Jack agreed to Fang Yuan's terms without the slightest hesitation; he didn't even wait to hear where Fang Yuan wanted him to go.
He'd been without the Black Pearl for far too long—Jack dreamed of retaking her every single night.
Yet for all these years he hadn't been able to find so much as a trace of her.
He had the mysterious compass, of course, but knowing the direction and actually catching her were two different things; the Black Pearl was fast and roamed everywhere, and Jack could run till his legs broke and still never catch up.
"If the Black Emperor Pirates are handling it, though… maybe it's possible," Jack muttered.
Though he'd had no fixed abode for ten years, he still kept abreast of news on the seas. The Black Emperor Pirates were now the most notorious crew afloat, and—much as he hated to admit it—Jack knew the Black Pearl couldn't beat them.
The fact that he hadn't heard any talk of the ghost ship in the Caribbean for years said it all.
"Hector's clearly too scared to show his face in the Caribbean. Fine—I'll take the Black Emperor Pirates and hunt him down!" The more Jack thought about it, the more fired up he felt. "I always said Hector was no Captain; under him my beautiful Pearl's been labeled a cursed ghost ship!"
Jack had no idea about the Aztec gold curse; Barbossa had already ousted him before that little detail surfaced.
So Jack couldn't know that Barbossa's ghost-ship reputation was, in fact, literally true.
"No need—Barbossa will come looking for us," Fang Yuan said, utterly confident. "Within the next two days."
"Now that's good news," Jack beamed.
"We'll need a nice spot to welcome him." He started brainstorming aloud. "Nassau, perhaps? I know two hidden channels there—perfect for an ambush."
Fang Yuan checked the time, tucked a few small gadgets into his coat, then told the eager Jack, "Actually, we'll be staying in Port Royal for the next couple of days."
"Huh?"
Jack froze.
Stay in Port Royal? When the Black Pearl arrived she wouldn't run into pirates—she'd run into… "The navy?" he yelped, then caught himself on the dock and dropped his voice. "You're planning to let the navy deal with the black pearl?"
"No—they'll sink her!"
Jack shook his head hard, convinced Fang Yuan meant to inform on them and scoop up the pieces afterward.
He was happy to see Barbossa finished, but not if it cost him the Pearl.
"You really don't know the state the Black Pearl's in." Fang Yuan clapped his shoulder. "Truth is, the ones who should be worried are the navy."
Jack stared—when had the Black Pearl become that formidable?
Still, as long as the Pearl stayed afloat he couldn't care less about the navy's survival.
Only now Jack realized things weren't going the way he'd imagined; he'd assumed Fang Yuan wanted help hunting some treasure, but the situation was turning far stranger.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Jack pressed.
A gentle smile crossed Fang Yuan's face, yet his words sent a chill down Jack's spine.
"A few things—Davy Jones's heart, for example."
Fear flashed in Jack's eyes; if you asked who he dreaded most on the seas, Davy Jones would easily make the top two.
Years ago he'd bargained with Davy Jones: in return for raising the Black Pearl, Jack would serve a hundred years aboard The Flying Dutchman after thirteen years had passed.
And now that deadline was almost up.
Jack certainly had no intention of honoring the deal; a century on The Flying Dutchman was no different from death.
Stay aboard her too long and you slowly merge with the ship—long before a hundred years pass you become part of her timbers.
"Two choices." Fang Yuan raised two fingers.
"One: help me find Davy Jones's heart, and I'll control him and cancel your bargain."
"Two: watch the Black Pearl get blown to splinters and spend the rest of your life hiding on land to escape Jones's reach."
Davy Jones had once been a mortal Captain. Smitten with the sea-goddess Calypso, he volunteered to ferry the souls of the dead across the oceans to the afterlife.
But Calypso broke her promise to him; forsaking his duty, Jones was cursed into the tentacled monster he became.
Granted his powers by the sea-goddess, even transformed he retained certain divine prerogatives—raising and enchanting the Black Pearl for Jack among them.
His sole weakness was his own heart, locked in a chest and buried on an island; whoever found it could compel Jones to serve them.
In the original tale, Lord Beckett did exactly that.
Now Fang Yuan had arrived, and Davy Jones would be changing masters.
Jack agonized for a moment, then made the call.
"I'm in!"
He answered with two raised fingers of his own.
"One: I want the Black Pearl!"
"Two: I want Barbossa dead!"
"The Pearl's no problem," Fang Yuan shrugged. "I'll even give you one clean shot, but whether you can finish Barbossa is up to you."
"Works for me." Jack flashed the pistol at his hip—only one shot left in the barrel.
"I always keep a bullet ready for Barbossa!" Jack said firmly.
With the deal struck, Fang Yuan had White find Jack a clean set of clothes, then led them all toward the Dauntless.
"A tour of the Dauntless?"
"Is this what pirates do for fun now? First go size up the navy's gear?"
Ever since Jack learned their destination he'd been astonished, constantly guessing why Fang Yuan wanted to see the Dauntless.
Ordinary pirates steer clear of the navy, yet Fang Yuan was heading straight for their turf—something felt off.
Jack certainly didn't think Fang Yuan had lost his mind.
The Black Emperor Pirates were the most formidable Raiders in the Caribbean and the entire Atlantic; Black Emperor Fang Yuan bore the title of Sea Emperor. Whatever he did, he had his reasons.
Then Jack suddenly remembered why he'd come to Port Royal.
"Oh, you actually..." Jack leaned to Fang Yuan's ear, voice barely a breath. "You're not planning to steal the Dauntless, are you?"
"Steal?" Fang Yuan shot back. "Do you know my name?"
"Black Emperor? Sea Emperor?" Jack had to admit Fang Yuan's title far outshone anything like Pirate King of the Caribbean.
Of course, it was dozens of times grander than the Pirate King of the Caspian too.
Fang Yuan reached out and closed his fist in the air. "Since I'm Emperor, everything on this sea is mine!"
In simpler terms: "I want it all!"
Jack was awestruck, beginning to see why the Black Emperor Pirates had grown so fast.
That made him worry about himself.
Fang Yuan was so domineering it would be hard to break free—escape a century of servitude on The Flying Dutchman only to end up slaving for the Black Emperor?
Freedom-loving Jack couldn't accept that.
"Deal with Davy Jones, then run with the Black Pearl?" he plotted at once.
"But maybe Davy Jones has forgotten me and won't come. Should I just run now?"
"What are you thinking?" Fang Yuan asked suddenly.
Jack quickly plastered on a grin. "I'm thinking I love your philosophy!"
He spread his arms, looking rapturous. "We're pirates—everything on the sea should be ours."
"We?" Fang Yuan repeated the key word.
"No, no!"
Jack hastily corrected himself: "Yours, my dear Captain!"
All yours.
Fang Yuan raised a brow. "You and the Black Pearl included, then?"
"Uh..."
Jack's smile froze; he instantly replied with dainty fingers and faux piety, "Of course!"
Fang Yuan merely shook his head with a smile, neither believing nor refuting.
A pirate's word is for listening, not for trusting—believe it and you're the fool.
Elizabeth quickly changed and tidied her makeup, hurried to the dock, and when she saw Fang Yuan still there her face lit up.
"That woman's got her eye on you."
Jack murmured behind Fang Yuan.
"Looks like a rich young lady," he guessed.
"The Governor's daughter of Port Royal," Fang Yuan revealed Elizabeth's identity.
Jack's eyes popped. "The Governor's daughter counts as 'on the sea'?"
Fang Yuan only answered, "The whole continent is on the sea."
"Ah... Mr. Arthur!"
Elizabeth jogged over to greet them, but wrinkled her nose at Jack, lifting a hand slightly to cover it.
Even a change of clothes couldn't hide the sour reek clinging to Jack.
Pirates aren't known for hygiene; because of Fang Yuan's personal rules, The Jackdaw's crew were forced to stay clean, so they carried no foul odor.
Jack, however, had been pickled by years at sea.
Yet he felt no shame, even attempting a clumsy English courtly bow in greeting.
"Utterly ridiculous!"
Elizabeth had arrived, so Norrington followed close behind. Seeing Jack's antics he delivered a cold verdict.
With that, Norrington took the lead and strode straight toward the Dauntless.
The sooner the tour ended, the sooner he could send Fang Yuan on his way.
But once aboard the Dauntless, Norrington couldn't stop talking.
"She's the only first-rate ship-of-the-line in the entire Caribbean!"
His tone brimmed with pride—and he had every right to be proud.
"Dauntless measures two-hundred twenty-seven feet six inches; her construction cost over sixty thousand pounds!" Norrington expounded.
That length equals sixty-nine meters. In this era one pound roughly equals one gold coin, so the Dauntless cost over sixty thousand pounds—more than the bounties of all nine Pirate Kings of the World combined.
"Not bad at all." Fang Yuan nodded, pleased.
When Norrington saw Fang Yuan unimpressed, he went on: "Dauntless has three gun decks and one hundred cannons in all. She can hold out even caught between two foes, and one broadside can sink an ordinary warship!"
Fang Yuan's grin widened.
"Excellent! Excellent!"
Norrington frowned hard.
This ship is mine—what are you so happy about?
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