AN/ I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, but that's just how it turned out. Enjoy it regardless!
Getting down to business, we found the man Jack was looking for, Mr Gibbs, sleeping against three large pigs in a stall of an out of the way stable. Jack and will each found a bucket and filled it with water. We snuck up to the sleeping and Jack splashed his water onto him. Gibbs and the pigs were instantly awake.
"Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!" Gibbs shouted angrily, grabbing a knife that lay by his side. When he recognised Jack, his expression relaxed into one of joy. "Mother's love! Jack!" Gibbs put the knife away. "You should know better then to wake a man when he's sleepin'. It's bad luck."
"Ah, fortunately, I know how to counter it," Jack said. "The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking." As he spoke, Jack moved down closer to Gibbs. I knew that besides myself, this was one of the few people Jack trusted. One of his few friends left in this world.
The older, balding man took a moment to wrap his head around what Jack had just said. Then he smiled. "Aye, that'll about do it." Gibbs reached out a hand and Jack helped him to his feet.
As soon as Jack took a step back, Will, without warning, splashed Gibbs with his bucket of water. "Blast! I'm already awake!" the drenched man declared, more then a little annoyed.
"That was for the smell," Will explained. Jack looked from him to back at Gibbs, who shrugged in agreement. I laughed.
From there, we moved to a near by inn. Half the people in it were fighting for one reason or another. Everyone was completely sloshed and it was very noisy. Jack found a somewhat quiet corner, sat Gibbs down in it, and went and got two mugs of rum. When he returned, he leaned in close to Will, who was leaning on a wooden pillar not too far away, but just far enough so that he would have trouble eavesdropping on the pirate's conversation. "Keep a sharp eye," Jack instructed him, then he sat down across from Gibbs at their small, private, candlelit table. I lingered by Jack's right side. The two men took a swallow of their drinks.
"Now, what's the nature of this venture of your'n?" Gibbs asked, and he made to take another sip of his rum.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl," Jack said. This statement caused Gibbs to choke on his drink. Coughing, he looked around to see if anyone had overheard. Jack continued, sounding utterly confident. "I know where it's going to be, and I'm gonna take it." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Jack," Gibbs said, shaking his head a little. "It's a fool's errand. You know better then me the tales of the Black Pearl." He winked, signifying that he remembered Jack's story and what had happened to him a decade ago.
"That's why I know what Barbossa's up to. All I need is a crew."
"What I hear tell of Captain Barbossa, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."
"Well, then I say it's a very good thing I'm not a fool then, eh?" Jack wasn't going to give up.
"Prove me wrong," Gibbs challenged. "What makes you think Barbossa will give up his ship to you?"
"Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, eh?" I smiled when Jack said that, and I noticed that the word 'leverage' had caught Will's attention. He turned his head to look at us for a moment, before he focused his attention back on the rambunctious surroundings. Gibbs looked at Jack questionably. Jack made many amusing attempts to gesture towards the blacksmith, who was now being hit upon by a rather large woman, with his head and eyes. At last, Gibbs got it.
"The kid?" he asked. Jack nodded.
"That is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner." Gibbs' eyes widened in realisation at the name. "His only child. Savvy?" Jack said. We both shared smiles, the candlelight reflection off our teeth and giving our skin an almost eerie golden colour.
"Is he now?" Gibbs looked at Will with new interest. The prostitute who had been, um, interested in him had found another, more willing customer. "Leverage, says you," the portly man said to Jack. "I think I feel a change in the wind says I." Jack looked pleased. Both of the men's eyes had a sparkle in them. "I'll find us a crew. There's bound to be some sailors on the rock crazy as you."
"One can only hope." Jack grabbed his mug and lifted it up to Gibbs in a toast. "Take what you can!"
"Give nothin' back!" the friends clanked their mugs together drained the rum, and slammed the mugs back on the table as one.