Inside the Captain's Cabin, Elizabeth felt her intelligence being repeatedly trampled upon.
On the table in front of her lay a draft paper covered with complex lines and strange symbols.
The brass sextant next to it now looked more hateful to her than the fangs of a three-headed hellhound.
Calculate the sun's altitude angle tomorrow at noon?
All she wanted to calculate now was how much force it would take to smash this heavy thing into the head of that scoundrel pirate, Roger.
She gripped the quill pen, scribbling and correcting on the paper, then threw it down in frustration.
On the paper, a blob of ink quickly spread out, forming a large black patch representing despair.
With a creak, the door was pushed open.
Roger entered leisurely, carrying a steaming cup of... plain water.
Nothing tasted good to him now, and he didn't even shiver when going to the toilet.
Tasteless water was just like tasteless rum.
He glanced at the hideous draft paper on the table, then at Elizabeth's almost tearful expression.
"Oh, ho."
Roger whistled, making no secret of his mockery.
"It seems our Governor's Daughter has encountered a small challenge in the academic field."
Roger walked over, picked up the paper, and examined it carefully.
"Let me see... Hmm... Angle calculation error, formula application error, even the longitude and latitude on the sea chart are copied incorrectly."
With every word Roger spoke, Elizabeth's head drooped a little more.
"Miss Swann, I just asked you to calculate the sun. Are you planning to pull the moon down for me?"
"With your calculation results, let alone tomorrow at noon, even in another hundred years, the sun wouldn't reach this position."
"I..."
Elizabeth was so ashamed and angry that her face flushed crimson, but she couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.
Only when she actually tried it did she realize it was a completely different matter.
"Enough, enough."
Roger waved his hand impatiently, crumpled the waste paper into a ball, and accurately tossed it into the trash can in the corner.
"It seems I still had unrealistic fantasies about your intelligence."
"Starting tomorrow, your lessons will be doubled."
"What?!"
Elizabeth suddenly looked up, unable to believe her ears.
"Morning for theory, afternoon on deck with me for practical work."
Roger announced as if it were a matter of course.
"Submit a one-mile long internship report to me by evening."
"If I see this kind of nonsense again, you won't just go without food, you'll also have to keep scrubbing toilets."
Just thinking about that scene made Elizabeth feel a wave of nausea.
"You... you're abusing me!"
"No, my dear student." Roger showed a devilish smile. "This is called teaching according to aptitude."
With that, he no longer paid attention to this tool-person who was almost driven mad by him, turned, and walked out of the Captain's Cabin.
He was in a very good mood.
Disciplining such an arrogant noble young lady was far more interesting than commanding a group of pirates.
On the deck, Jack Sparrow was leaning against the mast, with his pinky finger extended, intently applying eyeliner to himself in a small mirror.
"My dear Captain Jack, you look like one of those girls soliciting customers at Tortuga Port."
Roger walked up to him and unceremoniously scoffed.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Jack threw a flirtatious wink and swayed his hips.
"Has my charm reached the point where it captivates both men and women?"
Roger couldn't be bothered to banter with him and went straight to the point.
"Jack, I'm going fishing."
"Fishing?" Jack put down the mirror, showing some interest.
"I love fishing, especially for mermaids in dresses."
"No, what I'm going to catch this time is an old, ugly shark with no teeth left."
A glint flashed in Roger's eyes.
"I'm going to throw a cursed gold coin into the sea."
The flamboyant expression on Jack's face instantly froze.
His heavily-lined eyes suddenly widened.
"You... what did you say? Are you mad?!"
He grabbed Roger's arm, lowered his voice, almost screaming.
"Do you know what that means?"
"It means that the undead monsters on the black pearl will crawl out of hell like flies smelling blood, and then find us again!"
"It also means that Barraba, that monkey-raised, dumber-than-a-monkey fellow, will appear before us with his rotten teeth!"
"Of course I know." Roger calmly pushed his hand away. "He's exactly who I'm waiting for."
Jack looked at Roger with the gaze one would reserve for a madman.
"What are you waiting for him for? To invite him for afternoon tea? I tell you, that guy won't pay the bill!"
"I need all the cursed gold coins in his possession."
Roger reached into his embrace, feeling the two cold gold coins.
Damn it, his mouth had been so bland these past few days that if he didn't eat a flavorful roasted meat soon, he felt he'd go crazy too.
"As for you, Jack."
Roger patted his shoulder.
"You need to help me take the black pearl."
"We are natural allies, aren't we?"
The black pearl.
These four words were a brand etched into Jack's soul.
The fear on his face slowly gave way to a mixture of greed and longing.
"How do you plan to do it?"
Jack whispered.
"Very simple." Roger's lips curved into a smile.
"We'll throw out the bait, then find a good spot, cast our net, and wait for the fish to come to us."
"By then, his ship will be mine. His gold coins will also be mine."
"I promised to assemble a fleet for you!"
"Deal!"
Jack agreed almost without hesitation.
At this stage, nothing was more important than reclaiming the black pearl!
"Alright, brothers! Stop eating, all of you! Gather!"
Roger grabbed the tin megaphone and roared at the still reveling pirates.
The music stopped, the laughter ceased.
All the pirates stopped what they were doing and looked at their captain in confusion.
"Captain, what good news is there now?"
Billy, with half a lamb leg still stuffed in his mouth, asked indistinctly.
"From now on, the party's over, everyone to battle stations!" Roger announced loudly.
"We're going to pull off a big one!"
"Who are we going after? The English? Or the Spanish fleet?" Hanson excitedly rubbed his hands together.
"No." Roger shook his head.
"This time, our opponent is a ghost ship."
"We're going to hunt the legendary... black pearl!"
The entire deck instantly fell silent.
The excitement and drunkenness on the pirates' faces vanished in an instant.
The black pearl?
That elusive ghost ship that came and went like the wind, always shrouded in mist?
That ship was full of cursed undead monsters!
Fight them? Wasn't that seeking death?
"Captain... are... are you not joking?" A pirate asked tremblingly.
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"But... those guys are unkillable!" Billy also panicked.
"Our cannonballs hit them like a tickle!"
"Who said I'm going to clash head-on with them?" Roger sneered.
"To deal with magic, you must use magic!"
Roger surveyed everyone.
"The gold coins are their Achilles' heel!"
"And I have a way to make them hand over all their gold coins willingly!"
The pirates looked at Roger, their eyes shifting from fear back to fervent adoration.
Their captain could not only build ships and was a master gunner, but now he even knew how to deal with curses!
Was he even human?
He was practically a Sea God descended!
"Everyone!" Roger raised his arm high.
"Weigh anchor! Hoist the sails! Our next target, Isla de Muerta!"
"We will set a trap there, a grand gift for Captain Barraba and his undead legion!"
At Roger's command, the entire the explorer began to operate again.
Under the gaze of all the crew, Roger walked to the stern.
He held the gold coin in his hand, with a solemn Jack Sparrow standing behind him.
"Go."
Roger released his fingers.
The gold coin, engraved with a skull pattern, drew a faint arc in the air and, with a "plop," fell into the bottomless, dark seawater, without even splashing a single drop.
The bait had been cast.
Roger looked up, gazing into the distance.
He could almost feel that in the depths of that distant sea, a pair of greedy eyes had suddenly opened wide.
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