Searching for Will
Captain Jack Sparrow sat down to pull off his boots before going to bed, when he heard a commotion on the deck of the Black Pearl. "What the Hell? The crew be on land for three more days?" With that thought Jack grabbed his trusty sword and headed up to the deck to make sure nothing happened to his ship. To his surprise it was the crew and they seemed very agitated. But as soon as they saw him everyone got strangely quiet while they tried to push Gibbs to the front of the pack and he just as quickly tried to fight his way back.
"What be the meaning of this men?" Jack asked curious
Finally Gibbs gave in and stepped forward. "We have bad news for you Jack. You wont like it." He warned.
"What could be bad news for Captain Jack Sparrow?" Jack asked refusing to take his crew seriously.
"Captain . . ." the pirate had to start over "Captain Ichabod went through here two days past.
The other pirates all gasped, the last pirate dumb enough to mention Ichabod to Jack had suddenly found himself to be shark bait.
Jack looked at Gibbs in shock. "And I would care why?" He asked dangerously
Gibbs gulped, here came the hard part. "He had the Turner lad with him."
Jacks eyes narrowed in a mix of confusion and anger "Don't tell me the whelp joined Captain Ichabod's band of merry men because I refuse to believe that.
Gibb quickly shook his head, he just knew that his Captain was going to do something foolish when he heard this. "No Captain, Ol Man Dan recognized him. He was one of Ichabod's slaves."
"He be a SLAVE????" Jack yelled in horror
The crew flinched before one of the older ones hesitantly asked "What we be setting to do Captain?"
Everyone noticed a steely look in Jack eyes as he said "We be going after him of course. Anyone disagree"
Of course no one did.
Before Jack set off however, he wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to be a wild goose chase. So he sent his crew to go get supplies and he set off to see Ol' Man Dan. Jack found him sitting in his favorite corner of the Tavern sipping on his ever present cup of straight Whiskey and Gin.
When Jack sat down next to him Ol' Man Dan looked up and grinned "Oi Jack, you just missed your crew not twenty minutes ago."
"Aye, I know. I be interested in what you were telling em."
"About the lad you were here with two years back?" Ol' Man Dan asked already knowing the answer. "What will you be a willing to pay?"
At this Jack Sparrow snapped, he generally liked being around sneaky, greedy people (they never surprised you) but today he wasn't interested in playing any games. Jack stood up and yanked Ol' Man Dan up by the rag he called a shirt and slammed him up against a wall. "I'm a willing, to not kill you right this second, if and only if, you start talking...now." Jack whispered right into Ol' Man Dan's terrified face.
"Now now Jack." Ol' Man Dan started to say before being slammed into the wall a second time. Now Ol' Man Dan was drunk but he wasn't so drunk that he was suicidal. He knew that when Jack was like this, he was one of the most dangerous men this side of the equator. "Aye, Aye. He whispered "Ill tell you what you want to know."
Jack let go of Ol' Man Dan's shirt relieved, he didn't really want to kill a fellow pirate, these days there were so few of them left. "Good choice mate. And no lies, understand?"
"Aye" Ol' Man Dan said nodding his head frantically in agreement. "Ichabod came in looking to uh sell some slaves see? An he a wanted to trade for some supplies too, so uh I went there to uh look at the merchandise. So guess who I saw in the brig Young Will Turner himself." Ol' Man Dan smiled "I tried to buy him myself but Ichabod said he wasn't for sell yet." Ol' Man Dan sighed sadly before seeing the look of pure rage on Jack Sparrows face. "I I was just gonna buy him to give to you Jack, no need to do anything hasty." He said trying to back up away from the enraged Pirate standing in front of him.
Luckily for Dan, Jack realized that you don't get information from dead men, which is the only reason Ol' Man Dan wasn't gutted right then and there. "Just. tell. me. what. else. you. know." Jack spit out slowly.
Seeing Jacks glare Ol' Man Dan wisely started talking. "You remember Arsenio?"
"The Inn Keeper?" Jack asked in disgust
Ol' Man Dan nodded his head "Aye well he bought a boy from Ichabod, and I happen to know that he was in the same cell as your friend." Ol' Man Dan smirked pleased
"Where is the bastard now?"
When Jack knocked on Arsenio's door he was surprised it didn't fall down it was that decayed. After a minute when no one answered Jack simply walked in and looked around until he saw Arsenio passed out on the kitchen table. "Aye I can see he has a lot guests come through here." Jack muttered amused before he shook the table tumbling the man on top of it off. "Arsenio wake up you no good bastard you."
Arsenio snorted and scratched his huge belly absentmindedly before finally opening his eyes drunkenly. "Who you? He asked intelligently before laying his head back down on the floor.
Jack rolled his eyes annoyed, this was taking way too long. Raising his heavy boot he turned and slammed it into Arsenio's ribs, effectively getting his attention. Before the fat man could protest his treatment Jack held one hand up and said. "Tell me all you know about Ichabod's upcoming journey. Oh and I want to talk to your boy too. Savvy?"
" I don't know nuttin bout Ichabod's journey." He said sullenly. "I didn't ask and he didn't tell. The boy ain't good for more than one thing neither, and that'll cost ya" He said with a small smirk that quickly turned into a frown as he saw Captain Sparrow's face. "He in the back." he amended rapidly.
Jack felt sickened as he walked through what he assumed was the back door, though it was hard to tell. Looking around he finally saw what looked like a small bundle of rags huddled against a corner of what used to be a fence. He walked over to it and looked down in shock and disbelief, the boy laying there was around 6 or 7 though it was hard to tell as he was all skin and bones. Now Jack didn't shock easy, he had seen many horrible things in his life, Hell he had done many horrible things in his life, but this . . . this was worse than he had imagined. The boy probably hadn't had a solid meal in days if not weeks and he had so many scars crisscrossing along his back that Jack had to search to find a patch of unscarred skin. Jack swallowed hard before reaching over and waking the small boy gently. Well he tried to be gentle but it apparently didn't work as the boy woke with a start and quickly tried to move away from Jack with fear in his eyes.
"Calm down lad." Jack said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk."
The boy had obviously heard something of this sort before as he still continued to look wary. "Mast'r don't like me talkin to folks wit'out he say." He said still trying to back up closer to the fence.
"It's okay lad, Iv already talked to your er Master, he's the one who told me where you were." Jack said trying hard to be reassuring.
The young boy looked down frowning before slowly pulling off the rag that had been wrapped around his body. He then slowly and painfully moved onto all fours facing away from the pirate. Jack just stood there is shock. He knew what the boy was doing and what he was expecting Jack to do, he just couldn't believe that a boy so young had come to expect such a thing.
"NO! NO! Stand up." Jack ordered a little more harshly than he would of had he been thinking clearly. "Put your clothes back on. Just . . . Just do something."
The lad hurried to obey looking very confused, he wasn't sure what he had done wrong but he knew that what ever it was he would be getting a whipping for it later. "I'm sssorry sir, I did't mean to." He stuttered not even sure what he was apologizing for.
Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No, no its ok, I should be the one apologizing, I didn't realize . . . I just want to talk to you, you were on Ichabod's ship weren't you?"
The small boy squeaked and turned white in terror which Jack took to be an affirmative answer.
"Im looking for a friend of mine that is supposed to be on that ship. William Turner, do you know him?
Suddenly the lads demeanor changed in a flash. "Willie?" He exclaimed excitedly. "You's friends wit' Willie. Aye I know him, he be a blacksmith and a master swordsman."
"Aye that's Will alright." Jack said amused at the 'Willie.' "I don't suppose you happen to know how he got caught by Ichabod do you?"
The boy nodded his head. "He was find'n his friend and Ichabod's men snuck up and ambushed him. He put up a good fight though." The boy nodded again firmly.
"His friend?" Jack asked confused wondering if Elizabeth and been kidnaped again or something of that sort.
"Aye, Captain Jack Sparrow." the lad answered proudly.
Jack's forehead furrowed. "Why was he a looking for me?" He asked more to himself than to the boy.
The small boy's eyes widened in awe. " You be The Sparrow?" He whispered amazed "Did you really fight a entire curs'd crew all by yourself?"
Jack burst out laughing. " No, not exactly, I had help." He answered before getting back to more important matters. " This is important lad, do you know where Ichabod's ship be a headed?"
"Aye, they be going to the island's of Zabinie. He's going to be selling Willie there."
"Like Hell he i..." Hearing a dull thunk from behind him Jack turned to see Arsenio stumbling through the door.
"You come back tomorrow." He slurred drunkenly. "I got customers coming and they don' like when he be busy."
Jack looked down at the trembling boy, then back to Arsenio. Then he did something that surprised even him.
"I'll give you 30 gold coins for him."
Both Arsenio's and the lads eyes widened in amazement. 30 gold coins was a lot of gold, especially for a six year old boy. Arsenio didn't even think twice about it. "Deal."