It wasn't just any day that you got the chance to steal hundreds of gold coins from a near empty pirate's ship.
In fact, it was quite rare that one would get the chance to do something like that.
Allow me to back up a bit.
Arthur Kirkland, infamous thief of the British empire, had gained his title rather quickly once he woke up in an alley with only memories of his name and the short event that led him to that place. He had to learn very fast how to pick someone's pocket, how to steal from a shop, how to break into a home and grab all of the valuable items inside...
He had picked up the skill quickly, and guessed that whatever he was before was someone who needed to prowl around silently a lot, because his footsteps were barely audible even when he wasn't trying. Though his lock picking wasn't too great at first, that was another skill he learned quickly with his quick fingers and sneaky motions.
At this point, Arthur had even broken into the home of her Majesty herself- and although he'd been caught then, he escaped their dungeons through a minuscule window high in the concrete wall.
Arthur had no doubt that taking gold from some practically deserted ship would be a piece of cake.
He was wearing his disguise for once, clothing he used to go out in public. While wearing the disguise he wasn't noticeable until you got up close, because of the typical white shirt, brown jacket, and brown pants. It fit in fine with the pirates too, seeing as everyone but the captain wore whatever rags they had lying around.
Arthur neared the ship, walking along the street as if to go to a store, until he turned toward the docks, suddenly feeling out of place. He rarely just casually strolled up to the place he was about to rob- normally he was sneaky. Stealthy, as a robber should be./span/p
He only really hesitated once he got to the stairs leading up to the ship. He had never been on a ship, and the unfamiliarity was taking its toll on him. But he only paused for a second, and by the time he got to the ship's deck his courage was back and his brain was working once more. He didn't understand why he didn't see anyone on deck, but for all he knew it was some pirate superstition or something. He thanked his lucky stars and made his way to what looked like the entrance to the lower decks. He hurried over to it, glad for the obvious entrance and also for the lack of people. Though his luck began to fade as he pulled the trap door open.
It wasn't bad at first- he heard the voices and knew that he would need to be much more careful. He peered down the ladder, hanging over the edge to get a better view of where everyone was before just launching himself down the hatch. He only got a quick glance at five men sitting at a round table playing cards. One of the men glanced up and looked dead at him, and Arthur quickly pulled his head up as he heard a voice yell, "Oi!" And then the clatter of a chair falling over as someone stood up too fast. Should've listened for voices first, you idiot. He thought, mentally scolding himself.
Arthur quickly glanced around, spotting a few barrels here and there. Ideally they'd be perfect hiding spots, but the barrels were bound to be full of food or water or something. Arthur quickly ran over to a gathering of crates between two doors. He pulled one of the doors open and then slammed it quickly and loudly before jumping behind the original pile of crates- the noise of the door would be plenty to distract them.
There was a lot of noise as the five men hurried up the ladder, and Arthur didn't chance peeking out to look again. "I heard a door slam!" A deep voice shouted with a heavy English accent.
"Yeah, I heard it too!" The original guy said back quickly.
"Over here, probably!" Yet another voice said, also in an English accent, and multiple pairs of feet clomped by as they ran to the door. Arthur quietly tightened the jacket closer around him, hoping it'd be at least a little camouflage.
"Wait!" A fourth voice shouted as the door opened, and had a British accent like the rest. "Someone should guard each of the doors." They said.
There was a quarrel about who had to stay, and then the scurrying of feet as the rest ran off.
At that point Arthur peeked at the doors- the guards were standing outside the doors, backs up against them. Arthur scowled, formulating a plan of attack.
Suddenly, Arthur launched out from the crates at the waist of the guy on his right, knocking him over and punching the guy in the stomach before snatching his sword from his belt from the moment of distraction. The other pirate was rushing up behind Arthur, but Arthur turned and pointed the sword at the pirate. The pirate snarled, and lunched at Arthur. While Arthur was adept to fighting with a dagger, swords were new to him and the lack of experience showed as he attempted to duel with the pirate.
The pirate, as Arthur noticed, never really went for killing blows- only slices of the hands and arms, or shallow gashes. Never something that would've killed him.
Who knows why, probably another pirate religion thing. Arthur thought. He barely dodged a hit that very easily could've taken off three or four fingers of his right hand.
Arthur leapt forward to jab at the stomach of the one he was fighting, then dove towards the trap door as the pirate on the ground suddenly yelled, "He's out here! Quick!"
He knew his best option now was to run and hide, so he hopped down through the trap door that the pirates had forgotten to close. He glanced around the room, seeing three doors he could go through, two on one wall and one on the opposite wall. Arthur rushed to the door on his left, pulling it open to reveal a dining area that had lots of pirates scattered around eating bowls of food.
Arthur closed the door before any of them looked up, or so he hoped. He ran to the other door on the left wall, only a few feet from the first door. Arthur figured it'd probably be the kitchen, and he wasn't surprised to see someone putting out a cooking fire.
At this point, the pirates were coming down the ladder and Arthur needed to move. He ran into the kitchen, and the person at the fire shouted something in French as he rushed by, running through a door that most likely lead into the cafeteria. Have to move quickly. Arthur thought, and threw open the door, ignoring the shouts from the people eating and ran to the nearest door.
It revealed a corridor full of doors, three on each side and a dead end at the finish. Arthur ran to one of them on his right- the farthest one- to find a hallway that forked. This place is a bloody maze and I doubt it's a mistake... Arthur thought angrily, but went down the hall, quietly closing the door behind him and continuing on down the hallway as fast as possible without making any noise. He heard shouts from behind him, and he came across a set of two doors. Why couldn't there just be a sign saying 'immeasurable amounts of gold this way'? That'd be appreciated! Arthur thought.
He chose a door, and as he continued through it was a dead end, only with a door that led to supplies. Old ones, by the smell... He grumpily back tracked, and heard footsteps nearing him. He quickly exited the dead end he was in and entered the other door from the pair he'd come across before.
This hallway was longer, and there were lots of turns to go through. Arthur chose to stick to the main hall until his only options were left or right, and he decided left. He got to the end of the hall and there was a single door.That's almost too easy... Arthur thought, trying the door handle to find that it was locked. Well, lucky I came prepared. Arthur thought, reaching into the small pouch on his hip containing his lock picks. Arthur pulled out a pick as a particularly large wave rocked the ship. Or Arthur assumed it had, the sudden lurch couldn't mean anything else. He'd never been on a boat before, but it wasn't hard to guess what was happening.
He continued his lock picking, and was surprised to find that the door took much longer than expected. When he finally opened the door- a few picks had even broken in the process- he pushed the door open and his eyes widened. It was a room with gold. Not lots of it, as Arthur had expected, but enough that Arthur could steal enough to feed him for a week or two along with buy new clothes and some new blankets for the small home he was currently staying in. He never stayed anywhere long, but this one had been his place for quite a while now. A whole 8 days at this point.
Arthur ran into the room, grabbing a handful of gold and shoving it in his pouch, then as many more coins as he could fit in the pouch before he began filling up the pockets of his jacket.
His jacket was full in no time, but he had one last hiding place, and that was a minuscule pouch inside the lining of his pants that barely held anything- and barely needed to. Arthur slipped three coins in there, which fit snugly with the two lock picks already inside the bag.
He decided that was all he could carry, and began to leave the room of gold, exiting the door and making his way back the way he'd come. It wasn't too difficult a route- or so he thought. He got lost multiple times, and it was probably an hour before he got himself to the right door and was back to the corridor of doors that led to the cafeteria. He stopped right outside the door, listening for voices. There weren't any that he could hear, so Arthur made his way through the door, to see that the dining room was completely abandoned. Arthur thanked his luckiness again, only to realize once he got through the cafeteria and to the card room where everyone probably was. He began up the ladder, creaking the trap door open to look around the main deck to see dozens of people walking around up there.
It's okay, if I make a run for it, I can escape. Arthur thought, and launched out of the trap door to rush towards the ramp leading out of the ship. He was forced to stop, however, once he reached the place where the ramp lead off onto the dock. Because there was no dock. Or ramp. In fact, when he looked back towards the docks he barely saw them anymore at all.
He didn't think about the pirate army behind him. All he could think about was how the hell he'd get home. Of course, this wasn't exactly good for him, because a few seconds later a sharp pain shot through the back of his head, and Arthur fell unconscious.