Sorry. I do not own Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow, Geoffrey Rush/ Hector Barbossa, nor POTC, all though I wish I did. Only the twins Rena and Jena are mine.

And thank you for the reviews. I'm glad that you like the story.

Chapter Seven

Finding a Crew

It was the next day, and they had yet to be followed after by Norrington and his men. It would take a little while for them to follow after them, let alone catch up to them.

Jack was messing with some ropes on the Ship while Will was sharpening his sword. Rena had rolled her sleeves and pants legs and laid out on the floor near the wheel of the ship, sunning herself with a peaceful smile on her face.

It was quiet out on the ocean, peaceful. Nothing like the town this time of day with the guards shouting and firing guns. Just complete, and total silence.

Until-

"When I was a lad, living in England," Will began to speak. "My mother raised me by herself. After she died, I came out here, looking for my father."

"Is that so?" Jack asked, leaving the ropes and moving towards the wheel.

Will stood up and followed Jack. "My father, Will Turner." He stopped in the way of Rena's sunlight and she opened her eyes to scowl at him. "At the jail it was only after you learnt my name that you agreed to help. Since that's what I wanted I didn't press the matter." Jack began to mess with another rope to the side as Rena pushed herself up off the floor and moved away from the two men, a bad feeling in her stomach. "I'm not a simpleton, Jack," Will continued. "You knew my father."

Jack stopped, sighed and turned to face Will. "I knew him. Probably one of the few who knew him as William Turner. Everyone else called him Bootstrap or Bootstrap Bill." Jack moved the wheel, grabbing hold of it.

"Bootstrap?"

"Good man. Good pirate." Jack announced. Will looked at him in shock as Jack looked back at him again. "I swear, you look just like him."

"Its not true." Will denied and Jack rolled his eyes. "He was a merchant sailor. A good, respectable man who obeyed the law."

Jack looked at Will again. "He was a bloody pirate. A scallywag." The pirate argued before turning to face the wheel again. Rena slapped a hand to her forehead as Will drew his sword.

"My father was not a pirate."

"Put it away, son. It's not worth you getting beat again."

"You didn't beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight. I'd kill you."

"God, if the two of you don't shut up, I'll kill you both!" Rena told them, rubbing her temples. "Why do men always have to want to fight one another?"

Jack ignored her and turned around to look at Will again. "Then that's not much incentive for me to fight fair then, is it?" Jack turned the wheel to the right and part of the mast came at Will, hitting him. He grabbed onto it and hung on for dear life as he was stuck hanging over the ocean. Rena jumped up in fear of Will falling.

Jack picked up the sword Will had dropped and walked to the side railing of the ship. "Now, as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention. The only rules that really matter are these." He pointed the sword at Will. "What a man can do and what a man can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood boy, so you'll have to square with that some day. Now me for example. I can let you drown. But me and the lass here can't bring this ship into Tortuga by ourselves, savvy? So," He turned the wheel again, bringing Will back to the ship where he landed where Rena had previously laid. Jack held his sword out to him. "Can you sail under the command of a pirate?" He flipped the sword, holding the hilt out to the young man. "Or can you not?"

Will took the sword. "Tortuga?"

Jack smiled, staring down at him. "Tortuga."

Rena had settled back down into her sunning next to the wheel, Will had returned to sharpening his sword near the front of the ship, and Jack stood at the wheel, starring on ahead.

"You know," She began to speak. Jack looked down at her. "I doubt that you're helping William and I just because you knew his father. And I'm beginning to wonder what's the true reason behind your motions."

There was a pause, and she finally heard a chuckle. "As I said when I first met you, you, Rena, are sharper than the others." She opened her eyes to see Jack watching her with a grin on his face. She grinned back before settling back into her position and closing her eyes again.

"So, are you going to tell me what the true reason for you helping William is?"

"Afraid not, love."

"Oh, too bad. But I suppose you don't have too. And I suppose I won't mention anything to William if.."

"If?"

She sat up and looked at Jack after making sure that Will wasn't close enough to hear them. "When we get to Tortuga, I would like some help with a little plan that I have expanding in my mind. Consider it as a repayment for me helping you the other day, even though you still managed to get caught."

Jack thought for a moment. "And what is this plan of yours?"

"Oh no," She shook her head, still smiling. "I won't tell you until we reach Tortuga. And that is only if you agree to help."

Jack frowned. "Too bad. I won't help until I know what you want."

Rena shrugged and leaned back down, arms crossed behind her head. "Too bad. You would have gotten a lot of rum off of it too." She paused, waiting.

Three…two…one..

"Rum, you say?" Jack asked, interested more now than he had been.

Got him.

"Yes. But if you don't want to help-"

"I'll help. As long as it doesn't get us kicked out of the tavern before I get my payment." Jack told her.

"Not a problem. You'll get the rum, I assure you."

As they pulled into the port at Tortuga that night, Rena winced at all the noise and fighting. She wanted to stay on the ship, but she still had to play her plan. She had yet to tell Jack what it was, and she could see that he was anxious to know what it was. But, he would have to wait until Will was back on the ship and sleeping.

Everyone there was either drinking, fighting, yelling, or sleeping. Guns were going off, swords were clashing, and music was playing as horse-drawn carriages were running through the place.

"More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep this sweet, frivolous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy?" Jack was telling Rena and Will as they followed him through the town. Jack then reached out and grabbed a cane that some poor blighter had as he fell and continued on with it. "What do you think?" He waved his hand out at it all.

"I think your stark mad." Rena answered him, wincing again as another pair of guns went off above them. "How can you stand being in this place. It's too loud!"

"It'll linger." Will answered as well, keeping a hand on Rena's shoulder just incase.

Jack chuckled at the two of them. "I'll tell you, mate," Rena watched a woman with red hair and a pink dress see Jack and then start walking over with an angry look on her face. "If every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted." He turned to keep walking, but the woman in pink stopped him.

"Uh-oh," Rena whispered to will. "this does not bode well."

"Scarlett!" Jack cried happily, moving towards her, only to receive a slap across the face before the woman turned around to leave again.

Jack turned to his two companion. "Not sure I deserved that." He turned back around in time to see another woman, this time blonde and in a green dress. "Giselle!"

"Who was she?" She asked, referring to the other woman angrily.

"What?" He received another slap for that. "I may have deserved that." Jack admitted.

Rena laughed. "My goodness Jack. Can't even keep a woman happy, eh?" She teased. "I swear, if another one comes up and slaps you while we're here, I am going to laugh at you so hard, I won't be able to breath for a month."

Jack mocked her laugh before leading them out to a pig sty, Jack and Will holding barrels of water. Rena saw a man sleeping with the pigs, and frowned. She had seen this man before, but where?

Jack stared at him for a moment before throwing his barrel of water on the man, waking both him and the poor pigs up.

The man sat up, gripping a knife in his hands. "Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!" He then saw Jack as he smiled. "Mother's love!" He calmed down, putting his knife away. "Jack! You should know better than to wake a man when he's sleeping. It's bad luck."

His voice was familiar to the young woman too.

"Ah, fortunately I know how to counter it. The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink." Jack moved forward and kneeled down in front of the man. "The man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking." Jack smiled.

The man in the dirt had to think for a moment before he smiled and gave a laugh. "Aye, that'll about do it."

Jack took his hand and pulled the man up before stepping back in time to miss the water in Will's barrel. But it wasn't Will that threw it on the man. It was Rena who now placed her hands on her hips angrily.

"Blast! I'm already awake!" The man cried out in rage.

Jack and Will both glanced at Rena for an answer. "Oh yes, I know you're awake Mr. Gibbs." All three men looked surprised that the woman knew who the man was. "What? Don't you remember me? Oh yes, I remember you. I remember you greatly, Mr. Gibbs, along with all the money you stole from me and my sister on the crossing from England all those years ago."

Mr. Gibbs' face paled in the light. "Good lord. Rena? Look at you. You're all grown up!"

"Yes, I know I am. But don't change the subject," She told him. "Now that I've found you, I want my money back. And my sister's. All of it." Mr. Gibbs stumbled for words before Jack jumped into the conversation.

"Listen Love, you can badger Mr. Gibbs for your money later. The two of us need to have a talk really quick."

Rena sniffed and then nodded as she turned from the men, before following them all towards the Tavern. Will and Rena were left out of the conversation as Jack and Mr. Gibbs talked. Will could still hear them, but Rena could not. She was too busy concentrating on how she was to work her plan out. And by the looks of things, she was going to have to take Jack to another Tavern. A Tavern that was gambling, playing cards, and not fighting.

After Mr. Gibbs left and Will tottered back off to the ship Jack stood in front of Rena with that smile of his on his face again.

"All right now, Love. Let's get my rum, shall we?"

"First, Jack," She smiled back at him. "Do you know a Tavern here that holds gambles and card games?"

Jack thought for a moment and then smiled. "Yes, indeed I do."

The Faithful Bride looked nothing more than an oversized shack to Rena as she and Jack approached it, but inside was exactly what she was looking for. There was drinking in here too, but it was silent as a large table was set up in the middle of the room as men and women gathered around it. The men were the ones gambling with the cups and the dice as the women stood or sat beside their men. Rena smiled.

Jack noticed. "What you were looking for?"

She nodded. "Yes. Come on." She moved towards the table and he followed, interested in what she was planning to do. "Hello boys." She greeted the others around the table. They all looked up at her. "You wouldn't happen to have room for one more, would you?"

"We don't let wenches play." One of the men replied, drinking from his mug. The others replied with nods or 'year's.

"Oh, one little game? Please?" She asked sweetly. They still looked doubtful. "Just one game. If I lose, then I'll just watch. Promise."

Jack grinned as the men still looked doubtful. "Come now gents. Not afraid of losing to a woman, are you?"

That seemed to make up their minds and the men all grinned. "All right then. Go ahead and sit down. You play until you lose. I must warn you missy, we won't take it easy on you just because you're a wench, ye hear?"

Rena smiled as she and Jack sat down around the table; Jack just to watch.

"Don't worry. I don't expect, nor want you too."

"Do you know how to Play 'Liar's Dice', Missy?" The same man asked with his own smile as one of the women handed Rena her own cup and dice.

"Of course I do." She shook the cup and them slammed it down on the table. "I wager," She pulled open that pouch that she had stolen from Gillette. "6 shillings." She threw them into the middle of the table, creating a pile of money to be won in this round.

"I'll match that," An older man announced, throwing in some of his own. The rest of the men either added or didn't, and looked down at their dices. Rena smiled. All five of her dice were on six.

"I bid three twos." She announced.

"Four fours." A reply came.

"Four fives."

"Three sixes."

Rena smiled. "Five Sixes." She replied.

"Liar." A man across from her announced. She smiled, and lifted her cup.

"I'm afraid not mate. I win." She reached forward and dragged the money towards her as the men she played against cursed since they were now out of the game and the ones that hadn't played that round laughed.

Jack chuckled himself. She was good.

And that was how the rest of the night went. Rena would skip every other game, watching as the men played, and then play the next game. Every time she played, she won the money, her pile growing larger and larger with each. Jack occasionally took some of the money she won and bought his rum, coming back and smiling and laughing with Rena and the rest of them.

It was now the final game. Rena and the man who agreed to let her play being the only ones left. Both of them had large piles of money in front of them, staring each other down as the rest watched in excitement.

"I bid…" Rena took a drink of the water she had in front of her. "All of it." She announced, pushing her pile into the middle of the table.

The man laughed as everything else went silent. "I second that." He pushed his own pile forward. Jack's eyes widened at the size of it.

Rena rolled her dice around and then slammed it on the table. She peaked. There was a two, a four, two fives and a six.

"Four twos." The man announced.

"Two threes."

"Three fours."

"Four fives."

"Five sixes." The man replied, a large smile on his face. Rena thought quickly. It was now or never.

"Liar." She called for the first time. Eyes switched between Rena and the man. Jack found that he was gripping his armrest tight enough that his knuckles were now ghost-white.

The man smiled at Rena for a moment and then sighed. "You got me. You win, my dear." He lifted his cup to show three ones and two twos. "It's all yours."

Rena smiled happily as she lifted the sack at her feet and began to brush the coins into it. "I thank you gentleman. It was a lovely evening." She left a quarter of the coins on the table though. "I leave this for the eight of you. Split is amongst yourselves, please, as a thank you for a fun time."

The men looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled. "You can come back anytime you want, missy. It was fun. Let's do it again sometime, yes?"

Rena nodded as she stood. "I will. I'll look for you boys next time I'm here. Thank you again."

Jack smiled and followed after her. "Something tells me," He began as they walked through the still rowdy streets. "That you knowing how to play that game has something to do with Mr. Gibbs, am I right?"

"It appears that rum makes you smarter," She giggled. "Mr. Gibbs taught my sister and I that game. Said we had to make the highest bid to win. And we always did. He ended up calling our bluff and taking our money. It was only after we reached Port Royal that we learned we were being played. We looked for him but he was already gone."

"Ahh," Jack nodded. "I probably would have done the same." He admitted.

She giggled and then fell silent or a moment. "Thank you for going with me Jack. I was afraid that if they saw me win all that money and leave by myself they would try to still it from me. But with you there with me, I knew that I would be safe. So, thank you."

Jack felt a weird feeling rumble in his stomach. He thought it was the rum so he just brushed it away. "No problem, Love. Just as long as I get me rum."

She giggled at him again. "After I buy what I need, you can have the rest of the money to buy all the rum you want, deal?"

"Deal."

All that Rena had bought was five changes of clothes, a brush and some other feminine products. Jack looked at her like she was crazy when she held the rest of the money out to him.

"Is that all you are getting?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yes. Is it too much?"

"Too much? That's barely nothing!"

Rena smiled. "Its okay. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you are going to give me the Captain's Quarters to sleep in when we get our crew. I will not sleep down below with all those men. So, all of this money, for the Captain's Quarters."

Jack stared at her for a moment before grabbing the bag. "Not only are you sharp, but you're smart too." Rena smiled as she began to lead the way back to Will and the Interceptor.

"A bit too smart." He mumbled lowly before following her.

That next morning, after changing into a new set of slacks and a white shirt, Rena joined Jack and Will out by the crew that Mr. Gibbs had brought for them. She looked at them all and did her best to hide a giggle as she walked down the line with Jack and Will as she tied her hair back.

"Feast your eyes, Captain." Mr. Gibbs announced. "All of them faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot."

Rena covered another one of her giggles, but Will decided to voice his opinion. "So this…is your able-bodied crew?"

Jack kept silent for a moment as they all continued to walk down the line of the men that had showed up. Rena smiled at the dwarf-man that had appeared, and he smiled back before she hurried to catch up to the three men. Jack and stopped before an older man with a Parrot on his shoulder.

"You, sailor!" He called.

"Cotton, sir." Mr. Gibbs told him.

"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" Rena rolled her eyes at Jack. What kind of question was that? "Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!"

Mr. Gibbs stepped forward quickly. "He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out." At that, Cotton opened his mouth to show them all the damage. Jack leaned back and away from him. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how." Jack ran his tongue between his teeth as Will raised an eyebrow with a sad look.

"You poor thing." Rena told Cotton, a sad look on her face.

Jack went to walk past him, but stopped and turned back to face him. "Mr. Cotton's parrot. Same question."

The parrot squawked. "Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"

"Mostly we figure that means 'yes'." Mr. Gibbs replied.

Jack nodded. "Of course it does. Satisfied?" He turned to Will.

"Well, you've proved they're mad." Was his answer.

Ren slapped Will on the arm. "Be nice William."

"And what's the benefit for us?" A woman's voice called from further down the line. Jack narrowed his eyes a bit as he walked towards the figure wearing the obnoxiously large hat. He pulled it off and a large clump of black hair fell down. Jack smiled. "Anamaria."

The woman didn't reply and only slapped Jack. Rena burst out laughing, and both Will and Jack remembered what she had said the night before.

Will frowned as Jack looked at him. "I suppose you didn't deserve that one either."

"No," Jack admitted as the woman nodded behind him. "That one I deserved."

"You stole my boat!" Anamaria yelled as Rena tried to regain her breath.

"Actually-" He was cut off by another slap. He turned back to her, angry now. "Borrowed! Borrowed without permission! But with every intention of bringing it back."

"But you didn't!" She yelled.

"You'll get another one." Jack told her.

She pointed a finger at his face. "I will."

Rena leaned forward, grabbing Jack's shoulder as she continued to breath hard. "A better one!" She had decided to push out as she gasped for breath.

"A better one!" Jack agreed with a smile as he seemed to hold the banana in his hand between himself and the woman as a shield.

Will decided to jump in to. "That one!" He cried, pointing out at the Interceptor.

"What one?" Jack asked him and then turned to see the ship he was pointing at. He twirled back around at Will angrily. "That one?" Will nodded as Rena straightened herself up and Jack sighed, turning back to the other woman. "Aye. That one. What say you?"

"Aye!" The entire line of the crew cried and began to head towards the boats to reach the large Ship. Anamaria grabbed her hat back from Jack with a scowl and slammed it back on her head before following after them.

"No, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir." Mr. Gibbs announced. "Let alone two."

"It'll be far worse not to have her onboard with Rena." He looked up at the sky before taking off towards the boats.

Rena followed after him. "What were you looking at Jack?" She asked.

He paused for a moment and then frowned before helping her into the boat with Cotton and Anamaria behind them. "There's going to be a storm tonight. A heavy one. You might want to stay off the deck when it hits.

"Oh, come now Jack." Rena replied. "A little ole' storm won't harm me. I'll be just fine."

He smiled at her. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He sang.