School had been out for a week at the beginning of summer vacation for the boys, and they had already, of course, forgotten every thing they had learned that past year. They were having breakfast on a Monday morning when Sarah announced, with no small amount of jubilation,"We are going to go on a cruise tomorrow for our beginning of summer vacation! Get ready now, and prepare to have fun!" Nate, Sam, and Jacob all cheered and ran to go pack their bags. The twins, however, stayed there and scowled. Layton protested, "Are you kidding me? We have to go to a dumb boat for who know how long instead of going to baseball camp! Why do we have to do these stupid family vacations every year?" This was a common argument every year between Sarah and the obviously very spoiled twins; one which she had never lost before, and didn't plan on losing this time.
The next morning they were all on the cruise ship, with Layton and Luther still mumbling about how they would rather drown then spend quality time with their family. Nathan could never understand how they could be so negative even when they were going to have the time of their lives. So he told them so. He also added something about them being idiots and cowards or stupid and maybe some other things. He sprinted for as far as he could, but they trapped him, and duck taped his mouth then proceeded to duck tape him to his bed. Satisfied with their work, they went out to tan next to the swimming pool. About an hour later they were being dragged by their ears by their father, while being lectured about not tying their brother to his bed.
The next few days were uneventful, except for Sam puking on some bad shrimp. On the fourth day of their journey, however, everything changed with the sound of machine gun fire, and one word uttered by the captain, "Pirates."
