Every story has a beginning?

I put my boot against the stomach of my adversary and pulled my sword from his chest. The old pirate shuddered and fell, a deep crimson spurting from the gash and puddling around him. I sheathed my sword and stood over my fallen foe.

"Where have you hidden the treasure?" I demanded. My heart still pumped frantically - the fever of battle was still upon me.

"Ye..." the pirate stammered. "Ye must know the truth by now, aye Comman'r?" A trembling hand reached into the sack Bloody Willard always kept tied to his waist. I clutched my sword handle, ready for trickery.

"You've lost, Willard," I said, a quiet ferocity to my voice. "You'll not stand again, and my men are seeing to your crew now." Screams and gunfire from behind us confirmed this. Our fight had been an exhausting one, and it was as much due to luck as to skill that I'd been victorious. I wiped a hand across my face and it came back red - the gash he'd left just above my mouth would definitely leave a scar. Idly I considered growing a moustache.

"'Ere, lad," the pirate grunted, pulling something small and shiny from his sack and holding it out to me. There was no time for this nonsense. Bloody Willard was the only person alive who knew where the treasure was buried, and soon he'd take the secret with him to hell.

"The treasure, Willard." I repeated through clenched teeth. "Where is it?" The pirate lay there silently, his trembling hand still managing a weak grip on the object, whatever it was. I leaned forward and snatched it from him.

It was a watch cover - the cover long missing from a watch I kept with me at all times, to remind me of the man who had once held it.

My father's watch.

My mind reeled. Bloody Willard, the most monstrous pirate ever to terrorize the high seas, the most feared enemy of my country and my most hated foe, was...

Was...

"You can't be," I whispered. "You can't."

"Remember always...there is only one true treasure, m'boy," Willard grunted, his voice growing softer. I leaned close, my rage, frustration, and guilt barely allowing me to stay in this moment - this one moment I'd have with the father I thought I never knew.

"The only true treasure in this life is..." he rasped, trailing into a terrible cough.

"Is..." he gasped. Another cough ravaged his chest. He spat blood.

"A balanced breakfast," he whispered, and collapsed.

I kneeled silently over his still form. The chaos dimmed in the background as the remaining pirates fell to our forces. An eternity seemed to pass, then...

"Comman'r! Comman'r!" screamed a frightened voice from behind me. I didn't turn around. Gus the cab'n boy came running up, his eyes wide with astonishment as he surveyed the scene.

"You beat him!" he gasped with astonishment. "Bloody Willard Crunch is no more! Sure'n you'll make Cap'n for this!"

I fought back tears and slowly pulled myself to my feet, staggering back from the remains of the man who had brought such cruelty to the world, and who, I now realied, had inadvertantly sown the seeds of his own demise.

But now his legacy would have a new meaning.

"Should we start preparin' for the journey home?" Gus asked.

I found my hat where it had fallen in the battle and repositioned it firmly atop my head. "Tell the lieuten'nt to rally the men," I barked. "Have them set up shelters for the night. There's a storm brewing. And I won't have any under my command becoming...soggy."

-=ShoEboX=-