I especially admire the first part of this chapter, having been inspired after seeing an old movie called 'The Third Man', none other than Orson Welles as a disturbing character doing whatever business is necessary to flourish in the split Berlin. In one of the scenes, the protagonist and Orson are meeting on the East side as they ride a ferris wheel, which naturally stops at the top. Orson is looking out, contemplating how small everyone looks down there or so when it comes to his business and, as the scene progresses, Orson opens the door of their little cab...he eventually closes it, but it just came that close for the end of the protagonist. In his final address in this scene, as the cab goes down to land, he remarks that in the past, Italy was torn apart into warring states while Switzerland enjoyed roughly 600 years of peace, but what did Italy produce? Leonardo da Vinci, Micheangelo, and the Renaissance. What did Switzerland produce? Why, the cuckoo clock.

Disclaimer: Bare necessities, the simple bare necessitites, forget about your worry and your strife-but just don't forget that these characters, unfortunately, belong to Disney.

10. Luck and Power
Captain Sao Feng was the first to step up onto the platform of the bell tower, glancing behind him as he moved to the stone rail with Captain Hector Barbossa rising out of the stairwell, Jack the monkey perched on his shoulder, and grunting slightly as he looked around. The tower balcony was bare except for some rope and some brass chips on the floor, the last of the colonists might have hacked up the bell up here, unable to carry it down, to get pieces of brass to melt down for profit.

As Jack the monkey jumped off of Barbossa's shoulder to clamber onto the stone rail, Barbossa now turned to Sao Feng and queried, "What did you mean, with all of that you were babbling when I stopped you from falling into that empty grave?"

Sao Feng cleared his throat and glanced away, looking over the side at the groves below as he retorted, "Ah, I can't even rightly remember what I did say."

Barbossa shook his head and said, "It wasn't that long ago for you to have forgotten already, you were talking about all sorts of things, how you were blessed and cursed, how you saw how much harm you had caused. What did you do?"

Sao Feng inhaled sharply and stiffened, composed as he muttered, "I don't know what you're talking about. It was all just babble, just about my career and nothing more, I did nothing really for me to have overreacted like that."

Barbossa stared at him and murmured, "So, you got a little scared of pirating back then, is that all? You shouldn't be scared of it, especially if you're lucky enough to be...'blessed' with mates and friends. Why, Sao, we've known each other for years, for as long as you've been visiting the Caribbean...me and Jack used to visit you in Tortuga, when I was still his mate, we used to trade and go to the bar. My monkey Jack, he's been a dear treasure of mine for a long while now, all thanks to you. As for Tia Dalma, I don't know how she met you, but she seems to think highly of you, you probably impressed her with your Compass of Want. When this is all done, you'll have no need for want, not when we would owe you so much."

Sao Feng growled and turned to face Barbossa as he told him, "Ah, mates and friends are all good for a time, especially in pleasant weather, but you know just as well as I do that when the seas turn rough, there's no profit in keeping friends. After all, you urged your fellow mates to mutiny against Captain Jack Sparrow all those years ago, all to look after your own interests and make profit. As for myself, I have sensed a bad wind for some time now...after all, the East India Company didn't just spring up in the Caribbean all of a sudden. Why, it's made a nasty reputation of itself in India and other places and now it's worming its way into this part of the world, gaining influence and power to make its move on such places as Tortuga. Mates and friends, friends and mates, will be no match against the might of the East India Company!"

With that, Sao Feng lashed out, his strong arm slamming into some of the stones of the old balcony rail and Jack the monkey screeched as he jumped away, narrowing avoiding a tumble off of the old church. The monkey scampered back up onto Barbossa's shoulder, who started humming softly to his pet and rubbing him, as he glared at Sao Feng, breathing heavily as he stared down at the floor of the platform.

Finally, Captain Hector Barbossa sighed and murmured, "Sao Feng, you disappoint me. Even when I was cursed, I knew there was always the chance that I could escape and so I pursued that avenue, so that I might feel pleasure someday. My hope, little as it was, allowed me to continue so that I might taste the sweet juice of an apple once more. You were always fortunate, compared to me, and yet you have no hope at all when your situation is so less dire. I don't understand."

Sao shook his head and explained, "You exaggerate the desperation of your curse, at least you couldn't be killed then, you just had inconvenience. It may be hard to kill me with my blessing, yes, but it can be done and if the East India Company was to throw all of its effort against me, they can do it. Instead, you disappoint me, Barbossa...you're too old and sensible to believe in luck. There is only power and that's what matters, I think you understood that when you first rebelled against Captain Jack, though you may have lost that sense when the scope of your curse overwhelmed you. You know, you can learn from the downfall of Captain Jack Sparrow...as I knew him, he believed too much in his own luck and look where that got him-betrayed by his mates, in the past and now, hunted by Davy Jones, and now poor Jack's dead. As for me, I was never...'fortunate' enough to be taught to believe blindly in luck at a tender age, I was stuck in poverty, I had to grow quickly and I soon learned about the real force in the world, power. It was because of the power of the Manchurian emperor over my China that I and the others in my community were so poor. With such an education, I couldn't stand to linger long and I soon left my homeland for the first time, to seek my own power and my own blessings as a pirate."

Barbossa slowly nodded and told him, "You know, you're not the only pirate to have been born in poverty, but never mind that. It's odd, because I was just thinking about how you just mentioned your own 'blessings' as a pirate...not too long ago, you told me and the rest of my crew that you were blessed to have met such fine people as ourselves. Why, you were certain that, with all of us together, we would enjoy smooth sailing to World's End. However, not too long before that, Tia Dalma mentioned in private that she feared we were heading into...treacherous waters."

Sao Feng stepped forward and then halted, the two captains standing close to each other, right alongside the old stone balcony, weak stones with so many cracks in them that they could break...and it was so high up, the bell tower even rose above the canopy. They glared at each other.

Barbossa muttered, "It's high, so many bones would break."

Sao Feng smiled and exclaimed, "What does that matter to me? It may take some time, but all of my bones would regenerate, flesh and bone...your bones would remain broken, to your undoing!"

Barbossa lifted a hand, glancing at it and then at Sao as he muttered, "That is true, but if this hand were to grab your throat and choke you, as I fell, then not even your blessing could regenerate you, breath is not of flesh or bone. In such a struggle, I may die, but I would bring you down with me and the treacherous waters would be pacified."

Sao Feng shook his head, glancing away as he murmured, "Captain Hector Barbossa, I admire how you might sacrifice yourself, but the damage is already done and cannot be undone. My fellow countrymen will continue my task until its end while your crew would be unaware. In fact, they care nothing for you, I should say, when you were known to be nothing but a villain to them, so they may not consider your disappearance for long. It does not have to end up here, however, if you could have enough sense to recognize that you will have more...chance of keeping them alive when we come down together, in peace. Beyond Isla Cruces, I cannot say what may happen, but there may be a battle or something of its like...then you may fight me, or whoever else may come against you, in fair duel. As Jack would have said, it's best for you to accept my offer and wait for the opportune moment to fight."

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At that moment, Cotton, Gibbs, and Marty were sitting together underneath the arch of the threshold of the church, not feeling hungry enough to eat anything and unable to think of what else could be said or done. Behind them, within the church, all of their old friends and the other significant members of this voyage were probably busy talking, likely they didn't want to be disturbed in their private and important matters. In front of them, sitting around outside in the shade, the Cantonese sailors were eating and talking in their own manner, probably they wouldn't want to have any more company when they had their own, especially when such intruders wouldn't be able to understand them. In the end, the trio was just waiting for everyone else to come out of the church or for their missing mates to show up safely.

Finally, Gibbs sighed and whispered, "I tell you all, 'tis my bad luck, I should have kept a close eye on those fellows, especially since they are not as sharp as they should be. This place, the haunt of Calypso and Davy Jones as Tia Dalma told us, is not a place for poor men to get lost, that I should say."

Cotton nodded and glanced off into the distance, suddenly he gasped and pointed, trying to speak as his parrot squawked and flapped his wings while Gibbs and Marty stood up, squinting to see who was coming. Soon enough, they saw Ragetti and Murtogg stumble out of the tropical grove together, gasping and laughing with joy at the sight of their friends. The three fellows came over and slapped them on the back, shaking their hands as they expressed their relief, telling the absent men about Dalma's tale.

Murtogg blinked and cried, "Well, I be! I've never heard of such the like and even though Mullroy always said I'll believe everything, I wouldn't have believed it except that you are all ascertaining this!"

Ragetti nodded and remarked, "That would have been an odd thing to see, ol' Davy with a sea goddess."

Gibbs cleared his throat, trying not to glance at Ragetti's wooden eye as he asked, "Well, in any case, how did you two find your way here?"

Murtogg grinned and answered, "We used your heads, that's what we did, it was easier than we expected!"

Marty and Cotton stared at each other, though Ragetti was unaware of their astonishment as he nodded and shouted, "Aye, just the two of us, we didn't need Pintel or Mullroy to lead us! The old fools are still lost out there and yet here we are, we made it back first!"

Suddenly, a voice yelled, "What is this I hear about old fools? Are you two making fun of venerable men!"

The sailors winced and glanced over at Captain Barbossa, standing where other men had been sitting, the shadows of the church's core behind him as he stood on the threshold. Yet even as he stood underneath the arch, breathing in the fresh air after being cramped up in the bell tower, he could feel the figure of Captain Sao Feng behind him and he could guess that, though the darkness hid him, he had a smug look on his face.

Murtogg bowed his head and murmured, "No, sir, not at all."

Barbossa stepped outside as Sao followed, the Cantonese sailors now standing up at the appearance of their captain while Barbossa tried not to flinch, to fullly see the crowd of Feng's crew in plain, unobstructed view now was disturbing, as he muttered, "I'm glad to hear that. Ragetti, Murtogg, you two can never forget that those men led you well in the past when you had little experience. Though you may now be independent of them, always respect their ability...they can still teach you a lesson you will never forget."

Captain Sao Feng glanced at Barbossa and frowned, the tenseness only felt by the captains and by the Cantonese crew that awaited their orders, but finally Sao Feng just cleared his throat and turned away, walking into his crowd. Barbossa shook his head, feeling a bit relieved though he was slightly put off by the plain fact that the others hadn't understood their danger. Still, he said nothing to them, now wasn't the time for trouble when they had been lucky enough to avoid it just then, instead he walked back with them towards the church. For everyone else was now stepping outside, having already settled what business needed to be settled here, and they blinked at the sunlight, for so much else had been revealed in only dimness, before gathering around Tia Dalma for a meeting.

Favorite phrase: The dialogue between Barbossa and Sao Feng has some thrilling merits, and Gibbs is certainly right about the 2 comedic pairs being "not as sharp as they should be" and, of course, "That would have been an odd thing to see, ol' Davey with a sea goddess" when Ragetti's got that wooden eye. Finally, 'they blinked at the sunlight, for so much else had been revealed in only dimness.'