Ah, yes, where were we? Jack's about to be boarded and/or shot by the Navy, unless he can charm his way out of it. Fortunately, 'charisma' is Jack's second-middle name.

"Permit me to inquire, good sir, how and when we have displayed threatening behaviour?" Jack asked indulgently, bowing low to the Admiral and tossing his pistol behind him, for a very stunned Will to catch. In surprise, Will almost dropped the pistol and grappled to get a hold of it. His finger gripped the trigger and in a puff of smoke, a small hole was blown into the deck.

"Oops." Will muttered, still cringing from the unexpected noise. Jack straightened up from his deep bow and rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to mutter something slightly stronger than 'oops'.

"What sort of idiot misses a throw like that?" Jack hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

"What sort of idiot throws a loaded pistol with the safety off?" Will hissed back.

"I believe that there fire-arm may be the one in question." The Admiral replied, a small arrogant smile appearing beneath his white beard. He thought he had them cornered like mice. How wrong you are, old man.

Jack merely grimaced and bowed again, unfazed.

"Right you are. If you'll permit me to speak to your commanding Admiral, I'll explain everything." The Admiral spluttered and turned a shade of angry red.

"You truly are an incompetent fool, sir. I am the highest ranking Admiral on board." He spluttered indignantly.

"That can't be." Jack exclaimed in mock-embarrassment and horror, "I was talking to the Admiral only seconds ago. A young lad – just a boy really - seemed very young for such a rank as that, but carried authority well. Must be the Navy's wonder-child. He told me himself that he was the commanding captain of this fine vessel." Jack said, playing up his role as dim-witted sailor. The Admiral turned a shade of purple. "Rawlish!" He bellowed. The weedy and severely sunburnt Rear Admiral that had stormed off deck moments before appeared sheepishly. "Impersonating an officer of higher rank! You could hang for that, my son. Unfortunately, we're with company, so I'll deal with you later." The Admiral muttered something further about cat-o-nines, before turning his back on the unfortunate low-ranking Admiral.

"It appears I under-estimated you," he addressed Jack, with a note of joviality that barely suppressed his suspicion towards the pirate captain. "You are craftier than what I initially gave you credit for." Jack merely bowed again in recognition of the praise. "So crafty," the Admiral continued in conversational tones, "that you could well be the pirate I first assumed you were." Jack hurriedly drew up from his bow and widened his eyes in a display of innocence. His brown eyes - made so much larger by the dark kohl lining - clearly said, who, me? The Admiral, however, continued on with his inquisition.

"I'll ask you this once; are you an enemy of Her Majesty?"

"Nay!" Jack exclaimed, looking outraged. "Who could hate Elizabeth, a true Queen amongst, well, Kings." The Admiral frowned, but continued on with his naval protocol.

"Be you a merchant ship then?"

"Nay." Replied Jack. The amount of gun's his ship held showed he was not a simple merchant runner, or if he was, he was shipping something very valuable. If he admitted to trading, they would ask for his trade license and search the ship for the cargo. The only thing Jack had in abundance was gun-powder and rum.

"A pirate ship?" the Admiral continued, humouring them.

"Nay sir." Jack exclaimed vehemently. "Why, pirates stole the only love of my life away. I have sworn eternal revenge on the devil's souls, God rest her own."

"Ah… so before me stands a model of pure recklessness and impertinence, if I ever laid eyes on one. Hunting down pirate ships for revenge." The Admiral shook his head.

Damn the Doldrums for the day they ever let this old fool become Admiral, Jack thought, sensing the Admiral was not going to merely wave them off on their merry way. No, the Admiral was toying with them like a cat does a cornered mouse.

"Mayhaps yoube pirates yourselves?" The Admiral asked, with his snow-white eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Sir", Jack said in mock outrage, "We are gentlemen -"

"- Of fortune –" he added under his breath.

"Then what be your profession or purpose?" The Admiral interrupted. "Do you serve the Queen and this country?" He barked impatiently, obviously not buying into Jack's act without solid evidence.

"Sir, we capture enemies of England to be sure. The French, the Dutch, the Spanish. But we also capture enemies of England herself that be English. Pirates and suchlike." Jack explained, waving his ringed hands expressively.

"So you are privateers?" The Admiral suggested, sounding slightly more believing of Jack's story.

"That's the word." Jack said epiphanically. He muttered under his breath, "Always get it confused with 'buccaneers'. Not a good thing to admit to."

The Admiral merely raised an eyebrow. He clearly thought Jack was a raving lunatic, or extremely drunk. Possibly both. Jack's entire crew, including Jack himself, held their breath for the Admiral's final judgement. The pirates stopped their work entirely, abandoning all pretence of labour to eavesdrop properly.

"Forgive me, gentlemen, but I simply cannot accept your story." The Admiral finished finally. "Now, if you were to provide me with Act of Grace from Her Majesty, allowing you to practice privateering, that would ease my suspicion greatly." He finished mockingly. Jack patted his coat down with great gusto.

"Would you believe," Jack began, straightening up sheepishly, "I left it on my other ship?"

I think I invented a new word: 'epiphanically' – meaning something along the lines of 'a statement made in epiphany' (In Jack's case, to suddenly comprehend a concept that previously eluded him). Anyway, you get the idea of what I'm - very inarticulately - trying to say.

So, next chapter: can the cantankerous old Admiral swallow Jack's codswallop? (It sounds like it should be a newspaper headline) If he doesn't, what shall be the punishment for Jack and Co? The more reviews, the nicer I may make the punishment. At the moment they're staring down the barrel of an all-out sea battle, which would not be a viable option for the Black Pearl, whose built for speed, not combat.

Lonnargh – I love that mental image of the Rear Admiral being stomped into the ground by Jack. I can see him, jumping up and down spitefully on the partially-buried Admiral's head, Jack's hair and trinkets flying every which way. 'Obnoxious little worm…'

Pebbles1234 – Jack is tutoring Will in a way. Will has pirate blood in him, and Jack feels as if he owes it to Bootstrap to teach his only son the art of pirating. Well, that's the vibe I got from the movie.

The GothyFaery: I update between 5pm-8pm Australian time, if that helps you any :)

Thanks again to all my loyal, loyal reviewers who review faithfully every update, and whom I hold in high esteem. You guys don't know how much those reviews mean to me.

Oh, yes, fixing up an error someone brought to me attention: my sincerest apologies to Shadowicewolf; I replied to your review from chapter 6 (I think I put the reply in chapter 7). The correction is, it was meant to read, "It's quality that counts, not quantity." Arg – I hate making typos! I am really, really sorry if I confused you. If anyone spots any errors, can they please tell me! I'd prefer to be told, rather than have it slip by unchecked for ages.