In a ripple of motion, all of the wenches behind Mistress Joyce copied her ladyship by performing their own respectful curtseys in my direction, and they also straightened up when that woman returned to her previous stance. Though, except for one person, the wenches hung back in the street when Mistress Joyce now stepped forward into the village square to walk up to me. She was followed by her second-in-command, who'd been introduced to me earlier at their own village as Anya Jenkins, and as both women joined me while I turned to face the male pirates, with the older woman on my right and Anya on my left, that latter wench gave me a very bawdy wink.

I managed to keep my face straight, even when I then regarded the pirates remaining frozen in their semi-circle, all staring in bug-eyed astonishment at we three before them, with Captain Hook in his chair looking particularly boggled. Silver, on the other hand, nearly made me lose control, as that buccaneer with his wooden peg leg had sauntered over to stand a safe distance away by the seated pirate captain, and the former member of Cap'n Flint's crew was now grinning at me like a joyous jack-o-lantern, his red, beaming face having nearly the same level of illumination produced by that Halloween hollowed-out gourd with a lit candle placed inside.

It was clear from Silver's ready delight that this quick-thinking man had already come to the proper conclusion. Unfortunately for the other pirate leader, Captain Hook hadn't yet caught up with the recent events, as shown by his indignant sputtering at Mistress Joyce. "Damme, why the devil did you act like that, my good woman? Don't you know what this bloody pillock's done?"

Looking down her nose at him, the lady in command of the pirate wenches dryly replied, "I don't think you really should have said that, Hook, since your last disrespectful question could easily be construed as lese-majesty, considering that we just greeted this young man as the King of the Pirates."

"WHAT?" bellowed the pirates in a simultaneous explosion of baffled rage, lead by James Hook. An instant later, as the echoes of their shout had died out in the village square, a new sound took its place, with this being a massive chortle coming from where Long John Silver was laughing his head off.

Giving his gleeful enemy standing just out of range of his hook a fulminating glare that should have struck Silver dead right then and there, the seated pirate finally lost his temper, angrily screaming at the two women at my sides, "HAVE YOU GONE INSANE? THAT BASTARD'S STOLEN ALL OUR LOOT! WE'RE GOING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET OUR MONEY BACK!"

For the first time, Anya Jenkins spoke, in a very worried tone that instantly attracted Captain Hook's furious notice, "You really mean all the cash and currency, plus every single coin, jewel, object d'art, valuable item, and whatever medium of exchange issued by a government or other public authority?"

"YES!" roared the man who'd lost a hand to a crocodile, glad to know that someone finally understood the scope of the financial disaster.

A look of horror blossomed on Anya's face, as in a now-shaking voice, she despairingly pressed on. "All the wealth? All the capital, the funds, the riches?"

In a sorrowful sharing of bad news, Captain Hook confirmed his questioner's worse fears. "I'm afraid that every possible portion of our ill-gotten gains has vanished, my dear lady."

We watched Anya's features flicker into various expressions as she absorbed this: shock, appallment, dismay, and others appropriate for this catastrophe. However, as this wench warily glanced around at us all there gazing at her, Anya then slowly allowed a truly disconcerting look to appear upon her countenance. Now possessing a very evil grin, the younger blonde woman of the pair standing next to me looked Captain Hook right in the eye, and she then cooed, in a carrying voice that everyone heard, directly at this taken-aback pirate, "Of course, that means all of our money too, that you and the other pirate captains insisted we turn over to you arrogant men, because it'd be safer in your treasure vaults?"

"Er…yes," cautiously muttered the blindsided pirate, suddenly sensing disaster approaching but unable to escape it.

Taking a step back, Anya proudly lifted her head and folded her arms across her chest, inwardly aware with absolute delight that she was the focus of everyone's attention, as that woman now declared in her ringing voice that carried throughout the square, "Oh, I seriously doubt that, considering that all of our money's safe and sound in our village, where it was dropped off by the King of the Pirates' friends when they loaded up all of your plunder into their ship and sailed from our port!"

During the ensuing near-riot that announcement caused, with the wenches screaming in laughter, the pirates going berserk, Silver now flat on his back on the ground holding his ribs as he raucously guffawed, and Hook scooting down in his chair while unsuccessfully attempting to give his adversary a vicious kick in that man's skull, this time it was Mistress Joyce who turned her head to give me a knowing wink.

Eventually, it wound up with everyone quiet again, with the exception of someone who was shaking their hook at the older woman next to me and yelling "TRAITOR!" at her. That insult seemed to get right under her skin, as she heatedly snapped back to the man again upright in his seat.

"Oh, get hold of yourself, James Hook! I've always been a loyal member of pirate society, dedicated to our way of life, as my sisters here know!" Mistress Joyce waved behind herself at the wenches there firmly nodding in agreement. "Why else would they have chosen me to command them? Do you really think that one day we put our heads together and decided to help someone steal our treasure? Certainly not!" The leader of the pirate wenches then imperiously drew herself up, her sheer presence making itself known and subduing all there, until a moment later, Mistress Joyce settled herself back down, glanced around at everyone, and then she allowed a mischievous grin to form on her lips, as that able woman confided, "It took a really big bribe from this young man here."

I could have sworn that all of the pirates' ears promptly flapped forward in absolute attention at that specific word, with Silver now sitting up cross-legged on the cobblestones and wiping away tears of mirth from his eyes, to be the one to actually express all of those corsairs' curiosity. "Bribe, yer Ladyship?"

Mistress Joyce sent towards someone whose company she enjoyed an amused look. "What, you thought that His Majesty sailed to our home in his schooner and forgot to bring presents for us all? Oh, no, unlike certain people" (that hissed word had more than a trace of acid in it) "here, our ruler gave actual care and consideration in selecting our gifts. For instance, the entire main hold of the Sunnydale that docked at our port was crammed with…chocolate."

Right after Mistress Joyce finished her statement with that final word, my hair was ruffled by the breeze that blew through the village square, created by the entire crowd of pirate wenches happily sighing at their recent memories of finally being able to get their hands upon some utterly-delicious and absolutely-fattening-but-who-cares? chocolate. Perking up, these ladies now began gaily calling out their other favorites of what had been handed out among them all.

"Perfumes!"

"Rose cuttings for us to plant!"

"Skin creams and lotions!"

"Bolts of the lightest and coolest silk ever for our clothes!"

"Hair care!"

However, it was Anya Jenkins who ecstatically shrieked at the top of her lungs the most appreciated gift possible for every single pirate wench:

"A FIVE-YEAR SUPPLY OF TAMPONS!"

As I modestly stood there while the women cheered and started dancing together in their joyful bliss, out of the corner of my remaining eye, I saw every male pirate there, including Hook and even Silver, now giving me a very odd look. Shrugging at them, I nonchalantly said, "Trust me, you can't ever go wrong with that. It not only shows the woman you give it to that you totally care about them, but also that you've got the bona fide guts to go out and buy it without giving the slightest damn what anybody thinks."