As we made our way to what I had started calling Duck Island, we only came against one ship. I decided to try a new approach since we wanted to avoid destroying ships so that we could build up our force. I also wanted to avoid killing any more pirates so I vowed to only use my comically large club with the magical mattress wrapped around it.

As the ship approached we pointed right toward it so it wouldn't think we were going to shoot cannons at it, which we weren't. As we got close enough for me to jump aboard with my special ability that doubled my jumping, I got to the highest point I could on my ship's bow and jumped over to the enemy ship's bow.

As I landed, I was immediately attacked by a couple of their crew. I hit them with my sleepytime club one after the other making sure that they didn't get enough height to fall overboard. Another ran up the steps and met a similar fate. I heard someone barking orders down on the main deck but I couldn't quite make out what he said. I watch the steps until a head wearing a captain's hat poked up. He glanced about and saw the three sleeping men.

"Avast. Why are ye attackin' us? We don't normally attack each other, 'n why are they sleepin'?" He asked with a truly confused look on his face.

"I be trying t' get more ships 'n crew t' stand wit' me against the pirate lords and restore peace t' the North Sea," I said trying my best to use proper pirate speak. At my words, he looked even more confused.

"So ye be fightin' us so that we shall join ye in makin' peace?" He asked it in such a way that it sounded like he was also calling me an idiot.

"Well, when ye say it like that it sounds bad," I said putting my weapon away and taking on a non-threatening stance.

"Why didn' ye jus' natter t' us afore jumpin' aboard?" He asked walking a few more steps toward me. For a person with such bad grammar, he was making a lot of sense. Why hadn't I just asked them to join me before knocking a few of them out?

"Sorry, ye be right," I said. "They be just sleepin' by the way. If they be needing healing I can provide it." I walked over and gave them each a couple of points of healing magic and they woke up. Their captain called them back to the main deck and they obeyed him.

I explained to the captain, who didn't seem overly upset, about my plan to gather a force and take out the evil pirate leadership. He had actually made some gestures of agreement as I spoke which surprised me for some reason.

"Give me a moment t' speak wit' me crew," he said. I nodded in response and he disappeared back down to the main deck of his ship. I heard him relaying what I had said and he asked the crew flat out if they wanted to join up with me. There was a cacophony of voices but I couldn't tell if it was positive.

The captain popped his head back up and said, "We be in."

Dang, that was easy. If only there were a way for me to communicate with distant ships perhaps through magic. From this point forward I would be sure to just ask using Distant Utterance which I should've thought of sooner.

"Wha' do I call ye, Cap'n?" I asked.

"I be Cap'n Redbeard," he said coming up to greet me properly.

"All due respect, cap'n, but your beard is brown. Why be called Redbeard?" I asked.

"Early in me career I was in an intense pie eatin' contest that left me beard tinged red for weeks. Th' moniker were given against me will, but I stuck wit' it as I preferred it over me given name," he said more intensely than I thought necessary.

"Wha' was yer given name?" I asked.

"If I told ye i'd 'ave t' scuttle ye like I did everyone else who knew it that was still alive," he smiled in such a way that I couldn't tell if he was joking or he actually had murdered everyone who had known his real name.

"That's terrifying. I'm glad to be on th' same team as ye," I said honestly scared of the man.

"Yarrrr!" He exclaimed taking my hand and giving it a mighty shake.

My first real question was about the location of Sharkfin Island and he had no idea where it was. It seemed that they only trusted a select few with the knowledge and anyone who had visited outside of those few hadn't told anyone the location. This was on account of them being dead and all.

I called Heather, my parrot, over to me and explained that it would be helpful if she could bring communications back and forth between me and Captain Redbeard, and she agreed. I told the man of my plan to visit the duck-shaped island and he informed me that it would be a terrible idea and that all my men would most probably die if we did that. He explained that the island was completely surrounded by ship-hull destroying rocks.

There was no indication on any of the maps that these obstacles existed and I didn't want to put my crew in danger based solely on my ineptness. We spent some time pouring over all of the maps that I had in my inventory from the other pirate captains and I got all the information I could from Captain Redbeard. He had a library of seafaring knowledge in that brain of his and I put it all down on paper.

I looked at my personal map that existed solely in my mind and found that it had updated with every note and danger that we spoke about. As I was looking, I noticed that it was updating just from listening to the captain. I guess I didn't actually have to take all of those notes physically after all. I kept making the notes anyway out of fear that he would think that I had lost interest. I gave everyone food and fresh water and the captain agreed to continue until all of the maps had been gone through.

"Thank ye for yer wisdom. I'm going t' head North t' drop off me penguin matey and scout out islands along th' way," I said. I thought that maybe I was getting used to speaking this way, but it still felt unnatural to me. I felt like I was doing to grammar what the International Astronomical Union had done to Pluto.

"I 'ave quite a few cap'ns in mind that I am hearties wit'. I will try t' locate 'em 'n get 'em t' join the cause. Me first love be the sea 'n I tire o' the pirate lords thinkin' they owns her. I'd just as soon see them dance the hempen jig," he said motioning for me to depart in peace with the slightest of bows. I complied and jumped back over to my own ship.

I waved as the friendly ship sailed off. I stopped waving when one of the pirates on the ship gave me a dirty look. I guess waving wasn't really a thing that pirates did. I found Barry and gave him a quick update.

"So that was Captain Redbeard and he is wanting to help us with our fight. He is going to try and bring a few other captains that he is friends with back with him. Our plan is to gather our forces around the port that is North of Bettyford in three weeks," I told Barry. As we talked through the next few weeks, he seemed okay with changing the plan from starting at the duck-shaped island of death to heading North to check islands, recruit or destroy more ships, and get Chum back to his family.

After looking through all of those maps there was only one island that kind of looked like a shark's fin. Meaning that it was triangular in shape. It was a stretch, but it was to the far North of the North Sea so at least we could kill two birds with one stone. We'd check the island and drop off Chum. The pirates within earshot seemed sad about losing the penguin, but they tried to hide their feelings as was the norm for most pirates.

We got about halfway to the island before passing another pirate ship. This time I used Distance Utterance to tell them my intentions and ask if they wanted to join me. They started to pull broadside and I saw their gunports open. I guess I had my answer about if they wanted to join the cause.

Surprisingly, I hadn't thought too much about the very real possibility of cannon balls being fired at me and this would be the first time I was on the target end and not the shooting end. I scrambled for a plan and told Barry to tell the helmsman to take evasive action. He turned until we were facing away from the enemy ship and presented the smallest target. They were just out of cannonball range as their first shots landed in the water behind us. It was too close for comfort and we sailed on.

Unfortunately, the wind was not on our side and the enemy ship already had more speed in their turning maneuver as they tried to line up for another volley. I needed to think fast. I needed a solution. I needed to remember that I knew how to use magic. Being a non-magic user for twenty-five years had not prepared me for this. I began to formulate some schemes as I stood on the poop deck of my ship.

I chuckled to myself. Half because I was about to use magic against an enemy pirate ship and thought about how crazy that seemed. The other half was because I had just thought of the term poop deck. Yo ho ho, the immature, magical, pirate's life for me.