"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho, ho and a bottle of rum
Take what's yours and steal all the rest!

"Yo ho, ho and a bottle of rum," Robin Kraven sang gaily as he floated idly in his little dinghy sailing boat. His bronze skin glistened with sweat, but the large white sail above him provided shade from the worst of the hot afternoon sun. The cool blue water lapped the sides of his boat as he unwillingly sailed back towards Bridgetown's harbor. Robin leaned back and put his calloused hands behind his head. His fingers ran through the mop of short yet unruly raven black hair. No matter what he did to it, his hair could never be tamed, just like his own personality. No one could tell by looking at him that he had just turned thirteen years old because he still had not gone through puberty yet. Robin still had most of his baby fat, a source of many jokes from those close to him. However, he was quite stronger than most boys his age and even some older than him, a fact he was proud of.

Robin closed his dark brown eyes and sighed happily as he began to imagine a full life at sea instead of the one he now led on land. Unlike his mother, who had quickly readapted to life as a citizen of the land instead of sea when she came back to the island of Barbados, Robin had never liked being tied down to the rigid rules of society. He would rather live a free life as a sailor or maybe even a pirate just like his father and his mother before she retired from that life.

After a time, a high-pitched yell alerted Robin back to reality just as he was about to find the treasure in his daydream. He snapped his eyes open and sat up and looked around. His boat was just entering the harbor. Someone called out his name from the far end of the docks where a low stone bridge was located. Robin shaded his eyes and craned his neck. When he recognized the tall, dark figure jumping frantically on their feet from next to a loading dock, Robin grinned and waved to him.

Zanka Coffei stopped jumping and watched his friend berth his boat right in front of him with chocolate brown eyes. "Hey bradda, how were da fishes?" Zanka greeted in his thick Jamaican accent.

Several years ago, Zanka's family migrated from Port Royal to Bridgetown, Barbados while trying to escape a pirate raid. His mother and father currently work for Robin's mother Emelia Kraven by helping to run their family-owned inn his mother had started called The Raven Nest Inn. Zanka and his three much younger brothers worked on a sugar cane plantation near the inn.

Even though Robin had a few misgivings when he first met this tall, wiry seventeen year old who reminded him just like a mischievous monkey, he and Zanka slowly became inseparable because of their love of getting into trouble, often times together and often times because of a half-baked, get-rich-quick scheme Zanka made up.

When Robin stepped onto the gangplank, he immediately noticed how roughed up his friend looked. Zanka's cotton clothes were askew and his short dreadlocks seem to almost be standing on end. "Zanka, what happened to you?" Robin demanded in concern.

Zanka just waved it off carelessly although he slightly winced when he tried to move his right arm. "It's nuthin' mon, but," Zanka poke a long finger on his friend's chest, "you gotta worry about yuhself!" When he saw the look of confusion on Robin's face, Zanka rolled his eyes and smacked him upside the head. "I'm like dis cuz One-Eyed Richard's goons came lookin' for you and happened to find me first!" he snapped angrily. He began waving his finger under Robin's nose. "Look mon, I may have given you da hook-up to get yuh pretty little boat right there behind you, but One-Eyed wants his payment at da end of da week!" he snapped.

Robin bit his lip, an action that reflected his nervousness. One-Eyed Richard happened to be a rather bad-tempered Jamaican dealer that Zanka had convinced to give Robin his dinghy if Robin were to give him sixty-five shillings in payment. That had been a month ago and Robin had yet given him a single shilling. He gave his boat a good look. It hadn't been much when he first received it, but Robin had spent days after trying to fix it up. He had always wanted a boat, a ship maybe, and so he was proud of his little dinghy.

He ran a hand through his hair, but when his fingers got caught in a knot, he sighed with frustration. He heard the stories the fishermen and sailors that stayed at The Raven Nest Inn and from Zanka himself of some of the horrible things One-Eyed Richard has done to people who couldn't pay him back. Robin shuddered before turning to Zanka.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to raise sixty-five shilling in three days?" he demanded angrily.

Zanka grew silent for a moment as he chewed the bottom of his pink lips thoughtfully before an idea struck him like lightning. "I gotta brilliant idea!" he yelled excitedly before he motioned for his friend to follow him.

Giving his boat one last look, Robin reluctantly followed Zanka.

"Where are we going?" Robin asked as Zanka led them out of the docks and into town. They stopped behind a cart full of fruit and Zanka turned to him with a familiar glint in his eyes which Robin recognized right away. "Oh no, what crazy scheme are you thinking now?" he demanded.

Zanka grinned widely, revealing his uncommonly straight white teeth. "We're gonna get you yuh money, mon," he said with a snicker.

Before Robin could ask how, Zanka had left the cart. Robin stuck his head out and watched as Zanka crept behind a lady and quickly picked her money bag. Robin watched with his mouth slightly opened as Zanka quickly walked back to him and flashed the two shillings between his grimy fingers. "See? Easy as pie," Zanka said. He saw the skeptical look his friend gave him and grew irritated. "Do you know a bettah way to get yuh money?" he demanded.

"Are you mad? What if we get caught?" Robin demanded irately. "My mother will kill me for sure!"

Zanka rolled his eyes. He reached into his pants from the top and extracted a brown hardboiled egg. Robin recognized it as his friend's lucky egg that he had brought with him from Jamaica. Zanka stuck the egg in front of Robin's face. "Kiss me egg for luck!" he ordered.

Robin eyed the egg skeptically. Ever since Zanka told him the story of the gypsy who gave him the egg, he had always been skeptic about it. However, past experiences of personally seeing Zanka and his egg in action had proved him otherwise. Still, Robin was not about to kiss an egg that came from inside Zanka's pants.

"No way, Zanka. Take that egg away from me," Robin said in disgust at the thought.

Zanka shrugged his shoulders, kissed his egg soundlessly, and put it back in his pants. "Suit yuhself, then," he said airily. He rubbed his hands. "Now let's get crackin'!"

Despite his better judgment, Robin sighed in defeat and nodded his head. Then in a change of heart, a sly grin lit up his face handsomely. "I bet I can collect more coins than you," he challenged.

Zanka laughed. "Good one, bradda, but let a mastuh handle this," Zanka said as he pocketed the money in his pants.

Robin grinned. "Want to fight for that title?" he challenged. Zanka nodded energetically and they shook hands on it.

"Whoever gets caught first is a wet dog!" Zanka said quickly before he rushed off.

Robin blinked, thinking, He cheated! before he too set off. Even though Robin had a bad feeling about all of this, he couldn't help but love the thrill and anxiety the possibility of getting caught brought him. After the thirteenth shilling, Robin and Zanka met up in the main town square to show off their riches.

"Hah! Beat yuh, buddy!" Zanka snickered as he showed off fifteen shillings and a silver pocket watch he happened to have pickpocket off an old middle-class man. He dumped all the coins they collected into his pockets and twirled the pocket watch by the silver chain attached to it in front of Robin's face teasingly. "I'm still da mastuh!" he crowed.

Robin pushed the watch a trifle irritably. Between them they had nineteen shillings, and he needed sixty-five. "C'mon Zanka, the day isn't over yet," he said as he began to walk towards a nearby alleyway. When he noticed that his friend wasn't following him, Robin spun around and saw what made Zanka frozen in his feet. On the other side of the square, a troop of local police had entered with whistles blaring.

Zanka suddenly appeared before Robin. The coins rattled noisily in his pockets. Zanka immediately handed him the watch. "Uh, see ya mon!" Zanka cried just as a voice called, "Look! There he is!" In a second flat, Zanka had disappeared into the alleyway leaving Robin still standing there with the silver pocket watch still in his hand.

"Stop, thief!"

Robin's eyes widened in horror and he took off another alleyway. Oh man, I can't get in trouble again! Mother will murder me! Robin thought desperately as he dodged numerous people and jumped over many items in his attempt to get away from the police running after him. Just thinking of what his mother would do to him drove him to run faster. Up ahead, Robin saw to the left were cages of live chickens. As he passed them, he kicked down the stand they were on and heard as they cages fell on the ground.

"Aaagh!" The officers yelled as chicken feathers and their owners flew in their faces, obscuring their vision momentarily.

Robin chanced a look over his shoulder and laughed out loud at the funny sight of the officers tripping over escaping chickens. Robin turned his head back towards his front, thinking himself safe, but suddenly, he crashed into a cart full of wine bottles. Robin fell on the ground and groaned in pain before wine poured all over him. He now wished that he had kissed Zanka's lucky egg.

I'm in for it.

Emelia Kraven sighed as she sat down heavily at an empty round table, one of the many in the inn's main room on the first floor. Crossing her legs underneath the simple cotton dress she wore, she softly blew a strand of her raven black hair away from her tired dark brown eyes, the same assets she had given graciously to her son. Em was still a beautiful woman, but life on land and raising a child by herself had taken a toll on her body and so she no longer really felt as energetic and young as she had been thirteen years ago before she came back to Bridgetown. Em looked outside and saw the setting sun from behind window glasses.

"Where is that boy?" she softly murmured as she pushed back her hair behind her left ear. Three golden rings that ran along the ridge of Em's ear sparkled from the chandelier lights hanging above her. One could see up close that there was a missing ring at the very top of her ear, and one could find that ring on the top of her son's right ear. Em turned to the swinging wooden doors that led into the kitchen. "Mrs. Coffei?" she called.

"Ay, Ms. Kraven?" Out from the kitchen, a short and plump woman wearing dirty apron over a colorful dress stepped into the main room. Her chocolate brown eyes looked at her employer curiously. "What is it you be wanting?" she asked warmly. When she and her family had migrated here from Port Royal, they had immediately been received enthusiastically by Emelia Kraven, who had just started a business as an innkeeper and needed help running her inn. In return for Mrs. Coffei helping with being hostess and her husband as the chef, the whole family was allowed to live in the inn while Em and her son Robin lived in their own house that was situated on one of the low hills that overlooked Bridgetown.

Em tilted her head slightly. "Do you know where Robin could be?" she inquired. "He's been doing this all the time for the past month," she muttered to herself, not noticing that Mrs. Coffei had come and sat down next to her until the woman's soft, warm hand wrapped itself around her strong, pale hand. Em looked up and saw the half-hearted smile Mrs. Coffei gave her.

"Don't worry a thing, child," she told Em reassuringly. "I still remembah when me Zanka went through dis phase. Robin be a smart boy. He'll grow outta it like Zanka," she said wisely.

But Zanka never grew out of it, Em thought vaguely but she nodded instead.

Suddenly, they jumped at the familiarly harsh banging on the front door. Em groaned. Oh lord, please don't let it be Robin, she thought as she got to her feet and swiftly walked towards the door. Em cringed when she opened it to reveal her son, head bent in shame. On either side of him were two familiar local police officers.

"Ms. Kraven," they both greeted her gruffly.

Em tried to smile and failed as she moved away from the door to let them in. "What did he do this time?" she sighed as she closed to door and leaned her back on it. She crossed her arms and gave her son a dark look when he dared to look up. 'You're in for it,' the look said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mrs. Zanka prudently get up and retreat to the kitchen.

The officer on Robin's left side cleared his throat. "Your son has been caught pilfering citizen's money right from their bags, and we even found him holding this-" The officer nodded to the one on Robin's right and he held up a silver pocket watch.

"This was taken from one of our town's most upstanding citizens, Ms. Kraven," the officer on the right informed her sternly while glaring down at the silent boy next to him. "Now, he won't press any charges, but this is our last warning for your son! One more indiscretion and he will be jailed," he said threateningly.

Em looked at the two officers with a blank face. "And his fine this time?" she inquired politely.

Left Side sniffed. "The total goes up to twenty shillings," he said.

Robin's eyes widened. "What?" he yelled. "That's a shilling more than what we, I mean, I took!" Although it had been Zanka's idea to steal the money for One-Eyed Richard, Robin couldn't find it in his heart to rat out his friend. He knew too well that because of Zanka's skin color, punishment will be harsher for him than just a fine. Even though right now Robin would like nothing better than to throttle Zanka by his long neck, Robin still owed Zanka some loyalty such as this.

Em gave him a black look that immediately silenced him. "You are lucky it is only twenty shillings coming from them; from me it will be worse." She turned her head to the officers. "And I assure you, it will be worse," she told them.

The officers nodded at the innkeeper, confident that she would because of her quiet reputation for being a fair yet harsh person, whether as a businesswoman or a mother. They waited as Em pushed off from the door, reached into a front pocket and paid them the twenty shillings. They tipped their tricorn hats to her before they left the mother and her son standing alone by themselves in the room.

"Sit down," Em ordered as she closed the door tightly behind her.

Robin stayed where he was. "I prefer to stand," he muttered rebelliously, an attempt to be brave in the face of his mother's growing temper. However, he paled slightly when Em turned back to him with that same dark look on her face.

"Robert Jacob Kraven"-Robin flinched-"I didn't raise you to become a thief," she told him harshly. "I raised you to become the best you can be, and becoming a thief is not one of the best!" Her voice grew louder and angrier. "Why are you doing this to me? You know that we don't have the money to spare for your little adventures!"

"I know, mother," Robin answered feebly. Shame and guilt filled him.

He had always known that money was low right now because of the hurricane season the island of Barbados had suffered through last year. While most businesses had recovered, theirs had lagged in their recovery. Many of their sea-faring customers hadn't come back. While the inn was theirs, the land it was on didn't belong to them. Every month, they had to pay the landowner for renting the land or he would evict them and take the inn as payment. Several times within this year, the landowner had suggested on the sly that this whole land matter could be avoided if Emelia Kraven were to only marry him, but each time, Em would pay the man the rent before throwing him out of her inn. But now, it was getting harder and harder to pay the rent. Soon, Robin might even have to get a job or an apprenticeship to raise more money.

"I'm sorry. I promise I won't-"

Em cut him off by laughing dryly. "Won't what, Robin? Won't get in trouble again? Of course you can't get into trouble again, or else you'll get throw in jail, or worse!" Em moved closer to her son and grabbed him, but not harshly, by the shoulders. She looked down at the boy who reminded her so much of his father. Her facial features softened. "You are so much like your father than you know, my darling. I can't stay mad at you for long, just like with him," she said softly.

Robin heard the ache of sorrow in his mother's voice and gave her a small hug. He felt her wrap her arms around his body, which was as tall as she, and hold him tighter to her.

After a while, Em pulled away slightly and took the small charm that hung on the thin gold chain around his neck. It was the same necklace she had given to Jack Sparrow, his father; the same one Jack had given to her when they had seen each other for the last time; the very same one that she had given to her son when he was old enough to learn about who his parents really were. She smiled softly down at the little charm in the shape of a soaring bird with a tiny silver bell hanging from its beak. She looked at her son. "Don't ever lose this," she told him as she let go of the charm. "It's our family heirloom," she added with a smirk.

Robin gave her an identical smirk. "Of course not, mum," he replied.

"Don't think you're safe," Em suddenly turned stern. She waved a finger in front of his face. "For the next month, you're going to come directly to this inn every day after school and help Mrs. Coffei with the customers," she told him.

As if she had been summoned, Mrs. Coffei appeared behind Em. "Robin, do you know where me boy be?" she asked him.

At that moment, the swinging doors that led to the kitchen burst open and Zanka stepped through holding a tray of food. He was covered from head to toe with flour as if he had been wrestling in it. "Order up!" he said happily and smiled innocently.

Robin's jaw dropped. You have got to be kidding me, he thought disbelievingly before his mother and Mrs. Coffei shouted, "You're making a mess on the floor!"