One Piece Fanfiction : THE LEGEND OF JACK SPARROW - Chapter Two

The rain was getting heavier and heavier and the wind was blowing furiously. In the middle of this deluge, in an alley behind the tavern, Jack and Anna landed covered by a light, old overhang that didn’t even keep them dry.

Looking at the back of the girl who had just got him out of trouble, Jack was about to thank her, but before he could, she turned sharply to face him.

What possessed you to start a fight in my father’s tavern? she laughed, her hands on her hips and her brown eyes twinkling. Couldn’t you do your pickpocketing somewhere else tonight? I don’t know, somewhere nicer, where the customers wouldn’t destroy the place.

She walked up to Jack, and pushed him against the wall of the back of the pub. For his part, Jack merely dusted himself off, smoothing the folds of his coat.

– ‘Now then, one point needs clearing up, miss. I am not a thief. I didn’t come here by choice.

He waved the bag he was holding in front of Anna’s face.

– The mad giant inside stole my bag here, and I’ve just come to get my property back. That said, I thank you for your intervention. Now, if you don’t mind, young lady, I’ll just gather my things and be on my way.

Jack patted Anna lightly on the shoulder, and was about to cross her, but she slammed him against the wall again.

– Do you have any idea who you just took that bag from, whether it’s yours or not? she asked.

– No. And to tell you the truth, I don’t care,” Jack snapped, breaking free of Anna’s grip.

– That was Captain Low, you idiot,” Anna retorted, hitting Jack on the head.

Jack’s eyes went blank.

– The infamous and dreaded… ? Anna added.

– Doesn’t ring a bell,” Jack replied.

– The most famous pirate this side of the Grand Line? Anna clarified again.

– OH, wait…

Jack had a sudden look of recognition, then his face broke down again.

– Uh, no. I’m sorry.

– Well, never mind. You’ve already signed your death warrant by stealing it anyway.

– Look, I’m not a crook,” says Jack. That lousy bag and what’s in it is all I have. I would have brought more, but storage space for stowaways is very limited.

Anna rolled her eyes.

– Then,” Jack continued, “as is typical on this side of the ocean, my ship was attacked by pirates who robbed us afterwards. I had dozed off during that time, but I could see our attackers when I woke up, including the one you call Lao…

– That’s Low,” cut in Anna.

– Anyway, after that, I went after them which brought me here. This is my bag…

Jack climbed with the bag onto an old barrel and opened it.

– …And I can prove it. For example,” he said, rummaging in the bag, then pulling out what looked like a stick of wax, “this candle is… not mine?

Jack looked at the candle, confused, then threw it down.

– A good example indeed,” Anna said sarcastically.

– No, no, no! Jack exclaimed in frustration.

Digging deeper, he pulled out what might have been old underwear. He shivered and threw them away. After that came what looked like a dried-up old rat.

– Anna, by the way,” said the girl suddenly to Jack, who still had his eyes on the bag.

– The ‘young miss’ has a name,” she continued.

– And it’s Anna, Jack,” Jack grunted, not really paying attention.

There was no end to the horrible things in the bag. He had thrown out something that looked very much like petrified dung.

– Otherwise, I’m sorry for lashing out at you earlier,” Anna said sincerely. It’s just that my father has a bad enough temper as it is. He’s going to be in a terrible state now, spending the next week fixing the place up. Fixing the chairs and tables that you helped to destroy…

There was a small thud as an object thrown by Jack hit Anna in the forehead. She caught it as she fell. It was a heavy piece.

– Thank you,” she muttered sarcastically. That makes up for everything.

– Well, it’s the only thing of value here,” Jack said darkly. My knife, my box, my coin stash…

He looked up at her, bewildered

– …It’s all gone.

Frustrated and angry, he turned the bag over and pulled out several apple seeds. Then something big and heavy fell from the bottom of the bag and hit the ground with a thud. Jack jumped to the ground to look at it.

A ball? Jack picked it up and examined it more closely. It was the size of a hand and rather dirty. Examining it for a while longer, and losing interest, he grunted and threw the ball to the ground.

“Damn pirates!”

Jack rubbed his eyes with his fingers and slumped against the wall of the tavern, contemplating a bleak and not so well-fed future.

However, Anna’s eyes widened as the ball fell to the floor. Was it a shard of gold? She picked up the sphere, ignoring Jack’s grumbling, and turned it over in her hands. Although it was scratched and covered in dirt, glints of gold and silver still shone through the dirt in the rain. She could feel a pattern etched into it.

No, it can’t be…, she breathed. Give me some light,” she then ordered.

Jack didn’t normally obey anyone, least of all the daughter of an angry tavern-keeper, but he’d heard something in Anna’s voice that had caught his attention. Without protest, he pulled a small flint and tinder kit from his coat pocket and lit the candle end of the bag. Anna took the candle and cast its dim light on the sphere.

– Look, there…, she said, pointing to the sphere.

There were a few words in a language neither of them recognised, abbreviations of some kind, and then some more inscriptions in the common language. Underneath was a strange image of a bird with feathers, worked in reddish gold. Angular and foreign.

– Do you know what it is? Anna asked, her voice trembling with excitement.

– Is it worth a lot of gold? Jack asked.

– The bird drawn here is a ‘Southern Bird’, a species found only on the island of Jaya, the island where the Golden City of Norland the Trickster is supposed to be!

Anna’s eyes shone with excitement.

– Legend has it that while exploring hundreds of islands on the Grand Line 300 years ago, Norland stumbled upon a golden city. He returned to his kingdom and informed the king, who accompanied him to the island. However, when they reached the island, the city of gold had disappeared. Irritated, the king sentenced him to death for lying to him.

Jack’s eyes widened.

– For centuries, fuelled by this tale, many pirates and adventurers searched the island for the city without success. Thus, it was agreed that the legend was really a lie from Norland.

Anna rubbed the ball with her hands, watching the dirty sphere begin to glow with a golden light, and shivered: “It’s gold.

– Interesting,” said Jack, taking the sphere from him with the candle.

– And so is this proof that this City of Gold exists?

– Of course not. I just told you that pirates and adventurers have searched the island before without… But obviously,” Anna said last, remembering the conversation she’d overheard earlier in the tavern.

– Obviously what? Jack asked.

– They say that the city was not found because it is no longer on earth, but in the sky.

At his words, Jack’s eyebrows rose.

– In the sky? he asked incredulously.

– I know, I had the same reaction as you. However, the same person who said it also said that there is a way to reach that sky.

– And what is that?

– That’s where what I’ve been able to pick up ends. I just heard it in the tavern, but I can’t tell if the pirate in question is still there, given the carnage there.

Jack scanned the sphere with his hands, running his fingers along the engravings. Good work, he thought. Whether the legend was true or false, Jack’s thirst for adventure had been fanned.

Seeing Jack’s greedy look, Anna shook her head: “You’re in trouble,” she said softly. Stealing something like that from a pirate like Low. You better leave Todd immediately… or you’re a dead man.” After saying that, She turned back to go back inside the pub.

Wait.

Jack grabbed her arm.

Come with me.

She blinked at him, droplets of rain clinging to her lashes.

You obviously know a lot more about this legendary stuff than I do, and if anyone saw you helping me there, you’re a dead man, too. Well, woman.

Arabella paused and thought about the question.

And,” Jack continued, “think of the life that would be ours if we found this city. Freedom and power.

Although Anna tried to hide it, Jack could see from her expression that she was in love with the idea.

– I don’t really have any other plans… Except to work at the Diamond for the rest of my life, or until I’m married, she said sadly. Or until Daddy dies of alcohol,” she added, a little more angrily. ‘I haven’t got much, really nothing, here since an evil pirate sacked the tavern last year, taking my mother with him. A big, fierce, ugly pirate, too. I miss my mother. Dad and I are sure she’s…

Jack noticed the expression on her face and felt a surge of sympathy. Anna looked Jack straight in the eye.

– ‘All right, then. I’ll come with you. But we’ll follow my rules. Do you understand? Which means no stealing from pirates or anyone else for that matter along the way.

– How many times do I have to tell you. I’m not a thief! Jack protested.

Anna frowned, then continued.

– I know the perfect boat to use. An old abandoned boat in Clover somewhere on the island.

Jack shrugged.

– Sorry, young lady. I’m new here, remember? I have no idea where it is. And I don’t think it would be very wise of me to ask one of the gentlemen inside for directions.

Anna thought for a moment. Then she took out a wooden hairpin from her hair strands and held the end of it up to the flame of Jack’s candle. When the wood began to burn, she blew it out, leaving a nice tip of charcoal. Then she tore a square piece of cloth from her apron, laid it against the wall of the tavern and began to draw a map for him. Jack looked at this with wide eyes.

– I think I’ll be very lucky to have such a… resourceful companion on board,” he said, leaning forward and smiling.

– ‘We’re business partners, and that’s that,’ Anna replied, putting a small X on the square before handing the rude card to Jack. Here, you lay low for three days. I’ll gather supplies: drinking water and food. Meet me at the ship at dusk in three nights.

– Excellent work, my lady,” Jack said, giving her a quick bow.

– We have our boat. But…” Anna looked confused for a moment.

Anna looked lost for a moment, her euphoria over. The Diamond Willow had been her only home.

– Where are we going to go?

Jack rolled his eyes.

– To look for the Golden City, of course! You already said we were as good as dead. We might as well die of adventures as at the hands of this Captain Lao

– Low corrected Anna.

– Whatever.

To Be Continued…