Chapter 7: But you've heard about me!

Disclaimer: same as chapter 1

Author's notes:

- To Smithy: how did you guess? ;o)

- This chapter has a reference to one of my stories, "Sealed with a kiss".

- Jack's quotes are from the play "The Cid", act second, scene two. It was written in 1637 by French author Pierre Corneille (1606 – 1684).

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Will's eyes opened wide in shock after he'd realized exactly who this mysterious young man was, the one who had saved his drowning father in the nick of time, years ago.

"Jack? Papa, you met Jack on that beach after you've swam to your freedom?"

"He looks just like his description, doesn't he?" asked Bill, winking at his son.

The young Captain of the Flying Dutchman had a hard time to contain his laughter: the wild-eyed, scruffy-dressed, loopy-walking, crazy-combed and silver-talking Captain Jack Sparrow… Yes, that was an accurate painting of the most eccentric pirate of the Seven Seas. Jack and his "shabby-dandy" looks… he was definitively one of a kind!

"Aye, that's how I met Jack, son of mine. And I daresay it was an unforgettable encounter! Even miserable as I was, each and every word he said during our first meeting is engraved in my memory…"

(Flashback)

"Praise to Poseidon, the sea god!" proclaimed the youngster while gesticulating madly in front of the shipwrecked man, who was slowly regaining his wits. "I bow at yer feet, oh maritime grandeur who had deigned to answer my prayers, and I beg ye for calm winds and a tranquil sea beneath the hull of my much-loved ship. The miserable little sardine that I am would have sacrificed rum at your altar, ye most-powerful and fearsome oceanic deity, but alas and to my greatest shame I have to confess I've drank it all already. So if I may have a reprieve in my offertory it will be much appreciated, oh you undeniable ruler of the Seven Seas, and I promise to pay it as soon as…"

"Lad… lad!" interrupted Bill Turner, getting dizzy by the young man's antics and torrent of words.

"Yes, magnificent commander of the Deep Blue? How may I show my devotion to ye? Your word is my law!"

"Listen, laddie" croaked the former merchant sailor, his voice raw from swallowing salted water too many times. "I-I don't know who Poseidon is, a-a-and I am no god!"

"No?" answered the young man, his jet-black eyes unbelievably getting even bigger. "You are not an oceanic god? Then, you must be a man, only a soaked-to-the-bone man, and a down-his-luck man by the looks of it?"

"Aye…" mumbled Bill, too tired to argue. "I'm just a sailor."

"Well, this is your lucky day!" roared the young man to the thundering dark clouds hovering over them. "Because, Just A Sailor, you've just had the privilege to meet me, the notorious, world-famous, all-around incredible Captain Jack Sparrow!"

The blabbering youngster took a majestic pose as if he was modeling for the painting of a proud commodore on his deck, looking at a raging sea fight in where his sailors were smashing the enemy ships to smithereens. After a moment, hearing not a sound coming from his audience, he turned around to see Bill Turner looking at him with a blank expression on his face.

"What?" grumbled the annoyed young man, "Are you going to tell me, Just A Sailor, that you are unaware of Captain Jack Sparrow's exploits? Of his bravery which only equals his intelligence… And not to forget that he's the British Crown's bane, the hatred of the East India Trading Company, the envy of all pirates in the Caribbean islands and, last but not the least, the bête noire of the Navy since a few encounters with him have resulted in massive damage among the Royal Fleet!"

"Nay…" said the elder Turner.

Jack looked crestfallen, and then he crouched down to look at the sailor he had just pulled out of the water: his face was as white as the sand, his breathing was labored, his hair and clothes were plastered all over him and he obviously couldn't stand up without help. Heck, the coconut palm trunk he was leaning against was probably the only thing preventing the big man to fall on his face while being seated on the sand!

Jack knew the castaway had to be taken to a dry and warm place, otherwise his physical exhaustion and the bone-chilling pouring rain would kill him as surely as the tempest's crushing waves. But his sense of self-glorification couldn't stop him to ask one last time:

"But you've heard about me?"

Bill would have laughed out loud if he had had enough strength within him to do so. The lad could change from histrionic panache to childish disappointment in a blink of an eye!

"Nay… I'm sorry…"

Jack sighed, and then he shrugged off the matter: "Oh well, since it is obvious you have arrived only recently in the Caribbean, I will forgive your ignorance. You'll be acquainted with the name of Captain Jack Sparrow soon enough: I am the most illustrious pirate captain of this part of the world. By the way, my friend, what are you called?"

"Bill Turner."

"Bill Turner! That will be short for William, I imagine. Good, strong name. And it is much better than Just A Sailor, anyway. Well, pleased to meet you, William!" said Jack while grabbing Bill's limp right hand and giving it a vigorous shake.

"You saved my life…" managed to say Bill in spite of the trembling movements of his jaw, due to his chattering teeth.

"So I did, but worry not, we're not going to choose fine china together!" laughed Jack. "My appearance may be ambiguous to the unaware eye but a lady's man is who I am. A recent argument with a beautiful female creature, due to an innocent misunderstanding, had let me go for a walk on the beach in spite of a little humidity and wait until the said lady will calm down. I spotted you rolling down on the beach and I was wondering whatever possessed you to go for a swim in this weather. You should know better than to take a dip in these tumultuous waters, though: the hammerhead sharks come here to mate at this time of year!"

"I-I didn't go for a swim!" protested Bill. "I jumped ship…"

The big man suddenly shut his mouth, realizing too late that in his exhaustion he had just confessed his desertion to a stranger, but Jack merely smiled.

"Fear not, William Turner; have I not told you a minute ago that I am a pirate captain? Besides, I've never seen an honest-to-goodness sailor disembarking from his ship by jumping from it. You don't have to worry, in this island no one will turn you to the authorities or to the Royal Navy… since there is not a uniform in sight; this kind of costume isn't welcomed here!"

"Here? Do you mean we are not in Hispaniola?"

"That's right, my good man. This is Tortuga, the island for pirates and runaways! Welcome home!"

The news hit Bill hard: he had heard of Tortuga of course, since this island was the notorious haunt of various people at odds with the law, but he had never made port there since his law-abiding former employers had made a point to avoid these waters at all costs. From what Bill had heard during his sailing years, Tortuga was a place where riots and fires erupted every minute, while permanently-drunk men and women fought each other without any reason; it was even say that in this island, the main attraction was "Dunk the Mayor" in a well! And now Bill was stranded in this dangerous island, penniless and shipwrecked. How was he going to survive?

"Aw, why are ye suddenly looking so gloom, my friend?" asked Jack. "Feeling regrets about abandoning your ship, already?"

"Nay," whispered Bill. "Besides… I wouldn't go back there, even if I could!"

"That's the spirit!" laughed Jack, and Bill noticed the young man had already three silver teeth in his mouth. "You're a man worthy to serve under the command of Captain Jack Sparrow, fer sure!"

"Begging your pardon, but aren't you a bit too young to be a captain?" asked Bill.

"Ah, but to quote Pierre Corneille: «I am young, it is true; but in souls nobly born, valour does not wait for the number of years». Damn good writer, that man. I saw his play "The Cid" in Paris, two years ago! But I suppose you've never heard of him, too? Oh, never mind. Come on, my good man, on yer feet now! You've had a rough day and I happen to know the best cure for shipwrecked gloominess: a roaring fire in the chimney and a glass of rum in one of the best rooms of The Faithful Bride!"

After a few attempts, the castaway managed to stand up. But Jack grimaced and he nearly collapsed after the big man leaned his arm across his narrow shoulders for support: Bill weighted almost twice as he did!

"I-I don't have any money" said Bill in a forlorn voice.

"Neither do I!" replied Jack, "And yet, lack of coin has never stopped me from having a nice dinner over a jug of rum, so why should it bother you?"

The former merchant sailor looked at the young pirate, and then he nodded before starting to walk in heavy steps, supported by the helpful Captain Jack Sparrow.

Why should it bother him, indeed!

(End Flashback)

"Have you ever been to Tortuga?" asked Bill to his son.

"Twice," answered Will with a smile, "It's a place like Jack: unbelievable!"

"And it hasn't changed a bit over the years. It looks just like a fair for inebriated lunatics! No wonders the Royal Navy or the East India Trading Company never bothered to attack the place, their bigwigs are probably too afraid of catching the Tortuga madness, like it was as contagious as the swamp fever."

"Jack took you to the Faithful Bride tavern, then?"

"Aye," said the elder Turner. "At the beginning, I was a bit worried about my soaked and ragged state, but I soon realized that among those crazies I'd look almost normal. They never stop drinking, even under pouring rain and violent winds! Jack had a few words with the tall, burly tavern-keeper – I was too tired to listen to their conversation – but the next thing I know, the man's face turned fiery red and then he smashed a bottle on the head of one of his customers. A fight erupted and the patrons joined the brawl, tossing chairs and breaking rum flagons all over the place while the band was playing a merry tune – another typical night at the Faithful Bride! We climbed up the stairs and Jack led me to a comfy room with stuffed armchairs, a fireplace and a closet full of linen and blankets next to the bed. While I was dripping wet on the room's thick rug, Jack started a fire and the heat felt like Heaven for me! Then Jack left me for a moment and during his absence, I took off my boots, put them to dry in front of the fire and towelled myself the best I could with one of the folded linens."

"When Jack came back, he had a bundle of clothes under his arm while holding a tray loaded with food and rum! He put the lot on the table and told me to eat and change; otherwise I'd catch my death and he didn't go through all the trouble of fishing me out of the sea to watch me being carried off by pneumonia. I barely had the time to thank him that he went out for another errand. I gratefully changed clothes – the ones brought by Jack were actually my size, can you believe it? After wolfing down the food and drink, I started to worry about not being able to pay for Jack's kindness, then I heard a woman raising her voice just outside the door, a slapping sound, and then Jack entered the room looking disgruntled, holding his red-coloured cheek in the palm of his hand."

"And he said he wasn't sure he had deserved this. Am I wrong?" said Will with a smile.

"How did you guess?" asked Bill, but he got his answer looking at his laughing child. Obviously, Captain Jack Sparrow hadn't changed a bit between his meetings with the Turners, father and son!

"On top of "borrowing" some food, dry clothes for me and getting a free comfortable room for the night, Jack had tried to convince one of the tavern's ladies to spend some fun time with us, even if she had the nastiest temper of the Caribbean; but it was one of the rare times where the Sparrow charm had failed. I've renounced to the services of the hired ladies since I've met your mother, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for Jack."

"In spite of the brawling downstairs, I managed to get some sleep. Jack gave me the bed and he spent the night drinking one rum flagon after another, sitting by the fireplace and lost in his thoughts. He woke me up at the first rays of dawn, because the tavern-keeper wanted his room back to nurse his bruises – it turned out we had been staying his bedroom, and Jack had given me the man's brand-new clothes! Jack and I went downstairs to see the place was completely trashed: bodies, broken furniture and bottles were littering the floor, there wasn't a single window pane intact and the door was wide open, consequently some pigs came inside the tavern to eat the last table scraps. But somehow, that resourceful Jack found intact rum bottles and we went to the beach; the tempest had ended so we sat down on the sand to watch the sunrise and while we drank, I told Jack about the circumstances of my desertion."

"And he offered you a place in his crew?" asked Will.

"Actually, my son, Jack didn't have a crew at the time. He had been working for the East India Trading Company for a few years – that's how I learned he was more or less twenty-five years old, and not eighteen as I had supposed. But instead of transporting African slaves to Jamaica, he freed them all and Beckett got blamed for this, since he was Jack's supervisor. In retaliation, Becket branded Jack a pirate and sank his ship, which was called The Wicked Wench at the time. That episode had been the last straw for Jack: he definitively renounced to any attempt at an honest life to fully embrace piracy."

"He needed his ship to gain freedom, that's why Jack struck a bargain with Davy Jones: The Wicked Wench lifted from the bottom of the ocean and its command for 13 years, against a hundred years of servitude aboard the Flying Dutchman. Of course," added Bill with bitterness, "Jack didn't tell me about his deal with the devil on the beach; I've learned about it years later, after I got enrolled aboard the Flying Dutchman."

"That was a bit crazy, even from him!" said the new Captain of the ghost ship. "How could he ever think he'd escape from his debt with Jones?"

Bootstrap Bill had a sad smile: "Ah, you're right, my love. But Jack always had an enormous trust in his sharp wits, that's both his strength and his weakness. While we were watching the sunrise on the beach, Jack just told me it was after the Beckett incident he had decided to embark on "free enterprise", that's how he called piracy. He rechristened his ship "The Black Pearl", and he was on the verge of recruiting sailors for trips where the main idea was to take everything and give nothing back. Jack kept on quoting this line from that Corneille fellow: «When we conquer without danger, our triumph is without glory»".

"And… that's when you accepted to serve under The Black Pearl's mast, even though you knew it would make you a pirate." said Will.

Bill hung his head in shame, unable to look at his William in the eyes. He could have said his mind had been altered at the time by his shipwreck, his brush from death or even the abuse of rum, but he'd rather go to Davy Jones' Locker than lie to his son. Years ago, on the beach, during his conversation with Jack, the elder Turner hadn't hesitated to become a pirate because he had been disgusted by his life, which had brought him nothing but a constant lack of money and unbearable pain from the unfair deaths of his father and Willie.

"Aye, my son. Do you remember the night you've escaped from the Flying Dutchman? When I told you that if I pretended pirating wasn't what I've wanted, it would taste a lie? I can offer no excuses for my behaviour. All I can say is, I got tempted by the pirate's life mostly because of how Jack presented it: he didn't look upon trigger-happy madmen who wanted nothing but fire at ships and slaughter everyone on board… and he still doesn't. Self-serving as he is, Jack has an altruistic streak within him – even if he'd deny it tooth and nail in public – and he's not into violence. He'd rather use his brains to get what he wants, may it be gold, a woman or freedom; for him, piracy was more in the idea to trick the East India Trading Company and plunder its ships, or to gain treasures so frightful by reputation no other pirate captain would ever try to be his competition."

"Even if the idea of stealing goods from greedy companies didn't bother me –I had my own plan in mind, which was earning enough money so I'd be able to bring you and your mother to the Caribbean to live a new life together – I wasn't keen on becoming a murderer, either. That's why I liked the way Jack wanted to live the pirate's life; his philosophy was risky and morally-challenging, but also clever and fun. He didn't want blood-stained evil deeds but fantastic exploits to embellish his legend. Jack firmly believes that pirates can also be good men, and for a long time I believed it too… even if this kind of person is rare."

Bill quieted down, still too embarrassed to raise his eyes. This had been the hardest part of his story, telling how he had willingly chosen piracy over honesty, and he feared the consequences of his confession upon his newly relationship with his son. Will's honesty and courage would put many people to shame, may they be lords or beggars – and his father was constantly amazed by the fact that he, of all people, had sired such a beautiful human being. And yet, Bill wasn't sure the principled younger Turner would understand Bill's far-than-honourable past actions.

With the desperate stoicism of a condemned man waiting for his turn to climb the gallows' stairs, Bootstrap Bill bit his bottom lip and expected an explosion of anger, an expression of disappointment or even worse, a scornful look from his son. But Will simply clasped the elder Turner in his arms. Startled by the gentle embrace, Bill returned the hug tentatively at first; he could hardly believe his child would still love him after learning about his decision to become a pirate. But Will's show of affection was strong and sincere so after a few heartbeats, Bill Turner crushed his cherished son against his broad chest.

"You are that rare person, Papa" said Will, "I love you, I forgive you and I love you even more," and his father kissed the top of his head.

A long moment of silence followed, barely interrupted by a tiny noise who sounded like something small bouncing against the Great Cabin's wooden floor: plink… plink… ka-plink…

Will didn't have to loosen his embrace to investigate where that sound was coming from: he already knew its cause.

It was his father's tears, escaping from Bill's blue eyes and hitting the floor-planks after they had turned into diamonds.

TBC…