The dark ship cut swiftly through the water, the salty ocean waves sending foamy sprays over the sparkling deck. Aboard the glimmering planks, the crew moved quickly; nimble, calloused fingers tied and retied ropes, hoisted sails, and occasionally stopped to wipe away some small drips of sweat. Over all, the atmosphere was a happy one. There was a slight hum of chatter through a cool Caribbean breeze, and the flash of smiles under the warming Caribbean sun. And at the helm, the ship's beloved captain surveyed it all, his mischievous eyes a-twinkle with an air of genuine happiness.

"Sail, HO!" A voice echoed from the sky. The captain's eyes shot first to the crow's nest where a small boy, no older than 14, sat looking intensely at the horizon.

"Aye, boy? Might you be able to tell us down here what kind of ship we're approaching?" The captain's voice boomed up to the lad.

"Yes, Captain! It looks like we be coming up against a French merchant ship! They'll always be looking mighty obvious in those God-awful ugly hats they be wearing!"

The captain smirked, his lip curling up as his eyes shone with as much excitement as Lee's, the boy stationed in the crow's nest.

"Men," he addressed his crew, "Make chase!"

The ship erupted in a burst of cheers. Men picked up their pace as they grabbed their cutlasses and pistols, grappling irons, and purses to be filled with the loot they hoped was aboard that unlucky French vessel. In mere minutes the glistening pirate ship overhauled what could only be described as a tiny boat, hanging low in the water with its new world cargo.

The captain jumped down from helm to briefly address his crew. With a grand flourish of his hands, he shouted all that need to be said.

"Take whatcha can!"

And in response came a resounding,

"GIVE NOTHIN' BACK!"

A flurry of shouts, clanging blades, and the occasional cannon boom erupted in the Caribbean air that had just been so peaceful. Grungy pirates with maniac grins confronted the shaking crew of the French Galleon Le Grande Pomplemousse. A brief skirmish ensued (it could hardly be called a battle), resulting in the less than honorable surrender of the French captain, Jean-Jacque de Mimsy Porpington. He was literally crawling on his hands and knees to the pirate captain, who was eyeing him with disbelief. Had captains no honor these days? Well, no captain can be as honorable, or as utterly handsome as I am…he grinned to himself, which Captain Porpington mistook as a malicious action. Screaming, he flung himself flat onto the deck at the pirate leader's feet and ground his mouth into the boot of this insane, brutal, lawless man that was plundering his ship. Blubbering, he looked up and smacked his hands together as a sign of prayer.

"Pleez, monsieur Pireet! We mean you no harm! I surrender mon sheep to you!"

"Sheep, you say? Well, I think I have a better proposal for you, my poor friend!" The pirate said, shaking his boot out of the Frenchman's desperate grasp. "Whatdya say if I tell you to keep your sheep? And I'll just be taking what's rightfully mine aboard this ship of yours. No, livestock is not my cup of tea…. But treasure is certainly my bottle of rum!" He said this last part with a slight shake of his shoulders with his arms raised and a drunken swagger in his hips. Taking a wide step over Porpington, he took a few more great strides to the side of a short, round old man, who was overseeing the tying-up of the French crew.

"Gibbs, my old friend!" Joshamee Gibbs raised one eyebrow and stared at his captain, but the captain took no notice of this, and continued. "Our good pal over there has been so kind as to grant us full access to any and all of this lovely vessel's cargo. We wouldn't want to insult him by turning down such a grand offer, now would we?"

Gibbs's look of confusion quickly turned to one of sheer delight.

"Aye captain, that'd be mighty rude, even with us bein' pirates!" He turned to the rest of the crew who was ready to take further orders. Gibbs huffed in annoyance. "Well ye scabbardous dogs! I shouldn't hafta tell yeh at all! Get to plunderin!" The pirates scattered, moving down into the hull of the ship and returning to deck with loads of booty. Their eyes sparkled with greed and adrenaline. It took a good twenty minutes to unload the Pomplemousse of its generous innards, and that was working quickly. Any other crew would have taken a good 40 minutes minimum.

"Captain! Yer' deadlights be staring out to nowhere. We got the booty, and the crew's ready to weigh anchor." Gibbs snapped his fingers in front of his captain's eyes. The captain jerked his head back, snapping out of the trance he was in.

"Ah, yes of course Gibbs! Was just thinking that it's hauls like these that make me glad that I went on the account (A/N: became a pirate)! No life is better than that of a buccaneer," he grabbed the end of a rope to swing back aboard his beloved pirate ship, but jumped first atop the railing of the Pomplemousse.

"Gentlemen!" he yelled, addressing the bound French crew. "You will always remember this as the day that your ship was plundered by the one and only Captain! Jack! Sparrow!" And with that, he swung across, only not as gracefully as he would have liked. With a strong shout of "GANGWAY," Captain Sparrow landed with a sound thump on his ass. He stood grumbling, eyeing his crew. "WELL! Weigh anchor! Smartly now, we don't have all day!"

So with a new load of commandeered goods, the legendary Black Pearl continued along the sapphire waters of the Caribbean.

One week earlier….

Rena Floyd and her mother Ethel were in their cabin on the merchant vessel Lifeblood. They had been living in Nassau Port for about 3 years after saving up to move from England. Rena had been 19 then, and this year in celebration of her 22 birthday, her mother was treating her to a vacation in Port Royal. To the untrained eye, this may have seemed quite strange; why would a mother take her daughter to Port Royal, one of the most dangerous pirate capitals of the Caribbean, (A/N: this is historically correct. During the Golden Age of Piracy, Port Royal had been as much of a pirate haven as our beloved Tortuga) for her birthday? It was quite simple, really. One, Port Royal had considerably cleaned up its act during the past few years, and the threat was much lower. Second, Rena and her mother simply did not have enough of a fortune to go much farther. Moving to Nassau had taken nearly 10 years to save up for, and while the Floyds were most definitely not poor, they certainly were not rich. And third, Rena really just needed to get away. The citizens of Nassau had been less that friendly to the two strangers that had stumbled into their town after a long, storm ridden journey from England. Gossip begat gossip, and soon, if a person didn't know any better, one would assume that Rena Floyd and her mother had 5 eyes and a hidden third ear, and that they were actually witches on the run after they had cursed a lady-in-waiting for the king. Nassau Port was not very friendly in that sense. Yet Ethel had been adamant about not moving again; she said that Nassau was "haven enough for the two of us, and haven enough for whatever may come." Although this sounded suspicious, Rena could care less about questioning her mother. She was preoccupied over her hair, because she didn't want people to start spreading rumors about her having a wig. I swear, even someone leaving their house is a topic for gossip here! Bloody fools, the lot of Nassau!

Now, sitting on the less than comfy cabin bed, Rena thought about their upcoming arrival in Port Royal.

"Mother, what exactly will we be doing once we get to Port Royal?" She stood and nearly tripped as a small wave hit the side of the ship.

"I suppose we'll just relax and do a tad bit of shopping, what do you say to that?" Ethel remained at a small desk in the corner of the cabin, shuffling through some papers in a small satchel she had brought along.

"Aye, that sounds ace. I'll be happy to be able to walk about a town without a trail of whispers behind me. I think next time I'll be telling those wankers to clear off!"

"Hush hush, Rena! Don't be daft, the people are just feeling ya out. Give it time,"

"I've been giving it time, mum. Years!" Rena said with a huff. She moved back to the bed as another wave nearly toppled her. Ethel sighed and continued to flip through her stack of papers.

"Mum, what are you looking at?" Rena scooted closer to the edge of the bed to try and get a better look at the documents. In a flash, Ethel spun around and stuffed the papers back into her bag. Her eyes flashed briefly with what Rena thought was fear.

"MUM. What in the bloody hell was that!" Ethel refused to answer. With a burst of energy, Rena flung herself toward the satchel and grabbed the worn leather. Ethel screamed, grabbing for the bag, and tried to pry it out of Rena's fingers. They were pulling it back and forth, Rena pulling with all her might, and Ethel grasping to it with desperation. In another strong pull, the satchel flew out of Ethel's hands and was flung across the cabin.

Rena and Ethel lunged themselves toward the satchel.

"What are you trying to hide, mum!" Rena huffed as she scrambled to get the bag away from her mother.

"'Tis… nothing… of… your… CONCERN!" Ethel struggled mightily with her much younger and much stronger daughter. Obviously, it was a life or death matter for Ethel to get back the satchel.

Above deck, while the mother and daughter fought below, a crew member spotted something that no honest shipper wanted to see- a jolly roger flying high and bearing down on the Lifeblood.

"Blimey!" the crewmember cursed under his breath as he hurried to warn the captain. The captain also cursed under his breath.

"Crew! Prepare to cross blades, we've got pirates on our tail!"