Disclaimer: I don't own this, Disney does! :D Once of my favorite movies ever!
Pirates typically had a certain… well, they were infamous for being less than decent. Jack Sparrow was no different. At the beginning he was one of the most respected of all pirates. He betrayed any friendships; he would sell his own wife for a whiskey and he nearly sold his soul to be the captain of his very own ship.
That fact that the crew of this ship abandoned him at first chance was usually left out.
Pirates whispered his name in the ears of the British just to taunt them, and even among pirates the name was taboo. Jack's crazy exploits were legendary and aspiring scallywags all along the Mediterranean and beyond yearned to be as crazy but strangely intelligent as Mr. Sparrow. He had many enemies, but they all secretly admired him. Everyone wanted to be the pirate.
Jack even had himself fooled for a while. With a few girlfriends every port, more rum than he could possibly want and a crew that loved him possibly more than a British officer about to hang a pirate, he believed that he was on top of the world. He had the sea to himself, with no one to tell him otherwise and no rules to follow.
It went well for the first fifteen years or so. It was only after he met a certain blacksmith named William Turner that everything had begun to change. Not William "Bootstraps" Turner, mind you. The young one. The son that had that had that last bloody bit of that Cortez gold that his ship was looking for.
Now the Black Pearl was a sight to be seen, let me tell you. If you saw that piece of junk docked up you'd laugh until your sides were sore and your ribs hurt. But some of the best sailors across the seven seas lost many a ship to the Pearl. It was even rumored to be the fastest ship alive.
Oh, but what a price to pay. Eternal slavery upon the ship of Davy Jones, or even worse, Davy Jones locker.
So it was pure luck that the poor blacksmith turned out to be his best friend and yet his worst enemy. That bugger was everything a pirate despised. Loyal, trustworthy, dependable and even sanitary. When Jack wasn't drunk, he found himself envying the boy. He was willing to risk anything for the people he loved.
Elizabeth. Now that was a wench none was likely to forget anytime soon, particularly a pirate like Jack Sparrow. Not only was the lady resistant to his legendary charms, but she was the single most hot headed woman that Jack had ever met.
It was no wonder that he found himself envious once again of that Will Turner character.
It was Jack's job to watch from the sidelines. He found himself wide awake some nights, typically before a monster hangover, wondering whether or not he was actually the hero in the story, or if Will was. He wondered if he was only a tool to help Will, if he was the comic relief.
Jack knew it was impossible for him to find anyone as special to him as Elizabeth was to Will. Their love was… revolting at some times, but for the most time it was admirable. Jack knew that it would be impossible to get Elizabeth to fall in love with him, but it was against the nature of a pirate to resist a challenge. He would go to his grave (again) knowing that he did his best to seduce the finest lady that ever did sail upon the seven seas.
And while his reputation with women was… less then respectable, it always amazed the pirate that there was never a decent wench at Tortuga. Every visit that he made he found himself looking for a woman with hard eyes, soft face and a decent personality. He would never forgive Will for stealing the finest creature alive.
Every wall the two broke within the pirate, the more ale he drank. By the end of the final battle with Davy Jones, it was a miracle he could still remember his middle name. (Jack. His middle name is Jack. He would tell anyone that cared to listen that his first name had always been 'Captain'.)
Angelica. He'd had a nice girl once, before he'd corrupted her. At first he hadn't regretted it, her being extremely pleasant to be around. But then the guilt of taking over a young soul was too much to bear. He didn't like to be weak, and having a conscious was just about as weak as you could get in the pirate world. She was just like him, and it was too much.
So when Angelica found him again after her real father's death, Blackbeard of all people, it was no surprise when she punched him in the face. An average greeting for Jack, but somehow it hurt when she did it.
"You left me again, Jack," she smiled sweetly, drawing out his name in the sensual way she did. Jack narrowed his dark eyes at her. "I can't have you leaving all the time you know."
"Well, love," he remembered smiling back. "I can't help but recall you professing an important phrase of sorts. One that shows… feelings. We can't well be killing me if what you said was true."
"Jack, you know I claimed to love you to get off that island."
"Just as I claimed to care enough about you to switch those goblets. Oh wait, I really did." Jack swaggered up to her, brushing a dirty hand against her cheek.
"Jack…" she'd warned him.
"I'm not going to kiss you, love. One would think it was childish to play with one's emotions the way you do."
"But Jack… you're not a nice man. You're a pirate."
Jack flashed her a sad gold toothed smile. His scarred hand reached down into her belt buckle, when he found what he was looking for, he grasped it. Bringing the rum to his lips, he waltzed towards the door. Angelica rolled her eyes and called after him and his name echoed in the empty cellar.
"I may be a pirate, love, but how does that not make me a nice man?"
But before he walked out, he turned around once more. "Angel, if you want me, just keep a weathered eye at the horizon, savvy?"
