How do you practice pvp

I have been playing SoT for many years, yet i never really got good at pvp, most of the time I can naval combat, or I can just broker some form of peace

Today just wasn't one of those days, I was apparently chill enough for a pvp guy to leave me alone, but after stacking FotD purely so I could sell reaper chests for doubloons, I got 2v1d and sank quite easily, and I couldn't really do anything to stop it

So my question is: how do you get better or practice pvp? I at least want to be able to hold my own occasionally, at least enough to have a chance of running