BubbleBeard was sitting back in his loft overlooking the ocean, the end of another fine day coming to a close in lovely Los Angeles. Sipping the last bit of rum from the cup aside him, he kicks his feet up on the coffee table and lights a cigar, reflecting upon how he got to where he was.

Looking around his apartment he took catalog of all the nice things he'd acquired; a fine marble counter top lined the kitchen, adorned with the finest appliances money could buy. An antique radio sat atop a stand made from four elephant tusks. BubbleBeard laughed at the story behind that one, he'd had quite the time getting that past customs. Staring at the button on the table in front of him, he puffs on his cigar and remembers back to the night where he first learned that he was amongst the most trusted men in LA.

It was a cool, calm evening on the east side of LA, BubbleBeard had just gotten out of the shower and into a silk robe when his phone rang, nearly sending his pulse rate through the roof. Grumbling as he fumbled with the rope tying his robe shut, he answered the phone,

"Argh! What be yee wanting, scallywag?" he barked, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He had taken up drinking to pass the time recently, things had been seemingly calm in the criminal underworld, and he found the alcohol sped time up quite nicely.

"Quit it with your incessant pirate talk Captain, the boss needs you to meet him at Dino's."

Was all he heard in response, followed by the sound of the other line behind hung up abruptly. He knew the voice well, it was that of Ms. Molson, the family's Right Hand.
Rolling his eyes he knew that he'd better make his way down to Dino's, it could be important. Tossing his robe to the ground he opened the door to his closet and picked out a business suit, chances were that the meeting would be an important one, if it wasn't there would be no reason for the call at such a late hour. Loading his gun and sticking it in its holster underneath his right shoulder, BubbleBeard grabbed his coat and headed out.

Getting in his car he lit a cigarette, hoping that this night wouldn't drag out too terribly long. The taste of the whiskey in his mouth had faded quickly and he was keen on getting some more before he sobered up too much. Pulling into Dino's he crushed his cigarette beneath his shoe, he knew that Dino frowned upon smoking inside his establishment, and almost nobody around here had the balls to defy Dino unless they had a death wish.

Walking into the joint he takes a look around and notices some familiar faces from around the HQ, a lot of the Made Men had been called to the meeting, and Charlie along with Ms Molson and Stranger were huddled around a briefcase. Walking straight up to Charlie, BubbleBeard coughed to let him know that he was there. Turning around slowly Charlie smiled and began to speak,

"Very nice to see you here this evening Captain, you made it down in record time. A few of our other members have yet to make it, though my notes have it that they live considerably closer than you do. I commend you for your efforts. We've got a job to do and I think you're the perfect man for the job. Not only are these items something we know you've had experience with, but word around here is that you've got some contacts who know how to move illegal things out of the country and sell them in the black market over in Sicily. Is this true?"

BubbleBeard nodded and wondered where this was going, surely the boss knew some contacts of his own that he could use. Raising an eyebrow he took a step forward and motioned to the briefcase, clearly dying to know what was inside. Charlie nodded to Stranger and she opened the case. With a small step forward BubbleBeard looked down and felt his jaw drop to the floor. No... It couldn't be...

"Argh... This... This can't be what I think it be... Be it?" BubbleBeard stammered, his piratey voice ever more prominent due to the shock. Charlie chuckled and smiled, he was always a fan of the Captain's speech. He walked around the group of people to a back room, motioning for BubbleBeard to follow.

"Quite frankly Captain, we know part of the history behind these items. We know that you stole them from their previous owner, and we know that you've been trying to get them back for the longest time now. What we're asking of you this evening is to transport them to your contact and get the ball rolling on moving them out of the country. We've set up a buyer in Sicily for quite the amount of money. I know that you've been longing for these, but the cash we'll be bringing you would allow you to get a bigger apartment, in a nicer part of town."

BubbleBeard felt his eyebrows pulling together in frustration. He'd grown accustomed to his apartment anyway, and he'd been using all his resources and contacts, and a lot of money from his own pocket to track down these items. Their worth was more valuable to him than any money amount. He let out a soft sigh and nodded his head, he knew that he couldn't turn down the job even if he wanted to. Successfully completing this would show his boss even furthermore that he was completely worthy of trust, and the Captain knew how important trust was in this business.

"Absolutely sir, not a problem at all. I'll get right on that."

Charlie smiled and handed the briefcase to the Captain, with a nod of confidence. Walking out of the place, every eye seemed to be upon him. It was obvious to BubbleBeard that the people in the room thought he was going to try and pull something over to keep the items for himself, most everyone in the family knew how badly he'd wanted the items back in his possession, but none of them knew just how dedicated he was to proving his loyalty to the boss. He felt a wave of gymnophoria coming about him, as if everyone was trying to undress the layers of his mind and see his intentions, but none of their eyes met his, for he was determined to do the deed successfully.

With a smile on his face he set the briefcase in the passengers seat and drove back to his apartment, wondering how hard it would be to part with the merchandise now that he'd finally gotten it back into his clutches. Wiping the exhaustion away from his eyes, BubbleBeard grabbed the briefcase and walked into his apartment, immediately vacating the table in the living room of all its contents, and set the briefcase down.

Before examining the items he poured himself a glass of his strongest whiskey, and lit a cigar to puff upon while he thought about why the boss didn't use his own contacts. He couldn't bear to have the merchandise in front of him without looking at it any longer, and as he had come to no rational conclusions about his bosses decision, BubbleBeard reached forward and unclasped the briefcase, slowly lifting the lid.

Inside sat three of the finest knives to ever have been crafted. BubbleBeard had stolen them from a Russian hit man who lived in Sicily, but mere days before he'd immigrated to the US they were stolen from him, and ever since then he'd been trying to track them down. Word on the street was that they'd gotten into the United States via a drug trafficking group, but BubbleBeard hadn't known how close to home they actually were.

The handles were solid 18 karat white gold, polished to a glimmering sheen, studded along the hilt with pea sized ruby's and gems, all worth a small fortune on their own. The blade itself was something of a legend among thieves, the blade was forged to withstand massive amounts of heat, and built to never dull. What made it so valuable was the edges of the blade were coated in diamond, sharpened to beyond razor-sharp, able to cut through virtually anything, and beautiful to boot. BubbleBeard's heart skipped a beat just looking at them, but he knew he must look away now before temptation overtook him.

Making a phone call, BubbleBeard realized that the middle of the night might not be the best time to call his contact, he might think that something was wrong and jump to conclusions. Sure enough his contact answered the phone, sounding as if he was wide awake despite the hour. BubbleBeard explained the situation to the man, making it very clear that this transaction had to go flawlessly. The man on the other end of the line understood completely and arranged for BubbleBeard to meet him at the airport the following day at ten AM. After saying his goodbyes and thank yous, BubbleBeard downed the last of his scotch and climbed into bed.

He had the strangest dream that night, one that he tried to forget as soon as he awoke. In the dream he had brought the briefcase to the airport, only to get there and use the knife against his contact, killing him instantly. Upon doing so, BubbleBeard ran back to his car and made his escape to the bank, where he withdrew all his money and fled the country, never to be heard or seen from again. He'd run away to Mexico, using his life savings to buy a loft and lift contentedly with his prized possessions.

Waking up in a cold sweat, BubbleBeard checked the clock and immediately after the briefcase to make sure that the knives were still safe. Seeing that they had not moved, he let out a breath of relief and convinced himself that there was no way he was going to screw this up. This could mean a lot more jobs being thrown his way by the boss, he wasn't about to throw it away from being selfish.

On the way to the airport BubbleBeard kept one hand on the wheel and the other one holding the briefcase securely to his lap. He might have been being overly cautious, but he was determined to get this over with. Pulling behind one of the hangers, he took a look around and saw his friend leaning against the side of the building waiting for him. With a smile BubbleBeard stepped out of his car with the briefcase and walked to the man, handing him the case without a word. His contact knew what to do from there. It was a simple matter of smuggling the knives out of the country, getting them to a good friend of his back in Sicily, and waiting for the sale to go through.

It shouldn't take more than a few weeks, and BubbleBeard smiled the whole way back to his apartment knowing that he did not succumb to his greed. He'd called Charlie as soon as he arrived home, and the boss told him to await his phone call on how the deal was going, and to go about his normal business in the meantime. Deciding that he would take the day off from peddling drugs and busting thugs out of prison, BubbleBeard sat back in his armchair and read a book all day, nodding off into sleep here and there. RING! The sudden sound of his phone ringing nearly sent the Captain into cardiac arrest, and by the third ring he had answered.

"Argh, this had best be important yee hear?! I was sleeping!" He hollered into the phone, thoroughly irritated at being awoken from his slumber.

"Shut up Bubble, we need you immediately at Dino's, big news on the transaction."

Shit, BubbleBeard thought, I really need to stop being so rude before I find out who's on the other line. Then, SHIT! What the hell happened?! It'd only been 8 hours since he'd sent the package off, there was no way it was sold already! Fumbling around for his jacket BubbleBeard ran to his car and sped the whole way to Dino's, worrying himself into nausea. Stepping out of his car he bustled along into Dino's, and nearly fell on the floor when he was hit with a wave of SURPRISE!!! Startled he walked slowly further into the room, his eyebrows raised in confusion. It wasn't his birthday... it wasn't any sort of reunion date he could remember... What the hell was going on?

Charlie walked up to BubbleBeard and patted him on the back, whispering the news to him.

"Congratulations Captain, this party is in celebration of your Made Man promotion. The job we had you pull earlier was just to test your loyalty. We spent quite a bit of money locating and retrieving those knives just for this occasion. In fact, 'your' contact wasn't even working for you, he's a long time friend of mine. As soon as you handed him the briefcase he got to a phone and called me saying you were completely trustworthy".

BubbleBeard couldn't believe it, this was too good to be true. He'd always dreamed of getting his button, but he never thought it would be in such a manner. Shaking his head in disbelief he thanked Charlie and Ms. Molson, a smile finally starting to  creep up on his face. Seeing Stranger walk out of the back room the Captain tilted his head and wondered what she'd been doing. All of a sudden a blindfold got wrapped around BubbleBeard's head and he heard Charlies voice telling him to follow the sound of his voice.

Walking slowly and unsurely, he followed the sound of his bosses voice, it was quite easy to distinguish even amongst all the ruckus. Once the sounds faded, he knew that they were in the back room with the door shut. Just as he realized this, the blindfold got removed and he noticed a table in the middle of the room, surrounding it were Charlie, Stranger, and Ms Molson. Titling his head he walked forward and opened the briefcase that lay upon it. He nearly stumbled over when the three knives glimmered from the case, magnificently polished like he'd never seen them before. Charlie began to speak;

"They're all yours, Captain. You are now a full fledged member of La Famiglia Della Liberazione, a Made Man in this thing of ours. We trust you'll keep the location and nature of this briefcase secret to everybody outside this room, as it literally cost us a small fortune to obtain. Congratulations!"

With that BubbleBeard thanked his bosses many times before grabbing the suitcase and locking it in his car. He'd had loved nothing more than to drive home and stare at the godly pieces of weaponry in his briefcase, but it seemed he had a party to attend to!

Snapping back into the moment, BubbleBeard smiled and vowed to never forget that night, for it was the most memorable night of his life. Not only did he get the possession he longed for most in life, but he was now a Made Man, one of the highest honors to have in the life of crime.

Captain, If i may, I have to say how impressed with this tale i have heard. Not every day do you get to hear the story behind the way a man was promoted and might i say that i was just very happy with yours? I almost feel that if they would write a book on this thing of ours it would be a disgrace not to ever put you in it.

Still very tired from being around all day long he smiles at the captain.

I am and have been very impressed with your presence in the streets brother. Keep up the excellent work.

Glad to see pirates getting the recognition they deserve. Hopefully young pirate sorts see you as an example, you don't need to rape and pilage (even though its really fun) to become feared and whatnot. Breaking down barriers and preconceptions.

Yaaaargh. 

CaptainArab stumbles off to find some grog.

It is refreshing to see, yet again, a sprinkling of seamen in our streets. Our paths have crossed only briefly Captain, yet as I recall it was most beneficial to the both of us.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you well in your quest.

Congratulations Sir on your promotion, and may the angels of prosperity fly by your side.

A very well told tale, sir. It should be mandatory for all young aspiring mobsters to hear this and learn from it.

Congratulations