Several hours had passed since our grand escape. Captain Jack was doing most of the work around the Interceptor. Out of the three of us, he knew the most about sailing and had the most experience, so it made sense. Jack was also very much a take charge kind of guy, so it was natural for him. Will helped out where he could. He kept talking to Jack, trying to find out bits of information. The pirate was slow to reveal anything to him though. I was sitting on the boom line, doing my bit by helping steer the ship towards Tortuga.

Will was cleaning and sharpening his sword when he began to talk about his past. Jack and I listened, only half or less interested.

"When I lad living in England my mother raised me by herself. After she died, I came out here, looking for my father."

"Is that so?" Jack was starting to sound bored.

"My father, Bill Turner?" Will followed Jack up the stairs that led to the helm. "At the jail it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help. Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter. " Jack kneeled down to tighten some ropes, trying to ignore the persistent man. ""I'm not a simpleton, Jack," the blacksmith continued. "You knew my father."

There was a pause. "You might as well tell him about Bootstrap," I said to Jack. The pirate sighed, stood up, and turned to face Will.

"I knew him," he admitted. "Probably one of the few who knew him as William Turner. Everyone else just called him 'Bootstrap' or 'Bootstrap Bill.'" Jack moved to the helm, turning his back on the blacksmith.

"Bootstrap?" Will repeated. He seemed confused. This was not what he was expecting Jack to say.

"Good man," Jack said, describing his old friend as he removed the rope loops that kept the helm still. "Good pirate." At this, Will looked up, surprised and angered. Jack turned around to look at him. "I swear, you look just like him."

Will was in denial about the whole thing. "It's not true. He was a merchant sailor. A good, respectable man who obeyed the law."

Jack rolled his eyes. "He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag."

Behind the pirate's back, Will drew his sword. "My father was not a pirate!" he insisted. It was my turn to roll my eyes. Jack remained calm, even though he heard Will's blade become free.

"Put it away, son," he said. "It's not worth you getting beat again."

"You didn't beat me," Will argued. "You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you."

Jack turned to face Will again. "That's not much incentive for me to fight fair then, is it?" he retorted.

Suddenly, before Will could react, Jack spun the helm sharply to the right, causing the boom line with me still sitting on top of it to swing all the way over to the port side. It caught Will in the chest, making him drop the sword and hang on for dear life suspended over the sea. I was expecting Jack to do this, but the sudden, quick movement caused me to fall backwards off my perch. I arched my spine and back flipped gracefully into an upright position on the other side of the boom. I glided over to Jack and landed by his side as he picked up the sword.

"Now as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention." Will was hanging on, but with some difficulty. He didn't look very happy or comfortable. I considered this payback for what he did to me yesterday. "The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do, and what a man can't do." I realized that Jack was sharing some of his life experience here, providing an important lesson in choices for Will, who himself had no choice but to listen. "For instance," Sparrow continued. "You can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that someday. Now me, for example, I can let you drown, but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesies, savvy?" At the helm, Jack accented a few points by tapping the deck with the sword. "

"So," Jack turned the wheel and the boom line swung back over. Will fell onto the deck. Standing over him, Jack pointed the blade of the sword at him. "Can you sail under the command of a pirate?" he asked, and he flipped the sword so he was offering the handle of it to Will. "Or can you not?" Jack had shown that he was the alpha male here. Now it was up for Will to decide.

The blacksmith took the sword form Jack. "Tortuga?"

"Tortuga," the pirate captain repeated. I felt a smile cross my face.

We reached the infamous pirate town by nightfall. I would not be exaggerating when I say that Tortuga was wild. In fact, it's a bit of an understatement. Drunken pirates and prostitutes were chasing each other everywhere. Pistols were going off, people were being thrown off balconies and the rum was flowing free and in plentiful supply. I have never been in any place like it before, and I confess I would be glad never to go there again. Will seemed to share my feelings of the place. Jack seemed to fit right in. I think that if Jack had a home on land, Tortuga would be it.

"It is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep the sweet proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga. Savvy?" Jack said as we walked through the town. He snached a cane from a passing man. "What do you think?"

My response was to wrinkle my nose in disgust at the filthily, drunken man around us. Will tried to be nice about it.

"It'll linger,' he said.

"I'll tell you, mate," Jack continued. "If every town were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted." I rolled my eyes. Typical male comment.

Jack had attracted the attention of a tall, red haired woman wearing too much make up and a low cut dress. Her expression towards my assignment was not inviting. When Jack saw her, he lit up even more, if that was possible. "Scarlet!" he cried as he rushed towards her. She stormed angrily up to him, slapped him hard, turned on her heel, and strided back to her post.

His head knocked around by the force of the hit, Jack said to me and Will "not sure I deserved that." I bit my lip to suppress a smile. Will raised his eyebrows as another girl walked up to Jack. This one was blonde. "Giselle," Jack greeted her.

"Who was she?" Giselle asked.

"What?" Jack was met with another slap. Giselle stormed off too. "I may have deserved that," Jack admitted.This time, I couldn't contain my laughter.