A/N - This began as a drabble challenge on the fanfic collective. I thought it was worthy to post here at FF.net... Enjoy & let me know how you like it! :)
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Making of a Man
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He rubbed his finger along the raised edge of the scar. It was his first… it had been his initiation into the pirate life. It had hurt like the very devil, but it was the only one really worth anything. Jack stood at the helm of his beloved ship and thought back to the day he'd realized he was destined for the ocean. It had been a brutal battle… everyone in the settlement killed or captured. His own mother, the Devil take her nasty soul, was among the many dead. It was no weight upon Jack's conscience that the woman had met a grisly end. He'd been trying to escape her manipulating, avaricious clutches for years. To her, Jack was not a son, but a means to an end. It had been she who had taught him to pick pockets. It had been she who had struck him when his own pockets had come home with less than she warranted. And it was she who taught him, at the tender age of thirteen, the escapism alcohol could bring. It was then the love affair with drink began. But Jack knew all too well the pains of excess. His loving mother had driven his own father to drink himself into the dark abyss of death. But to Sam Sparrow it had to have been a relief. So, by the tender age of fourteen, Jack Sparrow was drinking men triple his age under the table, knowing his limit and still able to walk upright – albeit with a slight swagger – out the tavern door. His dear mother taught him the value of a drink. At least he could thank her for that. The coming of the Black Pearl had only relieved him of such a foul burden as her. And it was the coming of the Black Pearl that gave his life purpose. The ship had called to him, and he had answered. The raid had provided Jack enough leeway to slip through the empty streets and to the docks where the magnificent vessel had dropped anchor. There was enough mayhem that the young lad could board the Pearlwith significant ease. And there, he stowed away until the ship moved along after laying rubble to the small Caribbean town. And it was in the brig he was found two short days later, a knife in the face for his trouble. Jack smiled at the memory. The crewman who'd been ready to gullet him had been named Gespi. A fairly forgettable bloke… but it was the man who'd saved Jack that would map his future.
"Sorry lad... Gespi, here, don't take stowaways lightly," the man said. The dark eyes searched the young lad for any fear… there was none. A thought came to mind to have this boy placed on the crew. "Worry not, lad. I'll put a kind word in with the Cap'n… as for now, come with me. I'll see to it you get a ration…"
"Your name, sir?" Jack asked, swallowing down the trepidation he tried hard to hide. The man smiled as he helped Jack to his unsteady feet.
"Me name's Bill, mate. But most call me Bootstrap. Now… let's see about some food…aye?"
It was five years later that the boy would be named captain and turned into a man. But that same night Jack had met Bootstrap was the same night the Pearl tried to take San Juan. It had been a losing battle from the beginning, but the captain at the time had delusions of grandeur, visions of greatness that the still shipyard-fresh Pearl was not quite ready to accomplish yet. It was those delusions that almost cost the man the ship, its crew and the future it would eventually have. But it did cost the unfortunate man at the helm his life. San Juan was a rather bustling port. And for a crew of nearly twenty-five, the armaments of more than a hundred against them was almost a massacre. The Pearl's crew had escaped with eleven lives, Jack included. But alive never meant without bloodshed. Jack himself, a fair novice with a sword, had picked up a weapon to fight only to be skewered through the moment he had stepped foot on land. Skewered through twice, for good measure, to be fact. He couldn't remember how he'd gotten back to the Pearl, but he remembered the man who had brought him there.
"We'll patch ye up good'n tight. Ye'll be alright, lad. Savvy?" Bootstrap asked. Jack squinted up at the man now called Captain. Savvy? The word rang through Jack's brain as an echo did in a canyon. Savvy. That was a fine word… a fine word indeed. Jack frowned as the word settled itself in.
"Savvy…" he said before lying back on the comforting wood of the Black Pearl.
From the day he had been born, Jack had been living in shadows… living in a world that didn't know him from Adam. The pirate smirked a golden smirk as he fingered the scarred wound on his shoulder one more time. That night on the Pearl had been the night he'd become Jack Sparrow.
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A/N: Well, that's it for that… I enjoyed the little venture into the world of drabble. I rarely write anything that could resemble a one-shot, so this was an exercise in conciseness for me. Anyways, thanks for reading!