The Sparrows |{Jack Sparrow x OC}|

Chapter 19

It's been smooth sailing since the commodore's crew did all the hard work. There's only been a few tweaks when the winds changed but much more didn't need to be done. Jack has given his compass to me since I volunteered to stay at the helm.

"When I was a lad, living in England," Will replies to Jack's request to tell us something about himself. "My mother raised me by herself. After she died I came here," the scrape of the sharpening stone on Will's cutlass disrupts him for a moment. "Looking for my father."

Jack looks a tad concerned at Will's suspicious pause and moves from his spot against the railing. Perhaps Will knows we lied, maybe he doesn't. "Is that so?" Jack goes towards me.

"My father?" Will follows him, "Bill Turner?" He looks at me once he's made it up the steps. "At the jail it was only after you learnt my name that you were going to help." I break eye contact with him and Jack pulls on the rope for the bonaventure sail, realizing it's gone slack. "Since that's what I wanted I didn't press the matter," he goes on. "I'm not a simpleton Jack. You knew my father." Will's voice goes deeper, proving he's serious as ever. 

Jack stands up straight, tilts his head back and lets out a sigh. He turns to Will and raises his eyebrows. "Aye." He moves with the currents in the effortless way he always does as he continues walking to the different ropes, mostly to avoid Will. "I knew your father. Probably one of the few who knew him as William Turner." he pauses. "Everyone else knew him as Bootstrap or Bootstrap Bill." Jack walks up to stand next to me and peaks at his compass.

"Bootstrap?"

Jack crosses his arms and doesn't look at Will, just keeps his eye on the horizon. "Good man. Good pirate." He briefly looks at me, and then at Will, checking if he got the message. "I swear, you look just like him."

"It's not true. He was a merchant sailor." Will's voice is strong with defense. "A good honorable man who obeyed the law."

I sigh for the boy. There's nothing dishonorable about being a pirate. Sure, some pirates are horrible and cruel, but others are just in it to be free and to sail the beautiful vastness of the oceans. They want to see the world and not be tied down by the expectations of the world around them.

"He was a bloody pirate." Jack calls back, clearly annoyed. "A scallywag." He turns back to the horizon. We both freeze when we hear a cutlass being drawn.

"My father was not a pirate!"

Jack rolls his eyes and tilts his head to me, not even bothering to turn around to face the weapon. "Put it away, son." He tones down his voice. "It's not worth you getting beat again." I can tell Jack feels some sympathy for Will, as do I. He's been told that pirates are bad and murderous all his life, and now he's being told his father was one of the people he was taught to be afraid of.

"You didn't beat me." Will's voice is filled with a bit of resentment, which is impressive. "You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight I could've killed you."

Jack fully faces him, ignoring the cutlass so closely to his lovely face. "Well that's just further incentive for me to not fight fair, is it?" His voice is still in his softer, quieter tone. He glances at me, and I do what we were both thinking. I spin the wheel to the left, making the main beam swing into Will. He grabs on as the beam swings him over the open sea.

I take my cutlass and walk over to the railing to lean on it. "Now, as long as you're just hanging there, pay attention." I gaze into his eyes. "The only rules that really matter are these." I feel Jack standing a bit behind me. "What a person can do, and what a person can't do." Will looks confused, so I continue. "For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man," I put emphasis on the and, because Jack and I are examples of that, "or you can't. But pirate is in your blood boy, so you'll have to square with that someday." Will looks at me with big eyes, from shock and also trying to keep himself from falling into the ocean. I walk back to the stern and hold onto the wheel. "Like me, for example. I can let you drown, but we can't bring this ship into Tortuga with just the two of us, savvy?" I flash him an innocent grin, and he just looks more concerned. I turn the wheel again, making the beam swing over the ship, dropping Will back onto the quarter deck.