User blog comment:Master Sima Yi/Assassinews 03-03-'13 — Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag trailer and screenshots/@comment-4705174-20130305000524/@comment-4636255-20130305123445

Pirate is a misleading term. Just because someone loots ships doesn't mean he's evil.

Besides, the Europeans had a habit of naming skillful enemies as pirates (Kemal Reis, Kanhoji Angre, etc).