“Fookin’ thing must’ve gotten mixed in during the raid.” “I dunno, I didn’t stick that in there,” Blackbeard said. If he spoke first, everyone would be suspicious. They’d run out of the red ink almost immediately, so one of the deckhands was ordered to check the stash again for other fancy colors.Įveryone on deck turned to stare at the neon paper crumpled in the boy’s fist. He was much more interested in the impromptu tattoo party Blackbeard had started the second the crew returned to the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Pirate Tattoos and their Meanings: Perfect for Any Seasoned Seafarer! After ensuring that Blackbeard wasn’t looking, Izzy tucked it into his sacking sack. It was almost certainly for tourists, with its garish colors and the goofy-ass pirate drawn on the front of it. “There were hundreds of them… of fooking course I got them all.”Īs they walked out the door, a bright purple pamphlet caught Izzy’s eye. “Did ya get all the black inks? You know I only use those,” Edward said. His face was much redder, but he looked a little more sober. He had nearly collected every vial and tattoo book when Blackbeard joined the pillaging, having either stabbed or scared off everyone else in the shop. Another tattoo artist appeared at the sounds of havoc, and Izzy stabbed him in the neck easily. He pulled his sack he used for, well, sacking, from his waistcoat, and began shoving whole shelves of ink into it with broad sweeps of his arm. Meanwhile, Izzy perused the shop’s selection of machines and inks. Blackbeard pulled out his sword and began stabbing everyone in sight, starting with the worker. “Then prepare to meet the bottom of the bay, fooker,” Izzy said. “If he’s Blackbeard, I’m fuckin’ Davy Jones.” This was the wrong thing to say. He was still wiping away tears and clutching at a stitch in his side, when he realized they weren’t joking. The worker burst into hysterical laughter. Izzy nodded from behind him, like he was a hype man. “I’m Blackbeard, I don’t pay for shit,” he said. He nudged Blackbeard, who finally got the message and puffed himself up. “Why would we have to pay?” The salesman and Edward both stared at Izzy as if he’d grown two heads. “Sure, you got enough cash for that?” At this, Edward rummaged through his pockets.
The worker gave them a once-over, then shrugged.
“Two tatts for the finest pirates on the high seas,” Izzy said to the man at the front counter. The pair grinned at each other like sharks, before plowing into the shop. It was in some weird, hard-to-read script, but he could just make out the word TATTOO. Izzy squinted at the sign he was pointing towards. “Look,” Edward said, eyes sparkling with glee. The two of them had been giggling over some nonsensical joke, when Edward came to a halt so quickly that Izzy ran straight into him. Even the captain and first mate had grown weary, and what better place to drink away the fatigue than the Republic of Pirates? That’s how it began, with Captain Blackbeard and First Mate Izzy drunkenly stumbling through the crowded streets in search of a bar they had yet to be kicked out of. It was the sunniest day they’d had in a long time, and the crew of the Queen Anne’s Revenge were desperate for some leisure after weeks of storms and raids.