Jolly Sailor || Elizabeth Swann

15

Lord Beckett stepped through the broken down doorway to The Merman's Treasure with the air of a man who had just stepped in shit. Benjy raised his tankard, which he had refilled twice from the bar, in greeting and hoped that there was actually shit staining those posh shoes. It would make his day a little better. "I assume you are Lord Beckett of the east India trading company?" He voiced as he gave the man a look up and down. "I mean, I assume that there is a reason for that wig. Not just a poor taste in fashion". 

"I am. And I take it that you are the famous pirate Benjamin Bennet". The man, who was actually much shorter than Benjy thought, frowned at him in mild disgust. "Rumours say that you are half mermaid. From the state of you, it seems that they are right". His eyes darted over pointed ears, the silvery grey scales scattered across Benjy's skin, the blackness of his eyes, and the slits where his gills lay like red scars. He gripped his tankard with one hand, feeling his teeth sharpen behind his lips. He bared them in a sharp smile. 

"We can't choose our parents". 

"Bad luck to be born a monster". 

The soldiers around them, for there was thirty of them spread out through the wrecked bar, jolted at the movement and every bayonet was pointed as Benjy stood up. He put his weight on his good leg and turned to face the lord. His long hair tangling around his collarbones as he regarded the shorter person. For a second there was nothing but tense silence. Benjy snorted and was glad to see the man hide a flinch. They were afraid of him. He had spent his life recognising the signs. They were afraid of his inhumanness. His otherness. 

"I guess bad luck is one way of looking at it", he shrugged. His eyes narrowed. "Now, what do you want with me? I guess this is not a friendly visit". 

"You are right. I am here to apprehend you on the charge of committing piracy". Beckett tucked his arms behind his back and met Benjy's stare with vicious determination. 

"Been there, done that. You might want to try something new", Benjy waved a hand. 

Beckett smirked slightly. It was a small smirk and it sent a wave of bad omens over the pirate. When someone looked that smug, it was a fifty fifty chance of it being arrogance or certainty. This felt like certainty. Beckett knew that he would win and he was being smug about it. Benjy itched to drown the man. 

"Oh the arrest is only for legal purposes". Beckett picked a discarded tankard from the bar and peered at the contents with a disgusted sniff. He dropped it heavily back down onto the bar where it tipped over and the beer inside pooled across the wood. "I happen to have a very powerful tool in my possession. It is the beginning of a great collection. One that you will be apart of". As he spoke, a few misshapen figures were approaching the broken doors. Their shapes looming shadows until they stepped into the light. 

Benjy took a stumbling step back as three crew members of The Flying Dutchmen shambled forwards into the light. He bared sharp teeth. So this was where the heart of Davey Jones had ended up. It had gotten so chaotic back there that in all the pain of after, the problem of the heart had honestly become a forgotten issue. "Ah. You've got me in a tight spot". He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's not like I can really run. So. What do you want from me?" He asked again, voice cold. "To sell me to scientists who would dissect me while I'm still alive? To imprison me in a tank for the rich bastards to all gawk at? To make me into a soldier for your bidding? You'll have problems with the last one. You have nothing over me". 

Beckett hummed. "That is an impressive range of options. Have much experience in those?"

"I have been sold, captured, kidnapped and targeted more than I can count on my fingers", Benjy wriggled his fingers, nails sharpening and growing into claws. "So just spit it out and I'll tell you the positives and negatives of such ideas". 

"You talk too much", Beckett seemed done with the discussion. 

"I do", Benjy grinned. "It is one of my many talents. There is only so much I can do when you have undead fishy corpses at the door, thirty men with guns trained on me, and I have a broken ankle". His face fell into a frown. Eyes as dark as the depths where he had narrowly died. They were all consuming, seductive. "My other talents are much more agreeable to most". 

"Enough of this talk. Seize him". At the order, four men lowered their guns and their boots thudded on the wood as they drew closer. Benjy allowed for two of them to grab him tightly by the upper arms while the third patted him down for weapons. Nothing was found apart from his customary silver whistle that was tied to his belt. The guard dropped it and it hung there, glinting in the candle light. 

As soon as they were sure that Benjy was defenceless, not that he ever was, or at least weaponless the soldiers began surging from the bar. The merman let the soldiers half steer him, half carry him as he leaned against them. The others forming two lines on either side as they stomped through the town. The port of Tortuga was a mess, and that was saying something considering it's usual state. Several houses were on fire and a few dead bodies lay in the muddy streets. Gunpowder smoke lingered in the air and smoke clogged the stars from sight. It was strange to see the streets so silent. Nothing living in sight. That was strange considering the noise merely minutes earlier. Now it was as silent as the grave. 

They reached the docks and in the gloom Benjy could make out the distant shadow of Beckett's ship. There was another shadow behind it. A hulking but unfortunately familiar shape. Benjy cursed his luck out in his head as he watched the sea creature humanoids step into the surf and disappear into the black water. The soldiers holding him halted as the others began loading the rowboats with supplies plundered from the port.

 Benjy almost snorted at the hypocrisy of the sight. Was it not the pirates famous for their plundering and pillaging? Now here they were, a pirate port being pillaged by the royal navy. What times they lived in. 

unedited 

Who missed our sassy fish?