In the Name of Calypso

Chapter 4 - F(r)iend

    Now it wasn’t uncommon for a pirate like Lee to end up on a deserted island out in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn’t exactly common either. Lee stood and looked around, rubbing his head as if he had an aching migraine. 

    “This does not look like any part of Tortuga I’ve ever seen,” Lee said, then looking at the broken rowboat next to him, “Probably because this is not Tortuga…” 

    Lee looked around just a bit longer to see marks in the sand as if someone had crawled along it. 

    I did not make those… I was laying right there… Lee thought, turning to see where the trail led. 

After staring for a while, he saw a blue coat lying on a big rock. He made his way over and realized there was a man laying next to the rock. 

“Oh- Excuse me? Are you okay?” Lee said, kneeling down next to the man, turning him over so he was laying on his back, “You are not a pirate… That coat of yours tells me you work under the King.” 

The man started to stirr, startling Lee and causing him to stand up and back away. 

“Who… Who are you? Are you a pirate??” The man said with a harsh accent, standing and drawing his sword. Lee stared at the man’s posture when he held the sword. 

“So you are working under the King,” Lee muttered, drawing his sword as well, “How did you get onto this island?” 

“I’d rather not say, what about you?” The man said, keeping his stance. 

“My ship was stolen by some sea dogs back at Tortuga,” Lee explained, “Now that I have told you how I got here, you have to tell me how you got here, it is a fair deal.” 

“Fine,” The man sighed, “My older brother was handling the ship and he drove us right through mermaid infested waters.”

That’s when Lee noticed that the man had scratches all up his torso and his arms. His clothes were torn and tattered and he was shaking like a drowned cat. That’s what he looked like, too. 

“Let down your sword, okay? I can help you,” Lee said, slowly lowering his sword. 

“Help me? I don’t need a pirate’s help, I’m perfectly fine,” The man said. Just as he spoke those words, the man held his side, groaning in pain. He sat upon the rock that his coat was sprawled out on and he gasped for air. 

“Great, now I will go try to find some aloe if this island even has any. We could be here for a while,” Lee said, trudging off into the brush of the island. 

It was a relatively big island. It had sand on every single part of it that touched the water, and in the middle, there was a smaller patch of water. Lee discovered all of this within the span of an hour. Although, by the time Lee came back out of the undergrowth and trees, the injured man was up and walking around, trying to find a way off the island. Lee saw that the man had ripped up his shirt and tied it around his wounds so that he wouldn’t bleed anymore. 

“Excuse me, why are you not lying down?” Lee said, startling the man to where he jumped at least two feet in the air. 

“I never said I’d accept your help. I just sat down,” the man said, turning away from Lee. 

“Oh, okay… Oh, I never caught your name, British sailor,” Lee said, crossing his arms. 

“It’s Gaara. Commodore Gaara no Sabaku,” he said, bending down and picking at something in the sand. 

“Well, Commodore Sabaku, I trust you know who I am?” Lee said, grinning. 

“No, actually, I don’t,” Gaara said, staring at the man from over his shoulder. Lee gawked at him.