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True to his word, Gibbs had found them some crew members, and they all stood by the docks in a line.
"Feast Your eyes Captain. All of them faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt, and crazy to boot." Gibbs introduced.
Jack, Gibbs, Will, and (Y/n) walked down the line examining all the sailors, Jack pausing when he saw a particularly short one.
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked in slight disappointment.
(Y/n) lightly hit his shoulder, silently telling him to be quiet. Jack continued down the line and stopped at an old looking sailor with a parrot on his shoulder.
"You, sailor!"
"Cotton, sir." Gibbs said.
"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?"
Mr. Cotton stayed silent.
"Mr. Cotton! Answer man!"
Gibbs leaned closer to Jack. "He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out. So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."
Mr. Cotton opened his mouth to reveal his missing tongue. Will, Jack, and (Y/n) grimaced a bit.
"Mr. Cotton's...parrot...same question."
*SQUAWK* "Wind in your sails! Wind in your sails!"
"Mostly we figure that means 'yes.'" Gibbs told Jack.
"Of course it does. Satisfied?" Jack asked Will.
"Well, you proved they're mad." Will replied, a bit annoyed.
"And what's the benefit for us?" A voice yelled from further down the line.
Jack, Will, (Y/n) and Gibbs moved towards a figure with a giant hat on that covered their face. Jack lifted the hat to reveal a woman with dark skin, black hair, and an angry expression.
"Ana Maria!" Jack greeted.
Ana Maria swung back and slapped Jack across the face.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Will asked him sarcastically.
"No, that one I deserved." Jack admitted.
"You stole my boat!" Ana Maria snapped.
"Actually—."
She slapped him again.
"...Borrowed! Borrowed without permission, but with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't!" She yelled.
"You'll get another one." Jack promised.
She shoved her finger in his face, and he flinched. "I will."
"A better one." (Y/n) added.
"A better one!" Jack agreed.
"That one." Will said, pointing to the Interceptor.
"What one?"
Will gestured to the Interceptor again.
"That one?!"
(Y/n) hit Jack's shoulder. He flinched and pouted, but agreed.
"Aye. That one. What say you?"
"Aye!" Ana Maria agreed.
"Aye!" The rest of the crew shouted.
Ana Maria grabbed her hat back and followed the rest of the crew towards the boat.
"No, no. It's frightful bad luck to bring women aboard, sir." Gibbs argued.
(Y/n) looked around Jack and glared at Gibbs with raised eyebrows.
"It'll be far worse not to have 'em." Jack said, also heading towards the boat.
...
It wasn't long after they had set sail that they had found themselves stuck in a storm. The waves were rough, and the wind was harsh, and lightening flashed through out the stormy gray clouds.
Gibbs, Will, (Y/n) and the rest of the crew were hard at work making sure the boat didn't sink and they stayed on course, while Jack stood by the wheel steering the ship and looking at his compass.
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?!" Will yelled over the wind.
"Aye, the compass doesn't point north, but we're not trying to find north, are we?" Gibbs reminded him.
...
Jack smiled a little as the arrow on his compass pointed him in a certain direction that was a bit to the right.
(Y/n) and Gibbs stumbled up the left set of stairs towards him.
"We should drop canvas, sir!" Gibbs suggested.
"She can hold a bit longer!" Jack insisted.
"Are you sure about that, Jack?!" (Y/n) yelled.
"Have a little faith in me love!"
Jack looked down at his compass again, and his eyes widened a little. The compass wasn't pointing right anymore. The arrow moved to the left and was now pointing at (Y/n).
He quickly closed the lid and reopened it again, and the arrow went back to the right, in the direction of the Black Pearl, and Jack sighed in relief.
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood Captain?" Gibbs asked.
Jack smirked. "We're catching up."
...
The Interceptor sailed closer and closer to Isla de Muerta. They reached the thick fog that surrounded the outside of the island, and noticed all of the sunken ships that surrounded the area.
"Puts a chill to the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage." Gibbs commented to Will and (Y/n).
(Y/n) nodded in agreement. "Yes, it does."
Will looked over at Jack who was glancing at his compass. He would look at the compass, then look ahead of them and steer the ship. But sometimes he would look at his compass, glance over at (Y/n), and then close it.
"How is it that Jack came by that compass?" Will asked Gibbs.
"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to find the treasure of Isla de Muerta. That was before I'd met him, back when he was captain of the Black Pearl."
"What?" Will asked in surprise.
Gibbs' eyes widened. He guessed he wasn't supposed to mention that.
"He failed to mention that."
"It's true." (Y/n) told him. "I was part of his crew."
Will looked at her. "I've been meaning to ask you, how did you even meet Jack?"
"It's a bit of a long story, but the shorter version is, my parents died when I was young, and I spent most of my life being raised in an orphanage. As you can imagine, it was awful. The owners were cruel, and the kids even crueler. Once I turned 18 and aged out, I left."
(Y/n) smiled slightly, recalling the feeling of relief she had felt when she had finally escaped that horrible place.
"Then, I went to the docks to try and barter passage on a ship, and that's where I met Jack. He invited me to have a drink with him, I told him my predicament, and he offered for me to join his crew, and I accepted. He taught me how to sail, how to fight...how to drink. Over the years we became what you would call friends, and for the first time in my life, I felt happy and free."
(Y/n)'s smile turned into a scowl. "That is, until Jack wanted to go after the treasure of Isla de Muerta, and the mutiny happened."
"The mutiny?" Will asked.
"Aye. Jack plays things closer to the vest, because he had to learn that the hard way." Gibbs interrupted.
"Three days out on the venture, the first mate says, 'Everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure too.' So, Jack gives up the bearings. That night, there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die, but not before he's gone mad with the heat."
"Ah." Will realized. "So that's the reason for all the..." Will waved his hands around a bit to imitate Jack.
"Reason's got nothing nothing to do with it. Now, Will. When a pirate's marooned, he's given a pistol with a single shot. Well, that won't do much for hunting, nor to be rescued. But after three weeks of a starving belly and thirst, that pistol starts to look real friendly." Gibbs pressed two fingers to his temple to emphasize his point. "But Jack escaped the island and he still has that single shot. Oh, he won't use it though, save on one man. His mutinous first mate."
"Barbossa." Will realized.
"Aye." Gibbs confirmed.
Will turned to (Y/n). "So, what happened to you after they left Jack on that island?"
(Y/n) frowned deeply. "I was locked in the brig. The crew knew I never would've participated in their mutiny, and they didn't strand me with Jack because Barbossa thought separating us would add more to Jack's punishment. He told me that he and the crew wanted to celebrate his new position as Captain, and that he would make me walk the plank in the morning. I probably would be dead if it wasn't for your father."
"My father?" Will asked in surprise.
"Bootstrap and I had become friends over the three days we were at sea together. He talked about you quite a lot actually. Anyway, he felt guilty about betraying me and Jack, so once the crew had all passed out drunk from their little celebration, he snuck down to the brig and let me out. I stole one of the longboats and rowed as fast as I could away from those traitorous pigs." (Y/n) spat.
"Eventually, I ended up at a port in England. I stole some money and clothes to fit in, and was able to buy passage on a ship that was sailing to Port Royal. Coincidentally, it was the same ship were I met you, Lizzie, and Gibbs."
"Why didn't you tell me you were a pirate?" Will asked.
"Well, pirates weren't exactly very popular over in Port Royal." (Y/n) answers sarcastically. "And I wanted to start over, build a new life, leave all that pirate stuff behind me. I mean, I thought Jack was dead, and I couldn't bring myself to sail under another Captain. Speaking of which, how did Jack manage to escape that island? She asked Gibbs.
"Well, I'll tell ye. He waded out into the shallows and he waited there three days and three nights till all manner of sea creatures came acclimated to his presence. On the fourth morning, he ropes himself a couple of sea turtles, lashed them together and made a raft."
(Y/n) and Will stared at him in disbelief. "Sea turtles?"
"Aye, sea turtles."
"What did he use for rope?" Will asked.
Gibbs opened his mouth to answer him, but closed it when he realized he didn't have an answer.
"Human hair."
All three of them flinched a hit and looked up to see Jack staring down at them.
"From my back."
(Y/n) wrinkled her nose. "Ew."
"Lower the anchor!" Jack ordered. "Young Mr. Turner, Miss (Y/n) and I are to go ashore."
"Captain, what if the worst should happen?" Gibbs asked.
"Keep to the Code." Jack answered.
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