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𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐆𝐀, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐎𝐑. immediately, bella recognized the differences between this port and any others she had been to.
jack was greeted by a couple old friends with slaps to the face, but they soon found a man sleeping with some pigs in the mud.
they threw a bucket of water on him, and he awoke with a jump.
"curse you for breathing, you slack jawed idiot!" his voice rang out, then he squinted at his wakers. "jack?"
"mister gibbs?" bella asked, recognizing this man from her teenage years.
"bella! you both should know better than to wake a man while he's sleeping! it's bad luck."
"ah, but fortunately, i know just the thing to counter it. the man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink, the man who was sleeping drinks it, while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking," jack said.
"aye, that'll about do it!" exclaimed gibbs.
suddenly, will drenched gibbs a second time.
"blast, i'm already awake!" he yelled.
"i know," answered will. "that was for the smell."
* * *
"so how did you end up in tortuga?" bella asked gibbs as they walked into a pub.
"quite a turn of events," he answered. "how about you?"
"i'll leave that to jack to explain," bella told him, then hit him with the meaty question. "mr. gibbs, did you know my father was a pirate?"
gibbs stopped in his tracks. "michael stevens?" he muttered to jack, who nodded. "in that case, you best join us for the proposition, bella."
they sat down at a quieter table in the corner.
"how did you find out? about your dad, i mean," gibbs asked her while jack was ordering drinks.
"i talked to every sailor that ever came into port royal. one day, i met a special merchant," she summarized. "i was able to get him to tell me the truth."
"ah, persuasion," gibbs nodded slowly.
"one of my many gifts," she said, grinning.
soon, jack brought over a drink for each of them. he handed one to bella. "ever tried rum?"
"depends on who's asking," bella said, smiling. she took a large sip of the flavorful liquid. jack looked somewhat impressed.
"now then, what's the nature of this venture?" gibbs asked.
jack leaned forward. "i'm going after the black pearl," he said quietly.
"what? you are?" bella set her drink down. gibbs choked on his rum.
