The Makings of a Pirate, by Hellborne

Pirates of the Caribbean - PG-13

Copyright: Characters, not mine, See the Mouse. Story, mine, but I make no money. He does, but not on this.

Typing convention: / and are used for thoughts. is used for COMMODORE Norrington exclusively, and / is used for the softer James Norrington and for everyone else. Don't ask...just read and you'll understand.

Summary: Jack Sparrow seems to be waging a personal war on slavery. Elizabeth and Will want to know WHY.

BETA: The great and unbelievably humble Pendragginink...I love you! You are the greatest!!!!! I really can't say enough wonderful things about you!

A/N: Feed the plot ferrets or they'll bite you in the arse...and I won't write anything else. I'm serious. Fanfic authors need a regular dose of reviews, so I don't care if it's a good, bad, ugly, or just plain flame review, I'd really like to hear from SOMEONE!

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Chapter 9 - The Loss of the Folly

For the next two days, the crew worked on getting the third mast fixed. Once finished, they made much better time, using as many pairs of sweeps as they could for four to six hours a day to try to make up the lost time. Jack and Robert took turns at the sweeps as well, hoping to get to Bonaire before it was too late.

For the fourteen days it took to get to their destination, they saw no ships, which Robert considered a lucky break, as the crew, even when those who recovered had returned to duty, was only half of what they needed to carry through a full fledged raid against a port. Robert's own injury was almost completely healed. The stitches had been removed the previous day, and he didn't even favor that arm anymore.

When the call "Land Ho!" came from the crow's nest, everyone was relieved. Jack ordered Turkish colors raised and steered for the pier area.

The piers were empty of ships, so the Pearl docked at the farthest edge and started unloading the barrels of water they had brought. Jack and Robert went to the harbormaster and paid the docking fees, and Jack led the way to the block yard, swaggering as usual, but Norrington could tell that he was nervous for some reason. The man in charge there met them at his office just off the main slave area. Robert did not see any slaves in the yard at all. A deal was made for the water on the Pearl, and the man left the office to get the money to purchase the water.

As soon as he was gone, Jack moved quickly around the desk and flipped through several account books and papers. It didn't take long to find what he was looking for, and he pored over those papers as if memorizing them. He finished with them in very little time, put everything back exactly as it had been, and rushed back to where he was before the man had left. The man returned with a bag of money and gave it to Jack, who counted it, then shook the man's hand and motioned to Robert that they were leaving.

On their way back to the dock, Jack said, "Good fortune fer us, mate. The next ship to arrive will be here in four days."

Robert frowned. "But the postings all say that the next auction is day after tomorrow. That means that the next ship to arrive should be here by nightfall tomorrow."

"Not if Lizzy has done her job it doesn't." Jack winked.

- -

The next day the sun shown brightly on the docks, but the Black Pearl's crew stayed onboard during the refit of the masts, keeping a man in the crow's nest when it wasn't being replaced just in case the slaver ship arrived. By noon, there was no sign yet of the ship, and by sunset, the crew of the Black Pearl was ready to head into town to celebrate. Robert made sure that they all heard Jack's orders that they were to keep to themselves and not go wenching, because drunk men tend to talk. Jack didn't want anything to go wrong when they were so close. They left a skeleton crew of ten on the ship, including Jack, with enough rum to keep them happy till the others returned.

Robert accompanied the men to a tavern called the Highest Rung, and they all gathered around three tables and ordered their drinks. It was agreed by both Jack and Robert that the crew would leave their money onboard, and that Robert would pay for all of the drinks that night.

Four hours, lots of drinks for the men, and two crowns later (/good lord these men drink a lot!/), the men returned to the boat, holding each other up and singing various bawdy songs, the favorite being the one that Jack had taught them that he learned from Lizzy. There was still no sign of the slaver ship, and the Block Master was at this point waiting at the docks, pulling his beard. The Black Pearl's crew went below and slept off their partying, though Robert climbed into the crow's nest to keep watch.

He still couldn't believe he was doing this. He had helped a pirate ship attack another pirate ship (/BUT IT WAS SELF DEFENSE!/, and killed many of that crew in cold blood, clearly half the time by stabbing them in the back (/BUT THE RED FLAG! I HAD NO CHOICE!/). He had picked a man's pocket and stolen his weapons and hat (/BUT HE WAS ALREADY DEAD!/). He was now helping the one man on God's Green Earth that he wanted to see hung more than anyone (/BUT HE'S LORD RAYMOND SMYTHE-DOUGLASS!/) to attack a legal merchant ship after it had unloaded its cargo (/BUT THEY'RE PEOPLE DAMNIT!/) and then steal that cargo and run for Jamaica (/BUT WE'RE FREEING THEM!/).

He knew that he was supposed to protect the law, but, with all that had transpired since he was taken prisoner in the first place, he also now knew that he could no longer protect evil laws (BUT THEY'RE STILL THE LAW!). Laws that hurt people were wrong, he concluded, and therefore should be broken as a matter of principle (BUT WHAT WOULD THE ADMIRAL SAY?! WHAT WOULD GOVERNOR SWANN SAY?!).

Robert's head swam with all of the conflicting thoughts dueling each other in his head. The funny part was that the unlawful but ethical thoughts were not following the rules of engagement, and the legal but wrong thoughts were losing ground fast. Added to that, he felt free for the first time in his life: Free to sail with the wind on his face, carefree and ignorant of what the admiralty wanted. Free to do what was right, or even what was wrong if he chose that (he did steal the money from that man instead of leaving it so that he could be buried).

He was still contemplating his life aboard the Pearl, when something caught his eye. At first he thought he was imagining it. He grabbed the spyglass and looked again. What at first seemed like a lesser shadow on the wavews, appeared at last to be three ships. Robert called "Sails ho! Three ships!" at the top of his lungs, and pirates began pouring on to the deck.

Jack ran out of his cabin and started calling orders. He took the stairs to the quarterdeck two at a time, and pulled out his own spyglass. "Two slavers! Where's the third bloody ship, Robert?!"

There was a cannon report, and Robert saw a flash from the third ship. "There! She's firing on the slavers! Looks like the Folly!"

The Pearl slipped quickly and quietly out of the docks. As soon as they were clear, the sweeps were brought out to help them get out faster.

When they arrived at the fight, there were cheers from the slaver ships, thinking that the new ship was coming from the port to save them. After all, their merchandise was very important to the life of that city. Their hopes were dashed, however, as the Turkish flag disappeared down the mast to be replaced by Jack's colors.

Cannons blazed, as all four ships fired volley after volley. The slavers were playing for keeps, sending cannonballs over to both pirate ships as often as they could. The Pearl and the Folly, however, were using Will's special shot that killed masses of people in a single area while doing very little damage to the ships themselves.

- -

Will loaded another of his shot grenades into the cannon. "Lizzy, get us closer! We're almost out of shot!"

The Folly pulled around and came in closer in order to board. The slaver nearest to them fired, and the Folly's mainmast fell, ripping a hole in her bottom. Lizzy swore. She turned the wheel into the slaver. She just hoped that the momentum was not enough to sink the slaver, but was only enough to disable her. "All hands! Abandon ship! Prepare to board!"

The crew readied their lines and braced themselves. As the Folly rammed into the side of the slaver, both ships shuddered. The deck of the Folly was beginning to list abaft as the bilges flooded, and most of the men on the slaver were knocked off their feet. Grappling hooks flew into the slaver's rigging, followed closely by pirates swinging across them. Not seeing any grapples left, Lizzy ran toward the front of the ship to try to leap to the slaver. Suddenly, she found herself snatched up by the waist. "Looks like you needed a hand, Captain." Will smiled at her as they swung back to the slaver.

"I'll thank you if we survive!" She drew her sword.

"We will. I saw the Pearl on the other side of the slavers." He deposited her on the deck of the slaver, and leaped off the rope, pulling his own sword.

- -

Robert stayed in the crow's nest to keep Jack appraised of the Folly. "Commodore! The Folly's been hit in the mainmast! Looks like Lizzy wants to take the slaver with her!"

Jack called, "All hands! Prepare to board! Robert! Get down here! Pintel! To me! I need a helmsman NOW!"

Robert grabbed a line and slid all the way down, landing only slightly hard on his feet. As soon as he got to the helm, Jack leaped over the railing down to his cabin's level and ran in. When he emerged, he was wearing the samurai sword. He ran to the middle of the deck along the side closest to the other ship. He grabbed a grappling line.

Pintel ran from the galley and met Jack on deck. Jack said something to him, and he ran to the helm. Commodore wants you with him." Robert ran down and joined Jack, grabbing a grappling line on his way.

Pintel brought the Pearl alongside. Grappling hooks flew, and pistol shots fired. The part of the crew staying on the Pearl shot at the men with pistols on the other ship, dropping them before they could get off shots of their own, killing the rest of the Pearl's crew as they were swinging over. Once the boarding party was on the slaver, the crew still on the Pearl threw grapples, lashing the ships together, holding them fast. Others dropped the anchor. Pintel roped the helm and waited, knowing he'd be needed at the helm at a moment's notice once the battle was over.

Jack and Robert fought their way through the other ship's crew as fast as they could, Jack's sword slicing through crewmembers like butter. Robert wasn't doing quite as well, but his seeming ruthlessness made up for the razor edge of the Samurai sword. They made their way across the ship, and Jack sheathed his sword and dove overboard, swimming toward the other slaver ship. Robert followed suit, and soon the pair had crawled on board the ship, their swords drawn and hacking down the enemy as fast as they could from behind, as they weren't expecting trouble from the other slaver's direction.

- -

Lizzy and Will's crew, matched fairly even with the slaver's crew, were driving them back as though the sinking of the Folly served to drive them to greater feats than normal. Will dispatched the last two men between them and the helm, when he heard Lizzy yell his name. He looked back to see her backed against a bulkhead by three very large men. Leaping down the stairs that he'd just won, sword in front of him, Will slammed into one of the men, knocking him down, his sword going through another. Pain, like fire, shot through Will's side as the man in front of him fell. Lizzy finished off the man Will had landed on and turned to face the last man before her.

They circled each other, thrusting and parrying, each trying to gain advantage, a good opening for the kill. They were evenly matched. The fight lasted quite a while. Lizzy's arm was beginning to feel like lead. Quite suddenly, the man stopped, a surprised look on his face. She watched him fall to the deck at her feet. Behind him, Robert saluted her quickly, grinning, and turned to meet a new foe.

Sounds of men and weapons rang as the battle raged on and on, the pirates finally getting the upper hand. At the end of the battle, when the fighting stopped at last, only a handful of slavers were left. On their knees, they begged for mercy; Jack looked down on them with hard eyes. He gave them all the mercy he could muster: With a broad sweep using all his strength behind it, the heads of all five men landed at his feet.

- -

TBC

A/N: It would be great to get paid for this, it's a true labor of love...and it gives a writer enough warm fuzzies to go on when someone tells them their work is worthy of comment. When someone appreciates (or hates) their work enough to comment, it feeds the plot bunnies. If you don't say what you like or don't like, whine, my writing will never sob get any better...ever. And the plot whimper bunnies will gasp die. I am grateful that you read this, and don't worry about me or the bunnies, I...I know I'm not worthy. I'll just sit here...by the empty review page....alone, in the dark, knee deep in dead bunnies...waiting...sigh Farewell, dear reader, Icough wrote this for you. You deserve it. You are worth it. (and not for that meanie who never, ever leaves reviews - who wouldn't clap hands, either--AND TINKERBELL DIED!)...Now please feed the plot bunnies by hitting the "REVIEW" button!!!