A Pirate's Life For Me

New Recruits

"Get off me!"

"Don't fight, you little brat, this is for your own good." The older man held a knife to the teen's throat as he rummaged around in the kid's pockets.

"I ain't got it!" The boy spat.

"Give it up, we know you took it." The other man, the one in the shadows, commented.

"I said I ain't got it!"

"Is something going on here?" 

All three men turned to view the newcomer. She was dressed in rags, but something in the way she stood said she was not a common urchin.

"Git along, girlie, this don't concern you." The one man said, his knife pressing harder against the boy's neck.

"I think it is my concern. I need to talk to the kid."

"He steal something from you too?" The second man asked.

"Ain't got it." The boy mumbled. 

"Shet yer trap."

"Let him go."

"No."

The girl arched a barely visible eyebrow in the darkness of the alley. "Then we'll do this the fun way."

Before anyone moved, the man in the shadows was shoved forward violently.

"Who the Hades was that?!" He snarled, turning around. That was the wrong thing to do as a fist connected with his jaw hard enough for everyone in the alley to hear bones cracking. The man dropped like a stone.

"Who're you?" The first guy asked nervously.

Instead of an answer, he got a punch to the face from the shadows.

"Thank'e." The boy said quietly.

"You seem like you could use a purpose. Rather than stealing from random slobs." His savior said.

"I ain't taken it!"

"Please, I saw it."

The boy slumped. "Ye gonna arres' me?"

"No. I'm offering you a job. What's your name?"

The boy looked up. His single showing eye glittered. "Ethan Nakamura."

"Well, Ethan, I'm in need of a crew. I'd like you on it."

Ethan inspected his new acquaintance suspiciously. He was unable to see the man's face.

"If you wish, you may follow Reyna." The man gestured to the woman before melting into the shadows.

"Who was that?" Ethan turned to Reyna.

She paused for a moment before answering.

"Green-Eyes."

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"And stay out!" The tavern-keeper shouted, hurling the two out into the street.

The one boy surged to his feet angrily, looking for a fight.

"Sherman, don't!" The other boy hissed, picking himself up much slower than his companion.

"Like the jerk doeshn't desherve it!" 

"Starting a brawl isn't going to help!" The boy insisted. His brown hair flopped in his kaleidoscopic eyes as he grabbed his friend's arm.

"Geroff me, Mitchell!"

"Sherman, don't, you're drunk." Mitchell said it matter-of-factly.

"'M noht." Sherman snapped back.

He shook Mitchell off and started towards the tavern. 

The boy was left out in the street while his drunk friend stormed inside. He sighed heavily as the sounds of fighting began to emanate from the partially opened door.

"Would you like to get him out of that?" A voice asked.

Mitchell whirled, his hands coming up automatically the way Sherman always did when he was in a fight. 

A man stood in the shadows behind him. 

"Who are you?"

The man's lips, just visible below his shadowed face, which was covered by a tricorne, twitched. All Mitchell could see was black hair that was longer and probably pulled into a short ponytail judging by the way it fell.

"Let's just say I'm recruiting."

Mitchell was silent for a moment. "You'll get him to stop?"

The man nodded. "I'll even send someone in to get him."

Mitchell nodded. "Alright."

The man's smirk widened a little and he turned to look behind him.

"Nakamura got to where he needed to be?"

"Of course, Captain. What's next." A woman stepped out of the shadows, her black braid swinging lightly as she walked.

"Rather drunk bloke in the tavern there. Short blond hair, dark eyes and scarred skin. Probably picking a fight."

"You got it, Cap." The girl walked confidently into the bar.

"You're just going to let her go in there alone?" Mitchell hissed.

The man, Captain, whatever the girl had called him, held up a hand, saying to wait for a moment.

Fresh shouts broke out, along with the sound of punches being thrown, then the door burst open and the woman emerged, dragging a barely conscious Sherman by his shirt.

"Take them to the same place as Nakamura. I have a little bit more recruiting to do." The Captain said.

"Yes sir." The woman responded.

"Wait!" Mitchell called as the man turned to leave.

"Yes?"

"What's your name?"

The man glanced at the woman before answering.

"Green-Eyes."

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"Where ye at, girl?" The man leered drunkenly as he staggered up the stairs of the small house.

Behind the small bed in her room, the blonde girl shuddered.

"Please, gods, mother, don't let him find me." She prayed.

The stumbling footsteps slowed at her door and she held her breath.

A crash shattered the air, coming from the main floor of the house.

"What're ye doin' down there, ya li'l sneak!" The man bellowed, turning and barrelling down the stairs.

The girl let out a breath of air, then let out a muffled scream when a hand slipped over her mouth.

"I'm not going to hurt you." A girl's voice whispered in her ear. "Do you want to get out of here?"

The girl nodded, shaking slightly.

"Good. We can give you a job, quite a good one. We'll teach you how to defend yourself, all of it."

She nodded again and the hand on her mouth slipped away.

"What's your name?" The intruder asked as she helped the shaking blonde to her feet.

"Gwendolyn. But I prefer Gwen."

"Gwen it is then. Green-Eyes will find something that fits you, I promise. Now come on." The intruder, who Gwen could now see was a young woman with choppy dark hair, turned and headed towards the window.

[A/N Recruiting recruiting! I'll add a few more on later, but he doesn't get everyone in one day]