Well I hadn't planned to update right away but you guys were so great with the reviews :) You had them in so quickly, that I decided to post this early. Thank you! Don't worry, in the next couple chapters all your questions will be answered...

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"Please tell me you're joking," Will said seriously. Looking into the old sea dog's eyes, he could tell that Gibbs was not messing with him. "There is absolutely no way I can do that."

"Sure ya can," Gibbs said, slapping the young man on the back, his tone almost confident enough to be convincing. Almost.

Standing on the deck of the Pearl, Gibbs wasn't too certain that Will could do it, but he did trust Jack's judgment. Specific instructions had been given some time back should a situation such as this arise, and Gibbs knew just how Captain Sparrow wanted to deal with it. The biggest problem would be convincing Will to go through with it.

"I can't pretend to be the Captain of the Pearl! I can't even sail with a reasonable level of skill though I've been aboard for months!" Will said. It was, sadly, true. A finer swordsman you couldn't ask for, but Will Turner was just not a natural when it came to sailing. Nor was he particularly good at lying. In fact, truth be known, he really wasn't much of a pirate at all despite his bloodline. But his astonishing skill with a sword and his deep attachment to Jack kept him living the life of a pirate.

Jack told Will everyday that, with practice, he would get better with some of the finer points of pirating and Will did think his skills had improved some over the past months. He was still terrible at sailing and as poor a liar as could ever be found, yet he'd shown a previously unknown knack for plotting and scheming. Jack had been very impressed (and a bit surprised) at Will's sound tactical and nautical decisions.

Two days earlier:

"Should've been in the King's Navy," Jack said with a grin after they'd successfully caught up with a particularly heavily loaded merchant vessel due to Will's suggestions. The now retired blacksmith had acquired information about shipping routes while in port and had used that knowledge to plan a specific route that not only kept the Pearl out of danger, but also allowed her to plunder four ships in as many days. "And speakin' of the Navy," Jack had continued, "did I tell you who I met in port last week?"

"Danielle?" he asked, searching his mind for the names of the "ladies" Jack used to frequent in the area.

"No."

"Lucinda?"

"No."

"What was that other one's name ... oh yes, Misty Mountains?"

"Tha's not what I meant," Jack said, with a grin. "Captain Askew."

"Who?"

"Rufus Askew. Surprised you 'aven't heard of him before."

"Not all of us have the full benefit of a sea bound education," Will reminded, feeling for neither the first time nor the last that he was horribly unknowledgeable in the history of pirates.

"Sorry, Luv. Captain Askew used to be a Navy Captain before turning pirate."

"Surely that doesn't happen frequently."

"Mmm, maybe more than you'd expect. Still, at that level, no, it's infrequent. 's the lower ranking officers who're more commonly lured to the proper side."

Will snorted and shook his head at Jack's choice of wording for turning pirate.

"An'way, I met him about ten years back. Things didn't go so well back then. Course I wasn' at my best then either."

Will was once again left to read between the lines. Jack hadn't filled him in on all his adventures between the time he'd lost the Pearl up until his eventual fortuitous meeting with Will. Given the time period though, Will knew it was not too terribly long after Jack had lost the Pearl.

"Was more'n hesitant to make deals with 'im again, but seein' as how I've got the Pearl now, I figured I could take the risk."

"And what risk would that be, Jack?" Will asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

Sensing Will was about to go into what Jack privately called "Mother Hen" mode, Jack waved it off. "Oh you know, the usual: Pirates, treasure maps, treasure, blah blah blah."

"Why are avoiding telling me about this Jack?" Will asked, seeing right through him.

"No need to worry yerself about such things, William," Jack said, his tone bordering on condescending (or at least that's how it seemed to Will's ears).

"But weren't you just saying how pleased you were with my planning?"

"Yes, well tha's the point isn't it?" Jack said, spinning on his heel and leaving a confused Will behind him.

"What is?" Will asked, calling out after the retreating Captain.

"If I were pleased with your planning then I'd be pleased to tell you only I'm pleased wif it, but you'd be not at all pleased, in fact you'd be downright displeased. And if you were not pleased then..."

Will could tell he wasn't going to get a straight answer out of Jack and tuned him out. He'd learned quickly that Jack's circular ramblings weren't worth the effort to try to reason out – mainly because they quite often didn't make any sense whatsoever anyway.

Will had meant to see if he could find out more about what Jack had decided not to tell him. Odd, Jack was rarely secretive with him anymore and didn't change his mind midstream about telling Will something (rather the opposite: once he got going he was all but unstoppable). Will really had intended to ask Jack, but had become sidetracked. He wished now that he'd been more persistent.

Tbc...