Author's Note: Forgot to put a disclaimer on all previous chapter, so here: I don't own any of the characters, settings, and themes from Pirates of the Caribbean. All original characters in this story belong to me. I want to own Jack Sparrow, but of course, which female doesn't? Haha… Now, onward: thanks for the reviews, and I'm not greedy, but I do need more, what with not having any in the past few days for the past few chapters. Ahh! Anyway, I'll keep my wait and trudge through our beautiful Jack's story, so you all can see what happened next! After all, we are a little further into Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl! Now, do read, review, and most importantly, ENJOY!!
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Chapter Twelve
Jolly Roger
The crew of the Devil's Slave, named by a rather bored Jack Sparrow who, at the time, had his mind filled with thoughts of his debt to Davy Jones, had sailed to a small island called Rambleshack, where there were few structures, the two biggest being a prison and a large tavern owned by a certain man Jack's father had often mentioned in the past by the name of Doggerel Dan (of course, at the time, Jack believed that, like his father, he was an honest merchant – soon, he learned that he was just as much of a pirate as anyone).
Rambleshack's rum was infamous among pirates – its sweet taste could lure anyone – or anything – to its mere presence. Upon reaching the tavern, Jack sat down, tired, ready to plot out a new course at sea – there was a fabled treasure that he was sure would help him beat Barbossa out. However, he wasn't quite sure what this treasure was, and all his compass took him to was this godforsaken spit of land.
"You, pirate," yelled a voice from the back of the tavern. Jack made a quick look that said, unto itself, yeesh, but turned around nonetheless.
"Aye, mate," said Jack. "An' tha's Pirate Lord to you."
The man, who, as Jack noticed, was pretty ugly, gave him an angry look. Jack shrugged. "Askin' ye to join our small an' humble table o' poker, mate. Wha' say you to a deck o' cards?"
Jack sat down, even though he didn't want to play. For some reason, he felt he couldn't refuse. "My name is Ammo Dorsi," said a dark-skinned man who sat next to the ugly man. He had a hint of a French accent. "Moi, I am a gypsy."
"Righ'," said Jack. "An' who migh' this sullen-faced… person… be?"
"This is Roger, but we call him Jolly Roger. He's usually quite festive," said Dorsi in a monotone pitch. Jack shrugged. Whatever. Don't care.
Jolly Roger gave Jack a horrible look, his eyes lingering over Jack's Piece of Eight. "Wha'?" asked Jack.
"Nothin'," said Roger. "We gave yeh our names. Now you tell us yours."
"If that's all you wanna know," said Jack, more or less to himself. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, son of Captain Teague –"
"Yer name's enough," said Jolly Roger. "We don't need pompous prats 'ere."
"You smell funny!"
"An' you –"
"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" Ammo Dorsi stopped the both of them from continuing further into their small disagreement. "We are here to play a game of poker, not to fight."
"Righ'," said Jack. "Well, are we bidding on money, or –"
"I had actually hoped we might bid on our most prized possessions," said Dorsi. "For example, I have studied under Tia Dalma, a voodoo –"
"—Priestess," said Jack. "I know the woman."
"Ah," said Dorsi with a small smile. "Well, then, that makes two of us, oui? She had given me this," he said, pulling out a knife. "Not just any knife, this one, here. It can unlock any lock and cut through anything. C'est incroyable! This is my bet. And money," he said, showing them his large amount of money.
"That's your moist prized possession," said Jolly Roger with a laugh. "Well, I have somethin' of actual value."
"Ah, and wha', pray tell, migh' that be?" asked Jack in a bored voice.
Jolly Roger pulled out a gigantic sack and dumped the contents onto the table. There were a hundred, give or take a few, gold coins, as were there many silver coins, rubies, sapphires and other gems. Then he pulled out a giant diamond. "This 'ere be my prize money. All of the gems, though be my prized possession."
"Where'd you get all these?" Jack asked.
"A pirate's secret," said Jolly Roger.
Jack realized that it was, unfortunately, his turn to pay up. Jack, however, didn't intend on giving any one of his items of value.
After several moments of silence, Ammo spoke up. "I see you are having trouble, Monsieur Sparrow," he said. "How about you bid on your spot on the Brethren Court?"
"Wha'?" Jack asked.
"Well, we are giving what matters to us most," said Ammo truthfully. "It would be fairest for you to put your Piece of Eight in the bowl."
Jack slowly realized the both of them were in unison, and not waiting for a gang brawl, he fumbled with his Piece of Eight and put it in the bowl of prizes.
"Good," said Jolly Roger.
"Right," said Ammo. "Well, see here, mates. Whomsoever wins when we play regular, you know, with our pounds and shillings and whatnot, he shall get whatever it is that sits in this bowl. I see it as fair."
"As do I," said Jack. I always win, he thought. 'Specially wiv' them Poker Charms Tia gave me. They can't do nothin'.
"Righ'," said Roger. "I'll be dealer firs' round."
Roger won the first two rounds. Jack wasn't sure how, though, considering he had a flush both times (without using a single charm). On the third round, Jack paid attention to Roger. He wasn't doing anything. But when he looked to Ammo, he saw him moving his hands over his cards. Jack shuddered.
I'll use that immunity one, he thought, sprinkling a small amount of powder onto his cards. "Check." Jack, who yet again (somehow), got another flush – and won. Roger grimaced and gave Ammo a look.
Ammo shrugged and continued through the game. Jack once again used his immunity charm. "Call."
"Raise."
"All right, I'll see you."
"I think a raise's the bes' option."
"I'll match that wager."
"Check." Jack won the round again with a Full House. Roger was starting to shake with anger.
The trudged through the game, Jack winning three, Roger winning two, Ammo winning none.
"How many more rounds?" asked Jack. "We are playin' to ten, righ'?"
"One more. It seems, my good friend, that you are leading," said Ammo silently.
Whoa, thought Jack. He checked – and found Ammo to be correct. Jack had five hundred pounds, while Roger had four hundred and seventy-three. Ammo, of course, had none. Jolly Roger looked murderous by this time.
They played their cards one last time. Time seemed to be moving slower for the three men as cards were cast.
"Mm… I'll call," said Jack quietly, sprinkling his immunity powder once more on his two hand cards. He had to be careful, though, because both Jolly Roger and Ammo were paying close attention to his every move.
"Eh," said Roger, "I'll raise. Seems a good bet. Thirty-five pounds."
"Check."
"I'll… check," Jack said, pounding his hand on the table twice.
"I'll check." Three table cards were dealt.
"I'll call," said Roger. Ammo silently put his cards on the table.
"I'm folding," said Ammo. "I have no way of winning as compared to you too, non?"
Jack shrugged. "I'll call."
"Call." Another card appeared on the table as Ammo dealt.
"Check."
"Check." The last card finally was shown. Jack had a three-of-a-kind with Aces.
"Check."
"Check." Roger had a sinister grin on his face. "I'm afraid I'm sorry, Mister Sparrow. But it seems I'm Pirate Lord, now."
He put his two cards on the table. Jack grinned.
"Wouldn' be so sure if I was you, mate," said Jack. He pushed his cards onto the table. "My winnings?"
He grabbed all of the gold and dumped it into a bag, along with Ammo's knife and Roger's gems. He fastened the Piece of Eight onto his hair.
"YOU!" Roger began yelling. Oh. Crap, thought Jack. "WHY THE HELL WERE YOU MADE PIRATE LORD, EH? YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE BRETHREN COURT!"
Ouch, thought Jack. Little bugger thinks 'e's important. Well, someone'll 'ave to show 'im that some people, namely myself, exceed others… Like him.
Ammo stood up. "Roger, mate, cool –"
"Shut up," he said fiercely. "YOU BETRAYED ME! You swore that you'd lure Sparrow here and make him lose. He doesn't even know how to be a pirate – I can't believe the Order o' the Brethren allows 'im to be in it!"
"Ah," said Jack. "So it wasn't the rum. And, mind you, mate, I'm more pirate than you'll ever be." All right, maybe not like Barbossa, he thought, but Barbossa always was a –
"YOU LITTLE –" Jack shoved an apple in Roger's mouth.
Roger spat it out and pulled out his pistol. "Shiny thing, really," he said. Then he shot Ammo.
"Whoa," said Jack. Ammo fell to the ground, clutching his heart.
"No long a man but a creature, be," said Ammo, throwing dust onto Roger's feet. "I curse you for all eternity, you pig. Neither – cough – dead nor alive you shall be. Oui, forever and always…"
Ammo heaved out another breath… and then he was gone. His body dissipated into dust, and a glowing green-coloured light moved from the dust and into Roger, who began squealing with pain.
Jack backed out so he would be close enough to an escape. The crew had already run out, except for Anna-Maria, who had her gun cocked, also standing by the door. Roger's skin ate itself away and his dreadlocks turned into hissing, vile snakes. His eyes burned out and his right hand fell off. Two poker cards got stuck to his hat. Finally, Roger was a full skeleton, his coat and clothing ragged, and his trinkets turned into shrunken heads and voodoo masks. Jack ran out with Anna-Maria, yelling for the good grace of God.
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"Who're you?" asked Anna-Maria, her pistol aimed at a man wearing a royal red coat, dreadlocks (with trinkets added in), a bicorne hat, and cracked skin.
"Would you stick that thing in yer coat?" asked Jack. "Tha's Teague!"
Anna-Maria obliged, sticking the gun inside her coat and walking off. "I'll set for Cuba, just as you asked."
"Righ'," Jack replied. "Erm… Teague, mate… erm… how's about you and I, I and you, we, have a drink, eh? In me personal area? An' don't think I mean anything that I wouldn't be meaning, if you know wha' I mean," he said. "Because I don't mean anything tha' you think I mean, you see what I mean? Because you're me… father… and I don't wan' you thinkin' I asked you to come into any personal area o' mine save for the Captain's Quarters, eh?"
Teague gave him a look. Jack smiled lamely. "I know about yer ship," said Teague, grabbing a bottle of rum from Jack's hand and following him to the Captain's Quarters.
"Sorry?" Jack asked, pretending not to give a care.
"Yer ship, Jack. Makin' a trade with Davy Jones… idiot's job, I tell ye –"
"No, it isn't," Jack said. "Don't call me the idiot, when it's you whose got mum's little ol' head on yer belt, an –" His father lunged and slapped his face. Jack grabbed it and winced.
"You shut up when your father's speakin'," he said. "An' don't speak 'bout yer mum like tha'."
"You lied 'bout 'er," said Jack. "You lied tons tha' day. An' don't think I'll forget it."
"Yes, I told you she died of a disease, when she was really shot," said Teague quietly, taking another swig. "Don't think I forget it."
"Of course, you couldn't let me do wha' it was mum-sy wanted, eh?"
"Look, Jack," said Teague, his voice stern. "Yer mum and I believed in wha's known as the best o' ye – you're the reason I'm still around luggin' after ships when I could be off in Shipwreck Cove livin' me life. See, tha' year, I married yer mum. Nothin' a pirate'd do, which was why it was all hush-hush. Then, o' course, me enemy comes in ter shoot 'er while I'm off on a plunderin' job."
"Maybe, if you were home more, you'd've been able to do somethin' –" Teague clawed at Jack's face.
"OW!"
"Again with the back-talking," said Teague.
"Sorry, mate," said Jack.
"We had another kid, a little baby, as it were. Another boy," he mumbled. "Looked a lot like you. We named 'im Marcus Teague. Ownin' ter you, o' course. Tha' nigh' that I came back home, I'd struck the grand money. Biggest Warship I'd seen – a damn righ' large East Indiaman. Excited, I knew yer mother'd be. When I got there, o' course, things were downright diff'rent. I found yer mother dead, an' our new son there, too, a bullet to the head. I'd never thought I'd ever feel pain in me life, but tha' was the worst. Then I came ter you, and gave you a ship. And you got it burned down, an' now, me only family is gonna be workin' for Davy Jones!
"That ship, incidentally, was my own portal into freedom. An' wha' with it bein' burned down by mister short –"
"Aye, but yeh could've gotten another one built! Yeh don' see causes for causes, Jack!"
"I do, though," said Jack. "She may not've meant much to you, mate, but she was everything for me. I understand yer causes, Cap'n. I just – I really thought the Wench was more important for me. I had a life on that ship. An' then o' course, Davy Jones made me a deal… one I won' be keepin' to –"
"Do yeh not know Davy Jones?"
"Why, should I?"
Teague sighed. "All Pirate Lords've met 'im. Scum, he is, and then some. 'Course, once yeh make a bargain with him, it's hard to get out."
"You forget one very important thing, mate," said Jack. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."
"Ah, well, forgot. An' I heard that yeh renamed yer ship the Black Pearl, eh?"
"Righ'," Jack said proudly. Then his face lowered, remembering Barbossa.
"Why ain't yeh on the ship you sold yer soul for?"
"Why am I on the Devil's Slave?" Teague was quiet, waiting for an answer. Jack just grinned, for a long time, until Teague raised his eyebrows and prodded him.
"Well?"
"I was after the treasure o' Cortes."
"Who?"
"Ol' Spanish conquistador," said Jack. "Bloody idiot if you ask me. Stuck 'is treasure on an island wha' can't be found except by those who already know where it is. Called Isla De Muerta, or Island of the Dead. Funny ol' name, if you ask me. Anyway, I got on me ship, and, upon being advised by a certain Tia Dalma, got a first mate – another Pirate Lord, if you will, named Barbossa…"
And so Jack continued on his story, until Teague finally asked, "So… you got off the island, eh, boy?"
"Yes, as a matter o' fact. Three days."
"Ah," said Teague. "How? Yeh can' be gettin' help on a deserted island outta trade winds, eh? Rule o' the pirate code is to never maroon any man on an easily found island."
Fortunately, Jack had fabricated his answer the day he had met Anna-Maria. He had found many who asked him the question, and the answer was always easy. Always. "Well, let's see. I was on the beach a gran' total o' three days, mate. Rest assured, I found meself some fruit – large…melons… delicious," he said. He never actually tasted them, but he pushed on. "The first night, I got tired of eatin' them melons – my stomach would've burst by the time the sun set. So, I sat in the deep water. Quite easy, mind. Me head stuck out jus' fine. By the time day three came along, I 'ad all manner o' sea life sittin' around me. I would've ridden on them dolphins, but I kept slidin' off. Rubbery backs, you know. So then I saw, sittin on either side o' me, two giant sea turtles. Huge, gi-nor-mous. So I roped 'em together and, takin' me flat stick wha' I used to tally on the beach, I grabbed a coupla melons and sat on 'em. Eventually, after wha' seemed like a few days, I reached what is formally known as Kingston, Jamaica. The end."
Teague shook his head. "Nice."
"'Course."
"How old are yeh, boy?"
"Almost twenty-five."
"Hmph. And what were you doing here?"
"I see no bridge between subjects, but, all right, to tell ye the truth, someone used something we call voodoo to draw me here…"
Jack went on about Jolly Roger, adding in a few great measures to it, such as how he fended Roger off when he tried to victimize poor Anna-Maria. "Turns out I'm pirate after all." Teague leaned in and smacked his face.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"Haven't I thought you nothin', boy?"
"Say, what?"
"I promised yer mother I'd make you a great man, even if it meant you were a pirate. I held you to it, that ye wouldn't be a pirate 'till after she was gone – an' believe me, didn't I think she'd die an old woman? Now, look here, yer being a Pirate Lord – that's the best thing I can do for ya. It's the closest thing ter power over the world, mate, and it's the best damn thing that your mother and I could've made you. You hold that Piece of Eight to you, boy, and don't you let go of it. If you once or ever let it go, you're no where near the magical child we thought yer mother conceived."
Jack remained silent.
"You had a choice – oh, give up yer smaller things, if you would, but not your damn Piece of Eight, do you UNDERSTAND!"
Jack nodded. "You know, tha's the third time you've slapped me today –"
"And if you weren't the only piece o' legal lineage I got, I'd've torn out a couple of limbs o' yers."
Jack gulped.
"Now, this dealin' o' yers with Jones – do you have a plan to stop it?"
"Not right now – I sorta… make things up as they come along."
"Right," said Teague. "I'll come again."
Jack walked up to quarterdeck to take the helm as he saw Teague swing into a longboat and paddle to the distant shore of Rambleshack.
"After we see ol' Tia Dalma," Jack said to Anna-Maria, "I say we head off ter Tortuga… see if we can't get more of a crew."
See if we can't get the Black Pearl, he thought.