I found myself below deck, in an area of the Black Pearl I had never seen on screen before. I looked around cautiously, wondering what part of the ship I was in. It seemed that the room I had just come out of was a storage room. I decided to just explore and find my way up.

It was a dream come true for me. I actually got to roam around the Black Pearl! I crept around below deck, afraid of meeting one of the pirates. I was pretty sure the whole crew had seen me, but I was still unsure of how they would react to seeing a fifteen-year-old girl in strange clothing wandering around their ship.

I noticed a table covered with extra swords, pistols, and knives. Excellent! I thought, carefully picking up one of the swords. It was heavier than I had expected--I guess I had assumed they would be lighter because of the ease that the characters of the movies handled them with.

I held the sword in my right hand and examined the handle and blade. The handle was simple, with a silver hilt and a black grip. The wrought metal that surrounded it swirled just above my hand. The blade was a bit dull, probably from lack of use. It curved slightly up, ending in a sharp point.

"Holy crap," I whispered. "What the hell did I do to deserve this?"

"What, you don't like it here?"

I gasped and turned around quickly, dropping the sword. Jack was standing a few feet behind me.

"Sorry, love, didn't mean to scare you," he said, coming closer to the table.

"I wasn't scared!" I said defensively. "I just thought I was alone." I took a deep breath to steady my breathing. Although I didn't want to admit it to him, Jack had scared me. And it literally took my breath away to find my favorite fictional character staring at me...an exceptionally hot fictional character...

"Ah, you found the armory, then," Jack remarked, gesturing towards the table.

"Armory?" I asked incredulously. "This is a table."

"Yes, well, the ship's a little disorganized," Jack said. "We're still trying to clear out all of the things Barbossa had on here..." He noticed me gazing at the sword. "Oh, you like this one?" he asked, sounding delighted. "Good. You can have it."

"What--we won't be fighting anyone anytime soon, will we?"

"It's possible, but not probable," said Jack, picking through the weapons on the table. "You never know when you might need to...defend yourself."

"But I can't fight!" I exclaimed." I've never shot a gun in my life, and I doubt I can handle a sword."

Jack paused in his searching and looked up at me. "What, do you want me to train you or something?"

"That would be nice."

"Maybe some other time, love. For now, I have a ship to captain."

"Yet you still had time to come down here and talk to me."

Jack smirked and moved closer to me. "Just had to make sure you weren't makin' any trouble."

He moved me out of the way with his arm while handing me the sword.

"Oh, and you might want to find some shoes, love. The splinters are terrible." Jack flounced--I really can't think of better word for how he walks...sashayed?--to the stairs.

I stood there for a moment, collecting my thoughts. Maybe I can talk to him while he's...doing whatever it is he does when he's captaining.

Unsure of what to do with my sword, glanced back at the "armory." This time, I noticed a brown belt with a few sheaths. I picked up curiously, and, grinning, tried it on. It was a little big, but it worked. I stuck the sword in a sheath on my left and shoved a knife in a smaller sheath on my right. I didn't trust the pistols; I had heard they could backfire when unused for too long.

I then looked around for some boots. I found a pile of them on the floor next to the table. Hot damn! I thought, grinning. Genuine pirate boots!

The boots I chose were well-worn, but not ratty. They were brown and reached up to about mid-calf, where my cutoffs ended. They were the smallest pair I could find, but they were still a little big for me. Which is saying something, I guess, since my feet are pretty big--which led to my clumsiness.

Pleased with my new accessories, I picked my way through the ropes, crates, and lanterns that littered the floor and hung from the ceiling. More than once the sword caught on something, jerking me back and pulling the belt down. And the boots were a little hard to get used to, with the overturned flaps and soft material.

Suddenly the ship lurched forward violently. Caught off guard, I was tripped over a stray lantern and fell into a pile of coiled ropes. The Pearl was rocking back and forth, and I was totally unprepared. Grimacing, I stood up shakily, trying to steady myself.

The weapons on the armory table slid to the floor as the Pearl made another lurch forward. I leaped out of the way of a lantern that went crashing to the floor.

Oh, great, I get to ride on the Black Pearl, and now I'm gonna die on it!

I rushed--well, I tried to rush--to the stairs, tripping twice and dodging ropes. I finally stumbled on to the first stair, exhausted. I pulled my way up, having to stop and lean against the banisters whenever the ship made a particularly nasty lurch. Finally, I came to a trapdoor-like contraption over my head. Excited, I pushed against it.

Nothing happened.

I grit my teeth and pushed again. The damn door was too heavy! I used all of my strength to open it, but it barely moved. I groaned in frustration and flopped down on the stairs.

Suddenly the door opened. I looked up in surprise, squinting against the bright sun.

"Couldn't get the door open, missy?"

It was Mr. Gibbs. Unsure of how to reply, I grabbed his offered hand and pulled myself up.

"Uh, no. I've always been a bit of a weakling..." I smiled sheepishly.

Mr. Gibbs said nothing, staring at me. I guess he was kind of afraid of me, being so superstitious and all. He hadn't liked it when Elizabeth and Anamaria were on his ship, so he was probably anxious about a teenage girl coming out of nowhere.

Besides his worries about women, I had always liked Mr. Gibbs. "Curse ya for breathin', ya slack-jawed idiot!" was one of my favorite lines in the film.

Gibbs stopped his staring and turned away. I thought I saw him crossing himself and drinking out of his flask out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't be sure.

Smiling to myself, I looked around for my first real look at the Black Pearl, the fastest ship in the Caribbean.

I thought I was going to faint again.

We were already far away from Port Royal, which was just a small speck in the distance behind us. Before us, there was the vast open ocean. I had never thought the ocean could look so beautiful, alluring, and dangerous all at the same time.

I watched the crew scurrying around, adjusting sails and ropes. I noticed many characters from the movie, including Cotton, who was helping heaving up a sail, and Anamaria, who was at the helm.

But these aren't characters in a movie anymore, I thought wonderingly. Now, they're real people...

"Miss Connors!"

I turned to see Jack standing behind me--again--but this time he was standing at the edge of the ship.

I started walking toward him, but instead fell to my knees as the ship took another heave.

"You've got some lousy sea legs, I see."

I glanced up to see Jack standing in front of me, offering a hand.

I took it gratefully. "I've never been on a ship before," I admitted, standing up. I noticed how rough his hands were, calloused in some places, but I liked the feeling just the same.

"Ah, so you've armed yourself," Jack said approvingly.

"Well, I tried," I said. The boots are a little big, and the belt..." I trailed off, looking down and gesturing toward it.

"That can be fixed!" Jack reached for my hips and adjusted my belt. I was glad he was looking at it, because I started blushing furiously.

"Wait--you don't have to--"

"There." He stepped back to admire his handiwork.

The belt was now hanging loosely on my right hip, with the left end with the sword drooping.

"Now, that looks..." Jack hesitated, trying to find the right word.

"Badass?" I remarked with a little laugh.

He frowned. "What's 'badass'?"

"Uh, it means...like...'cool', or...well, not really 'impressive,' but just...I don't know, 'good'?"

"Uh huh," he said, rubbing his beard, eyes still on my belt. "Well, come on, then, I want to show you something really...badass."

Jack led me to his original spot at the edge of the ship. "So you said you've never been on a ship before. Don't they have ships in Australia?"

I looked the other way and sighed, knowing it was time to tell him the truth. "Jack, I--"

"Would you look at this view!"

I looked back at him--and he was gone. No--he was up in the rigging on the side of the ship!

"Come on up, look at this!" Jack extended his hand once again, offering to pull me up.

I hesitated, unsure that I would be able to balance myself on the rigging as easily as he had. Then, feeling a surge of excitement, I grabbed his hand and let myself be pulled up beside him on the ropes.

We stood on the edge of the boat, gripping the ropes. Once he was sure I had steadied myself, Jack let go of me and stared off into the sunset.

A little afraid, I looked up too--and gasped. Before me was the most breathtaking sunset I had ever seen.

I glanced at Jack, who was just taking it in.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed, shaking my head and staring into the horizon.

"Yes, it is...it's really badass." Jack continued staring at the sunset. "Oh, were you going to say something? Before I pulled you up here?"

"What? Oh--yeah, I was," I said distractedly. "Jack, I'm not from Australia at all, I'm from--"

The Pearl lurched yet again, without warning, and I was pitched overboard.