April 1717
Narrator's POV
The seas in the Atlantic were calm under the blistering heat. A giant ship was cutting through the dark waters, terrifying the sharks that swarmed underneath.
La Louise was a French pirate ship, captained by the fearsome Olivier Levasseur. It was not terrifyingly large, but it was impressive for Olivier's first ship reigning as Captain.
Infamous for his ruthlessness toward his enemies and his speed, Captain Levasseur stood upon the quarterdeck of his ship, commanding his crew to navigate through the waters. He wore a single gold earring hoop in his left earlobe, and his hair was dark and pulled back in a red ribbon that poked out under his tricorne hat. His scruffy beard was unkept, and his cold blue eyes could pierce into the souls of those who dared to look into them. Levasseur wore lavish clothes from his many thefts from rich ships and had a scar over one eye, limiting his sight.
"Capitaine!" Levasseur's' first mate shouted in French, "up ahead!"
Levasseur took out his spyglass, aiming it to the direction that La Louise was headed. He did not need a spyglass to see the splintering boards of a shipwreck sink what was left of her to the ocean floor. He lowered his spyglass and shouted for his crew to turn to avoid hitting the wreckage. As the ship began turning, Levasseur looked over the edge of the ship and noticed a torn British flag, as well as a Jolly Roger flag that was being swallowed by the water.
At a glance, Levasseur noticed a tiny island that they were passing. He placed the spyglass at his good eye, scavenging the island for anything valuable that may have been washed up. His gaze got stuck on the dainty black shoes of a girl, laying motionless in the sand.
"Seagar!" Levasseur yelled.
Jasper Seagar, one of his crew members, hopped up to the quarterdeck to assist his captain. Levasseur handed Seagar the spyglass and asked if he saw the same thing.
"Looks of a girl," Seagar said, keeping his eye on the beach.
"Is she alive?" Levasseur asked, adjusting the wheel.
"I don't think..." Seagar said before he froze, watching the child stir in the sand. "Sir, she's still a alive."
"Drop anchor!" Levasseur shouted, not having to wait even moments before his crew began fulfilling his command. They dropped the anchor, causing the ship to come to a dead stop in the sea.
Levasseur sent Seagar and another crew member on a longboat to get the child and bring her back to the ship. She was surrounded by dead bodies of those from the wreck who had washed up ashore.
Seagar brought the unconscious child up to the ship and set her down on the deck. The crew had paused their tasks, staring at their Captain and the girl. Levasseur has always been strict, so this sudden change of heart was unprecedented, and unpredictable.
The girl immediately turned to her knees and began coughing up the salty sea water that she had inhaled. Her dress was of a rich cobalt blue, with shredded sleeves that ended at her elbows complete with little bits of milky white lace that had not been ripped off. Ripped and tattered, the dress was practically falling off of her. Blood that oozed from her knee made the fabric stick to her skin. Assuming that she was part of the wreck of the British ship they passed, she was one of the the only survivors. Her sun-kissed skin told the Captain that she had been out at sea long, and her face was red from fresh sunburns.
"Seagar. Grab me anything that can be used as clothes for the girl," Captain Levasseur instructed in French.
As Seagar ran off, the child sat up and once she had caught her breath, she looked up and wearily glanced around at the pirates that surrounded her. Her eyes were blood shot from a mixture of sand and salt water that soaked in her eyes. Confused and upset, she tried to scurry away and pressed her back to the railing of the ship. Her little heart was pounding out of her chest. Resting on her chest was a dark red ruby ring, strung with leather around her neck. The ring, likely a gift or family heirloom, was much too big for the child's dainty fingers, so wearing it around her neck ensured that it wasn't going to get lost.
She looked up at the crew with her big hazel eyes, with pupils so dilated they could barely see her irises, and her long, natural, ashy walnut brown hair was bleached by the sun, allowing the champagne blonde to reflect off the top layer of her hair. Her whispies were curled around her face, and the ends of her hair curled together softly. She had a deep purple bruise that formed around her forehead and temple and a small but deep cut by her eyebrow. She asked the men where she was, but no one aboard La Louise knew English.
Seagar grabbed an old dress that was tucked away in the brig and brought it up for his Captain. It was of a ruby red, much too big for the young girl, but it was clean and dry.
"Quel est votre nom, mademoiselle?" Levasseur asked softly, handing her the garment.
What was soon to be known, was that the girl had suffered amnesia from her traumatic shipwreck. Her identity, life experiences, and relationships were washed away with the waves. She did not know who she was, nor did she understand where she was.
"I don't know what you're saying," she said, grabbing the dress from Levasseur. He offered her his hand, and she took it as she stood up.
Levasseur cleared his throat and asked in English, "what is your name, my dear?"
There was not much that Levasseur knew in English, just little bits and pieces that he had picked up on from his many years of sailing around Europe. He hoped that he knew enough to converse with the newest addition to the crew, but was already preparing for her to learn French.
The girl was frightened, unable to answer him. Levasseur was not used to being patient. He looked around at his crew and shouted at them to get back to work. He placed his hand upon the girls back and guided her to his Captains Quarters.
Using broken English, he managed to tell the girl to get dressed in the room. He shut the door, standing outside of it when Seagar approached him.
Going back to their native tongue, Seagar asked, "what are we going to do with her, Capitaine?"
Levasseur responded with, "I'll take her in as my own. Having a crew member who can speak French and English will be very valuable."
"She's a child," Seagar said, "she's a woman. It's bad luck."
"I am willing to risk it. It's worse luck to deny a woman capable of stabbing you in the back," Levasseur replied confidently. He did not believe in such tales and myths. Legends of the sea were not to be spoken about on his ship.
"She does not speak French," Seagar pointed out.
"Oh-ho-ho," Levasseur chuckled, "she will."
Seagar nodded, putting his faith in Levasseur before going down the deck to help hoist the anchor.
While in the room, the child took off her wet dress to replace it with the dry one. It was very large on her, but she did not mind. She peered around the room, admiring the treasure maps that littered the desk, and the translucent green wine bottles that were tucked away in the corner. Pushed to one side of the cabin was a small bed with a grey blanket and a flint pillow. There was a large globe that she traced her little finger on, and a bookshelf full of maps that Levasseur had collected over his years of pirating, along with little trinkets he's stolen.
The girl gathered her wet clothes into a ball and knocked on the door. Levasseur saw it as an invitation, so he opened the wooden door and saw her standing with her clothes balled up in her arms. He instructed her to lay them out to dry on the ships deck, and invited her to sit with him at his desk.
Upon asking her further questions without the pressure of the crew staring down at her, the girl was able to open up to Levasseur. He learned that she did not remember where she lived, who her family is, what her name is, or anything that happened before she was rescued from the island. She was coming to him as a blank slate, with no obligations to a previous life.
That night, he commanded the young girl as his own daughter. Giving her the name Annette and his last name Levasseur, she joined her adoptive father on his adventures. Quickly becoming fluent in French, and she was given access to an education on the ship that her father believed she deserved. Annette was praised for her intelligence, specializing in her ability to quickly learn languages around Europe. She quickly became fluent with speaking and writing in Spanish, English, French, and Italian, and German, and could get by in other languages that she learned while sailing and talking to other pirates, making friends at various ports around the western world.
To keep her respected, her father persuaded Annette to wear men's clothing while sailing. Not only does it make other pirates take her seriously, but it is much easier to move freely while sword fighting, and the less amount of clothing helps with the heat. It had also caused her existence to become a popular topic of debate around the pirate world. Does Annette Levasseur exist?
In just a few years, Levasseur and his crew left La Louise for Le Victorieux. The Victorious, the English translation of it, was a 800-ton Portuguese flagship with 72 cannons. It was magnificent, and striked fear in the hearts of those who dared to cross her. They gathered a larger crew, and terrorized the Atlantic Ocean.
Those who have crossed paths with Le Victorieux, take it upon themselves to spot the woman who has become a ghost to everyone but her father and his crew. When Annette is forced to make deals on her fathers behalf or talk with random pirates, she hides her hair up in her hat and goes by the masculine name of Levvy. This is so men will take her more seriously as a pirate.
The legacy of being the daughter of the most fearsome and ruthless pirate of the Atlantic is one that Annette is proud of.