"A damned redfish swam below me, and before I knew it, I was jumpin' into the ocean after it! I'd eat it raw, I didn't care! Soon, though, I was surrounded by them. I could grab every fish I cared to! And I did! 'Twas a feast! Then, when I looked around, I clocked dolphins. They were herdin' the fish toward a vessel like ocean skippies.
All I could think of was that I was saved! Finally! …But alas...when I saw the red sails flyin' high overhead, and that inky, jet-black hull, I figured...I might as well give myself to sharks right now before boarding...The Red Spirit.
Sure as any good skippy, though, the dolphins pushed me and that shoal into those nets, and they were hauled on board, fish an' me in all. Then I was dumped onto the deck and – swear on me mum – I thought I was done for.
All around me were the tallest, meanest, gruffest pirates that'd ever sailed these godsforsaken seas...and the one with his hand on the pulley was none other than Captain Chance Creed, himself. The Great Seawolf in the flesh!
And do ya know what he said to me? First thing outta his gob? 'I didn't know goblins could swim!' HAH! Somethin' about that jib...it was THEN I knew I was truly saved. He welcomed me aboard, fed me, clothed me, introduced me to his men, and asked if I wished to sail with them! What trouble we got into! But I wouldn't trade nary a year for anythin' in the world, laddie.
Cap'n Creed was the fairest cap'n I'd ever sailed under. Smart and sharp…and a true beast in the heat of battle. And I never ONCE saw him turn. A werewolf, through and through, to be true. A beaut, so I've been told, but never once did I see him strain under his curse. He's as tall as they say. Broad, too, and faster than he looks, with hair as black as pitch and eyes the color of a full moon. So smart, he was, they say he outwitted a sea witch and tricked her to serve on his ship…for an eternity!"
"Ah-heh-HEM!"
Yoozaad's grandiose gestures and impassioned storytelling were interrupted as one of his granddaughters cleared her throat. As Garrick turned his attention to her, she filled the mug of a patron who'd taken a seat at the bar to listen.
"That's not what I heard. I heard they's was lovers an' THAT'S why she was in his crew." She batted her lashes, pressed tiny palms to her chest, and swooned with a smitten sigh. Yoozaad responded with a gagging noise and waved his hand dismissively at her.
"Bah. Yolanda, that's not what happened at all. Ya wasn't even born yet!" he retorted.
Yolanda scrunched up her face, pouted, and turned her nose up at him, before pointedly moving on to fill another patron's mug just as he arrived at the bar to sit.
"Actually...," came a dark, rumbling voice from Garrick's left. For a moment, he had nearly forgotten about the stranger, as quiet and secluded as he'd made himself seem. The Stranger's voice was so deep that the sound reverberated in Garrick's chest as well as the ensuing silence that now deafened the room. "From what I've heard...they were lovers…And it was she who tricked him. Long before he ever became a pirate, he found himself indebted to what he thought was a mermaid. In exchange for saving his life, he took her with him on his travels." The stranger spoke with a strangely nostalgic tone, as though remembering something long since passed.
"See, Granpa? Romantic!" Yolanda chimed, sighed dreamily, and spun around to service the rest of the room with refills.
"Yeah, yeah...well…anyway...," Yoozaad began, but was cut off by Garrick, this time.
"Wait a minute... 'before'? I thought people were just...y'know, they just woke up one day and...I guess...decided?" Garrick asked sheepishly. Young as he was, his naivete in the ways of the world showed often, and he knew little about anything about the world outside his tiny Floridian settlement, much less the ways and history of infamous Pirate Kings. Yoozaad burst into laughter, throwing back his head and causing his lop-sided rabbit ears to flop.
"'Decided'? Lad, it's a mite more complicated than that, I can assure yeh!" As he replied, Garrick sensed that the stranger had moved to respond, but the barkeep beat him to it. "For one thing, ask any pirate out there and he'll tell yeh the whole sad sob story that led to his sailin' the sea under a black flag. Near death, loss of livelihood...loss of home…war. There's more than just a few reasons good, honest folk turn to piratin'." Garrick fell silent as Yolanda refilled his mug, having to squeeze past her elderly grandfather's knees as he paced along the bar top.
"So…what were his? What happened, y'know... 'before'?" Garrick's ears picked up the stray creaking of a wooden chair as the man several seats to his left shifted, and once again, Yoozaad grinned madly.
"Oh...that one's quite a tale. Are yeh comfortable? Got some time? I'd be happy to tell it to yeh."
By this time, Garrick was genuinely interested in what Yoozaad had to say about arguably the greatest pirate captain in the world and nodded. Around him, other patrons were settling in as well and even ordering from the kitchen while getting refills. Yoozaad glanced around, smiled...
...and began.