KingVessel: Born because I listened to this video ( www. youtube com watch?v=DxTfByqA5rc).

1st Voyage: Like Glitter and Gold

"~Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,

Drink up me hearties, yo ho.~"

A massive ship sailed through the grey and unnatural fog. This was the HMS Dauntless, the pride of the British Royal Navy, sailing on a voyage from England to the British settlement of Port Royal, Jamaica.

"~We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot,

Drink up me hearties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.~"

At least, that was what young Elizabeth Swann had been told by one of the few sailors who didn't mind the presence of a young girl like her onboard. With very few options for company, and none at the moment, Elizabeth was currently entertaining herself with a few pirate shanties she'd learned.

"~We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack,

Drin-"

"Quiet, missy!" A large hand roughly grabbed Elizabeth's shoulders, causing her to flinch and stop singing, staring at the sailor in shock. "Cursed pirates sail these waters. You don't want to bring 'em down on us now, do ye?"

"Mr. Gibbs, that will do." Lieutenant James Norrington swiftly intervened, glaring at Gibbs sternly while Governor Weatherby Swann stood at his side.

"She was singing 'bout pirates!" Joshamee Gibbs protested as he approached Norrington. "Bad luck to be singing 'bout pirates in this unnatural smog, mark my words."

"Consider them marked." Norrington looked to the side, a clear dismissal. "On your way."

"Aye, Lieutenant." Gibbs huffed as he walked away, sneaking a swig from his pouch afterwards. "Bad luck to have a woman on board, too. Even a miniature one."

"I think it'd be rather exciting to meet a pirate." Elizabeth protested.

"Think again, Miss Swann." Norrington stated as he walked up to her side. "Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them. I intend to see to it that any man who sails under a Jolly Roger or wears a pirate brand gets what he deserves. A short drop and a sudden stop."

Being confused at that phrase, Elizabeth looked at the other men for clarification. While Swann awkwardly looked away, Gibbs grabbed the tie around his neck and yanked it up, sticking out his tongue and making Elizabeth realize the truth of Norrington's statement.

"Lieutenant Norrington, I appreciate your fervor, but I'm concerned about the effect this subject has upon my daughter." Swann protested after walking towards the soldier.

"My apologies, Governor Swann." Norrington retreated, leaving father and daughter alone.

"Actually, I find it all fascinating."

"Yes, that's exactly why I'm concerned."

Pouting as her father left her, Elizabeth turned her gaze over to the sea again, hoping for something interesting to take her attention again. Her attention was definitely taken by the appearance of an open umbrella floating past them in the foggy sea.

Watching it float past, Elizabeth looked forward again and saw something much more important. "Look! A boy! There's a boy in the water!"

At Elizabeth's call, several of the men on deck rushed towards the starboard, all of them noticing the unconscious boy atop the makeshift raft.

"Man overboard!" Norrington shouted, stirring the sailors into action. "Man the ropes! Fetch a hook! Haul him aboard!"

Once the boy had been rescued and brought up to the deck, Norrington gingerly checked for a pulse. "Pulse is good, albeit weak. Still breathing... His skin's rather cold, but that's understandable."

"Mary, Mother of God!" Gibbs's harsh whisper, along with an increasing smell of smoke, drew the others' attention to the sea again. A couple of meters from the Dauntless was a burning wreckage, most likely where the boy had escaped from.

"What happened here?!" Swann gasped.

"Most likely the powder magazine." Norrington guessed, his gaze briefly following a corpse floating facedown in the water before returning to the wreckage. "Merchant vessels run heavily armed."

"Lot of good it did 'em." Gibbs muttered. "Everyone's thinking it, I'm just saying it. Pirates!"

"Th-There's no proof of that." Swann weakly chuckled. "It was probably an accident."

While the men argued amongst themselves, Elizabeth approached the unconscious boy and observed his features, not even protesting when her father told her to keep him company when he was carried towards the bow to be kept out of the way.

Gently running her fingers through his soaked hair, Elizabeth nearly shrieked when the boy sudden woke up with a shout and knocked her hand away, breathing rapidly as the crate under him started to freeze with a sheet of ice crystals spreading from where he was touching. "It's okay. My name's Elizabeth Swann."

"W-Will Turner."

"I'm watching over you, Will." Elizabeth smiled in what she hoped was reassuring to Will, especially as he fainted immediately and the spreading ice stopped. Glad to have a name, Elizabeth then noticed the necklace he had. Gently taking off the apparent golden medallion, she brought up to look at it's details and gasped at the detailed skull grinning back at her from within a sun-like background. "You're a pirate?!"

"Has he said anything?"

Hiding away the medallion at Norrington's surprising voice, Elizabeth swiftly turned about. "His name's William Turner. And I think he's magic. When he woke up, he made all of this ice."

"Ice?!" Norrington's eyes widened as he noticed the icy patch beneath the children. "A Devil Fruit user at such a young age...? Take him below and slap a Seastone cuff on him. The doctor can't take a proper look at him if he'll keep changing back and forth with his element."

While Will got gently carried away, Elizabeth surreptiously brought out the medallion again, raising up to observe the gold better. By her mother's soul, she'd swear that it despite everything, the gold felt abnormally warm in her hand.

A stronger surge of heat from it made her look up and suddenly glimpse another ship far in the distance. Sailing away silently in the smog was a tall ship with black sails and sides. At the top of the highest mast flew a flag, a black flag with a white skull with two sabres crossed beneath it.

'Jolly Roger... Pirates!'

Kahahaha!

KingVessel: Yohohohoho! Leave a review for me, ye hearties!