Pirates of the Caribbean Oneshots

A Conversation regarding Code Keeping

"Just let me get this straight," Jack said, trying to keep his tone level as he faced his father.

"I'm to be the next Keeper of the Codex?"

"Aye," said Teague, swirling liquid around the bottle dangling from his fingers.

"Can't you choose another Lord? Ching? Ammand? Anyone except me!"

Teague raised an eyebrow.

"Or Hector," Jack added, waving an impatient hand.
"Anybody except him. Or me."

"No." Teague said simply, raising his bottle to his lips.

He nodded at the chair opposite the one he was occupying.

"Sit down boy, and discuss this civilly."

"I'm being civil!" Jack shot back, still standing.

"You're not. Sit down." Teague ordered.

With a heavy sigh, Jack obeyed and reached across for the bottle his father had just set down.

"Hands off me wine Jackie," said Teague warningly, pulling the bottle out of his son's reach.

Wine safely in his hand, he rested his gaze patiently on Jack, waiting for him to speak.

Jack ran a frustrated hand through his dreadlocks.

"I can't be Keeper. You know my views on the Code!"

"Hmm...isn't it something along the lines of "the Code is more like guidelines than actual rules?"" Teague asked.

"No. That's Hector. Mine is more like "I'll follow it if it suits and bend it if it doesn't"" Jack answered, running a finger over his Pirate brand.

"I see."
Teague sipped his wine slowly, then set it down, well out of Jack's reach.

He leaned forward, elbows on the table, gaze serious.

"Listen to me Jack."

The fact he used "Jack" rather than "Jackie", the name that had usually been used when Jack was growing up, ensured his son's full attention.

"I know better than anyone your views on the Code, seeing as I've spent the last thirty something years trying to teach you to uphold it."

Jack tried to interrupt but Teague glared at him until he closed his mouth again.

"I was Lord of Madagascar for about three years I think, then I became Keeper of the Code. I, like you do now, cared very little for the fabled "Pirate Codex", regarding it as a set of restraints passed on by word of mouth, with nobody really knowing if the rules existed. The Keeper before me was rarely seen and the Code broken left, right and centre because of this."

Teague sighed, eyes distant.

"Those were dark years for pirates Jack. Everyone pillaged at will, ransacking settlements up and down every coast. Friends became enemies overnight. Most deaths occurred in the dark, a knife in the back job, instead of going down in a blaze of glory raiding an enemy ship or settlement."

He paused, swallowed a mouthful of wine and continued.

"The Keeper, knowing he'd die , desperately searched for a successor, seeking someone experienced and preferably native to his country."

Teague laughed harshly.

"He got me instead. A twenty four year old Irishman with little reputation in Madagascar and a wife and young child in the mix as well."

"He took a fancy to me for some reason, and, in the six months he had left, tried to teach me my duties. Then, with the teaching only half-completed, he died and left me with the responsibility of the law of pirates on my shoulders."

"I made my own way from there, and by the time I made my first appearance at a Brethren Court meeting as Code Keeper, knew most of it. I gained respect gradually."

"By shooting people," muttered Jack.

"That helped. I've always been a fast shot. Two ships to my name before hitting thirty also increased people's opinion of me."

Jack twisted a ring around his right index finger as he listened to Teague.

"I plundered enough to make myself a successful haul hidden away in a few different places, and gained myself a reputation as a pirate as well as Code Keeper. Now, I'm too content to get on a ship unless I actually have to."

"But back on topic. You're lucky. I have no intention of dying for at least ten years so you'll receive the training I didn't get and learn the ropes of being Keeper of the Code without actually getting the title until I die."

Jack nodded slowly.

"Agreed. When do we start?"

Teague gave him a smile and drained the bottle he was holding before rising to his feet.

"No time like the present Jackie."

A/N No idea where this idea came from. I couldn't sleep and then this happened.
Comments please 😉