Once they docked the boat, Sparrow led Gibbs, Ann-Marie, Claudia and the guy with the parrot to a nearby bar in which they would start their search for crewmembers. Before they entered the bar, Gibbs grabbed Sparrows shoulder and then pointed to Claudia.

"We need to know where she stands, Captain." Sparrow nodded his head walked over to Claudia.

"Time to make a choice," He said as he took her arm and led her away from the others. "You are either going to be our prisoner or part of the crew. Aye, that means that you are going to either take lessons from us and step foot on that ship as a pirate or you'll be tied again." He stopped and looked at her. "Savvy?"

Claudia stood there, debating her issue for a moment and then spoke softly, looking Sparrow in the eye.

"I wish--" Sparrow urged her on.

"Aye? Go on child."

"I wish to be..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I wish to be a pirate." Sparrow smiled.

"Aye, good choice mate, good choice."

Sparrow and Claudia sat down at the table in the bar across from Gibbs and Anna-Maria. Gibbs passed Sparrow a mug as Claudia looked around the room eagerly and then sat back.

"Something wrong?" Sparrow asked quietly. Claudia looked from Sparrow to Gibbs, from Gibbs to Anna-Maria.

"Where's the guy with the parrot?" Gibbs looked down at his mug of whiskey. Anna-Maria pointed over to the bar, and lying there was the man, parrot on his shoulder.

"What happened?"

"Fight. He won't be going with us." Anna-Maria signaled to a nearby woman for another mug of whiskey.

"So," Claudia said, "What do we do first?"

"Well," Sparrow began, "In the morning we'll set you up with a sword and practice a bit, otherwise, we start looking for a crew." Gibbs raised a finger as he gulped down his last swig of whiskey.

"Already got a few."

"Really?" Sparrow looked around then back at Gibbs. "Where?" Gibbs pointed to the table across the room from them where four rough looking men sat. One had long blonde hair that was tied back with a black ribbon. He wore a complete pirate looking outfit, only he fancied the colour red. The other three all had brown hair, one short, one dreaded and one shoulder length. They all wore the same outfits, but different colours.

"The one with the matted hair is Johnson, sitting next to him with the longer brown hair is Ku. The one with the really short hair is Pendellon and the blonde is Cuebeck. They're all brothers, excluding Cuebeck; he's a distant cousin. They can fight like nothing I've ever seen and as far as working a ship goes, it's rumored that they worked for o' Bootstrap at one time." Gibbs sent for another mug of whiskey as he added, "And with Claudia here, which means that we only have to find a few more men and then we're set to go." The woman came back with both Anna-Maria's mug and Gibbs's mug. Anna-Maria took a drink and then looked at Claudia.

"Aye, it ain't easy learnin' the ways." She took another drink.

"Aye to that!" Sparrow and Gibbs chimed in as the three of them clanked mugs and drank, then banged their mugs on the table. Anna-Maria giggled a little then waved for another mug of whiskey to be brought over.

"You're turn." She said to Claudia as she passed her the mug.

"Excuse me?" Claudia looked puzzled as she took the mug from Anna-Maria. Sparrow smirked a little and then responded.

"Aye, if you're going to be a pirate, you gotta learn to drink." He took a swig of his whiskey and smiled.

"Oh boy." Claudia said as she looked into the glass. The smell was horrible. They expect me to drink this? She thought.

"Ahem." Gibbs looked at her and motioned for her to drink it.

"Oh, c'mon, c'mon, we ain't got all day mate, just drink the bloody stuff." Anna-Maria started getting impatient. Claudia just sat there, staring at the liquid inside the mug. Finally after about five minutes of preparing herself, she pressed the mug to her lips and let the liquid flow down her throat as the others looked on. Much to their surprise, she finished the whole thing. She then slammed the mug down on the table and belched quite loudly.

"Pardon me." She said as she covered her mouth with her napkin. The three of them looked at each other then at Claudia. Sparrow yelled and then started clapping, followed by Gibbs, followed by Anna-Maria. Claudia felt proud of herself, and yet wished to see Elizabeth and Will. I wonder if they'd be proud of me. She thought.

The next morning Sparrow took Claudia out on the beach that overlooked the dock in which his ship was parked, gave her a sword and started her first lesson. She was rather good much to her surprise, but not as good as Sparrow. He taught her the stance, footwork and movement of the wrist. At one point, Sparrow went for the left side far enough for Claudia to grab hold of his wrist and make him drop his sword, pulling his arm behind him and raising the end of her sword to his neck.

"Never leave yourself open for attack." Claudia whispered in his ear and smiled as she let go of him.

"Very well done." Sparrow said, "I think your sword class is over." He smiled, pleased with himself and then began to walk with Claudia back to the ship, where Gibbs had a line of men waiting. Sparrow laughed a little.

"Oh Gibbs, again?" Gibbs chuckled as he took Sparrow and led him to the beginning of the line. There were about fourteen men, including Johnson, Pendellon, Ku and Cuebeck. Not any of the others were notably important; Sparrow only needed to call those four by name. He walked down the row, examining each man and asking him a question or two, not bothering to ask names. Gibbs followed, as did Anna-Maria and Claudia. When they reached the end of the line, Sparrow turned to Gibbs and patted him on the back.

"Good work, mate." Claudia poked him in the shoulder.

"Aye?"

"What exactly are we doing?"

"What er ya talkin about?"

"Like, why do we need a crew?"

"Oh, we're doing a little treasure huntin, mate."

"What treasure?"

"The Mist Treasure..."

"...Of Rachkam?" Claudia finished. She knew that he must have been talking about the legendary Captain Wayne Rachkam. Claudia's mother used to tell her the story over and over when she was little. She always dreamed of hunting for the Mist Treasure, but she never did. Now she gets to help. And maybe, She thought, maybe I'll get a share of the treasure.

Within a few hours, they had gotten everything they needed together and had set sail towards a little island in the south pacific. The island itself had no name, although some people referred to it as Death Island. Nice, eh? There was a legend behind the name, and most ships that landed there never came back. Claudia had no idea of this, but Sparrow and the rest of the crew knew all about it. They were ready to go in prepared.

"I hope you're ready for this, mate." Sparrow said to Claudia as he sharpened his sword and loaded his gun. Claudia glanced at him then at her sword. She lifted it and began to sharpen it as she responded, "I hope so too."