Maria inhaled lightly as the wind blew past her. It carried with it the smell of smoke, rum, and sweat. She loved the smell of the smoke and rum but oh so hated how Tortuga always smelled of sweat. Marias took a rag out of her belt and put it up to her nose. It smelled of her perfume and had a slight smell of rum which made Maria wish for the [I]Phoenix [/I] to dock faster. "Hey! I want this boat docked and unloaded in twenty minutes. If you are even a minute over, it is going to be docked from your pay. Now get moving!" Maria yelled at her crew. The crew instantly rushed to haul up fifteen crates of rum as they ship was docked. Maria watched the crew for a few minutes before leaving to find a bar and start drinking. Maria walked through the streets and glared at a few mien who started walking towards her as if she was a prostitute. Several of them persisted and followed her into an inn.

The men sat themselves around her in a half circle with their breaths smelling heavy of rum. "How's it goin' baby? Ya wanna have some fun?" One of the men slurred out. The bar keep, looked at the men and back at Maria without taking an eye off a group of six men that walked in. The six men were from Maria's crew and noted the group of men around her. Maria took her hand to her belt and grabbed her double barrel pistol. As soon as she raised it to bash the man in the face, he grabbed her hand. "A fighter aye, I do lover me a fighter" The man said as he licked Maria's hand. The man then got hit it the head with the hilt of a rapier that one of Maria's crew had. "Hands of our boss ya drunkard. If you knew who ye were dealing with you would have ran. Now get running" yelled the Crew member as he slashed the man's free hand. The men who had gathered around Maria dispersed quickly, except of the man who had been knocked out.

"Thanks for the help but what do you think you are doing off the boat? If you aren't done unloading I am going to kill you." Maria said to the crew members that had gathered around her. The crew members talked over each other as they tried to come up with an answer. After a few minutes, one of them smacked the others and cleared his throat. "We came to tell you that there is word going about that there is supposedly a man looking to hire pirates and the such." said the big crew member who had smacked the others. Maria looked away as she drank from her glass of rum before answering. "Well, then we shouldn't have problems. We are just business people and I doubt he has much need for smugglers. Now get back to work you buffoons!" Maria yelled at them. They were idiots to go about telling her rumors that didn't really matter to people in her business.