The Rookie Pirates (Parts 1-6)

37. The Wager

Bart Roberts sat comfortably on the yard of Kirk's ship with a bottle of rum held loosely in his right hand. A slow, drunk smile formed on his pale lips as he watched over the crew scrubbing the deck below.

He nodded his head in approval and took a swig from his drink. It had taken only a day to organise the Kirk Pirate's, but now they were in tiptop condition, following his every order as the new first mate, a position assigned to him by his new captain.

It made the older pirate laugh. Whenever he thought of the two Flint brothers, they were indeed very similar, except Kirk could be easily annoyed and blow up at the littlest of things, like now.

Bart chuckled to himself as the Ice Queen continued to annoy the Captain, who was on the verge of exploding.

"Young love," Bart reminisced. "I would do anything to be young again." He thought back to a time with his wife and two children. Happy times.

Unfortunately, his family was ripped away from him when they were killed by a raid from the slave trade in his home village. Bart was not present when it had happened many years ago; he had been out at sea. He'd heard about it from the Albatross News' coverage of what had happened. His children would have been eighteen around about now, turning into young adults.

He would not rest until the slave trade was abolished, so that no other father would have to live through the same experiences he had to.

"Why the long face?" Morgan sat upside down next to him on the yard, his hair dangling down to the deck below and his legs curled over the beam. His friend John joined him, shipmates of Kirk whom Bart had befriended. The two of them reminded him of his younger days, when he was both upbeat and ready to conquer the world. If only their naive minds knew what it was really like out there.

They were both the same age of twenty-five and wore similar steampunk styles to their captain. However, Morgan was taller and broader with startling green hair, whereas Jack was short and stout with blue hair that covered his left eye, which he had lost in a fight against another pirate crew.

"I'm all good." Bart forced a smile. "What do you think of those two?" He pointed down at Kirk and Sam. The two of them were still bickering amongst themselves, and Kirk was turning redder by the second.

Morgan swung himself up onto the yard, a deceitful smile on his face. "I think the Captain likes Samantha Bellamy."

John nodded in agreement. "Why else would he be giving her a hard time?"

"He does it with every woman he's fancied," Morgan chuckled.

"Let's bet on it." A menacing look fell upon the older man's face. "When do you think Kirk will finally admit he loves her, after or during Harvest Island? The winner gets ten thousand joules." Bart flipped a golden coin in his hand.

Both Morgan and Jack were listening. Ten thousand joules would get them a lot of booze. However, they were up against Bart Roberts aka, the Lucky Man. It would be hard to win against him; he never lost a bet. The two friends spoke amongst themselves as they decided, and finally, the pair nodded in agreement.

"We're not that far off from Harvest Island, and Kirk and Sam haven't had a chance to warm up to each other yet. At the moment, they're just arguing all the time, so Kirk will admit his love after we've left Harvest Island," Morgan bet. "What do you wager?"

"During." Bart smiled confidently and fumbled with the shamrock pin on his jacket for luck, a gift given to him by his two children before they died.

Morgan and Bart shook hands on the little wager they had made and continued to watch on to find out who would emerge as the victor.