AN: Hey all! This is my first fic done with another AMAZING author, Moon13Dreams. We hope you all like this so we keep writing, ya? Check out her other amazing stories and don't forget... WE LOVE REVIEWS! :3 Enjoy!
Pirate Wars
~ Prologue: The Legend ~
Since I was very young, Milord had always told me a story that would leave me starry-eyed. A story that would leave my imagination running wild in excitement and dreaming of adventure. He said that this tale is as old as the waves that crash along the shore, continuing to wash away the sand as the years pass.
He told me of a people who long ago lived on an island far off the coast of the mainland; so long ago that his grandparents weren't even born yet. Those unfortunate souls were a poor group of people who had to live on. The soil said to be much too poor for many plants and water not required to boil was scarce. Storms often threatened their homes and sickness took many children at ages younger than five. Due to all that, the islanders' population remained very small; less than half of a small village.
Their leader was a humble man who kept his people together. Many of his people revered him as if he was equal to a king. This name was… well, I can't quite recall what Milord said his name was, but I do remember his surname. Uchiha. It was definitely Uchiha.
He, along with the other men on the island, fished often and searched the shores for oysters. Rarely, one would find a small pearl and one would go to the mainland to barter the precious source of wealth when needed. Most of the time, it would be medicine for someone sickly or for food. Some years would pass where they barely ate for many days, a singe pearl saving the islanders from starving to death.
There once was a time of such poverty where with fish not roaming to their island and oysters not producing any pearls. They had never seen such a pressured urge for food before. Their leader managed to subside some of their hunger with the meat from oysters, but that still wasn't enough. Milord told me that many had died of starvation and sickness the leader's wife wasn't immune to this.
His wife fell victim to a fatal illness, never being able to move from her dirt bed. He had made sure to search long and hard for enough extra meat to keep her alive, constantly wishing for a pearl to help buy a cure for his sickly wife.
One day, he came upon a miracle that he had been dreaming of that came in the jaws of an oyster. Some say that he found a pear of many colors. Others say that it's a glowing jewel. Whatever the case, it has done exactly what he had wished. When he took it to show his wife, she was cured; healthy enough to run and work as she had before. It was as if she had never been sick in the first place.
When mainlanders caught wind of this, their king began to form an armada to take the pearl as his own. The islanders fought back against them, many losing their lives in the process. As the fighting dragged on into the fourth day, a small amount of the remaining islanders were able to steal a ship from the armada and escape to sea with the precious object.
The islanders never returned to that island again, roaming the seas as the origin of pirates. Ever since that day oh-so long ago, the pearl, more formally called the Uchiha Jewel, has never been seen by the eyes of mainlanders. It's said that as each generation withers, one is chosen to guard the Jewel to pass on to the next generation who will pass it on to the one after them.
Milord told me that the Jewel could have more power than just to heal people as the story says. He said that it could have an even stronger power hidden deep within its core. One that could make a man more powerful than any other man in the world. He says that must be the reason why it still remains with the Uchiha's, even to this day. Any who has attempted to steal it has failed, killed by the pirates as soon as they're caught.
He never said much else of the Jewel than that, even when I asked about it. He would just retell me the tale and send me off. He always warned me that going after such a thing was a fool's journey. Despite that, I always boasted that I would be the first to steal it, much to Milord's dismay.
I've grown up a bit since then, but my dream to overcome such an obstacle remains strong within me. That Jewel would haunt my dreams every night, the dance of its swirling colors as if they were trapped in a cyclone within a gypsy's crystal ball. I always wonder if one day I'll be able to have the chance to go after such a coveted and powerful object… Surely Milord would be proud of my success.