Chapter 8: Even Highjack

"Sir, Ana's not comin' wit' us."

"What?" Jack looked at Gibbs.

"She sent a message saying that she plans on staying with the Endeavor to train the crew. The smugglers are pretty green, she says, and she wants to crew on with them for a while. She'll keep in mind to port in Tortuga—says some friends of hers live there—but for now we have to do without her." Gibbs regarded his captain. "So on to Isla de Muerta, then, Cap'n?"

"Aye," Jack said, absent-minded. He was busy recalling how AnaMaria and he had met.

FLASHBACK
The boat cruised through the waters of Tortuga Bay, with a man on the peak of it. It was a small boat, larger than a raft, but not quite large enough to be called a ship.

Captain Jack Sparrow manned the peak, staring ahead to the city. He watched another ship come in nearby. Straining to see, mired in the fog as he as, he noted the name of the vessel; the Oceanic. He grinned; the ship was one he'd worked in tangent with them several times.

Then the captain made a grievous mistake; he mistakenly guided the ship's side into the bow of another ship that had just left its place on the docks not ten minutes before. He heard the awful noise, then saw the Oceanic being run over. It then began to capsize and sink. He heard a cry of 'Abandon ship!' and saw several people come up to the side and cry out, for the boats were shattered against the ship wall. Jack sped into action, taking his boat over to the edge, and calling up, "Come on, quickly! Yer takin' on water fast!" And he could see the water literally gushing into the ship's broken hold.

He saw several ropes go flying over the edge in his direction. He caught them and called, "Come on!" He saw several people dive off, while some sped down the ropes into his boat. "Hurry!" Then he saw one character on a rope that stuck out.

The character did so because its leg was trapped firmly by a gun port. Another swung down to help, but slipped and fell headlong into the boat. Jack, not thinking—else he would never have done it—grabbed a rope and climbed up the wall of the ship. He came to the figure, which it turned out, was a woman. She was struggling grandly to loosen her leg. "Easy there, lass! Let me 'ave a look-see." He looked, and what he saw was not good; her leg was trapped by a cannon. "Hang on." He struggled up to the familiar deck and, quickly adapting to the slanted floor, charged below to the gun port. He saw the leg sticking out and shouted, "Hang on to the rope, luv!" He grabbed the cannon, and struggled with it. The blasted thing would not budge. Then, in a moment of inspiration, he shouted, "Is this gun loaded?"

"Aye. Don't dare fire it!" The girl shouted back.

"Luv, grab hold of the rope. Done that?" She gave an affirmative. Now ease yerself down the rope so yer upside down, back to the ship, savvy?" He saw the leg bend to accommodate the movement. "Alright. Ye got a tight grip on that rope?"

She shouted, "Get on with it!" So he did. He took the lighter, and lit the cannon. The behemoth fired, the shot taking out the cabin of the fleeing ship that had rammed it. It also freed her leg. He crawled partway out, then hearing the loud groan, leapt from the ship to the rope.

He did not get a very good grip, and found himself sliding down the rope, hands hitting the girl's, sending them both down to the ship. Behind them, the Oceanic groaned and started to complete its journey to the depths. The rope luckily broke, and the two fell in a heap on his boat. Breathing in the breath he'd just had knocked out of him, he asked, "What's yer name, luv?"

"AnaMaria. Who're you?"

"The name's Sparrow. Captain Jack Sparrow."

A/N: Please note that I did NOT end the flashback. REVIEW, PLEEEEASE!