François L'Olonnais was born in France as Jean-David Nau, a landless peasant with no prospects for a better future. At a young age, he was sent to the Caribbean as an indentured servant, but the promises of opportunity quickly turned into years of disguised slavery. Forced to work under brutal conditions in the French colonies, his freedom was crushed by exploitation and the whips of his masters.

During a failed attempt to raid a Spanish ship, Nau and his crew were captured and sold into slavery. While the Spanish celebrated their victory, he was chained and condemned to forced labor, reduced to little more than a prisoner doomed to die of exhaustion.

His fate, however, changed with the arrival of Blackwall. The pirate, waging his war against the colonizers, attacked the colony where L'Olonnais was imprisoned, massacring the guards and setting fire to the warehouses. Among the freed captives, Blackwall found Nau and gave him a choice: flee like a rat and hide for the rest of his life, or take up arms and fight against those who had enslaved him.

At that moment, Jean-David Nau died, and François L'Olonnais was born.

With an uncontrollable hatred for the Spanish, L'Olonnais became a beast of the seas. He learned from Blackwall, fought by his side, and soon forged his own reputation for cruelty. His name became synonymous with terror among the colonizers. He didn’t just steal—he exterminated. Ships that fell into his hands rarely left survivors, and Spanish coastal settlements were reduced to ashes in his relentless fury.

Over the years, the partnership between Blackwall and L'Olonnais grew stronger, but it was never based on full trust. Blackwall was a calculating strategist, while L'Olonnais was a bloodthirsty predator. They shared enemies and goals, but their methods differed. Deep down, Blackwall saw L'Olonnais as an unpredictable weapon—useful, but dangerous.