Daniel didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.
"You have two options," he said calmly, and with a flick of his wrist a heavy heap of gold coins spilled onto the wooden floor beside him. The metal rang sharply as it settled, bright and unmistakably real.
The room went still.
"Trade the map to me for gold," Daniel continued, nudging the pile slightly with his boot. "Enough to fund three fleets and buy half the South China Sea twice over."
The lamplight reflected in the coins, dancing across the carved pillars and the faces of the watching pirates.
"Or," he added, meeting Sao Feng's eyes without blinking, "I take it from your dead body."
There was no anger in his tone. No theatrics. Just a simple statement of fact.
He folded his hands behind his back. "I'm not unreasonable. I don't take without offering something in return. Gold is fair. War is… less profitable."
The twins shifted subtly behind Sao Feng. Several pirates tightened their grips on their weapons, though none dared move first.
Sao Feng's gaze dropped briefly to the gold, then returned to Daniel. His expression didn't change, but calculation replaced fury.
"You speak boldly in my house," he said at last.
Daniel gave a small shrug. "I speak plainly. It saves time."
Jack, standing between them, glanced at the gold, then at the surrounding pirates, then back at Sao Feng.
"Well," he muttered under his breath, "this is usually the part where someone tries something heroic and gets stabbed."
Sao Feng's fingers tapped once against the armrest as he weighed the offer.
"Gold," he said slowly, "is tempting."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"But you will not threaten me in my own city."
Daniel's smile thinned. "Then don't make me prove I can."
Jack cleared his throat lightly and lifted both hands in a calming gesture, glancing from Sao Feng to the gathered pirates.
"My friend," he said carefully, tone unusually sincere, "I strongly advise against testing him. He's… very dangerous. Everyone who's crossed him lately has found themselves taking an unexpected swim to the bottom of the sea. The East India Company fleet is a rather fresh example. You've likely heard about it."
A faint murmur rippled through the room. Even in Singapore, news traveled fast when an entire fleet vanished in smoke and splintered wood.
Jack continued, lowering his voice just enough to make it sound confidential. "And I do mean vanished. Ships, cannons, officers, ambition—gone. Efficiently."
He gave Daniel a sideways look. "Quite impressive, really. Terrifying. But impressive."
Sao Feng's eyes narrowed slightly, though his posture remained composed. "Rumors," he said evenly.
"Ah," Jack replied, nodding, "yes. They were rumors. Until they weren't."
Daniel said nothing. He didn't need to. The heap of gold remained at his feet, bright and heavy, while the silence in the bathhouse thickened.
Jack leaned a little closer to Sao Feng. "Take the gold," he muttered quietly. "It's the healthier option."
The room held its breath, waiting for the Pirate Lord's decision.
Sao Feng lifted his hand.
That was enough.
Steel flashed in unison as the surrounding pirates lunged forward, blades drawn, feet pounding across wet wood and tile.
Jack exhaled slowly. "Yes," he muttered, stepping aside with practiced instinct, "that would be the dead end."
Daniel sighed, almost disappointed. "I suppose I should be formal," he said calmly. "After all, I am the one intruding."
The first sword never reached him.
Before the blades could close the distance, a sudden pressure rolled through the bathhouse—silent, invisible, crushing. It wasn't wind. It wasn't force in any ordinary sense. It was weight. Authority.
Every pirate charging him faltered mid-stride.
Then, as if strings had been cut, they collapsed.
Not wounded.
Not bleeding.
They simply dropped where they stood, bodies hitting the floor in a chain of dull thuds, eyes open but unfocused, limbs slack as if the will to move had been removed from them entirely.
The room fell still.
Only the faint drip of water from the bath pools broke the silence.
Jack blinked once. "Efficient," he commented, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeves. "As always "
Behind Sao Feng, Lian and Park stiffened, hands hovering near concealed blades but wisely not drawing them.
Daniel stepped over one of the unconscious pirates and looked back at Sao Feng, his expression calm, almost courteous.
"I'm asking politely again," he said, voice even. "The map. In exchange for gold."
Jack cleared his throat and raised a hand slightly, as though introducing a performer on stage.
"My good friend," he said to Sao Feng, "I may have neglected to mention a rather crucial detail. The gentleman standing before you is, in fact, a god. Specifically, the god of death. Which makes this less a negotiation and more… a rare opportunity to make an excellent decision."
Sao Feng's eyes narrowed, but he did not look at the gold. He looked at the men on the floor. They were breathing, yet none of them moved.
"So," he said slowly, gaze lifting back to Daniel, "if you are truly a god of death… can you grant me immortality?"
There was no mockery in his tone. Only calculation.
Immortality was every ruler's hidden desire—especially a pirate lord who ruled through fear and ambition.
Daniel let out a quiet sigh, as if the request bored him.
"You should have started with that," he said. "Granting immortality is easy."
Sao Feng's composure slipped for a fraction of a second. Easy?
Jack, sensing the shift, stepped lightly to the side and folded his arms.
"I understand your confusion," he said to Sao Feng. "But my friend here is… remarkably generous. When it suits him."
Sao Feng's fingers tightened slightly on the arm of his chair. "And what would be the price?"
There was always a price when a god granted a wish. He had expected his boldness to be met with refusal—or death. Instead, the offer remained. That alone unsettled him. Still, he had taken the chance. This god was talkative, almost reasonable, and that made him far more dangerous than silence ever could.
Daniel's expression did not change.
"Nothing dramatic," he replied. "You continue ruling Singapore. You hand over the Mao Kun map. In return, you live."
*****
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