(A/N): Heya everyone :D Thanks so much for all of the reviews! I didn't reply to every single one because I didn't really know what to say sometimes, but know that I read them and appreciate them all :D I think I've decided on the ship's name, but I've still yet to find a good spot to say the name at the moment...

Anyways, here's the third chapter. I just hope I didn't make the others look too dumb...hehe :D

Added: Many people have asked whether the ship's people think that Bella's a guy. The answer is Yes. Bella had to disguise herself as a young boy in order to be considered as a watcher in the old ship. And that hasn't really changed now that she's on a pirate ship. ;) I hope that clears up some misunderstandings/confusions :D

Chapter 3

I wanted to bang my head on a wall. They tied me up as soon as I had a free moment. I might as well say goodbye to my carefree reputation at the rate this was going.

They tied me to a cross, thinking that when my arms were apart, I couldn't untie myself. They just never knew how easy it was to get free of knots and ties…but I wasn't about to tell them that I was free when they were all staring at me.

They were mad. That I could tell. I had killed their brethren, I guess, so they had reason to. The captain also left me at their mercy. However, at this rate, I'd die of boredom before they actually decide on a 'torturous' plan, as they put it.

Cannibals, all of them. Apparently, their so-called torture all involved me getting baked in an oven and sooner or later ending up in their stomachs. Have they absolutely no creativity?!

Forget that…I won't die of boredom first. I'd most likely die of disgust before boredom.

At that moment, the door banged open. Perhaps this man would be more creative. He recognized he was the burly man.

"Do I not get a share?" he said, his voice low and menacing…or at least, it sounded like he tried to make it menacing.

"No you don't. You're not special enough to join in the fun," I said, unable to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

His eyes focused on me then. "I'm afraid you don't get a say in this, boy." He then attempted to make himself look manly, chest puffed and arms bent as if to show muscles. "I've killed for comments less than that."

I shook my head. "And how many were being offered to you like sacrificial victims?"

He slapped me. It stung. A lot. I kept my face unreadable. "Never thought you'd be the slapping type," I commented. That's going to bruise later. He didn't say anything. The next second, he punched me in the stomach. I felt bile in my mouth. Spitting it out, I sighed. "Not bad, that one."

"That was for flinging me into the sea with that dagger throw."

I had to laugh at that. "Thank your good ol' captain for that dagger, not me." I paused. "You make good belly flops. How's the belly?"

"Doesn't hurt as much as yours."

Smirking, I couldn't help but add, "Knew I should've aimed for the belly instead of the rope."

"You should watch what you say." He had a dagger in his hand. I eyed it carefully.

"How long since you last sharpened your dagger?"

I had caught him by surprise. Not bothering to wait indefinitely for an answer, I quickly loosened the ropes tying me to the cross, plucked the dagger out of his hand, and sliced my palm with it. I held my palm for him to see: there was not a mark on it. "And you were planning to cut my tongue with that?"

"How do you know-" His eyes squinted at me. "What is your name?"

"Key," I chirped. "And yours?"

"Emmett." He seemed shocked that he was answering my question.

"Great! Wonderful to meet you!" I flashed a fake grin. I made to leave, but he pushed hard on my shoulder, forcing me to keel.

"You don't get to leave just yet." I shrugged in reply. It wasn't as if I had actually expected to get away anyways.

He turned to the others, asking whether the captain, Edward, his name was, gave any orders. Everyone shook their heads glumly. I smirked. "Hey captain! Emmett wants to ask you a question!"

Edward stepped out from the ship's cabin. As soon as he saw me, however, his eyes grew furious.

"What do you want?"

I shrugged, pointing to Emmett. "He wanted something, not me."

"What kind of reason could he find that'd stop you from getting his tongue?" Edward said to Emmett. I rolled my eyes.

"He never sharpened his dagger in who-knows-how-long." His eyes turned to me. They looked almost black with fury.

He didn't say anything. He pulled out a skinny dagger. "And how about this one? It's sharpened just for you."

I wanted to giggle. He was being ridiculous. "Aye, and just how big of a puddle do you want to make of my blood on your unpolished deck? You should know that once the blood gets to into the wood, it'd never come out unless you replace the entire plank, aye?"

"Drown him!" someone yelled.

"Won't do…you'd only set me free." They looked at me, confused. I sighed, how dim could they be?! "I can swim."

"Tie you up and then throw you!"

"Haven't you realized just how fast I can untie knots?"

"Tie a cannon ball – "

"But you don't have one."

Edward turned on me. "How do you know we don't have one?"

"One, you just told me. Two, if you had a cannon ball, you'd have used it while seizing the ship yesterday."

"And what if we saved it?"

I laughed then. "Oh, so you saved the cannon ball not just to fight, but to drown me? I should be honored to be thought of so highly!" I sighed. "But you still don't have one."

Edward's face was livid. He turned abruptly away when I raised my eyebrow at him and paced around the deck, pinching the bridge of this nose. I didn't say anything for a few seconds. His shoulders almost seemed to sag in relief.

"What must I do to shut you up?" He gritted.

"Kill me, silence me, but if you really want my inability to speak, let me work," I replied with all the seriousness I could manage. Maybe I had a chance to live until we dock at port…maybe not… Apparently, that idea seemed to annoy him more than my previous chatter. He resumed his attempt at walking a hole into the ship and drowning himself.

"You know, the best way to sink a ship is not making a hole on the deck? You should walk a hole in the hull instead."

I guess I pushed that last button. The next moment, he pulled out a gun and pointed at me. "I can shoot this, you know? And this time, I won't miss."

"You want to use that last bullet on me?" I smirked. He didn't say anything. His smile turned almost evil.

"Yes."

Smiling, I raised my chin up. "Then I shall be honored to die by your last bullet." I had hid all the bullets on the ship or threw them into the sea. I only left one in his gun. I stared into his eyes. He was standing so close; I could feel his breath stirring my hair under its bandana. And his eyes were such a vibrant green, made livelier by the fact that he was fuming.

Come on, shoot me, I thought, even though I knew he couldn't hear. I dare you to.

His finger on the trigger wavered, and then he broke away, back to his pacing. He couldn't do it.

Midway through his pacing, he threw the gun at me. I caught it easily, fingers automatically going to the latch.

The gun was empty.

He never could have killed me with it anyways.

"I want a bullet back into that gun by tomorrow morning," he said, turning away. And then the light caught something glinting in his hand.

It was a shiny bullet.

Staring at his retreating shadow, I slowly smiled in victory.

He had accepted the deal.

--

I am going to kill Emmett! He made me haul ten buckets of water up into the crow's nest, and then decided that there was too much weight for the wooden boards to handle, made me bring five of them down, only to find that the buckets had not enough water…and made me repeat the process after retrieving the remaining buckets from the nest.

Afterward, he made me swab the deck when the buckets of water I was supposed to use were all in the crow's nest! I swear, next time he wants me to swing up and down the ropes with a bucket of water, I will have my payback.

But now…I still have to swab the deck.

And the water had turned rainbow colors in the sun.

I gritted my teeth. So now they gave me the deck polish…and wasted quite a bunch, too, by dumping it in the water. I changed my mind. I am going to kill the crew instead.

I wondered what Leon would say if he knew the practical jokes that the crew and Emmett played on me. He'd tell me to fight back – turn their tricks back onto them. Ingenious, really, but quite hard to do if circumstances weren't right.

I looked up. Ten of the ship's crewmen were standing directly in front of me, their boots dirty as heck from who-knows-what, and smirking at me. "I hope you can enjoy your baths," I muttered. Only two of the men looked shocked. I'll start with them two first.

The ropes were extra slippery when I used them to swing around. They smirked at me when they saw me slipping, but I only smiled back.

"I have a mop and a voice, and I'm not afraid to use them," I proclaimed to them. Stunning your opponents is often the first step to making them respect you…and to defeat them. Twirling the mop around my wrist, I caught it and made to swab the deck again. Only…I didn't.

Some outrageous sweeping motions, ten shrieks, and ten 'plop's later, the deck was well polished and free of the scoundrels. I was surprised they didn't put up more of a resistance. The mob swept them cleanly off their feet, quite literally.

"Help!"

I looked into the water, and there they were, struggling in the gentle waves from the ship. I slid to the nearest pile of spare ropes, laughing out loud when I realized they were drenched in oil and deck polish. The idiots, they never thought that not drenching everything in cable just might save them.

Lassoing it, I went back to the railing and tossed the rope down and tying the top into a tight knot to the post. They swore when they touched the dangling ropes. And before long, I was introduced to the colorful vocabulary of the ship's members…although some were much more amusing than colorful…

"You seven-tailed goose-son of a flying donkey! Why in the world did you dump the idiotic god-forbidden oil on the god-forbidden rope?!"

"Me?! I wasn't the one who wanted that fox of a lad dead as a doornail!"

That was when I saw Captain Edward and Jasper walk out from the cabin. I whistled to them and pointed at the sea behind the ship. Jasper was mildly amused when he walked over, towing a suddenly-annoyed-looking Edward behind him.

"No more whistling…you make us seem like dogs," Edward muttered, as if cursing himself for something. I pretended to not hear, and continued whistling, making gestures, and pantomiming until they looked out to the sea.

Edward squinted at the horizon as if searching for unknown ships. Jasper, who winked at me, even pulled out a telescope, which was quickly snatched away by the captain. After a few minutes of observation, Edward seemed still oblivious of the struggling men right underneath his eyes. Finally, he turned to me. "There's nothing there."

Grabbing a scratch of paper from his pocket, I wetted my finger and drew two men, a line, and a block of wood. Jasper was practically breaking down in amusement. He most likely knew what had happened already. Edward was only making a fool of himself.

"Person?" I shook my head, no. "People? Man?" Edward asked. His eyebrows were furrowed together. He was literate, I knew, but it was much more fun to play pictionary. "Over?" A nod from me. "Block?" No. "Wood?" No. "Plank?" No. "Board!" he exclaimed. I nodded happily, masking my urge to laugh hysterically. "Man overboard!" He turned around and looked out right by the ship.

And there floated ten of his men, teeth chattering, trying to swim mightily after the ship, and still swearing with apparent vigor. How he could ignore all that swearing from right below his ears, I had no idea. Jasper chuckled when he found the rope I had tossed down slippery as heck…and Edward narrowed his eyes at me.

I wanted to comment, but had to bit my tongue. It would not be good to break that deal at this moment.

"I thought you said man?" I shrugged in answer. I drew two men.

--

"Are you trying to tell me that this skinny lad here mopped you all overboard?!" boomed a fuming Emmett, pacing in fast circles around the room. "Are you pirates or a bunch of little girls?" There was a synchronized groan throughout the room at the loud noise and Emmett's quick pacing, but no one dared say a word. I couldn't help breaking into an amused grin, which caused several of the crew members to glare at me. "And who was it that dumped the oil onto all the ropes? If the ropes weren't so slippery, you idiots won't be in bed shivering!"

I knew I had to get away from the room. The ten men were in the cold water a bit too long…and by the time Jasper finally found a cable that was not oiled and pulled them all out of the water, they all ended up catching high fevers before the night set in.

Slipping quietly out, I practically ran onto the deck and spilled my laughter. I'll have to go inside later to bring them their tonic and set peace. With a little luck, they won't be trying to kill me anymore.

--

"So how are you all feelin'?" I asked, bringing a tray that the Cook, Rosalie, provided with.

"You!" one of them yelled before suddenly groaning and falling back into bed.

"Aye, me." I paused. "But considering you've a headache, fever, chills, and all that jazz, I wouldn't be as hostile toward your caretaker if I were you."

"They stiffened. One of them muttered, "Don't worry 'bout it. We don't hold grudges." His accompanying sneer told me otherwise.

"Nice way to finally meet ya," supplied another. The fake niceties were permeating the air.

"So how's your fevers?"

"How's your back?" one of them, Dominik, sneered.

"It's alive. I wasn't expecting a seagull to appear this far from land and wear the rope out just as I reached the top, that was for sure." Laughing, I realized how ridiculous that sounded. "I have to praise you for that work. Never thought you'd have the creativity."

"Anytime. Had to praise ya, too. Never thought you could single handedly land us all in water with a mop from one moment to the next. Aye, you're like this slug I once knew who became too selfish." His voice lowered. "Ya want to know what happened to him?"

I didn't want to know what happened to the slug. "Na. The mopping was to get rid of these ten stinking beetles off the deck because they seriously smelled bad."

Dominik started. "Ya watch what ya say, lad! I've –"

"You killed men for lesser insults." I finished it for him. Smirking, I asked, "were they actually men or were they still depending on milk?"

"You watch for them seagulls. They will feast on you one day," he hissed.

I only smiled. "And you watch out for deck swabbers. They can actually make you into a fish's meal one day."

The others laughed. Two seconds later, he joined in. "Alright, we trust ya won't try ter poison us in Her Cook's famous tonic. Bring it!"

I poured each of them a cup and then passed a bottle of rum. Laughing heartily with them, I counted myself lucky. Ten down, four more to go.

Yay Bella! :D Next chapter, she (hopefully) can make peace with Edward, Emmett, Alice (who's yet to be introduced fully), and Rosalie ;)

Your comments are always appreciated :D I might not reply to every single one, but I do read them all :D leave a note and tell me what you think!

--Cathy