A big happy smile to my reviewers. Let me say thank you to Anna, Kel of Mayhem, Lady Bella, Reese, Carmen, Wingedslayer, Prophetess Of Hearts, and LAURA26.
Thanks to Reese and Carmen for tellimg about the mistake I made with the names.
You should check out Wingedslayer's story. It's great.
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The following day Buffy, Jack, and Gibbs went to the dock where Gibbs had a crew lined up ready for inspection. Buffy had left her hat off. She knew the crew would find out eventually for they were in for a long trip. Looking them over she spotted a man that was about the same height as her with red hair that barely showed beneath the green bandanna.
"Feast your eyes, Captain." Gibbs began. "All of them faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot."
Buffy was sizing them up.
"So this is your able-bodied crew?"
Jack didn't answer her. He just moved along before stopping at a man with a green pirate on his shoulder.
"You, sailor!"
"Cotton, sir." Gibbs told Jack.
"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" There was a pause. "Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!"
"He's a mute. Poor devil had his tongue cut out. We trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how." Gibbs said as the man showed he had no tongue. Buffy made a face at that. She had seen many disgusting things but a man with his tongue cut out was something new.
"Mr. Cotton's parrot. Same question."
"Squawk! Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"
"Most we figure that means yes." Gibb translated.
"Of course it does. Satisfied?" Jack asked Buffy.
"Well, you've proved they're mad." Buffy replied.
"And what's the benefit for us?"
A feminine voice asked somewhere down the line. Buffy noticed that Jack seem to recognized that voice. The group moved down to the pirate with the hat pulled way down. Buffy knew that this pirate was a woman. She had used a trick many times before. Jack had an almost fearful look in his eyes as he pulled the hat off.
"Anamaria."
Jack said sweetly right before she slaps him across the face. Buffy was smiling the hint of laughter was in her voice as she spoke.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either."
"No, that one I deserved."
"You stole my boat!" Anamaria punctuated each word angrily.
"Actually…" Jack starts to speak, but Anamaria hits him again.
"Slapped four times within a twenty-four hour period Jack, if I were you I stop with the excuses and get to the answers. Though, I could watch her smack you all day."
"Borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back."
"But you didn't!" Anamaria protested.
"You'll get another one." She looked as if she was about to hit Jack again.
"I will."
"A better one." Buffy said taking mercy on Jack.
"A better one!" Jack repeated.
"That one." Buffy pointed.
"What one? That one?" Jack asked. A silent message passed between Buffy and himself.
"Aye that one. What say you?" Jack calls out to the crew.
"Aye!"
The crew calls back and prepares to leave. Buffy runs to catch up Anamaria. She introduces herself.
"No, no. It's frightful bad luck to bring more than one woman aboard, sir." Gibbs said.
"It'll be far worse not to have her." Jack said looking toward the skies before following the crew.
The skies had been clear for quite awhile before becoming cloudy and dark. The thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed. The rain came down so hard that it stung when it hit the flesh. The waves were tossing the ship from side to side threatening to capsize them. Buffy was pulling a line to be tied when another wave hit sending a man over board. She quickly ran grabbing a long rope and several of the crew. She tied it around herself tightly.
"Whatever you do don't let go."
Buffy said as she dove into the water. The five crew members watched as her tiny body fought the waves. They had lost sight of her body when she went under water. A tug on the rope made the men start pulling them in. Soon the two shot into the air landing in a heap. They both were gasping for breath. Buffy finally took noticed of the pirate she had rescued. It was the red headed pirate from the dock.
"Thanks." The red headed pirate spoke.
"No problem, but let's not do that again. Once was more than enough. What do they call
you?"
"Oz."
"Buffy Summers, nice to meet you." Buffy said offering him her hand to shake. He shook her hand with a smile. "Come on. Let's help get these lined tied before we all take another swim."
Buffy and Oz stood and moved toward the other side to help the others quickly tie the ropes. She smiled at him one last time before moving to help one of the others down the row. Buffy looked toward Jack to see him checking his compass. He looked right at home in all of this. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Gibbs.
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?" Buffy asked as she helped him tie a rope.
"Aye, the compass doesn't point North, but we're not trying to find North, are we?"
Gibbs said before making his way to the helm where Jack was. Both men were thoroughly soaked.
"We should drop canvas, sir."
"She can hold a bit longer." Jack replied.
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood Captain?" Gibbs asked.
"We're catching up." Jack replied with a look in his eye.
The storm had finally stopped, but they traded it in for an eerily fog. The crew all watched as they passed ships that had long since been wrecked.
"Dead men tell no tales." They heard Cotton's parrot squawk.
"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage." Gibbs told Buffy. Sparrow looked at his compass.
"How is it that Jack came by that compass?" Buffy asked as she followed Gibbs who was fixing the sail.
"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow fore he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta. That was before I'd met him. Back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."
"What?" Buffy asked shocked. Gibbs realized he had let something slip. "He failed to mention that. Captain of the Black Pearl huh? What happened to Jack?"
"Hard-learned lesson it was. He plays things closer to the vest now. Three days out, the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure too. Jack gives up the bearings. That night, there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the heat." There was a long pause.
"So that's the reason for all the…" Buffy asked doing a perfect imitation of Jack.
"Reason's got nothing to do with it." Gibbs knelt on the deck and Buffy followed. "Now, Buffy, when a pirate's marooned, he's given a pistol with a single shot. One shot. Well, that won't do much good hunting or to be rescued. But after three weeks of starving belly and thirst, that pistol will start to look real friendly. But Jack escaped the island, and he still has that single shot. Oh, he won't use it, though save on one man. His mutinous firs mate."
"Barbossa."
"Aye."
"That explains a lot. How did Jack get off the island?" Buffy asked Gibbs.
"Well, I'll tell ye. He waded out into the shallows. He waited there three days and three nights till all manner of sea creatures came acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped a couple of sea turtles, lashed them together, and made a raft."
"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Buffy asked not believing a word of it.
"Aye sea turtles."
"What did he use for rope?" Buffy challenged.
Gibbs opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. They heard the sound of footsteps.
"Human hair. From my back." Jack said upon his approach. Buffy just shook her head in disbelief.
"Human hair from your own back? You must be the hairiest man alive to make a rope that long. So Jack want to tell me how you really got off?" Buffy asked.
"Let go the anchor!" Jack called ignoring Buffy's question.
"Aye, Captain, aye!" The crew yelled all together.
"Young Miss Summers and I are to go ashore." Jack said heading for the short boats.
"Captain, what if the worst should happen?" Gibbs asked.
"Keep to the Code."
"Aye, the Code."
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PREVIEW OF THE NEXT CHAPTER: "Jack? Jack Sparrow, what's he doing here?"
"Without him I wouldn't have been able to find you." Buffy told him what happened.
"Don't stop." It was like a magnet to metal as the two moved instantly closer together.
"William." Buffy whispered softly.