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Chapter 2: A Sailor . . .uh, Pirate Like Me

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June 6

"Where it's wave over wave, sea over bow

I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow

There's no other life for a sailor like me

But to sail the salt sea, boys, sail the sea

There's no other life but to sail the salt sea"

A tall, lean pirate stood swaying at the helm of his finely polished ship, quietly finishing his last verse of the song. He carefully flexed his grimy cramped fingers from where they were clamped onto the wheel. Sometime during his shift it had begun to rain, and now his clothes and long dark hair were damp. The hat that he usually wore was absent from its usual place, laying somewhere in his desk where he had locked it over two months ago. Two months.

Captain Jack Sparrow leaned his weight against the helm, squinting into the distance. Was that. . .lights in the distance there? He squeezed his black smudged eyes closed again before looking again. Yep, those were city lights, clear as day. The Black Pearl had arrived in Port Royal. Jack felt a pang as the ship quietly glided into the bay. Frowning, he reached over to bang haphazardly on the large brass bell to summon the crew on deck.

Yawning, the pirate crew assembled themselves on deck. One particularly heavyset man, rubbing his filthy grizzled face, made his way over to Jack with a ferocious frown on his face. "What be the meanin' o'this, Capt'n?" he mumbled through a sleepy fog.

"Gents!" Jack yelled loudly, ignoring his newly promoted first mate. "I'm a'going ashore. I want ye all to take the Pearl to the cove a bout a mile over and hide 'er in the lagoon, savvy?"

The sailors nodded obediently, most still looking somewhat confused to be awakened so rudely at the early hours before daybreak.

Jack sighed deliberately. "After that, set up a watch," he paused and again the usually robust crew nodded obediently. Finally he spoke the words he knew that crew wanted to hear, "Then the rest o'ye dogs can have a day an' night off in western Port Royal. But no trouble, ye hear?" Jack hollered above the excited din that broke out.

"Sir, yes sir!" the crew yelled enthusiastically, all scrambling to ready the ship.

Gibbs took the wheel from Jack as the captain swayed towards his cabin. "Capt'n?" Gibbs called out hesitantly in his gruff, sea-hardened voice, "What business ye have in Port Royal?"

Jack swung around, the coins in his hair jangling as he did so, and came within inches of first mate. "Unfinished business," he said sharply before turning away and swaggering back to his cabin, slamming the door with an unpleasant thud.

Gibbs was left to stare after his captain. Since the lass left, he hadn't been himself at all: Barkin' orders to the crew, raiding harshly, and secluding himself in his cabin most of the time or climbing nimbly to the crow's nest to survey the horizon for hours on end. Gibbs was starting to get worried; why, when they were docked in Tortuga several weeks ago, Jack Sparrow who usually was the king of Tortuga and acted as one, had drunken himself into a stupor before returning to the Pearl. No whores, no duels, no fistfights or playing cards. Nothing.

Gibbs shook his head. He hoped that whatever plagued his friend's mind could be found in Port Royal. Gibbs turned the wheel several degrees and heaved a heavy sigh, beginning to doubt it already.

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As the sun rose on Port Royal, Jack Sparrow crept along through the shadows, knowing that here his neck was still wanted by many for less than pleasurable things. He made his way to a familiar store and pushed the door open. Jack drew his sword, knowing that last time he was in this shop he had been hit over the head by the drunken Mr. Brown. Jack wasn't planning on that happening again.

Suddenly, a loud ruckus began to take place. Something over his head near the ceiling began to spin noisily and someone shouted something unintelligible. Jack moved towards the center of the room, only to have something large and hairy knock into him. He fell back onto the floor with a muffled "Oomph," and the wind was knocked out of him. The assailant ran at him again, and Jack only barely managed to roll out of the way of its thundering hooves.

Wait. . .hooves?

Shaking his head to clear it, Jack climbed to his feet. The room was dim with only the embers of the fire glowing and the squealing and banging of metal on metal had not stopped. Through the din, he hunched over, searching the floor for his sword.

With the thumping of footsteps, someone came running into the room, and Jack heard the undecipherable mutterings of an intoxicated person. Unable to spot his sword, he reached for the first thing that caught his eye.

With loud twang, he pulled a smoldering, half-completed sword from the embers. Barreling towards him, the donkey suddenly stopped in its tracks, the screech of protesting machinery making Jack want to drop to his knees and clap his hands over his ears. A short, grizzled man that Jack knew must be Mr. Brown rushed at him holding a broken bottle, and Jack casually caught him with the sword tip at the back of the head.

The donkey began to hurriedly reverse its direction, backing up frantically in a clatter of hooves against straw and wood. The grinding of gears in the wrong direction was ear-splitting.

"Stop!" A newcomer leaped out in front of donkey, putting a comforting hand its nose to soothe him. The donkey stopped moving and the at last the clatter eased. "What are you trying to do, collapse the bloody place?" The newcomer demanded heatedly in a hoarse voice, thrusting a sword in Jack's surprised face and staring at him angrily.

"Ah," Jack started to say, but he suddenly knocked the figure's sword aside with his own glowing one and shoved them to the ground. There was a sudden sounding of footsteps from a back room and a young man rushed into the room. In the dim light, Jack recognized him quickly. "Will!"

Jack suddenly looked confused, stopping to stare at the person in front of him, climbing shakily to their feet. The hair was coming loose from a mussed braid and the hat previously worn had been knocked to the ground. In britches and a loose shift, recognition clicked into place, "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth swatted away the hand he chivalrously offered to steady her and rose to her full and not quite impressive height. Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and before Jack could defend himself, her fist had collided with his gut.

Jack doubled over, gasping for breath. Will bounded down to Elizabeth to check her over. Satisfied that she was unharmed, he turned to the pirate, "Jack, what are you doing here?"

"Just. . . comin' for a visit, mate," Jack drawled, lowering himself to sit down on the steps that led to the outside world.

Elizabeth glared at him with sudden renewed vengeance as she recognized a certain air about him that she had first seen on the small desert island, "Jack Sparrow, you are drunk!" she shrieked, starting towards him again.

Jack threw up his hands to ward her off, putting on his most innocent expression. "Pirate," he reminded her. Suddenly something clicked in his foggy brain and he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at Elizabeth, waggling his finger at her accusingly, "An' what are ye doin' here at this time o'mornin', missy?"

Elizabeth blushed, and Will looked flustered. Jack rolled his eyes. Hormones.

"Will was, uh, teaching me to fight. . ." Elizabeth finally admitted.

Jack observed them both. It might be true. But then again, it might not be the whole truth. Even so, he let the matter drop. "Aye," Jack said, his trademark smirk firmly set in place, "It's a fine goal, to be sure."

"Jack," Elizabeth questioned again, sneaking a puzzled exchanged glance with Will. "What are you doing here? You're not in trouble with James again, are you?" she asked accusingly.

Jack made a disappointed noise, "So little faith in me. No, I 'aven't seen the bloke since me arrival" He lapsed into silence, idly stroking his beard and finally the captain steeled himself to bite the bullet, forcing himself to sound as casual as possible, "I don't suppose ye've received any word from that man who Ana went sailin' off with, have ye?"

Elizabeth allowed herself a little knowing smile. Men, they were so bloody predictable. "No, Jack, the ship hasn't returned. I'm sorry," she told him softly.

Jack waved his hands carelessly about him, "Ah, it's no matter. Just an ol' pirate's curiosity."

"Jack," Elizabeth crossed to him; the irony of her ladylike manners while dressed in man's clothes not lost on the pirate. "No one would blame you for missing her," she blurted out.

Jack leapt to his feet, clumsily sheathing his sword that he realized was lying near his feet. "Who said I missed 'er? I said nothin' of the sort! Pirates don't miss no one, 'specially not Capt'n Jack Sparrow!"

Elizabeth took a wary step back as the man began to swing his arms and legs about in protest. Will stuck out his hand as an indication for her to not push the obviously upset pirate. Will narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, calling on the power of logic that had been so often used by Jack himself.

"I'm surprised your even asking about her, Jack," Will said slyly, his voice taking on a cold tone, "After all, she did leave you without a backwards glance for people she'd never met before. And-" Will grasped for another reason, suddenly finding it triumphantly, "And after all, she did take your Spanish coin!"

Jack's eyes narrowed menacingly. "Aye, that she did. The wench took me good Spanish coin that belongs in this here hair," he motioned to his locks, still adorned with several beads and trinkets as it were. He ignored the fact that he had given it to her as a gift the very day she had left. The pirate began to pace, the wheels turning furiously in his head, "And I vowed I'd be back for it. I don't break me oaths, mate."

Will and Elizabeth nodded obediently and fervently in agreement.

Jack continued to rant, his back going rigid as he straightened himself into his full height. "No wench makes a fool outta Captain Jack Sparrow!"

"Which is why you should tell her that and get your coin back!" Elizabeth put in enthusiastically, her eyes widening innocently in attempts to convince Jack she was really on his side. Will shot her a look, thinking that her outburst might have been a bit too much and Jack would realize what he was admitting.

However, the pirate didn't take any heed of her enthusiasm, and he spun around, beads clinking in his hair as he did so. "Right!" he yelled, "Teach her not to cross Capt'n Jack," he drawled, the full effects of his intoxication painfully obvious to the other two occupants of the room.

Jack sashayed deliberately over the steps where he had previously been sitting and walked up to the heavy wooden door. He turned to face Will and Elizabeth, not noticing as behind him the door swung quietly open. "I'm a'going to Africa!" he exclaimed.

"About bloody time!"

A new voice broke in to the conversation from the newly opened door. Jack spun around, confusion etched into the lines of his face. James Norrington stood in the doorway, and Jack recognized him as the voice that had interrupted him. Eve was clinging to James' arm, looking amused.

"I'm apologize for my rudeness, but it's true," James said, sweeping Eve into the room and baring the door behind them.

Jack stared from one to the other, his perplexed countenance set firmly in place. "Ye-Ye two. . ."

"Are looking for a new sword for Ms. Connors," James said smoothly.

"What?" Jack asked, "'How in the blazes am I supposed t'know who 'Ms. Conors' is, mate?"

"Eve," James replied, rolling his eyes. "I'm buying a new sword for Eve."

"Oh!" Jack said, merrily clapping his hands, "So it is ye found a girl!"

"Jack," Elizabeth interrupted sharply. Jack cringed as he saw one of her hands clench in a first by her side.

"But yer going to Africa!" Eve exclaimed, breaking the somewhat uncomfortable moment.

Jack shook his head to clear it. "Aye. . ." he looked confused on how he had arrived at that conclusion, "That I am,"

Elizabeth looked at her fiancée with a new spark in her eyes, "And we're going with you!"

All eyes in the room swung to her. "What?" Jack asked finally, getting a sinking feeling about this.

"No, you're not," Will broke in, "It's too dangerous."

"Will!" Elizabeth exclaimed, and Jack knew instinctively that the boy was going to cave. "Will, this is my last chance to have an adventure and see the world! Once we are wed I can't do anything like that. . ." she trailed off, giving him a little smile, "There will be children to think of, and I'll have lost my chance."

Will returned her smile with a sappy one of his own. The boy nodded and took her hand.

Hook, line, and sinker, she had him. Jack rolled his eyes. "My apologizes for breaking the mood, but yer not comin'."

"Jack, please," Elizabeth turned her pleading dark eyes on the pirate.

Jack huffed. He looked over at Eve and the commodore observing the ordeal from a little ways away, "An' I suppose ye want to come, too?"

Eve frowned slightly, and James looked slightly amused. "I'm afraid my duties as won't permit it," he told the pirate regretfully.

"I haven't grown accustomed this new place yet, so I'll be stayin' here. Sorry, Capt'n," Eve piped up. "But I'll be wantin' to see ye again when ye come back," she said with a smile, leaving the unspoken words where they were. Everyone else in the room besides the pirate captain heard them clearly. 'When ye come back with Ana.'

"No," Jack said finally, turning to the soon to be Turners once more. "I can't let ye. I can't be responsible if somethin' happens to ye."

"Jack," Elizabeth tried her best pout.

Jack held up his hand. "No," he said in the most stern, captain-like voice he could muster. "It's been wonderful to see ye all again, but I've got a . . .a . . . gold coin t'get back."

Jack sashayed to the door, tipping his invisible hat to the occupants of the room. "Ta."

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Twenty-four hours later, Captain Jack Sparrow found himself aboard the Black Pearl en route to the African continent as a man with a mission . . . and hell's worst headache.

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AN: *giggles* Making a little more sense now? And so, the real adventures (and surprises, don't forget them!) begin. My reviewers are (as always) amazing.

For a disclaimer, see first chapter, yes?