DISCLAIMER: No, I don't in any way own Jack Sparrow or any other of the wondeful characters from Pirates of the Caribbean. They belong to Disney and I'm merely writing this for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of others.

Jack had barely stridden three steps before Bootstraps appeared at the door behind him.

"Jack!" Bootstraps called, earning the young pirates attention. Bootstraps had a solemn look of concern on his face. Jack inwardly groaned, this man was a pathetic pirate, even more so than him, and he was about eight years younger than the man. "D'you think I could a have a wee chat with yer a moment?"

Jack didn't actually want to have anything more to do with this pirate, he hadn't much before and he saw no reason why he should start now. Bootstraps had kindled a new desire in him, and it included an immediate healthy visit to his uncle. He studied the fool's face, who looked back, not hopefully, but sternly.

"Alrigh'" He frowned, deciding to unearth the reason for Bootstrap's expression.

He gestured to the door they had just come from, and Jack swaggered back to it.

Once in, Bootstraps shut the door behind him and gave a conspiring glance through the solid wood before closing the distance between him and his captain's nephew.

"I know you might not believe me, but someone has to tell you this." He whispered as if the cots and hammocks themselves were listening. "The crew have been getting angry recently about the way your uncle has been behaving. They say it's because of your aunt, 'n' that she's turning 'im soft. They're restless Jack, say they'll through the both of 'em off the ship."

Jack's brow furrowed, his good mood was diminishing slightly. His suspicions had been right about the crew, and he only hoped his ideas of his uncle settling down were correct too. But these were pirates, and not any old pirates, they were the crew of The Black Pearl. Jack knew them well for their idol ranting. Unfortunately, he also knew them well for their rash actions. He vaguely noticed Bootstraps was still talking to him, so returned his attention to him.

"… then yer'd be wrong. They're serious about marooning the pair of them, Jack. Barbossa, he's organizing it," Jack's eyes widened to hear the first mates name, the mutinous bastard "and literally all the crew agree with the idea, even those who are loyal to the captain. They're too scared to go against Barbossa, he can be… very persuasive."

Jack's dark eyes snapped up to Bootstraps and saw the pain distorted in his face, a sudden feeling of horror arose inside him. How long had this plan of mutiny been going on, and how many pirates had been 'converted'? And most of all, why on earth had he not noticed?

"If he's persuasive, then why hasn't he persuaded me?" He adopted his familiar drawl hoping to betray the lingering feeling of fear in his stomach.

Bootstraps looked as if he had just swallowed a lead pellet. His face paled, and an inkling of realization came to Jack, Bootstraps was coming to him as a last resort. He had always been an honourable man, which was strange for a pirate and made Jack often wonder why he was one at all. But if there was one thing Jack knew Bootstraps wouldn't do, it was mutiny against his captain.

He watched Bootstraps as he tackled whatever it was, whatever thought in his head that stopped him from answering his question. He turned and ran fingers through his hair, he groaned, he grunted, he even growled. Then he sighed and turned back to the young man before him.

As well as Bootstraps knew Jack otherwise, he was just a boy, a teenager. He felt selfish that he couldn't do anything about the situation and had to get Jack to do it for him. But what choice did he have? If Barbossa even heard of this meeting, he would come down on top of him like a ton of bricks.

"Because yer're all part of the plan too." He eventually answered, with much difficulty.

Jack raised an eyebrow. That statement meant nothing to him, except that the first mate of the ship was surprisingly more intelligent than he had believed. First mate. He groaned, he thought he had an idea of what this plan would entail.

"Jack, they're going to get rid of you too." Bootstraps whispered. Sure as the depths of the ocean, his suspicion had been right. He felt the truth hit him like a tidal wave, leaving him disorientated and numb. "The crew… well, they hate you." Bootstraps bit his lip, he had no idea how Jack would handle this. He simply nodded as he collapsed into a conveniently placed hammock. Bootstraps winced, what was he doing? He didn't think he was even sure any more.

No use lying about it now, the truth all had to come out.

"I don't know how, only Barbossa seems to know that." He continued, the memory of the private meeting still fresh in his mind as if it had been branded into place. Barbossa had told the crew his plans, and to his horror, most of the crew had cheered. When a pirate asked how Barbossa was to rid of Jack, he had simply grinned and said that information would come in good time. "But it seems like he plans to do so after the mutiny, if you can stop the mutiny, then you can be out of harms way also."

Jack looked up from his dazed stupor, how was he possibly going to manage that? He almost wished the shots in his chest had killed him.

"So, how does an outstanding gentleman such as yourself think I should go about that?" He felt the bitter tone his voice, but didn't feel any regret about it.

"I…" Bootstraps paused, he hadn't thought this far. "Don't know." He gave a sigh of resignation and sat on a hammock as near as the Jack he could find. Jack's sullen face returned to the ground. He really wasn't sure how much of this he had taken it, it felt a bit fuzzy on the edges, he could have missed something.

"When's the mutiny?" He mumbled, sure that was the most important thing he needed to know.

"Soon." Came the pathetic reply.

"How soon?"

"I don't know."

Jack closed his eyes in despair. He needed a plan, and he needed a plan sooner than soon. He could tell his uncle there was a mutiny afoot, but whether he would be listened to or not, he wasn't sure. It was worth a try though, after all, what was the worst that could happen?

Barbossa could find out that he knew. That could be bad.

Grunting, he opened his eyes and shook his head. He had to get some fresh air. Quickly standing to his feet, he remembered that promise he had made to himself. No sudden movements. He gasped slightly and his eyes widened in shock, as the pain shot in stabbing sensations through his chest and right arm.

Silently waiting for the pain to subside, Jack stood stone still. Bootstraps looked up in confusion, and when the young pirate headed to the door, he leapt to his feet.

"Where are you going?" He asked, grabbing Jack's shirt, making it gather up around his throat. He gulped and stopped, he would only be strangled if he kept on moving. He pulled his shirt back and smoothed it down somewhat pompously.

"To get some fresh air." He drawled.

"Yer mustn't tell anyone I told yer this, alrigh'?" Bootstraps pleaded.

"Yeah, s'all savvy." Jack pulled the door open and made his way up to the deck. When he stepped out, he was first of all blinded. Blinking a little, he allowed his eyes adjust to the light and succumb to the constant pain of the bright sunlight on the crystal oceans. Truth was, his eyes were rather sensitive to too much light, but he'd never been able to do anything about it.

He observed his immediate surroundings. The dark-wood deck was toiling with pirates pulling on ropes, mopping the deck, and tying knots. The vast black sails above them were also home to more of the crew adjusting the giant ship to sail at just the right speed. He found himself wondering how many of these pirates were loyal to his uncle.

Turning around he came to face the top deck. Ornate banisters framed the steps up to the wheel. At the wheel stood his uncle, though he was a distance away, Jack could make out the Captain's hat and black coat. Needless to say, Jack's uncle had an affinity with the colour black.

Gritting his teeth, Jack made his way to the top deck, he would take this slowly and hopefully it would work to his wishes.

Golden statue still in hand, Jack climbed the black steps and rounded up on his uncle who stood at the wheel.

His uncle was quite a tall man, and well built, rather the opposite of Jack who quite short and of a far skinnier build. Yet they both shared the jet black hair and skin colour, even if the Captain's hair was in dreadlocks and didn't fall past his shoulders and his skin was all the more cleaner than Jack's. Also the big man's eyes were not nearly as dark as Jack's. A thick beard surrounded his chin and his face was wrinkled with age. Nonetheless, their similarity in appearance was remarkable and most would say they were father and son.

The Captain's brown eyes flickered from the horizon to his nephew at the side of him.

"You're up then?" He muttered gruffly, not as if he were in a bad mood, but as if he weren't one who understood small talk.

"Yeah." Jack answered absentmindedly. "So we not in Dover anymore?" He said, stating the obvious. If they were moving on the sea then they wouldn't be in Dover, would they? But it was small talk, and a way of asking where they were going next.

"No. Sailing across the Channel right now, shan't be long until we reach France." The Captain's eyes didn't move once from the horizon as he spoke.

"France?" Jack wrinkled his nose in mock disgust, he wasn't all too fond of France. For one he hated the language and it always took him a while to understand what a French person was actually saying before he could conjure an answer.

"Yes, France. Don't worry though, we're not stopping there for long. We'll be sailing down to Spain and then…" The Captain paused dramatically and was clearly excited. "We cross the great Atlantic Ocean and go to America!" His face set into a grin.

"America?" Jack's eyebrows rose.

"Yes America. What's wrong with you boy, have you gone and forgotten the names of all the important places in this world?" The Captain said irritably.

"Erm… no. Just, blood loss 'n' all, not quite here." Jack attempted a grin. If they were crossing the Atlantic ocean, and Barbossa was going to host the mutiny, then he could be more than sure that the first mate would do so when they were in the middle of the ocean. That thought made the grin very hard to pull off.

"So you shouldn't be." The Captain didn't remove his eyes from the horizon, yet they were still set with concern. "You should be back in that sick bay, shouldn't be up and about after two shots in the chest. Even after five days sleep."

He'd been unconscious for five days?

It took a while for him to register a reply, and after a heavy frown, he was ready to speak again. He swaggered to stand in front of his uncle, and had he been tall enough, he would have blocked the man's view and caused great annoyance. Fortunately for him, he was at least a head shorter than the Captain. He leant forward on the wheel, that got his uncles attention.

"So, what ya gonna do in America, eh?" He slurred.

The Captain looked down in irritation at his nephew. "More the Caribbean than America." He grunted.

"The Ca-" Jack stopped himself, he didn't want to sound like a parrot. "Really? So what will we be doing in the sunny Caribbean?"

"The usual."

"Ah. So no looking around at big…houses, perhaps?" Jack gave his uncle a fixed stare, if he could get his uncle to admit he was going to settle down, maybe he could convince the crew not to mutiny.

"Only for lootin'" His uncle grinned.

"So, not for keepsies?" Jack asked hesitantly. His uncle looked down at him with a frown, and then noticed the golden statue still in his clutches.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked.

It took Jack a long time to work out what he was talking about. He was about to make a reply before a voice spoke behind him that sent a chill down his spine.

"Captain Sparrow, may I have a word with ye?"

Jack spun around immediately and came face to face with Barbossa. He gulped down a cry.

Barbossa's yellowing eyes flickered to Jack for only a brief moment, but he felt cold inside even so. Barbossa managed to also tower over him, though was more threatening than his uncle. He had a white scar on his right cheek and wore a large hat that shadowed his face. Jack estimated he had to be only a couple of years younger than his uncle as he had less wrinkles and no grey hairs in his light brown hair and beard.

"Certainly." The Captain replied, as Jack winced. "Run along back to sick bay now Jack, if you're not there by the time I'm done with this conversation, there'll be trouble."

Jack gave a weakened look at Barbossa who gave him a slightly malicious grin back. Feeling like ice inside, Jack quickly turned around and headed down the steps. He did his best to ignore the sharp pain in his chest and arm, but had to stop at the base of the stairs to catch his breath. He could hear Barbossa's voice behind him and wondered how much of his conversation he had heard.

If there was one thing for sure, it wouldn't be good if he had been listening. Not good at all.

A knock on the door brought Bootstraps to attention. He looked up at the source of the sound. Assuming it was Jack, because he would be the only one to knock on the door and everyone else would just walk right in, he prepared himself to let the boy in. However before he could say anything, the door burst open.

Bo'sun and Koehler strode right up to him, and before he could do anything, they had him pushed up against a wall. Bootstraps winced as his head hit the wall, and the grip they had on his arms pinched at his skin.

Before he could say anything, a figure loomed over him, behind the two black pirates. Bootstraps closed his eyes, trying to forget what was in front of him. A fist hit him in the stomach. He roared in pain and his eyes shot open. A hand clasped his jaw, crushing it beneath its grip.

Fearfully, Bootstraps looked up into the yellowing eyes.

"Someone's been a naughty boy."

Note from the author: Ooooo.... I can write cliffhangers. Or can simply decide this chapter has gotten long enough and needs to be cut off very soon. I did promise a longer chapter, and so I delivered. Bo'sun and Koehler are both from the POTC movie and if any of you movie buffs know it well enough, then you'll know who they are. If not, I'll tell you. Bo'sun is the tall one with all the piercings (first mate) and Koehler is the one with all the dreadlocks. I simply didn't describe them to get that last bit moving nice and quick.

Tell me if you liked it and the next chapter shall be coming hopefully soon. A warning now, I think this might go up in rating as it goes on, simply for violence, but we'll see how that goes.

Replies to comments: Thankyou Flute Damioh, Emx and me.aparently for your comments, I hope you will continue to read this fanfic.