The Greatest Adventures

Chapter 5 The Other Pirates

"What happened?!"

When Hook arrived on the deck, he could see that another ship was creeping closer and closer to his own. But there were already a couple of the other pirate's men on his deck, fighting against his own crew.

Before the captain of the Jolly Roger could bark orders or start blasting the brains of the attackers, a familiar voice lined with a slight French accent came from behind.

"Long time no see, you bourgeoisie bastard!" He whirled around and found none other than the Black Bird's leader standing before him. The man was a dark-haired and in his thirties, and there was a large scar running from the corner of his lips the bottom of his chin. He had eyes like pools of black ink and a wolfish grin, and his once fair skin was tan from all the years in the sun.

"Raoul. You recovered more quickly than I imagined." Hook's tone remained calm and composed to match his expression. The other man twitched in agitation, and could hardly contain his urge to stab his taller rival.

"I had to if I wanted revenge." The spidery man sneered before stepping forward."You've raided my ship twice this month. That's very "bad form" of you!"

"We've known each other too long to care about good manners. Don't you agree?"

"Brûle in entering, you pompous, overdressed pig. You should be beheaded."

"If you haven't noticed, that particular heinous bloodbath...Oh pardon me, a revolution has ended already."

The two of them were too absorbed in their conversation to notice a certain young lady with orange hair emerge from the captain's quarters. Her eyes zeroed in on one man and one man alone, and everything else such as the fighting men and exploding of dynamite was blocked out. Stomping over like a little girl about to throw a temper tantrum, she ignored the increasing storm of violence around her until she was standing right in front of her target.

"Captain!" He blinked when Clara appeared before him, pouting at him the way an unhappy child would to her father when he came home two hours late for dinner. "You so very rudely walked away without bothering to explain what was going on. And you didn't even leave me any means to protect myself!"

"Who is this woman?" Raoul asked, but Hook ignored him. Instead, he grits his teeth and lowered his voice into a hoarse whisper so that only Clara could hear him.

"I believe I told you to stay inside." Hook hissed the words, but Clara only pouted her pretty lips and stuck her prim nose up into the air.

"Well I haven't sworn my allegiance to you as a member of the crew yet, so I do not have to do anything you say."

Raoul burst out into a laugh, which finally caused Clara to finally notice his presence and turn around to face him. Her nose crinkled as she eyed his form up and down: it was quite obvious from his appearance and a smell that he had not had a bath in weeks. Maybe even months.

"My my my...What have we got here?" His gaze roved all over her body, and his eyes grew-half lidded. A smirk slipped up onto his lips as impure thoughts filled his mind. He chuckled while continuing to scrutinize her petite form.

Hook stepped forward, shielding her from Raoul's perverted gaze.

"Oh, you're such a selfish old man... Keeping such a pretty thing all to yourself." His voice was a purr, and he tried leaning to the right to try and get a glimpse of the girl again. Hook growled and continued blocking Raoul's lecherous vision.

"She is not a thing, Raoul. She is a human."

A snicker.

"All women are things, Hook. Playthings, actually. Toys created to satisfy all our desires, treasures for us to claim, and property we can take from others. And if we get tired of one, we can simply plunder another."