A.N. Nothing much to say other than the usual thank you for reading and reviewing...and, of course, that I don't own the rights to Pirates of the Caribbean...I wish I did...but I don't!

A Pirate's Life: New Adventures

Chapter 2: The Good Stuff!

The sky was clear overhead and the sun was high in the firmament as the crew of the 'Black Pearl' made their way across the roaring ocean.

Young Will stood at the very edge of the bowsprit clinging onto the ropes tied round the dark wood of the ship as he leaned out. He watched the waves lap around the keel and the white caps that were swept away like dancing horses make loud 'swooshing' noises that he'd come to love.

Jack had instructed Marty to keep on eye on the boy from the crow's nest just in case Will wanted to become even more familiar with the waves than would be deemed safe. After all, he'd be a dead man if aything happened to the boy aboard his own ship.

The captain himself stood proudly at the wheel with Gibbs, Anamaria, his father and Elizabeth standing round the helm and leaning against the sturdy rails. He was content simply to stare out at the open ocean all day, his khol lined eyes fixed permanently on the unreachable horizon.

But it seemed that Elizabeth was not, and she repeatedly called his name to get his attention. It became clear that it was not going to work so she settled for waving a hand in front of his eyes which he batted away angrily.

"Oi!" he cried flinching back, expecting another undeserved slap from a woman, "Wot yer playin' at?"

"Well, if you hadn't ignored me..." Elizabeth began.

"Did not!" the captain replied truthfully.

"Then if you had been paying attention," she corrected.

"I was payin' attention!" He replied childishly.

"Yes to the sea, Jack, not to us," she said and even he couldn't argue with that.

"Well...wot is it then? Oh...I know!" he began before giving her a chance to speak, "Ana, luv, we forgo' to show our esteemed guests the proper 'Black Pearl' hospitality," he smirked.

"Aye, Cap'n" she nodded with a smile and left, but soon returned with three expensive bottles of wine from their recent enterprise. She handed one to the smiling Teague, a reluctant Elizabeth and then to the eager Jack who immediately uncorked the bottle and spat out the cork from his mouth to drink from it.

"Ah," he sighed in contentment, the sea, a good ship and a good bottle of wine...albeit it wasn't rum but the good stuff wasn't to be snubbed while they had it.

"Dare I ask where you stole these from?" Elizabeth asked him as she took the bottle from Ana leaving it unopened she examined the fine wine bottle.

"You wound me, your highness...Captain Jack Sparrow does not 'steal', 'e pilfers, plunders, pillages, liberates, I snatch an' otherwise relieve others of property they don't deserve, but 'steal'..never," he said sternly.

"The difference being?" Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Showmanship, class, elegance," Jack smirked, "I happen to have liberated 'em from a truly undeserving crew of pusillanimous cretins for the good of my crew," he replied in between drinking.

"And where were they bound?" she asked sceptically as she spotted the elaborate crest on the bottle.

"It escaped me notice...but it looks like the sumptuous dining table of our good lord and soverign king George II 'll be missin' a few things," Jack smirked as he drunk deeply from his own bottle after looking at the crest that had her so entranced.

He still had one hand still on the wheel, as he declared; "Gentlemen...and ladies..." he added after the usual glare from Anamaria, "The King...and ter the King's finest wine!" He lifted the bottle in salute and Elizabeth merely shook her head in an attempt not to laugh.

"Aye, the King," Gibbs agreed and drank from his own small, ever present flask. But the rest of the crew also heard the first mate and joined in the salute, pausing in their work and doffing their hats or saluting with simple, respectful mock gestures to the sky.

"A'righ', a'righ', tha's enough abou' ol' Georgie!"Jack shouted, "Ge' back to work, yer dogs!" he orderd and most of the crew then saluted their captain in the same manner and did as he said.

Will was now running up the ladder and came to stand by his mother, as he watched the adults drinking he snorted quietly. "'Ere," Gibbs held put his flask to the small boy who looked at his mother as if pleading her to let him in on the drinking too.

"Gibbs," she said scoldingly and Will took on a sad, depressing tone.

"Aw, go on, luv, he used ter 'ave me drinkin' rum wif me breakfast every mornin' since I was 'is age," Jack motioned to his father, "Didn't do me no 'arm," he added.

"Can I, mother?" Will asked hopefully eying Gibbs' flask.

"No," she said, "And I hardly think that Captain Sparrow is qualified to dictate the benefits of giving alcohol to small children." She handed her still corked bottle back to Anamaria in a means of setting an example to her son, however the others did no such thing and she sighed.

"But you let father drink," the boy protested.

"Yes, but your father's sanity and balance are far more stable than Captain Sparrow's, and he drinks more than anyone ought," she answered sternly.

"Can't argue with tha' one, Jackie," his father chuckled quietly at the indignant look on his sons' face as he took another drink. It really was fine stuff. The best wine, the king would sorely miss it, no doubt, Teague smirked.

Only Jack would 'liberate' fine wine bound for a king and get away with it. The boy had the highest bounty of any pirate in the Brethren Court...although whether that was due to skill or merely his nature to annoy and humiliate more people than was healthy was always in debate.

"Still...I prefer rum," Jack muttered to himself as he eyed the wine bottle that he had half emptied already.

Anamaria soon decided to give young Will a lesson on securing the ropes and sails, leaving Elizabeths' unopened bottle on the rail. They began climbing the main sail slowly and carefully with his mother watching closely.

"Lad'll be fine," Jack assured her, "Ana'll make sure of it," he said to the worried mother-hen. As he tossed aside the bottle of wine he had just finished and took up the one sitting idle left unopened by Elizabeth, and he began drinking its contents too.

"I know that," she replied as her eyes followed her son up the sail, "But it's a parents' job to worry about their child."

"Wouldn't know, luv," he said emotionlessly as he took another drink. He felt it was the right time to change the subject, so he asked her why she was giving her young son a tour of the pirate world but she had been reluctant to answer.

"Well, we can't stay on the Dutchman for more than a few hours at a time, and I can't seem to stay on land too long either," she answered. "And since Will and I are both...pirates it seems only fair that we tell our son the truth. Will grew up not knowing the truth about his father, and look how that turned out," she sighed.

"'E didn't do't meanin' to mess the lad up," Jack said inelegantly as he continued drinking the wine.

"What'd you mean?" she asked.

"Bootstrap," the young captain replied, "'E only wan'ed wot was best fer the lad an' his mam."

"You knew his mother?" she asked and when Jack nodded she continued, "Why didn't you say anything to Will?"

"Only met 'er a few times, never really liked me. I swore to Bootstrap I would'n...if I ever met the lad again I couldn't tell 'im anyfin'..."

"Again?" Elizabeth repeated. "You met Will as a child?"(*1)

"Look, it's no' importan'," Jack said, kicking himself for having brought it up, "But situations changed as the' did so I 'ad ter..."

"You should have told him! It would be important to Will!" she replied angrily. The captain of the 'Pearl' merely nodded slightly to show that he was paying attention and stared back out at the clear, blue waves of endless ocean ahead of him.

In the back of his mind Jack remembered visiting England with Bootstrap, many years ago...he remembered a beautiful woman and a small child. That child wouldn't remember their meeting, it was so long ago now and he had hardly paid Jack any notice. The tough Mrs 'Bootstrap' Turner loved Bill. But she hadn't wanted that dangerous life for her son. She'd be turning in her grave if she knew that...as she predicated all those years ago, that Jack would bring trouble on her family.

She was a clever woman...and she had been right. Her husband had died trying to defend him in a mutiny and he had brought her son into the pirates' world to save his own skin.

"'Ow is ol' Bootstrap?" Jack asked trying to hide just how curious he really was. He had missed Bootstrap since the mutiny and he even missed the whelp. Stupid kid! Why'd he 'ave to go an' get himself...almost...killed like that?

"Considering that he's been dead for over 10 years, he's just fine, Jack. I think he misses you, he said you were a good friend," she said sadly. She didn't know much about what had happened back then, apart from hearsay and gossip...and there was always lot of that, especially when Jack Sparrow was involved. Maybe one day one of them would tell her.

"Oh aye? An' wot else did he tell yer?" Jack asked her with genuine curiosity which he hoped he hid well.

"That many of the stories I read about you as a child were greatly exaggerated," she replied with a smile.

By now Will came running over to his mother with Anamaria behind him, he was talking in a tone fast enough to rival Jack when he got started about the view from the sail to anyone who would listen. And this task seemed to fall to Gibbs who the boy viewed as the least threatening since his mother was busy speaking to the strange captain, who Will both admired and still rather feared.

"Wot did yer read 'em in? Me record sheet?" Jack smirked back to Elizabeth as young Will continued to regale Gibbs about his adventure, "Yer never wan't ter be trustin' stories, luv," he told her suddenly serious, "Always room for more," he smiled.

"It's all lies, luv," Anamaria grinned as she snatched the new bottle of wine from Jack and drank from it."But yer already know that."

"Not all of it!" Jack cried and took back his bottle from her. Young Will watched this exchange with wide eyes as the strange captain continued to drink from the bottle. He wondered what they were talking about, so he sat down on the deck and listened.

"Sure, Jack,"Anamaria nodded skeptically.

"It's not; look, let's say you were me an' I was you. If you was me and you'd been there at...I dunno...the Fleur de la Mort...or Nassau, then everythin' tha' 'appened still 'appened in some way but it could be used to yer advantage. Now, provided you're still me, you'd want to tell people tha' it 'appened. Bu' because you're not me and you're you, you never would'a told them stories in the first place since it didn't 'appen to you. But since we're dealing wif hypotheticals 'ere, it don't really ma'er. The point remains, in fact, that, despite any subsequent melodrama; it did 'appen," Jack finished with a nod of his head, his beaded and braided hair 'clunked' and 'clicked' together.

"Jack..." Elizabeth sighed as she and Anamaria shared an exasperated look. The man was completely mad!

"Gibbs knows wot I mean, don't yer, Gibbs?" Jack turned to his loyal first mate. And once more Jack swallows at least 3 large mouthfuls of wine.

"...A...aye, Cap'n," the man replied uncertainly.

"Then would Gibbs be so good as to explain it for the simple folk?" Anamaria crossed her arms and rounded on the older man. But he only sighed as he tried, and failed to decipher the meaning of this latest explanation from his barmy captain.

"Well...'e...err...'e meant...err...'e means..." he shot a pleading look to his captain who ignored him again, and then Gibbs turned to Teague. The older captain was looking deeply amused and he gestured for the man to continue without offering any assistance.

"'E means it's all lies," Anamaria repeated with a tone of victory snatching the wine bottle - her prize, back from Jack and she quickly manoeuvred to avoid his bejewelled hand when he reached across to get the bottle back.

"Oi!" the captain shouted at her and young Will laughed. He tried to stop himself from laughing but he just couldn't help it; these people were just so funny! "Yer think ol' Jack losin' 'is drink ter a woman is funny d'yer, lad?" The captain turned to stare down at the boy with thinly veiled mirth in his dark eyes and Will looked up at the tanned face of Jack Sparrow.

"No, sir...I mean...no...captain..." the boy managed to say between bouts of laughter and Jack's hat bobbed up and down on his small head as the boy tried to keep it above his eyes.

"Uh-huh," Jack muttered and fingered his thin, braided beard in an attempt to portray a sense of seriousness.

The boy continue to giggle quietly whilst attempting to stop himself from doing so. The result was highly amusing to the crew standing round the helm and with such a unique distraction Jack saw the perfect opportunity to win back his prize. So he shuffled closer to Anamaria and reached back for the almost empty wine bottle...only to have her move clear out of the way.

Jack was left without something to fall back on as he had thrown most of his weight towards his other first mate so he stumbled back and just about avoided landing flat in his face. Maybe he had drank a little too much wine...no...that was not possible, there was no such thing as 'too much' when it came to alcohol, especially alcohol from the Kings' table.

Everything took on a hazy spin as he ignored the booming laughter of Gibbs which started to echo painfully in his ears.

"I told you, you drink too much, Jack," Elizabeth said smugly.

"Mm-hm, finished the last 'hole bo'le, himself, he did, and most o' this one, and yer had two bottles of rum this mornin' as well," Anamaria smirked. Jack was sure he hadn't drank that fast...but it was always difficult to tell with the good stuff.

"'M no' drunk," Jack muttered as he felt along the wood and found the spokes of the wheel. "See...Lef' 'and," he said lifting up his right hand, "Righ' 'and," he said lifting his left hand.

Will burst out laughing at the confused captain as the man stared at his left hand as though vaguely thing that something wasn't right, but unable to see what.

"Jack," Elizabeth began and went to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Bugger off, Hector, s'my ship, I'm captain, an' I say we're goin' ter find Kerma," (*2) Jack said through the haze that was slowly building up in his mind as he squinted at the sea ahead.

"Hector?" Will repeated. And Jack seemed to think that it was Hector Barbosa, his first mate as was, that he was speaking to. "Mother, what's Captain Sparrow talking about?"

"Island of Kerma," Teague answered, looking at his son surreptitiously.

"Aye," Jack nodded, " Beckett's idea, ma'e, no' mine. The Shinin' ci'y of Zer...Zerz...Zere..." Jck growled at his own slurred speech.

"Zerzura," his father answered again.

"Tha's the one, ma'e," Jack pointed happily at his father, while Gibbs and Anamaria chuckled to themselves.

"What's he talking about, mother?" the young boy asked again.

"'E's off 'is 'ead, boy," Ana answered him.

"Am no', Ayisha," he muttered, "Oh, no wai' a min'e...I have'n left Calabar ye' so I don' know yer ye'. Tha's too bad, Princess...'n yer never came wif us ter find th' Heart of Zerzura, i's very shiny! Bu' I don' know that' yet, 'cos we haven' left Port ye'. Beckett don't trust me no more the bloody poncy, wig wearing, stuck up, git!" his voice grew louder and louder, increasing with anger.

Will continue to laugh even though he had no idea what the captain was talking about. But Gibbs and Teague shared a look of understanding and Gibbs walked over to his captain and tried to calm the man down.

"Jack, come on, lad, yer done for the day," he said calmly and with clear practice.

"No...yer poncy prince Sha...Shaba...Shabako...yer migh' be a bloody prince but this is my kingdom 'ere, so go dance the ruddy hempen gig!" (*3) Jack shouted.

"Cap'n," Gibbs sighed. He was surprised at Jack, the man drank like a fish yes, but he never got this bad...well not usually. And certainly not in front of his father, who Gibbs knew Jack respected, a small child and the Pirate King.

"I'm gonna find i'...an' I'm no' gonna tell bloody Beckett a fing...bloody, stuck up ponce! No...wai'...I did find it didn' I...Bloody pirates shot my ship!" Jack muttered a Gibbs tried to pry his hands from the wheel. "Wants me carry 'cargo', he does!" Jack laughed.

Elizabeth and Anamaria had now stopped laughing since it was cleat that Jack was not in any way, joking, and that he was remembering something serious in his drunken state. But Elizabeths' interest had been piqued the minute Jack had said the name 'Beckett." There was only one 'Beckett,' that would get Jack riled up like this.

She didn't know much...she hardly knew anything beyond the stories about Jack's past, and what Bill had told her of course. But the man had been reticent, he had said that a mans' past was his own and that if Jack wanted anyone to know, he'd tell them himself.

"Cargo!" Jack repeated and fell to the floor while still staying close to the wheel. "...No' cargo...'e sank the 'Wench'," he muttered quietly and promptly fell asleep on the dark wood of the 'Pearl.'

(*1) I got this idea from another story I'd read recently by 'mypiratecat1', but, of course I hope to add my own twist to it. I dont know if it's been done before by others as well, since there's so many fics out there and I can't remember all of what I've read, so I'm sorry if it looks like I've ignored you or omitted your name,

But 'mypiratecat1' has an amazing collection of fics about the Pirates' universe, and I for one really enjoyed reading them. So if you haven't already read them I suggest you do so...right now! But first...leave a review! Then go!

(*2) I read the summary of Jack's early life on Wikipedia, and if you want to as well, if you haven't already I'll post a link on my profile, it should be at the bottom of the profile. As well as a link to a website that shows a ship and all the different parts and sails listed. If you're confused then that's fine, cos I want you to be because the rest of the crew is, it will be explained in the future!

But if you want to know know check out the link on my profile and red the part entitled; the east India company.

(*3) A colloquialism for being hanged.

A.N. I had this written up already it didn't take long to proof read it and get it uploaded. In case you were wondering why...or indeed how I updated so fast there's your answer :)