm sure we could remodel a storage room to match yours, Luffy, if you all stay," Marco said from the table. Luffy's jaw dropped, like he hadn't had that thought before. He was only thinking he wanted to magically move his room to this ship. "I don't know if we stay yet." The others smiled, as this meant that the Spades were considering. They had all worried so unnecessarily about them taking Teach's attack personally. Thankfully, they were wrong.

"Well, take your time in deciding," Marco replied. "You still have a few weeks from now to decide before reaching Water 7. Lots of time to think about it. Oh, and Jojo, you have reached a status none of us have," the commander said with a grin. Jojo looked at him questioningly. "Thatch thinks highly of you enough to not get upset for being in is kitchen without him."

Luffy looked surprised. "That's right! Me and Jojo made candies and Thatch didn't get mad." Jojo chuckled.

"Lovesick puppy," she muttered with an amused smile. The pirates around laughed, glad Jojo didn't find Thatch's crush negative. No one was sure if she liked him back, but they didn't ask. And Thatch hadn't asked either, just enjoying her company while she was there, and hoping she and her crew would stay for good.

-x-

Everyone but Luffy and Deuce stood out on deck, in the middle of the night. The pirates and Spades stood at the railing, or behind those who stood at the railing, tallest in the back so everyone could see down into the ocean.

A completely beaten and burned Teach was tied up and on a small raft. It was his execution and he was shouting profanities and insults almost the whole time. No one found it entertaining and no one took particular joy in this. Satisfaction maybe, that he would get his comeuppance, but no one found this fun.

Ace and Sabo had been able to take out their revenge on what the man did to Luffy, but hadn't beaten him so bad he'd died. It had been a side no one on the ship had seen them before. Like they were feral, and not the polite and composed kind people everyone knew they were. But, this was a special scenario.

Jozu threw bloodied fish and sea mammals into the water, and it wasn't long before a sea king was there. One of the smaller sized ones, but a sea king nonetheless. Teach couldn't defend himself and was eaten in one bite. No one cheered, no one smiled. They just slowly dispersed, humans going to bed and vampires going inside to drink themselves asleep.

The Spades who were on deck went inside, feeling bad for all of the pirates. Ace and Sabo agreed that the crew would do good with a little dash of Luffy. The seven of them went to their room to retrieve the boy, who was building blocks with Deuce. They were real blocks, made of wood from the shipwrights so the toys wouldn't disappear after a certain amount of time.

"Ace, Sabo!" Luffy cheered. "Look at all my toys." The two had been there when he got them, earlier that night before the execution, but they smiled and said that they were very cool anyway.

Deuce asked, "How'd it go?"

"As planned," Sabo replied. That was enough for Deuce to be caught up. "Lu, some people are feeling sad. Do you want to go help them feel better?" Luffy stood up, making sure his block city was secure, and hurried to his trunk at the end of his bed to put his socks and shoes on, as he was barefoot in the room.

"I'll help," he said, and walked out with his brothers and his crew. They all dispersed, going to do their own activities or plans they had made with someone else. It didn't bother Ace anymore because they made it very clear that they would go with the brothers, no matter what their decision was.

Every person Luffy passed, he gave a different colored type of flower. "Feel better, 'kay?" he would say, and felt each smile he got was a win. Once he got tired of handing out flowers, he started handing out random things. Things he thought were valuable. They weren't to other people, like a toy, or something alive, or when he started handing out boxes of bandaids. But, it was the thought that counted for the pirates. After all, it didn't matter what they were given, as everything would disappear anyways.

By the time they were back in the galley, the ship was a bit lighter. He gave the commanders who were awake random things and told them to feel better and to smile. It touched the pirates that Ace and Sabo were letting Luffy go around and try to comfort people. It wasn't just Luffy that did the comforting, it was that they allowed him to. Just a couple weeks ago, they wouldn't have even thought about letting others interact with Luffy to feel happier.

-x-

When the three brothers and Deuce left the galley, most of the commanders who were still awake smiled at their backs. They chuckled when a pirate vampire coming into the galley was confused by being given a live frog, and Luffy just walking off.

"They're good kids," Izo said fondly. "I do hope they'll stay." Many of the commanders nodded in agreement, and even Kingdew wasn't angry or wary of Luffy anymore. He wasn't good with kids, but he didn't dislike the kid like he had not long ago.

Haruta turned to Marco, who was sipping blood from his glass, with just a dash of alcohol in it. "So did anything happen between you and Ace? He doesn't act as awkward around you than he did."

Thatch whistled and gave the first mate some wiggly eyebrows. Marco just sighed at that, but told the truth. "He came to me that day and apologized for his feelings. I told him I had already known and didn't think he was disgusting or stupid or anything like that. It seemed to do the trick for the most part. I do still think he has an attraction to me, but things are much more comfortable to be around him. Not that I was ever uncomfortable in the first place, but he was. Being upfront and honest was the right way to go."

Thatch and Izo pouted at the news that nothing had happened behind the scenes. Marco's warning to them was still in effect, but they wanted Marco to be happy with someone. And maybe it wasn't with Ace, but it would sure be cute if it was.

"So, Thatch. Anything new with Jojo?" Vista asked. Thatch doned the dreamy smile and gushed about her. It was always mostly the same things, but it was entertaining anyways.

Whitebeard laughed at his children, hoping that the Spades would stay because they had a good effect on everyone and they were damn likable. He wanted to keep them indefinitely. They had even distracted Whitebeard from the death of someone he once called a son. The brothers and their crew were good for the pirates, over all. How lucky it had been that Marco saw their SOS signal when no one else had.

They each heard a loud thud and call of Ace's name, the vampires able to hear snoring. Ace had had a sleep attack.