Disclaimer: "Borrowed. With every intention of giving it back." NOT.

AN: My first fanfiction, please be nice! Thanks to my best friend and all of you out there reading this!

Chapter 1- Lost?

BOOM! BOOM! CRAAAAAACK! Two men scurried around the deck of the Lady Shell, trying to keep the mast from falling. Before either of them could stop it, it did. In their rush to keep the mast from falling, they had left the rudder unattended. Oops. The sloop crashed into a reef, creating a massive hole in the hull and forcing both its passengers to grab a piece of the wreckage and jump off the sinking vessel.

Jack woke up half buried in the sand, still clutching the piece of driftwood that had kept him alive. Fighting back the urge to throw up, he staggered to his feet. Miraculously, he still had his 'effects' as he liked to refer to them: his hat, sword, and pistol. Looking around, he saw what was left of the small sloop he had commandeered with his friend and first mate, Joshamee Gibbs. Gibbs, he thought. Where is he? And the Pearl? What had become of his beloved ship, now shrunk and trapped inside a bottle with a tiny storm? Panicking and cursing in several different languages, not the least being English, he scoured the sands for the bottle. It was only after painstaking searching that he found the once-majestic black galleon trapped in its bottle. Phew, Jack thought. It's still in one piece. Now if only I could find that bloody first mate of mine…. His thoughts trailed off as he looked up to see a dazed man with muttonchops stagger across the sands. "Gibbs! Still in one piece, I see! How are you, mate?"

The man stopped and squinted. "Jack! You survived!"

"You may kill me, but you may never insult me. Who am I?"

"I know who ye are, lad. You're Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Don't 'lad' me, you insubordinate blaggard."

"At my age, you all look like lads. Where's the Pearl?"

"Right here." Jack patted the bottle strapped to his belt. "Did you see what's left of the sloop? Utterly ruined, mate."

"That's beside the point, Cap'n. Where are we?"

"I believe we are somewhere near Shipwreck Cove."

"Looks more like Tortuga to me."

"I don't bloody well care. I've got me compass, 'member?"

"Oh yeh..."

Jack flipped his compass open. The red arrow spun like crazy for a few seconds, then focused onto one direction. Looking that way, all he saw was the open beach and the Black Pearl in its bottle.

"No good. Compass is stuck on the Pearl. Have a try at it."

Gibbs took the compass and it immediately focused on a point.

"'S pointing south-north-west, sir."

"Seems you know what you want. What is it?"

"A good drink."

"Your hip flask is empty?"

"Empty, Cap'n."

"Oh", said Jack, crestfallen. "At least there's usually a person where there's rum."

The pair headed off into the horizon.

Dusk found them on the outskirts of Shipwreck Cove. Marching along, they made occasional inquiries as to location. Having ascertained his whereabouts, Jack decided to visit his father. Turning around, he said to Gibbs, "I'm going to visit the old captain. You can do wha'e'er you want, but tomorrow meet me at the Drunken Lady. I take you know where it is?"

"Aye, Cap'n. Thankee kindly, Cap'n."

They separated, Gibbs heading for the nearest pub, and Jack for the back alleyways of Shipwreck City.

Jack knocked on the door and shouted, "Oi, Da, it's me, Jack!"

The door creaked open, revealing an old man that resembled Jack in almost every way (Or Jack resembled him, but I digress). "Jackie! What're you doing here? You've never been one to visit folks!"

Jack shrugged. "Change of mind? Really, it's the Pearl I've come for."

"The Pearl? I thought Barbossa had it."

"He did. Blackbeard commandeered it, turned it to the size of a vertically challenged squirrel, and stuffed it in a bottle with a storm. Savvy?"

"Eh? Come in, though, Jackie. Not good to be standing in the streets at this hour."

"Thanks, Dad."

They sat down at a table gilded with precious metals and inlaid with valuable stones. Captain Teague spoke first. "Show me the Pearl," he commanded.

Jack obligingly took the Pearl from its position at his belt and set it on the table. Teague picked it up, examining it closely.

The younger captain spoke up, breaking the awkward silence that had been settling like dust in the room. "I was hopin' you'd know some way or another to restore the thing."

The old captain set down the bottle. "Jack, there's only one way to get her out that I know of, but it's now impossible, thanks to Barbossa releasing Calypso."

"So they still haven't caught her?"

"Nope."

"Bugger," said Jack. "I wonder if Will would know. But even if he did, how would I contact him without dying or something? Ah well, only one way to find out."

"Don't you dare try to drown again."

"How'd you know? And that was not on purpose!"

"It's written all over your face."

"I don't remember writing that anywhere…" The prison dog tugged his sash. Looking down, Jack scolded him. When he looked back up, Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code, had disappeared.

"Not again!" Jack whined.

The next day, Jack searched the Drunken Lady for his first mate. When he was nowhere to be seen, Jack decided to sit down and have a drink. I wish that bloody git would hurry up, Jack thought. Seems like everything's wrong unless you do it yersel'. Flipping idiot, what else can 'meet me at the Drunken Lady tomorrow' mean?

When Jack finished his mental lecture of his first mate, he looked up to see Gibbs waiting by the door. Jack got up and walked (aka drunkenly staggered) to the door where he immediately started berating his mate while walking to the harbor. Gibbs asked, "Why are we going to the harbor when the only boat we had was smashed to smithereens on the other end of the cove?"

"Because we're borrowing the old captain's ship, savvy?"

"Oh."

They reached the harbor, where Jack started to search for something. What are we looking for? Gibbs wondered. His doubts were squashed when Jack called out, "Here we are, mate. The Troubadour. I served onboard under me dad as a lad."

The Troubadour was a huge, heavily armed, three-masted galleon. Jack unhesitatingly walked aboard the ship followed by a nervous Gibbs. They began to make ready for departure. Jack walked up and down the ship a few times, examining everything. Soon, the Troubadour was under way, and they sailed off to the open sea. Once out on the open sea, Jack dropped anchor and told Gibbs to get comfortable. Gibbs was a little concerned, but attempted to quash any doubts by reminding himself of Jack's unusual habits.

When sunset finally arrived, Jack got up and started to pace the decks, every so often checking on the position of the sun. As the sun dipped below the horizon, there was a green flash, and the Flying Dutchman broke the surface in all its glory. At the helm stood William Turner the Second, with his father beside him. Jack hailed the ship, shouting, "Oi! Over here, mate! No, not that way! Other way! Closer, closer… STOP BEFORE YOU CRUSH ME SHIP!"

Gibbs winced at the increasing volume of Jack's hollering, thinking to himself, damn, that kid can shout. The Dutchman dropped anchor when it was board to board with the Troubadour. Jack swaggered to the rail and swung over the rail onto the other ship. The two captains greeted each other joyfully.

"Why Jack, I thought you were off hunting for the Fountain!"

"I already found it, you little eunuchy whelp! Why else do you think I'm here?"

"Umm, you wanted to visit me?"

"Guess again."

"Something's wrong with Elizabeth?"

"Nope."

"All right, I give up. Why are you here?"

"The Pearl, mate."

"Figures. Last I heard, Barbossa was in command."

"Not anymore, mate. Not since his little, ahhh… encounter with Blackbeard."

"What encounter? Come to my cabin and fill me in on the recent events. Not too much news reaches the land of the dead."

"All right. I fill you in on recent ongoings and you tell me how to spring the Pearl from its cage… er… bottle."

They headed towards Will's cabin. William 'Bootstrap Bill' Turner turned towards Gibbs. "Eunuchy whelp?"

"Um… it's a little joke between them. Don't mind him."

"Oh."

Will led Jack to his cabin, opened the door, and allowed Jack to enter.

"Nice cabin, mate," Jack commented. "I can only too well recall the previous, more tentacle-y owner and his attempts to place me in his Locker."

The cabin was furnished with a desk covered with various maps and navigational instruments, some chairs, a large bed, and a huge pipe organ with two keyboards.

Will indicated a chair. "Do sit down, Jack."

Resting his feet on the only clear space the desk offered, Jack said, "Where do you want me to start?"

"Your recent adventure or adventures concerning the Fountain up to about two minutes ago."

Jack immediately launched into a lengthy description of his adventures with more than a few 'additions' to make it more interesting, ending with: "Anyways, I haven't come to chitchat, I want to know how to save me lovely ship here," placing the Black Pearl on the table.

Will picked it up, closely examining it. Suddenly, he flinched and nearly dropped the bottle in surprise.

Jack started. "Oi, be careful there, whelp! That's me vessel you're holdin'!"

"Sorry, Jack. The monkey surprised me."

"Bleaagh… Monkeys! That happens to almost everyone that looks at the bottle, William."

"So you want me to help you save the Pearl, Jack. I know of several ways to free it, each of them more dangerous than the last. Are you willing to take that risk for your ship?"

"Who d'you think you are, whelp? I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, the one and only! Savvy?"

"Savvy. And will you stop calling me whelp?"

"Certainly not. Now are you going to reveal how to release me vessel or not? I'm getting impatient here."

"Aye, I will. The easiest (and most unimaginative) way to do this would be to smash the bottle and hope the ship doesn't break. Except you'd never let me do that, so you'll have to go find someone that knows voodoo, but since Tia Dalma got released by Barbie, that won't word either…."

"Just skip to the one that will work already! Whelp."

"Shut up, Jack. I'm getting there. What can work is the riskiest. You must sail-"

"Sailing's not the problem."

"Will you just-! Anyways, I was saying, you must sail to the Sargasso Sea—"

"I've been there already and back, whelp."

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP? Anyways, Sargasso Sea, locate the Horn of the Goddess, and bring it to me. I'll tell you what's after that later."

"No. You will tell me what happens later now. No later, William. Savvy?"

"Savvy. Then, someone will have to learn how to use the thing, and then we will have to use it to contact Calypso and ask her help to release the Pearl. You may want to track down Barbossa and bring him with you when you find it. Savvy?"

"OI! That's MY catchphrase! Not yours! Whelp. And why do we need Barbossa?"

"Would you just—oh never mind, just go find the bloody thing. I've spent too much time talking with you."

With that, Will snapped his fingers and disappeared. Jack blinked, and all of a sudden he was back aboard the Troubadour with Gibbs. Without missing a beat, Jack said, "Well, that went well!"

"Gibbs."

"Aye, sir?"

"Turn the ship round an' head f' port."

"Aye, Cap'n, aye!"

Gibbs spun the wheel around, turning the ship back towards Shipwreck Cove. Within an hour, the Troubadour was docked at the pier. Jack casually walked, albeit drunkenly, off the ship. Once again, he told Gibbs to meet him at the Drunken Lady the next morning, and they went their separate ways; Jack went to his father's quarters while Gibbs went looking for an inn to board at.

Jack returned to his father's quarters with his usual smirk on his face. Walking up to the table where Captain Teague was playing guitar, he sat down across from the old pirate. Teague barely looked up when he heard his son walk in, and said, "So, I suppose you got Will to reveal a few secrets?"

His son looked up from his ship, suspicious. "How'd you know that?"

"I know, Jackie. Just leave it there."

Putting down the bottle containing the Black Pearl, Jack asked, "What do you know about the Horn of the Goddess?"

Teague looked up. "And why would you be needin' that particular object?"

"Um, obvious reasons? Will told me to find it so I can restore me Pearl."

"There be more ways than that to restore her."

"You said you only knew one way! 'Nyways apparently Will thought this would be the surest way."

"The Divae Cornu just happens to be hidden away on Isla Deriva, the Floating Island. No one knows where it drifts, but there are ways of finding it, like your magic compass there. Some say that certain sailors have found it while roaming the seas, but none ha' come back. The island will test you, Jackie. Mark my words."

"You said that last time, didn't you? Either way, consider them marked."

Just then, the prison dog barked, making Jack turn. Not seeing anything, he turned back only to discover that Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code, was gone. Jack glared at the dog, since it had distracted him yet again, giving his father another chance to make his exit before he could question him further.