(Arabella's POV)

We all watch in awe, and my blood runs cold at Morgan's words. Blackbeard's ship attacked ours, and a lone figure swings across to our ship, from a rope, landing on our deck. The fierce looking man who I could only assume was Blackbeard.

He was tall, and pale, almost zombie looking, his grey face wrinkled, and sunken in slightly, black circles surrounding his yellowish eyes, eyes that looked cruel, like he had no soul. His beard long and black, separated into braids. He sported a black captains hat, as well as a long black coat. He had a sash that strapped four pistols to the front of him, going diagonally across his chest. His lone sword had a sparkling blue sapphire on the handle, just as Captain had said.

"Times running out Morgan, Captain of the Sirius." He cruel voices rings out, as he eyes our crew. He smiles a sadistic grin, exposing his rotten yellow teeth.

"Not yet Edward, or should I say Captain Teach." Morgan says, stepping forward, confidently.

As for the rest of us, we all had one hand on our weapons, ready to jump when Captain made a move. Everyone wary, not sure which way this was gonna go, or even what was going on between the two.

"I haven't gone by that name in ages." Blackbeard growls, narrowing his eyes at Morgan, who meets his gaze, not flinching at all. "Jones sent me. It'll be time to pay up soon, you know the deal. Or we take back the Sirius." He adds, and Morgan visibly goes rigid at his words.

"I take it by the look on yer face that ya can't pay it back?" Blackbeard continues, his creepy grin widening as he faces Morgan. "Well now, you and your crew could always pay it off doing time on the Flying Dutchman." He adds, laughing slightly.

Morgan doesn't say a word, as he carefully watches the other captain, still not backing down. "Or would you rather become one of my collection? I'm sure the Sirius would look nice in a bottle, perfectly preserved for eternity." He adds, after another moment.

"What does Jones want Edward?" Morgan snaps, glaring at the zombie looking captain.

"What ya owe him for the Sirius. He's willing to trade the original price, if you're willing to make a deal." He adds, looking at Morgan, with a sly grin on his face and mischief in his eyes.

Morgan fidgets, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and we can tell he's hesitant to make a deal. "What kind of deal?" He asks, hesitantly.

"Just for two treasures. Better than your other options really." He adds grinning, and you can just tell by the sadistic smirk on his face that there's a catch, or more to this than he's telling.

               "Go on." Morgan says warily, fidgeting slightly.

                "I'll want the Heart of Zerzura, from the depths of the ocean. Also the Skull of Teoxuacata, from the isla de muerte." He says, his grin widening even more, looking smug.

                "You know damn well that the mer people have Zerzura, and the last crew that tried for the isla de muerte ended up dead or worse." Captain growls looking pissed.

                 "What the fuck could be worse then dead?" I hear Russell snort, drawing our attention to him.

                  "Wandering forever as a ghost, or being brought back to live as a Jumbee, a zombie of sorts controlled by black magic and voodoo." Blackbeard adds, chuckling wryly. "Though you'll need a ghost to find the isla de muerte, for the living have a hell of a time finding it, and those that do don't last long without a ghost guide."he adds after a moment.

           Morgan doesn't say anything, he looks frustrated, probably not sure whether or not to accept the deal.

            "What the fuck..how.." I hear Kris murmur, before Captain finally speaks.

"How long?" He asks, and I hold my breath for the answer.

"A week." Blackbeard answers, and my heart drops. Exclamations of protest ring out amongst the crew.

"The fuck that's not enough time!" Kris yells, clearly pissed.

"That's barely enough time to sail to both locations we need, let alone enough time to get everything together." Eduardo growls, reaching for his pistol.

"No way in hell." Russell scoffs.

"This is bullshit." Penelope snaps, reaching for her katana.

"Asshole." Nathan growls next to me, as he reaches for his sickle and chain.

"That bish!" I hear Cecilia exclaim, as she bravely steps forward, standing next to Morgan, her whip drawn.

"That's enough." Morgan yells, raising his hand up, gesturing for us to knock it off. "I'll take it, but I have a request." Morgan answers, walking forward, and going to stand next to Blackbeard.

                Morgan talks quietly with the gruesome looking Captain, so quiet we can't even hear his request. The only sign showing that the deal has been made is a simple handshake between the two men.

               Blackbeard eyes us all for a moment, before swinging back over on to his own ship. We all watch quietly, as he sails away from us. I can't help but wondering what the hell just happened, and what Captain isn't telling us.

               "Eduardo, start heading south, we need to head for mermaids bay." Morgan growls, already turning to make his way back inside.

             "What the hell is going on Cap?" Russell finally asks, the question I'm sure we were all wondering.

               Captain whirls around, glaring, fire in his normally calm stormy gray eyes. "What the hell does it..." Captain pauses a minute, rubbing his temples, and taking a deep breath. "Let's all gather in the navigation room, then I'll tell you.." He answers, still looking pissed.

                We all nod silently, not daring to speak, as we quietly follow him to the navigation room.

We gather around the the long table, all taking a seat, Morgan siting at the head of the table, with Cecilia on his right, the rest of us flanking either side of them. Eduardo arrives last, taking a seat besides Penelope, as we all look at Morgan.

"So, as you can probably tell, getting a decent ship to start a crew on, isn't an easy thing...." He starts, glancing at the wall as he scratches the back of his neck in thought. "I was about Russell or Eduardo's age, when I wanted a ship of my own. They aren't easy to come by, and are usually extremely expensive. Most of us ended up bartering, or making deals for our ships...." He pauses again, glancing at Cecilia.

The blonde looked concerned, I could already tell she was worried for him, as she reached over and took Morgan's hand, squeezing it. He smiled slightly at his wife's gesture before continuing. "I was impatient, and wanted a ship as soon as I could. I wasn't the only one either, there were a few other Captains that felt the same. So I made an impossible deal, with Blackbeard and Jones, for a ship, that I would have to pay off over time, but I could have the ship that day if I agreed, and so I did. The price is too high, and would take years. Most of the time Captains would either end up dead, or die trying to pay it off...." He stops again, looking at all of us. It was weird to see Captain so serious to say the least.

"This deal that I just made... I'm sorry for dragging you all into this, but I need your help. It's not an ideal situation, but it's better than the alternative. He wants us to fail, for me to become apart of the Flying Dutchman, or apart of his weird collection. Either way, the options if we fail aren't exactly appealing, and the only way out is to get these two treasures. If anyone wants out now, they should leave before we start this journey." He finishes, his grey eyes grazing the room, as he meets each of our gazes.

Eduardo is the first to speak. "Captain. This crew is our family, and though I can't speak for everyone, I'm staying. We fight to keep our ship, or go down with you trying." Eduardo says, his normal sarcasm gone as he speaks, as he stands up, looking at Morgan.

Penelope stands up, taking Eduardo's hand as she looks to Morgan as well. "This is our family, our ship. We're not going to let them take it without a fight. The Sirius is our home, the crew our family. We fight for our home." Penelope says, fire and fierce determination in her emerald green eyes as she stands next to Ed.

Morgan nods, smiling slightly. It's Russell who stands up next. "What kinda pirate would we be if we let some asshole take our ship?" He says, chuckling slightly as he stands, looking to Captain.

Kris jumps up, fire in her hazel eyes, as she stands next to Russ, taking his hand. "We're gonna do it. These bastards aren't getting our ship. We'll get what we have to, or fight to keep it, either way, these bastards aren't getting the ship." She exclaims proudly, a smirk playing across her lips.

Christopher stands next, Luna standing with him, her hand in his, as he speaks. "We're with you Captain." He answers quietly, determination in the normally quiet doctors eyes, as he meets Captain's eyes.

"I for one am not going anywhere. We're in this together." Luna says simply, looking at everyone.

"We're staying. This is our family, our home." Allison speaks next, as Thomas stands with her, nodding, as she takes his hand as well.

Nathan stands, and I quickly stand with him, our fingers intertwined as we look at everyone. "I sure as hell ain't leaving. We're all with you Captain, though why you thought any of us would leave I'll never know." He adds, smirking slightly as he glances at Morgan.

"I sure as hell am not going down without a fight." I add, looking to Morgan and Cecilia.

Cecilia stands next. "Thank you, that means the world to me. We won't let them take our home." She says, smiling slightly with fire in her blue eyes.

               "I appreciate this as well, for this is not an easy journey that lies ahead for us, but I think we're determined enough to do it." Morgan says, and we all sit down once more, the attention on Morgan.

               "So we have to get the two treasures. They sound hard to get to." Luna chimes in, and Morgan nods.

               "They are. No crew has successfully gotten either treasure, though one crew was very close.. A crew died on isla de muerte, and it's said they found it without a ghost for a guide...." He trails off, looking thoughtful. "Though that might be why they died. You need a ghost to navigate that island successfully, and even then, there's a chance you leave cursed, if you even make it off the island at all. So that's why we're headed to mermaids bay first. It'll be tricky still, and we'll probably have to make a deal with a mermaid, but it's the simpler of the two." He finishes, sighing, looking slightly tired.

               "Okay. So we have to deal with mermaids, and find a ghost..." Cecilia muses out loud, drawing our attention to her.

               "We've got a mermaid we could send in.. Or did you all forget?" Allison says suddenly, and the crew all looks at each other, then at Luna.

               Morgan starts laughing, slapping his hand on the table. "He picked the hardest treasures he could think of, and I bet he never thought we could have a mermaid on crew." He says, still laughing. "What do ya say Luna? You'd be the only one that could go that far in the ocean. Ya up for it?" He asks, looking to the dark haired mermaid in question.

               "Tsk hell yea, I got this. Just let me know what I'm looking for and where to go." She answers, a sly smile on her lips, as she looks at everyone.

               "Okay, then we need a-" Penelope starts, but is cut off by our ship rumbling and leaning sideways unexpectedly, knocking her out of her chair.

             "For fucks sake, can't Alan and those idiots leave us alone for just a few fucking days?!" Kris yells, jumping up, already heading for the door.

              "Let's get this over with. Or Cap maybe if you explain to Alan?" Russell asks Captain, before following Kris out the door of the navigation room. We all grab our weapons, heading for the deck. It had been a long day, and the last thing we wanted to do was deal with the Rika.

                I follow Nate to the deck, annoyed that the Rika picked today to mess with us, and by the looks on everyone else's faces I was not alone in my irritation.

                 We reach the deck, only to see Kris and Russell running back towards us shouting something.

               "What?" Nate calls out, trying to hear.

               We still can't hear them, but they keep running, gesturing to, not one, but two ships on either side of the Sirius.

              They finally get close enough for us to hear, though by now we realized this wasn't the Rika, for there are two ships, so it couldn't possibly have been the Rika.

                "It's the fucking navy bastards!" Kris shouts, finally within earshot, only confirming my guess.

                We all draw our weapons, rushing forward to get a better look, and sure as shit, Kris is right. It's the navy, with two big ass ships, bigger than the normal ones we were used to.

A/n: alright everyone!!! That's the first chapter!!! This one is going to be more adventure filled I think... XD there's going to be a lot thrown at the crew... Please don't hate me for it!! Lol XD but I think it'll be more fun this way, and it gives us a chance to see how the crew pulls together when faced with obstacles... Soo yea.. Thanks for reading!! I hope it was a good start!

- Jinx.