Pirates once again occupied the Isle De Muerta after dark. However, the general mood was far from dire.
Gibbs laughed as he furrowed through a pile of gold and silver. "The Caribbean never been as generous as she is now, eh, Capt'n," he told Jack. "No amount of bad luck could spoil this loot."
Jack smirked and twisted round to face the other. "And the sooner we board the Pearl the faster we can reach Tortuga, and the faster our little band can spend it. What say you?"
"Hey, you hear that lads!" Gibbs bellowed. "We're headed to Tortuga!"
Through the general cheers, Jack could still hear Ana Maria groan in protest.
"I'll get the masses back to the boats, but you best not stay too much longer. I don't much trust that chest over there. The curse and all." With that Gibbs hobbled past Jack and led the rest of the crew back through the caves.
When he was sure they had gone out of hearing distance, Jack glanced round cautiously. "Drink up me hearties," he whispered to himself as he turned toward the chest in the center of the cave. He slowly pushed the lid sideways, just enough to slip a hand through. The gold shimmered provocatively.
He glanced round again and seeing no one, picked up a peice of the gold. He smirked. "Yo ho…"
He drew his sword and waved it around. "Hah. The infamous Jack Sparrow. Invincible pirate of the Caribbean." He slashed at the air. "No man alive can run 'em through. No soldier of the British royal navy can take him down." He stepped into the moonlight and almost drunkenly laughed as he watched his transformation. "Interesting as ever."
"Capt'n…" he heard Gibbs distantly call. Jack quickly stepped back into the shade.
"Cu…Coming," Jack called back, turning back round to the chest. "Just put it back." He quickly used his sword to pinch one of his fingers. He pressed the new wound up against the gold and dropped it into the chest. "How's that there, eh?" He closed the lid and started back to the boats, passing under the beam of moonlight. And stopped.
He looked down at his hand.
"No…" he said, raising his decayed palm in front of his face. "No no, no good! No…" He jumped back out of the light and glanced at his hand again. The cut was gone. "Oh…" He gestured to where the cute used to be, agony and confusion on his face.
"Capt'n." Gibbs entered the cave and Jack instantaneously regained his poise, though he had trouble removing the guilty expression from his face.
"Aye?" Jack asked, apprehensively.
Gibbs, wondering what Jack's sudden mood change was about, looked around questionably. "I sent the others off ahead, there. The rest o' us are waitin'."
"Ah yes," Jack glanced around, and upon finding a silk carpet rolled up in a corner, grabbed it. "Lets be goin' then, eh?"
"What be that for, Jack?" Gibbs asked, curiously, pointing to the rug.
Jack stopped next to his friend. "Ever since…" he tried to come up with something. "Barbosa… I never much liked…moonlight." He shrugged expressively, winced at the weakness of his excuse and started off.
Gibbs shook his head, completely confused. "Ah…" he started to say, but had nothing. So rather than filter through the peculiar way of Jack Sparrow, he turned and followed. He didn't say a word when Jack used the thick fabric to hide under in the boat on the way back to the ship: the whole way back.