Chapter 1
Joshua Gibbs, the closest thing to a friend captain Jack Sparrow would ever have, a grey-bearded man in his late fifties, had some big news for his captain. As he quickly pased past hard working pirates aboard the Black Pearl, he heard Jack calling out orders to them. ''Jack!'', Gibbs yelled from a few feet away. Jack Sparrow turned around and raised his eyebrows when he saw his sweaty friend coming at him. ''Master Gibbs!'', he smiled. Gibbs ran the last few metres and came to a sudden halt, breathing heavily and supporting his weight on the wooden railing of the ship. ''I- I've got news'', he said. Gibbs took a deep breath and nodded. ''An oppurtunity, as it were'', the sweaty pirate explained. Jack raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes, so allowing Gibbs to go on. ''General Nathaniel George is giving a party tonight in his house. Elite and fancy-pancy people only, aye?'', he continued. ''I say, we crash the party, we steal some gold, some silver, maybe a woman, or.. or two, and then we leave. The captain frowned and chuckled. ''Master Gibbs, I can't remember there ever being a time you, of all people, wanted to crash and rob a respected general''. Although Gibbs was a very intelligent man, he was a pirate, yet he never voluntarily terrorized people that didn't hurt him or his loved ones. ''No, but, captain, it's about your debt with Barbossa, see? If you steal enough gold and silverware tonight, maybe Barbossa will accept those goodie-goodies as your payment'', Gibbs further explained his plan. Jack's face lit up and a slow smile spread across his face. A few weeks, or was it months (?) ago, he had stolen from Barbossa. Barbossa sadly found out and told him to give him back a treasure, or he would take Jack's life as a payment. So, if he'd steal enough gold, silver and jewels, he could pay the angry captain back and he could live to see another sunrise, because, as it were, Barbossa had been following him overseas for the past week. His ship was just kilometres behind, waiting for the oppertunity to attack the Black Pearl and behead its captain. It gave everyone, including the brave captain Jack Sparrow, the creeps. Jack laughed and nodded immediately. ''Mate, you truly are a genius at times'', he answered. ''Great! We'll do it. Inform Barbossa and set sail to wherever this fancy general lives''.
Six hours and, a lot of big waves later, the Black Pearl's crew left the harbor of Port Victoria, where they had left the ship, and walked straight through town. Nathaniel George's home was located on top of a big hill, with view all over Port Victoria. Night was beginning to fall, stars appeared, and most people were getting ready for bed, or drinking. Except for the rich, of course, who were all underway to George's party. The pirates were greeted by loud orchestra music and the smell of amazing food as they walked up to the house. Jack, who walked in front, smiled widely. ''No guards. Not yet'', Marty informed them. Jack nodded. ''Gibbs, Cotton and Pintel, you three come with me. The rest of you, get upstairs and steal what you can, savvy?''. The pirates smiled widely and clapped their hands together excitedely. ''We'll cause all the distraction you need'', Gibbs added to the words of his captain. The crew split up, Sparrow, Gibbs and Pintel walked up to the front door as all the others walked around the house, searching for a way to sneak in and upstairs. ''These poor souls have no idea what's outside their ballroom'', Pintel said, and he chuckled softly. Jack Sparrow grinned and walked through the gate, right up to the front door, which was open. But as soon as he came closer, he saw two guards standing with their backs to the door. ''Idiots'', Gibbs whispered. Jack looked at him, then towards Pintel, and nodded. With a quick, determined movement, Gibbs and Pintel grabbed the two guards, covered their mouths and dragged them out of the house, into the bushes. For a few seconds, the bushes shook heavily, and the sound of mumbled screams echoed through the summer air. Then, it stopped, Gibbs and Pintel appeared and smiled at their captain. ''Believe I hurt me back, fellah was a heavy one'', Pintel mumbled. Jack rolled his eyes and pointed to the front door with his thumbs. Behind the windows of the bedrooms, a glow that could only be the glow of a candle appeared. The pirates were in, quickly and without noises. Quickly, Gibbs and Pintel walked after their captain, into the great hall. The closed the door and shut the drapes in front of the windows. As was often the case with the rich men, everything in sight was either gold, marble and made by the finest craftmen of all time. ''Damn'', Pintel sighed. ''Right on'', Jack answered with a wide smile. ''C'mon, let's go inside, see what pretty people walk around there'', he then said, and with a wide smile they walked into the enormous ballroom that was filled with men in wigs, women in tight dresses, loud music and the smell of hot food. Jack's stomach rumbled, but he didn't let it distract him. They could dissapear in the crowd easily, so stealing in this place would be no problem, as long as they wouldn't draw attention to themselves.
As the party continued, no one noticed the three pirates downstairs, and no one noticed the rest of the crew that was upstairs. Jack and Gibbs filled their pockets with food and women's jewelry they were able to steal. ''Cap'n, we got the gold and the silver and jewels, time to go?'', Gibbs said after a few minutes. But Jack's dark eyes had fallen on a woman's back. She was over three feet away from him and he couldn't see her face, but he had seen her more often this night, and something about her looked familiar to him. The woman was wearing a tight, bodyhugging red dress, she had gold in her ears and around her wrist, and her long, dark hear was pinned up with a jade coloured hairpin. ''Cap'n?'', Gibbs repeated after not getting an answer. He followed the captain's gaze and raised one eyebrow, then looking back at Jack. ''Cap'n, I mean no disrespect but maybe we-'', he started, but Jack raised his hand as a sign he'd better stop talking. Then, just as Jack recognized the woman that stood right across from him, she turned around, and Jack held his breath. Angelica. He hadn't seen her in two years, since he'd left her on the island, he never heard from her again. She was skinnier, looked better, she had a blush on her face, and Jack noticed two things. One; she had an enormous diamond on her left hand, obviously a wedding ring. And two; she was looking directly at him too, and just like he, she was holding her breath, and their eyes locked.