Chapter Text
“He what?”
Word moves quickly when you raid as many ships as Blackbeard does. Especially when the word is about a new pirate ship that took some English officers hostage. Blackbeard sighed when he heard the news. He almost felt sorry for the poor buggers. He knew exactly what would happen to them, because it’s exactly what happened to every other ship they came across, pirate or otherwise: Izzy would turn on the machine that was Blackbeard’s crew, each person knowing their part in the raid better than the back of their hand, setting the cogs in motion to execute the Plan. The Plan that Blackbeard had devised at the beginning of his career as a pirate captain. The Plan that was so effective it never needed any tweaking. The Plan that Blackbeard didn’t even need to be involved in anymore.
The Plan that had made his life boring.
Blackbeard commanded his crew to tail The Revenge, staying just out of sight, delaying the inevitable. Might as well let the crew of The Revenge enjoy some of their own robberies for a while. They were new to the seas after all. No need to rush things. And if they were able to take out an English naval captain on their first try, it couldn’t hurt to quietly observe them.
“He ran his ship aground,” Izzy repeated.
“The man with the English hostages?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And he definitely has English hostages?”
“Well,” Izzy said, “only one now. We took one.”
“Why didn’t you take both?” Blackbeard grunted.
Izzy flared his nostrils. “He…ambushed us.”
Blackbeard produced a knife and started cleaning beneath his fingernails. “He ambushed you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And he, what, just let you keep one?”
“He offered a compromise.”
Blackbeard’s knife split the skin of his finger. “A compromise?”
“One of the men for no more bloodshed.”
Blackbeard picked up his pipe and sunk back into his armchair. A pirate who made compromises? Uncommon. A pirate who did so to prevent further fighting? Unheard of. What sort of pirate was this guy if he wasn’t interested in violence or keeping his plunder? He chuckled to himself. “Half his loot for no bloodshed.”
“Captain, I think it’s time–”
“Keep following them.”
“Captain, they’re not worth–”
“Follow. Them,” Blackbeard growled. He stood and gripped Izzy’s chin, looking him square in the eye. “Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Izzy choked out through gritted teeth.
Blackbeard let go. “The least we can do is give them the courtesy of reaching the Republic of Pirates.” He sunk back into his chair, puffing on his pipe again. He wasn’t going to pass up his first opportunity in far too long to see something interesting. Who knows when the next interesting thing would happen?
Izzy glowered at the back of Blackbeard’s chair, then left to shout orders at the rest of the crew.
Blackbeard blew some smoke rings. Stede Bonnet was what Izzy had said the captain’s name was. Who was this guy? Where did he come from? How had he fought against an English navy vessel and won, when he couldn’t even secure his own two hostages? And what kind of a name was Stede, anyway?
Question after question bubbled up in Blackbeard’s mind. He hardly moved over the next however-many hours as they made the journey to the Republic of Pirates, a long dormant wick of interest finally being sparked.
He couldn’t feel his legs, and hadn’t done for a long while, when Izzy returned, announcing they were nearing the Republic.
“Honestly, I really don’t think this Bonnet is worth your time,” Izzy said.
He wished Izzy would stop saying that. “Mm.”
“Captain–”
“He’s a fancy man, with a fancy ship. He travels with a brigade of imbeciles. Do I have that right?”
“Yes,” said Izzy tightly, “I suppose you could put it–”
“And he bested you at swordplay,” interrupted Blackbeard.
Izzy faltered. “They tricked us,” he said sourly. “It was an ambush. Completely unprofessional.”
Blackbeard didn’t care. This Bonnet character was interesting. “Hmm.”
“What’s the plan, sir? Do we open fire? Or would you rather we attack them, kill them, throw them out to the sharks, sir?”
The bloody Plan. It always came down to the bloody Plan. Blackbeard refused the Plan. He couldn’t throw something as mundane as the Plan at something as interesting as Stede Bonnet. If he was going to commit to this, he was going to commit.
“Wait till they make landfall. Then invite ‘em aboard the ship,” said Blackbeard. He could almost feel Izzy fuming behind him. “And Izzy,” he added when he could feel him leaving the room. “I want you to handle this personally.”
“Oh, Edward,” Izzy complained. “Can’t I just send the boys?”
Blackbeard shook his head. If he was going to make this last, he couldn’t afford for it to be a haphazard job. “No, I want this done right.” He smiled. “After all, he is a gentleman. We want to make a good impression.”
Izzy swore as he left, causing Blackbeard to roll his eyes. Did Izzy not see the monotony of their life? Target, kill, raid, target, kill, raid. Finally, something that could provide a reprieve from the repetition arrives and Izzy wants to speed up the process and get to the Plan? Moron.
Blackbeard grew more and more antsy the longer Izzy was away. Patience had never been his forte. He paced around his quarters, imagining any and all possible scenarios that could occur once Stede had boarded his ship. Perhaps he’d prepare a nice dinner for him? Share it with the crew, hear his stories of fancydom, perhaps share a few stories himself. Or maybe he’d challenge him to a duel. Surely he must be well trained to make it as a pirate. A somewhat successful one, too.
His crew would not be invited. From Izzy’s descriptions, they all sounded ridiculous, and not in an interesting way. They sounded incompetent, boring, and dysfunctional. Not a good look for Blackbeard, to host them. And if Stede turned out to be the same, then he could just kill him on the spot, which would be easier to do without his crew on board. Then he could return to the same old, mind-numbing, gloriously tedious Plan.
He was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost didn’t hear the knock on his door. He leant his hands on the windowsill and gruffly invited them in.
“He’s not interested in meeting.”
“What?!”
He had not even considered that he might be refused. That refusal was even an option. No one refused Blackbeard. What an astoundingly foolish thing to do.
“I explicitly told him,” Izzy went on, “Blackbeard desired his company.”
“But does he know who I am?”
“Seemed to, yeah.”
“And still, he said no.”
He could barely wrap his head around it. A refusal? This Stede Bonnet had refused Blackbeard? He should feel angry about this. It was a disrespect of the highest degree. Had it been to his face, they would have been killed on the spot. But instead, to his surprise, Blackbeard found it was refreshing. Here was someone who didn’t fear him. Someone who was going to make him work for it. Someone who presented a real challenge.
“’You can go suck eggs in hell’ was his response, I believe.”
“Fascinating.”
Blackbeard’s mind was made up. He was determined to meet this Stede Bonnet, this ‘Gentleman Pirate’ as soon as he possibly could.