"You want to hear the tale of Captain Gainsborough do ya? Do I know the tale? Perhaps. Perhaps I remember enough to tell ye. Perhaps a drink might help me remember? A mug of grog will do just fine. Don't mind if it has pepperoni in it or not. Heh. Don't look so confused. Pirate joke. Ah. Thankee. Well, sit yourself down and get comfortable. Captain Gainsborough then. Short version is she was the best pirate there ever was. Ah, you want the long version do ya?
Aeris Gainsborough; that was her given name and she were like no other captain. Not jus' 'cause of how good she was at pirating or how she got her crew so loyal. Always more to her than you'd think. She had luck to spare. Some were convinced it was magic. Me? I don't quite believe it was higher powers or anything like that, but be foolish to ignore her knack for selecting the most profitable targets. Others believed in magics back then, but she avoided that kind of talk wherever she could.
The Captain tended to stand out by how she dressed. You see, she was unlike most other captains - hell, most other pirates period. And anyone else in that part of the world. Captain Gainsborough, she kept herself covered up even when in port, no matter how hot it got. Thinking back now, I wonder if perhaps that was part of the point, part of why she did it. That she wanted to be seen well in advance, to draw attention to herself. Ah, she was a sight.
Oh, you want to know? Well, Captain Gainsborough insisted on wearing this black hat with a wide brim. But she'd broken it so it folded down at the back and sides of her head. Always wore it; never saw her without that hat. She always wore the darkest colours too. The lightest I ever seen her in was this bright navy blue. Just a little joke, don't mind me. Weapons-wise, she favoured short blades and knives instead of cutlasses and flintlocks. Ah, she was the most unusual pirate I or anyone else had ever seen. But few of those she faced in combat ever got the better of her - and those that did never managed to land anything close to a fatal blow. And she'd always come back for them in the end. Always.
Some got jealous of course. A familiar saying through-out our community of ne'er do wells; none could argue with or hope to match Captain Gainsborough's success or her wits. She captained this run-down ship called The Highwind. Looked like it was not fit for anything beyond scrap but for her it moved like a ship twenty years newer. Heh; maybe higher powers would explain that at least, but her? She put her faith in her crew. In any case, she was more than happy to tangle with the navies of the world without blinking an eye. She took on the old money too - even them that was part of, or allied to, the Shinra family.
Huh? Oh, of course they tried to get back at her. They wanted revenge- No, they wanted a reason to strike at her I guess. Seemed to just want any excuse to do it. She weren't the least bit afraid; all but handed them a reason herself. Fools that they were, they could not see she was sailing rings around them, and everything was according to her plan. Any attempt to box her in, overthrow her or cultivate a mutiny; they all ended in failure. No matter how many times the plan went wrong, none of them ever seemed to learn their lesson. Lot of talk about how they was always ready and willing to try one more time. You can understand to a point of course. They only had to be successful once.
Maybe that was why she had no one waiting for her in the ports. Her crew would find loved ones or hook-ups in whatever place they made anchor. Not her. No one visited her when she landed, and she made no move to visit any other. Yeah, maybe she was just overly cautious. Maybe she just wanted to ensure that there was no one that a knife could be held to the throat of, or might be willing to turn on her for enough coin.
Her crew she allowed to indulge itself as they would though. No sense in frustrating them was there? Ah- Now this is not widely known. Come closer. You see, despite that restraint she showed, there was always these rumours about her First Mate - a Mister Strife he was. A great many people familiar with Captain Gainsborough and her crew insisted that their relationship might be more than it seemed. Oh, people asked her of course. 'Oh, Captain Gainsborough, what is it with you and Mister Strife?' But she'd never answer that. Just smiled and changed the subject. To a great many, that was as much confirmation as they needed. Convincing enough for me; where Mister Strife went was always where Captain Gainsborough was going. But did it matter? In the end that suspicion helped none of her enemies; he was never her weak point.
Things did get complicated for Captain Gainsborough as she got older. See, in the early days she was happy to go wherever and attack whoever she was paid to. Pay her to raid the big navy ships and she would; plundering gold, jewels, livestock, cargo of any kind. As her reputation got bigger, well, no one needed to pay her anymore. She was able to select her own targets and seize whatever she wanted. Always independent and why shouldn't she be? Her success was overwhelming. But I think while plundering lost its appeal, the sea never did. She never wanted to stop sailing - not entirely. But our bodies don't last forever - and she was as mortal as any of us. Came a point when even she'd admit she wasn't young anymore. Her stamina faded and with it her ability to keep on fighting, to sail through the night without sleep. It all became more than she could cope with. She needed to change.
Never underestimate Captain Gainsborough. Another vital lesson from my time. There remained other avenues open to the Captain. The pirate's system of trade and exchange, the conversion of ill-gotten gains into something legitimate was something she found wanting. She took over the process, built her own system. All started with the founding of her own company. Small at first, operating out of jus' one port, but over time she expanded until she had influence everywhere, braches in every major port. A sterling success to some, but not close to enough for Captain Gainsborough. Oh, no. We soon found out just how high her goals were set.
She continued to roam the seas, continued to explore and see what there was in the world. And all the while she did that, other crews, other captains conducted the actual piracy for her. Only cut she took was as she processed those ill-gotten gains. Made sense she'd want a base of operations - perhaps something close to a home. But Captain Gainsborough? She was not the type to settle for simply being in one port or another. Nothing so mundane for her. Her power and wealth continued to grow until at last she achieved her goal.
I won't keep you guessing what she was after. There came the day when she was able to demand her promised land; an island of her own. Ah, you don't believe me do you? And after I told you whole story. Doesn't matter. You don't have to believe me. Foolish not to, but no one can make you believe anything. But one last word to the wise; you might want to look into who controls this particular island you're on."