Pirates of the Caribbean 3

For the next few weeks, Will worked his hardest to learn the ropes about the ship. He was a fast learner and though he often tried to deny it to himself, he quite enjoyed working with the men. They treated him like scum and many a times he had gotten beat for saying or doing something wrong but he was hardworking and the more he learned the less he got beat. There were still times of course when the men decided that they needed something to play with and they would use him. Under their abuse, and the hard work that he was constantly doing, Will became hard as muscles spread under his skin. His hair grew lighter with the excess of sea water and sunlight and his skin grew darker. For the most part, he worked with his shirt off and his feet bare, since his shoes were not easy to climb the ropes with and his billowing shirt just got in the way, especially on a hot day. It was after about four weeks when Will saw his first pirate battle. The ship, which was called Midnight Stallion, pulled up along side a rich trading vessel. Without any warning, they readied their cannons and fired at the ship, destroying all resistance in seconds. Will helped keep the ship steady, all the while protesting against his own actions.

"They're pirates, I shouldn't be helping them," he thought to himself, but at the same time it felt so right to him and he kept on going, cheering along with the pirates as the men boarded the other vessel, taking the money, food, gunpowder, and anything else they could carry. In minutes the other vessel had been completely emptied and burned. Something twisted in Will's gut as he heard the screams of the crew of the other ship and it twisted even more when he realized that he was able to ignore it very easily. 

"Who am I?" he asked himself. 

Elizabeth was calling in favors that she had hoped she would never have to use. She had called together a crew from Tortuga and  had set sail immediately, scourging ports for any news of Calico Jack but most did not have any news and the ones that did, it was only vague hints. It wasn't until she reached a small port on the coast of Singapore that she heard anything. A merchant's vessel from nearby had been attacked and burned by pirates sailing under Calico Jack's flag. There had only been two survivors lucky enough to escape in a small rowboat. Elizabeth herself went and talked to them but they only told her what she already knew. 

"They were a few leagues south of here a few days ago," was all they said and Elizabeth growled in frustration. They would  be long gone already, but she decided to search the area anyway, stopping on any ports along the way for more news. Unknown to her was the news that would never be said to her face, the news that the King of Pirates, Elizabeth Turner was back at sea and that anyone who crossed her path, better beware. 

Every so often, the Midnight Stallion would dock at a port and most of the men would get off and head to shore to get supplies and drunk. They would come back the next morning, reeling and squinting in the sun but always with everything they needed. At these times, Will was always confined to the boat though he often pleaded to be let off. He usually got a good pounding when he did this but every time they made it to a port he would do it again and again. The men would often gossip when they came back on board but Will was usually excluded from this as well and would a smack upside the head if he tried to join and yet he tried to join every time. Sometimes he would pick up small tidbits but never anything of importance and never anything that really interested him. There would be times when one of the men would talk with him about the outside world but Will quickly caught onto the fact that he never said anything of importance either and Will knew that the crew was trying to hide something from him. Over the past few weeks, it had seemed to Will as if he had grown closer to the crew but at the same time, they felt more and more distant and after making port once, they were downright nasty to him. Beating him till he was lying panting on the floor after having accidentally walked in on one of their conversations. Later that same week, they made port at another dock and the crew had shut Will back up in the brig. The harsh change from his days out in the sun to confinement made Will itch to move around and he found himself doing exercises in his cage, just to get his blood flowing. Being unable to sail made him miserable and grouchy. It was then that the Midnight Stallion clashed with the Turquoise Falcon.