The night was an eventful one. Jackie, Elma and Eddie were told to make themselves scarce while the pirates were treated to. The Black pirates had been taken to a large empty field some distance away from town to be treated and rested.

It was in this large camp that Morgan sat by himself near one of the several crackling fires the townspeople had set up, letting the warmth flow over his tired body.

He looked around the field. The town was quite a bit far away from the campsite, and the field had no shelter. Yet the people worked hard to gather wood for the sake of his men. For that, Morgan was thankful.

Most of them were out of danger and patched up now. He saw Marielle, covering her sleeping son with a blanket and rubbing his head gently. Tolói, the woodworker, crafting a small figure of Morgan to pass the time. And Nkudu, the vice-captain, still getting his wounds tended to by the town doctors, Matilda and Hames.

Nkudu fought especially well again. Though he really needs to know when to leave the fight to me. He thought, slightly worried for the well-being of his right hand man.

"Psst! Hey!" A small voice whispered beside him, and he turned around to find someone under a hooded cloak sitting on the ground near the fire.

The figure lifted the hood up slightly to reveal himself as the boy who had ran up to Morgan earlier. "I don't think we ever got to have a decent conversation earlier. I'm Jackie!"

He stuck out his hand, and Morgan shook it. "I'm Jackie!" He said once more, clearly out of his mind with excitement.

No surname? Morgan briefly thought, but didn't ask. He had seen plenty of children with stories too painful to tell. "Nice to meet you, kid. You seemed awfully excited to meet me earlier. I don't get that a lot." He smiled, and patted Jackie's head in a fatherly way.

"Yeah, it's because they said you're a really well-known pirate. And I want to be a pirate someday." He looked up at Morgan with genuine admiration.

Morgan laughed, and grabbed his hammer from the ground. "Okay then, kid! I'll take you up on that offer."

With that, he slammed the tail end of the hammer into the ground. It towered well above everything else in the grassy plain.

"If you can lift this hammer, I'll steal you off this island, alright?" He said with a smug smile on his face.

With utmost seriousness, Jackie stepped up to the hammer. He took a deep breath, and grabbed the iron pole rising from the ground. Morgan snickered, but encouraged him all the same. "You've got this, kid. Impress me."

Jackie focused completely on the hammer, and twisted his hands trying to pry it out of the ground. He tugged and tugged, until he finally collapsed on the ground.

While he tried to catch his breath, Morgan snuck a glance at the end of the hammer. In the dim orange firelight, he could tell that although Jackie didn't lift it up, he had somehow managed to move it just a tiny bit in his direction. The cracks on the ground proved it.

This truly stunned Morgan. There had been grown men who couldn't move it a single inch. But this sixteen-year-old boy had somehow moved it, almost an inch from where it stood. He grinned, and slapped Jackie's back so hard the boy almost toppled right over.

"Well, you didn't lift the hammer. But you sure as hell know how to surprise a guy!" Morgan laughed. Jackie looked at him with a scowl on his face. "But I didn't even do anything."

Morgan set the hammer back down on the ground, and stared at the fire. "That's what you think, kid." With a confused look on his face, Jackie sat down beside Morgan. They sat there together in silence for some time.

"HEY!" A loud female voice made them both jump. Jackie whipped his head around to find Elma's grinning face right behind him. "You're not supposed to be here, you know."

Jackie tried to hit her face, and she pulled her head back.

"Well you aren't supposed to be out here either!" He hissed, and Elma casually sat down next to Jackie.

Morgan sighed, and continued gazing at the soft, warm light of the fire. "So you three want to be pirates, huh?" Jackie raised an eyebrow, and looked around. "Uh, who's three? It's just me and Elma here."

Morgan smiled nonchalantly and pointed his thumb behind him. Jackie and Elma looked behind them to find a figure wearing a gray cloak standing just a few dozen feet from where they sat. The person hesitantly walked towards the three of them, and as the orange light slowly began to illuminate them, Jackie and Elma could make out Eddie's face from under the hood.

Jackie looked at Morgan questioningly. "How did you-"

But he cut him off. "You're the captain, Jackie, so I'm gonna ask you this. Why do you want to be a pirate of all things?" He looked over at Howie, who was talking to one of the pirates. "He's a former navy officer. Why not become part of the navy and follow his footsteps?"

The fire reflected in Jackie's blue eyes as Jackie glanced at Morgan.

"Freedom."

Elma and Eddie looked into the fire, quietly listening to Jackie. "Being part of the navy doesn't give you that. Being a privateer doesn't give you that either. No matter where you are, you're always tied to your country's leaders. That's not the freedom I want."

Morgan listened to the boy with much interest and asked, "Then what is your freedom?"

Jackie thought about it for a moment, and replied, "Being able to go wherever you want to go, whenever you want to go. Keep the treasures and gold you find for yourself, without giving anything over to your country's leaders."

"Being stuck in one place isn't freedom. Nor is being unable to choose what you want to do for yourself. I don't intend to be here forever, or anything of the sort. If I just sit around here, what the hell is the point of living? That's why I've already chosen to leave."

Morgan smiled. "Hmm. I see." He remained silent for a moment, thinking about something. "What about your parents?"

At this, Elma laughed. "Sorry, buddy. Nobody here has any parents. Not me, or the two of them." Morgan sighed, and reached over to mess up the girl's hair.

"Oi! Don't mess it up!" She cried, but he grinned and did it anyway. "Guess we have something in common, eh kid?" He clasped his hands together, and returned his gaze to the fire. But now, Elma noticed, his eyes seemed a bit...brighter.

"You do know you're still a bit young to be a pirate...right?" Morgan asked seriously. Jackie stared at Morgan in surprise. "What are you trying to say?"

Morgan closed his eyes, that firm look still on his face. "I'm saying you can't join me yet. I've seen some horrible shit as a pirate, especially because of who I am and what my people are. Children shouldn't have to see sights like that so early." Jackie's expression turned to one of frustration.

"Who do you think I am? You think I'm gonna throw up at a limb cut off or a dead body?" He asked, annoyed by Morgan's stoic refusal.

Morgan opened his eyes, and the other three felt fear strike their hearts at the cold rage in them.

"There are things in this world worse than death, boy."

These words sent a chill down Eddie's spine. Worse than death? If there's something like that, I don't want to meet it!

Before Jackie could say anything, Morgan continued, "I want you three to stay on this island until I return. When that day comes, I will join your crew."

Jackie's eyes almost popped out of his head. "W-What? Huh? What did you just say?!"

The icy glare faded from his eyes, and Morgan's warm smile returned once more. "You heard me. I'll join your crew."

Holy shit. Morgan? Black Morgan, someone that even Gramps was scared of? Joining my crew?

"But until that day, you've gotta stay right here. I don't know when I'll come back. But it definitely ain't gonna be anytime in the next couple of years!" He said.

Jackie looked at Elma and Eddie, and they both grinned with amazement in their faces.

"T-That's perfectly fine by me!" Jackie said, still in shock.

Morgan nodded. "Good. Now, you should probably get outta here." He said, and pointed in front of them.

The three looked up to find Howie glaring at them.

"What the hell are you little rascals doing here?" He growled. Scared shitless, the three bolted out of there, and ran straight back to town. Though people loved and respected Howie, he was also a very intimidating figure when he wanted to be.

Morgan shook his hand as he sat down beside him. "I can't thank you enough for letting us stay here. You saved our lives." He murmured appreciatively.

Howie did not accept his words of thanks. "What did I do? We would've forsaken you if it hadn't been for those kids. If there's anyone to thank, it's them." He sounded quite proud.

Morgan smiled at the thought of how they didn't fear him at all, despite everyone else's hesitation.

"Those kids are something else, I'll tell you that."

Howie nodded in agreement.

But Morgan wasn't finished yet. "You're something else too. I've never seen a navy officer look hesitant to reject a pirate." Howie's face darkened at this comment. "That doesn't make me special. I ran away from everything."

Morgan found this comment peculiar. There was nothing wrong with quitting the navy. It was dangerous work, after all. Before he could ask anything else though, Nkudu walked up to him.

He was much thinner than Morgan and fairly tall, with dark skin and long, spiky hair that reached his back. He had sharp, hostile eyes not too different from Morgan's own, and wore a gray long-sleeved shirt over torn brown leather pants. At the moment, though, he had ditched the shirt thanks to the ridiculous amount of bandages wrapped around his torso.

"Captain. When are we leaving?" He asked, an impatient look on his fierce, nonchalant face.

Morgan laughed. "Nkudu, we just got here." He motioned at everyone, tired and exhausted around them. "Let the people rest their worn out bodies."

Nkudu looked uncomfortable. Morgan sighed, and waved at him to sit down. He did so.

Howie waved at Nkudu. "I don't believe I got the chance to introduce myself to you earlier. I'm Howie Banks, the chief of this town." Nkudu briefly glared at him with disgust in his eyes, and looked away.

Howie tilted his head in curiosity. "D-Did I say something?" Morgan patted Nkudu's shoulder and shook his head.

"No, no. Nkudu has had some...bad experiences with white people. So he's quite unfriendly to them." Howie bowed his head in an apologetic way. "I'm so sorry."

Morgan smacked Howie's head lightly. He looked up to find Morgan with a rather hurt look on his face.

"Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault. Just because certain white people were monsters, doesn't mean all of you are."

Howie was surprised by this statement. Even though he was considerably older than Morgan, he felt that Morgan was far wiser than him. "You say that, Morgan, but you have every right to treat us like monsters. Almost everyone treats you blacks as animals. Or worse."

With a sad smile on his face, Morgan replied, "I know. But I suppose I'm too kind to treat you all the way they treated us. I don't want anyone to go through the sort of things we've gone through." He looked over at Nkudu with admiration in his eyes.

"That's why I need Nkudu as my vice-captain. He can make the hard decisions, no matter how soul crushing it may be. The sort of shit I could never do." Howie felt almost hopeless hearing all this. He had never liked the way the rich nobles and royalty treated the blacks.

He had once witnessed a black servant be clubbed to death by guards for accidentally touching a noblewoman's robes. He didn't even want to imagine what Morgan and the others in this crew had gone through in the Dealers' camps.

Howie looked down at the ground, rubbing his grey beard. "You're really quite soft, Morgan. Hard to believe you really are one of the strongest pirates in the world."

Morgan smiled confidently, and pointed at his hammer.

"I've never met a soul who could lift that except me. Guess that tells you something, huh?" He laughed, and Howie chuckled as well.

After a few more minutes of talking, Howie got up to leave. "You're welcome here for as long as you want, got it?" Morgan nodded, and watched him walk back to town.

Nkudu finally spoke up. "Why is it that we must remain on this island with them?" He growled.

Morgan sighed, and stood up to take some wood from a nearby stack to feed the dying flames. "Nkudu, I understand how you feel about interacting with whites. But you have to overcome this."

Nkudu watched Morgan toss the wood into the flames. "Captain, I can't change myself so easily. I can't bring myself to believe those beasts can have affection for anything other than their own kind."

Sitting back down next to him, Morgan replied, "See now, that's your problem."

"You don't try, Nkudu. You assume too quickly. It isn't an issue if you're traumatized. It isn't your fault to have witnessed what you did. But it is your fault if you refuse to even try to overcome the trauma."

His eyes had a worried look in them as they looked over at Nkudu.

"What if a situation arises where you have to temporarily take charge of the Black Pirates?" Nkudu flinched at the question and didn't answer.

Morgan, however, was relentless. "What if you have to be captain of the Black Pirates? You have to communicate with whoever will help you, whether they're white or black. What will you do that day?" He stared at Nkudu, demanding an answer.

Nkudu tossed his head back to look at the stars, an empty expression on his face. "I suppose I'll know when the day comes."

Morgan frowned, but said nothing more and lay down on the soft grass to sleep.

"You can be strong, Nkudu. I know you can be. That's why you're my vice-captain. All you need is to accept change and difference."

Nkudu didn't reply.

Morgan waited and waited. And waited. But in the end...there was no reply.