008

Jack

"Well, that was unfortunate," I mused as I watched the ship slowly sink beneath the waves, turning to Gibbs, who looked back at me sheepishly.

"How was I to know they were storing that much powder? They're a treasure ship, they're not supposed to have enough powder to send their ship to the bottom," David said with a shrug, and I simply shook my head. He wasn't wrong, but it was unfortunate, to say the least.

"There goes the blade," I sighed, knowing one of my objectives was now resting beneath the waves.

"Maybe we can find a diving bell," Gibbs suggested, and I was inclined to agree before I heard a splash to my left. I looked over to where Tanya was standing and noticed a pile of metal, boots, and unnecessary clothing.

Turning back to Gibbs, I said, "Wasn't there a woman standing next to me just a moment ago?"

"Gibbs nodded, looking over the side as I joined him, trying to detect where Tanya had gone. Could she really be thinking about actually getting aboard that vessel and finding the blade before it sunk beneath the waves? Then again, I don't know how her magic works. Perhaps she has a spell that lets her breathe underwater."

"Mr. Gibbs, fill us closer to where the vessel is sinking and drop our anchor as deep as we can. It'll allow her to find her way back up, depending on how dark it gets by the time she finds the blade," I commanded.

"Aye aye, Captain," Gibbs said, getting to work and rallying the crew to move the ship a few feet over and drop the anchor. I didn't know if it would work, but it was better than nothing.

Walking to the side, I watched the water, wondering if I should jump in after her. She was a trained seaman, and I had seen her swim once or twice, but who knows how heavy the sword actually was. All I knew was that it was the Sword of Saint Piran's, which meant it could be rather old and heavy.

Watching the waves, I didn't have to wait too long as the blade shot up through the sky and flipped through the air a couple of times before landing somewhere on the ship with a thud that told me it had embedded itself deep.

"Gibbs, find that sword," I ordered as I started to pull off my coat, just in case I needed to jump in to save Tanya. After all, why had she just thrown it out of the water? What spell did she use, anyway?

Ah, magic. I needed to talk to her about how her magic works; otherwise, I would not be able to plan appropriately. But that was something for another time when I wasn't worried if she had drowned or not. Thankfully, she came bursting out of the water, apparently having used some sort of spell to catapult herself free of the debris. She landed on the deck and immediately started coughing up water. I walked over and patted her on the back, saying, "There, there, you're fine."

"Bit risky doing that, wasn't it?" I asked.

She looked at me, appearing rather annoyed through the hair that was out of place. It had always been shoulder length, but I hadn't noticed before.

"Maybe, but I thought I could do it, and, well, I think I did. That is, I hope I did. It was the only weapon that was slightly glowing, so I figured that was the right one," Tanya explained.

I nodded as Gibbs came up with the said blade, noting that it was older but not too heavy. He handed it to me, and I looked at it skeptically. "Doesn't look very glowy to me," I remarked.

"Magic," Tanya said, pointing to her eyes. "I can see it with the right spell. The blade does glow with magic." She got up, brushing herself off, as Gibbs brought over some blankets and towels for her to dry up.

From what I could tell in a brief glance, I had to touch it, definitely locked through some sort of pure cipher. The only people who could get the most out of it and use its powers, I think, would have to be individuals pure of heart.

I smiled before saying, "So no one on this boat."

Tanya chuckled before replying, "Normally, yes." She reached out to grab the blade, channeling what I guessed was magic into it as it blazed blue with unnatural flames. "A pure of heart could get the most out of it, yes, but a magician can bypass that to some extent. Instead of using its power to activate its effects, I'm using my own." She turned it off, and the flames went out. "Drains a lot of energy, though," she added, handing it back to Gibbs.

"Well, wonderful. We have a weapon. The question is, will it actually be useful against our opponent," I mused before shaking my head. "Anyway, with this part of the job done, we can go get the treasure. You know, lots of hoots and hollers from the crew."

We were only a few days away from where I buried the treasure, thanks to the map we had recovered from Scurvy Joe's back.

"With that treasure, we should have enough to refit The Pearl in the nearby port of Tortuga," I explained. "I know it's risky, simply because, well, that was the last place Finn had spotted me. But I'm sure she is already looking in the wrong place. Mainly because the last place anyone knew I was at was Port Royal. Plus, you wouldn't head there, I hope. Assumed privacy. It's all the same thing, really."

"Noted," Tanya said. "And you'll get a larger portion of the loot for getting this sword out of the wreck before it hit the bottom. Mr. Gibbs, mark this location. I think it's not that deep. Maybe we'll come back with a diving bell. Perhaps we'll have the opportunity to recover some wealth down the line."

"Aye aye, sir," Gibbs replied, heading towards the map room, as I walked over to the side of the ship, looking out at the water.

Tanya joined me, standing there in silence. After a moment, she spoke up. "Alright, so we have the sword," she said. "We have the wealth to refurbish the ship. Next objective is to head for North Africa, right?"

I nodded my head before replying, "That is the next objective. Whether it will be successful is another problem."

"Oh, and is there any other bit of information you haven't told me that I probably should know?" Tanya asked curiously.

I nodded, saying, "I wouldn't say you need to know it, but it might be useful for your prospects."

I sighed before continuing, "The location of the treasure might be problematic. My sources have recently informed me that the island it's stored on has been taken over by a governor. He's kind of, well, an asshole."

"How bad are we talking here?" Tanya asked, concerned. I shook my head and replied, "Bad enough that we might end up in a fight. Are you okay with that? I mean, fighting the law on an island for our own purposes and gathering our own wealth."

Tanya looked out over the coast before saying, "The world is made up of laws. I try to follow them, but I'm not just laws, and I'm just lost. Nonetheless, if they are, as you say, doing things that are not good for the population of the island and the economy, I have no problem taking them down."

"Oh, wonderful. I was slightly worried you'd have a problem with that. Then, from what I understand, this governor is basically treating the island as his piggy bank. So, if you have problems with people doing that sort of thing, you'll be more than happy to help me take this man down, I think," I explained.

"Good old Sheriff of Nottingham bullshit," Tanya chuckled, referencing a rather old literary tale.

I nodded in agreement, saying, "That's exactly it."

"And I won't mind playing a little bit of Robin Hood. We'll free the island, get our gold, and be on our way. A short adventure, I think," Tanya added.

"Sounds like a plan," I said, and Tanya sneezed.

"For now, though, I'm going to go get dried off and put on some new clothing. Let me know when we arrive at the island," Tanya requested.

"Will do," I replied as she turned away and walked towards an area in the ship's bowels where we had set aside space for her.

Turning, I looked at the sea, smiling. Everything was coming along nicely. There was a good chance I could pull this off. I just needed to stick to the plan and the code, and we would have everything we needed to stop Davy Jones from taking the Black Pearl and pulling me back down into the depths.

Tanya

How are things going so absolutely chaotically wrong? But that was my general thought as the local town guard fired another volley of muskets at us, trying to prevent us from storming the island fortress of the town governor.

One moment, we had been searching for gold with a little help from the natives of the island who were ticked off with the governor for multiple reasons. Most importantly, the governor was running this place as a minor pirate port and demanding 70% of the loot. And it wasn't just the pirates he was doing that to. He probably would have been getting away with it, as he was also demanding 70% of the taxes from the local farming population and the fishing population. The only reason he was still in control of the island was that he had guns. And the pirates, though they were getting ripped off for 70% of their loot, were getting the benefit of doing whatever the hell they wanted on the island, keeping the population in fear and offering benefits such as having their ships cleaned.

Our arrival, though, had thrown whatever plans this governor had into a firing pit of doom. Jack didn't want to give him 70% of the loot, so he had already been planning to free the island the moment he heard about it. Of course, he had already been planning to cause problems for the governor because, well, right bastard.

We had assumed we would get the lay of the land before we made a move. Though we had barely gone 5 feet off our ship before shit hit the fan. The governor's men showed up, demanded we hand over 70% of the loot on the vessel, and we said no. We said we weren't here to get special treatment, and they immediately fired on us.

They literally tried to assassinate me by pulling a pistol and pointing it towards my head, thinking they could force Jack to do what they wanted if they just killed a member of his crew.

As you might imagine, I had my shield up, so that didn't go very well for the man who thought trying to blow my brains out was a good idea. I wasn't exactly sure where he ended up, but I channeled so much anger into my fist when I hit him in the gun that he went flying and skipping across the water before disappearing from sight.

The other guards looked on in amazement before running away, and the few fishermen who had been at their vessels when that happened looked on, shocked, before raising a cheer and joining us in a march on the governor's fort.

Which brings us to where we are now, currently under fire from the determined guards who want to protect the governor, while the fishermen throw rocks and the pirates of the Black Pearl fire their shots. And as for me, well, I have a rifle in my hands, loading it and preparing to blast away at the front gate if I can get my head up for a moment.

"Well, this turned out louder and funner than I thought," Jack mused as he stood up and fired his pistol at the governor's men.

"Yes, fun," I said, finishing the loading procedure and starting to power up the rifle.

"It could be worse, gotta have your shield down," Jack commented.

I hope that means you would still have gone after them for killing me.

"Of course, Tanya. You're a loyal member of the crew. Killing a member of my crew means, well, nothing good for them."

Letting out a deep breath, I lifted myself up, brought the rifle down onto the front gate, and fired a shot. The shot twirled through the air before smacking the gates in an explosion that sent the gate and the house above it shattering into the sky. Debris started raining everywhere, including bodies, because a large portion of the men who had been shooting at us had been in the gatehouse where they had the most cover and were just reloading rifles for those who were willing to put their faces out the window.

A cheer went up from the fishermen who joined us, as well as the pirates of the Black Pearl, and then another cheer from behind me. Turning and getting myself back into cover to start reloading, I saw a column of farmers pushing wagons with hastily constructed wooden armor over the front.

They really were willing to go for this one. Thing I'm used to. As the farmers pushed past us, pitchforks in the air and torches not too far away, they ascended the hill towards the governor's fort.

As I said, my sources said this place was ripe for a revolution. I just thought we might pop in here and not only get our money but a little extra, you know, for providing the arms necessary to free the island from an intolerable dictatorship. And what was the term you've used in the past, "barbaric on the economy"?

I looked at him before saying something like that. Getting up, I brought my rifle to bear and blew away a part of the wall, which brought up another cheer as the fishermen got out of the makeshift barricades we had built up around the fort, charging the open hole. The fire coming from the governor's men was down to 75% of what it once was, which meant there were only minimal losses as they ascended the hill, especially with the cover from the farmers.

Jack got up, drawing his blade, and said, "Well, don't leave all the fun for the locals, men! Come on!" and charged after them. Signalling, I pulled out a plug bayonet and plugged the end of the musket, channeling a little energy into it to give it a bit of extra bite before charging after him.

With some gallantry, the pirates, farmers, and fishermen overtook the front wall, pushing back the guards who had come into a rather disorganized mess under the bombardment.

They kept retreating, and before long, were fleeing out the back door of the fortress and into the jungles, with many of them not even trying to take control of the main citadel and some leaving the doors wide open.

The farmers and fishermen charged in, and after a few moments, came out carrying the governor, who was screaming and panicking as he was carried off towards what looked to be a gallows.

"Should we be concerned about that?" I asked Jack, who shook his head, saying, "No, no, no. Not a problem. It's a successful revolution." He clapped his hands before saying, "Let's go see if we can secure some of the loot for ourselves."

Sighing, I blinked, wanting to ask a question but not getting a chance as he walked into the building. Chasing after him, Gibbs and I followed him, eventually finding our way to a heavily barred door where Jack was able to pop the lock, allowing us to see a room just full of wealth: gold, silks, spices, and materials that were obviously stockpiled for use with traders.

I estimated there was about 1/8 of the amount of gold here that we'd seen on the Island of the Dead.

Gibbs whistled and said, "Now this is a good haul, and this is before we even get the treasure that you have hidden on this island."

Jack nodded and said, "Only if we could take all of it. Unfortunately, I'm sure we'll have to negotiate a fee with the locals."

"Maybe 50%," Gibbs said hopefully.

"Extremely doubtful," I said with a shake of my head, before adding, "Most likely we'll be able to get 1/8 out of them if we're lucky, 25%."

"Unfortunately, Tanya here is probably correct. The people will want a good portion of this to help rebuild their community. 25% though is a good starting number, I think," Jack said with a nod. "That'll be our target. We'll see if we can get above 1/8."

"And before we could get into discussing how we were going to take that one-eighth, we heard movement behind us."

Turning, I saw a formation group of what I would guess were leaders of the community moving towards our location.

"Are you guys the pirates who led the rebellion?" one of them called.

"Yes, in fact, I am," Jack called back, waving them forward. "I was just checking out the treasury to see how much money this horrid governor has been stockpiling away from the people. It's quite a lot."

The group moved forward, joining us and admiring the amount of wealth. The defected leader, a fisherman by the looks of it, said, "Damn, that's enough to keep the town stockpiled for years. I didn't realize how much he was taking from us with all his absurd taxes."

The leader of the farmers nodded his head. "We can definitely use this to restart a lot of old farms that were nearly put out of business by the damn governor. But this is more money than we know what to do with."

"More money than you know what to do with?" Jack said, looking towards me with a smile, before saying, "Perhaps you would like an investment opportunity."

I looked at Jack with a raised eyebrow, as the two leaders looked at him with interest.

"Go on," the fisherman said.

"Well, my ship is a pirate vessel, of course. We could sometimes transfer some material here or there. If you give us a hefty portion of this wealth, I will guarantee that for the next two to three years, any, well, if we accumulate any, it will come through your port first."

The two leaders looked at each other for a moment before saying, "It could help get us on the map, and having pirates who want to look out for us is not the worst option out there."

"Yeah," the fisherman said, "from my understanding, it's a valid strategy for keeping new settlements safe. Having good relations with at least one pirate captain, so why not this one?"

"You've got yourself a deal," the farmer said, offering his hand before saying, "How about 30%?"

"That is excellent," Jack said, taking the hand. "That's more than enough to keep things running on my ship and make sure that wealth goes your way. Thank you for your contributions, and I will do my best to make sure that pirates don't come barging around here."

"Alright," the fisherman said, shaking Jack's hand as he offered it, then said to the farmer, "Let's go blackout drunk. It's been a good day. The governor is dead, the tyranny is over, and we have enough wealth to start up a trade lane. This will be a great start for a new chapter in the history of this island."

"You're here," the farmer said, and they left Jack, Gibbs, and me alone with the money.

"They're a bit too trusting, aren't they?" Gibbs said, looking towards the gold.

"Yes, but this still is more than adequate. 30% is 5% more than what we expected to get. We'll have to do some counting, though," I said. I looked towards Jack, and he let out a sigh, saying, "I'll find a few parts that are trustworthy enough not to steal, and we'll do some counting."

"Excellent," Jack said with a nod, before adding, "And I will go get Scurvy Joe and go get our gold. That should put us with more than enough money to move on with our next operation."

"Getting the ship cleaned at Tortuga," Gibbs said for confirmation.

"Getting the ship cleaned at Tortuga," Jack said with a nod.

Jack

Having the ship laid up for a month, cleaning itself off so we could achieve maximum speeds and get to where we wanted to be as quickly as possible, was almost relaxing. Almost. I wasn't concerned about the whole situation that we may be facing in the near future. But I was trying not to think about that and simply drinking and enjoying my time here in Tortuga. Most of the men had a good few weeks of recovery, wealth was still quite available, and young Tanya had taken a portion of the ship's loot to invest in actual trade. It was hilarious when you thought about it—pirates investing in naval trade. I wondered if I could read the ship logs to find out what had been invested and sell it myself for the ship and get insurance money. It was a funny thought, but there was no way for me to know which ship she had invested in. She was keeping that to herself.

All in all, it was a good, simple, enjoyable time. Everything was going well, and by my calculations, we could set sail with the Black Pearl tonight if I wanted to. Most of the men were bored, and the only thing holding us back was, well, I just wanted to enjoy one final day.

At least, that was my plan when I woke up today. But as a cannonball flew over the town, I knew that plan was probably going to hell in a handbasket.

Looking out the window, I quickly identified what was going on. I saw a familiar English warship blocking the port, as well as several others.

This was a common occurrence in Tortuga. It was one of the reasons it wasn't as good a pirate port as it used to be. Everyone knew about it, and the English, the Spanish, and the French would always send invasion parties to take it over for a time, cleaning up the pirate scum and replacing it with their own pirate scum before the old pirates eventually came back to take up their old careers.

It was a repeated aspect of life in Tortuga. I could already see Redcoats crossing from their ships using their rowboats and landing craft.

Sighing I turned to the young lady I had been enjoying the night with and said, "Sorry, dear. It looks like our good times are going to be cut short today." I got to work getting dressed.

She was barely awake and murmured in her sleep, "Something about five more minutes, Major," as I strapped my sword to my side and pulled on my coat, placing my hat on my head as I opened the door to the room, quickly making my way down the stairs.

As I reached the first floor, the door was flung open, and Tanya was there, carrying what looked like a bag full of gold coins over her arm and a sword in her other hand.

She saw me and said, "We have to go."

"Yes, I'm quite aware that the British are here," I replied, walking past her rather confidently. "Did you rob a bank?" I asked as I stepped out and looked towards the port. I could already see some British ships starting to fly their colors, probably seizing them.

Thankfully, the Black Pearl was actually on the other side of the island where the beach was more gentle. But we had to get there quickly while the tide was still good, or we'd be stuck there and it would be taken by the British nonetheless.

"No, no, I didn't rob the bank. I just withdrew all the money here. Apparently, the trade house owner has gotten in trouble with some of the other pirates for giving away all these ill-gotten gains whenever someone takes over to try and maintain his business. I figured if we get ours out now, we wouldn't lose any money on this whole operation," Tanya explained.

"Ah, so there's a run on the trade house. That makes sense. I wondered why he didn't put up more of a fight," I replied.

"Well, he did fire a cannon at me," Tanya said, amusingly, getting me to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Shields," she said matter-of-factly, and I nodded, acknowledging her impressive powers.

Turning, I started to walk towards the other side of town, hoping to get there before we ran into any trouble. Unfortunately, trouble walked out of an alleyway in front of me in the form of several decayed corpses and a very familiar man in a coat.

"I found you, Jack," Stubb said, his skull in a permanent smile.

"You're still alive?" I said, shocked by his continued appearance.

"You can't kill the undead, Jack. You can break, you can burn, but you can't kill," the desiccated corpse said, people now noticing him as he moved down the street towards us. People started screaming as they realized what they were looking at and ran away.

"So you're just going to doggedly chase me for all eternity because I keep winning? Have you ever considered maybe not coming after me? Seems like you'd have more success if you didn't do that," I said matter-of-factly, which got the skeleton in deep thought before saying, "We need the other skull, Jack. The one you took from Mexico. Give that to us, and we will stop chasing you."

"Oh, you mean the one with green eyes," I said matter-of-factly, prompting a nod from Stubb.

"The Skull of Life, the counterpart to the Skull of Undeath. It can reverse our condition. Give it to us, and we may spare you."

Tanya and I exchanged a glance before I reached into the bag of gold and pulled out the said skull. "You mean this thing? We were about to just leave it at the trade house. It was probably going to be melted down as a piece of junk."

"Yes, give it here, mage," Stubb demanded.

Tanya tilted her head, thinking for a moment. "Why don't I just do this?" The eyes of the skull lit up as energy was poured into it, and a wave of green light shot out, smashing into every structure around them. The skeletons in front of us became a lot less skeletal, turning into flesh in a matter of moments.

A cheer went up from the pirate crew that had been skulking behind Captain Stubb.

Before long, the sound of bayonets being fixed and guns being lowered into position came from behind them.

"Captain Jack Sparrow, in the name of the crown, you're under arrest for thievery of the Interceptor. Surrender now, or you and your crew will be shot!" came the familiar voice of an admiral.

The crew of pirates all turned in unison as the Marines, whom I had not noticed but Tonya apparently had, were standing there in three lines, guns pointed down the road at the pirates and myself.

I paused for a second and said, "No, I think we'll fight! Charge, boys!" I shouted, ducking down as Admiral Norton, who had been leading the band of Marines, dropped his sword. There was an unleashing of fire into the now-recognized pirates, many of them falling. Without wasting any time, Tanya and I ran into the alleyways, trying to escape or charge the Marines in a desperate attempt to stop the massacre that was about to begin.

As for Captain Stubb, I didn't know. I suspected he would survive. If he still had the skull that could bring him back from undeath, he'd probably be revived in a few hours, angrier than ever. That meant I needed to keep the other skull around until I could knock him out permanently. Then I could probably sell the pair to some rich governor for a hefty profit.

Tanya and I ran down an alleyway, escaping the majority of the pirates who were under fire, soon finding ourselves not too far away from the port where the Black Pearl was docked.

"Can I just say I'm so glad you're on my side," I exclaimed as Tanya caught her breath.

"Not sure the feeling is the same," Tanya replied, brushing herself off. "But I will admit, it's always an adventure around you."

"That's the pirate's life," I said matter-of-factly, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as I started to guide her towards the Black Pearl. "It's all fun and adventures and near-death experiences that remind you of why you're alive."

"Exhilarating," Tanya said, sounding like she wasn't really exhilarated by it, but I didn't let that dampen the mood.

"Exactly," I said as we made our way further away from the gunfire going on behind us, with pirates and the royal Marines aiming to destroy each other. "Think Norton's going to follow us?" Tanya asked.

"Why would you think that? Just because he showed up here at Tortuga? Unlikely. I think that's the last we'll see of him before we get back from Morocco."

"He is an admiral in the British Navy. He could chase us, you know," Tanya mused.

"He could, but something tells me he wouldn't have cause to. Admirals usually have a zone that they're supposed to protect, and well, Morocco's not part of the Caribbean. Morocco is part of North Africa, other people's territory. He'd probably step on a lot of toes trying to do that and get himself in trouble. And he appears to have too much to do that," I said with a laugh as the Black Pearl's sails were already being lowered. Gibbs was all ready on the ball, getting the ship ready to go. "Wonderful."