Here's the next chapter mates! Hope ye enjoy it! Thanks to all those who read my story, I'll do my best to entertain ye guys!

CHAPTER 9: PIRATE PLANS AND EVIL PLOTS

"Get up ye lazy bones!" Jack Sparrow shouted at his sleep, his arms flailing around him. Suddenly he woke up from his nightmare and found himself lying on the floor of his bedroom. He stood up and brushed the dust off his pants.

"How long have I been asleep?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Oohh… That gas sure is powerful…" he thought to himself as he stretched his back.

He went back up on deck. Gibbs was the first to see him. "Took ye quite a long time to recover, captain." He smiled foolishly at Jack.

"Get back to work ye scallywag!"

Jack scowled at him before he marched towards the wheel. Everything seems to be in good shape, he scanned his ship. Convinced that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, he leaned against the wheel and stared into the wide horizon once again.

Minutes later, Jack Sparrow was snoring loudly with both his arms entwined in the wheel. Alicia slipped down from the crow's nest and walked towards him. She poked her once. Nothing. Another harder poke and Jack yelped loudly and sent curses straight from his mouth.

"Bloody hell, Alicia, can't ye give ol' Jack some peace and quiet!"

"Pardon me Captain. I know it's unlucky to wake someone from his sleep but just this once, I can't wait two more days longer to ask ye: where are we headed?" For once, Captain Jack Sparrow backed off from Alicia's overpowering glare. Sure she can be cute and charming, but when she's mad, she's Anamaria the Second.

Jack gulped and gave her his trademark grin. "Jack knows he's way if that's what ye mean. And as to WHERE we're going, it's a secret between ol' Jack," at this he patted the wheel, "and the Pearl." He smiled again.

Alicia rolled her eyes. Will was right. It's hard to get any sense out of this captain. While Alicia was plotting her second attempt to talk sense to the captain, Jack Sparrow was busy with his own thoughts. The lass has a point. Where are we going? We can't just sail around like this. I'm a pirate and pirates don't get lost! He furrowed his brows together for a plan. After some critical thinking (A/N: well he rarely does that so I think this deserves an applause), he fixed his hat and turned around to face Alicia who was obviously still in deep thought.

"Ye know luv." His voice snapped Alicia out of her thoughts. "I've been talking to me wife here," at this he patted the wheel once again, "and she decided to tell the crew where we be heading."

Alicia was surprised at his words; her perfectly planned scheme vanished instantly with a poof. She raised her eyebrows and stared at the captain.

"So, what did ye wife say we're heading?"

"To dela Muerta."

"Dela what?"

Jack Sparrow twirled around on the spot with his arms wide open and said: "Isla dela Muerta, luv! Haven't ye heard? It's ol' Jack's treasure cove!" A smile was spreading across his lips.

"Are ye serious Jack?" Will spoke as he approached the pair with a mop and pail in his hands.

"Aye, mate. If we're escaping Tom Smith, we need to find loot. And the best loot is gold, and there be no finer gold than our own gold at dela Muerta."

Alicia looked from one man to the other. Both of them were smiling and there eyes were glistening at the mention of the word "gold". Helplessly, she shook her head and headed back to her quarters.

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Lynne was still on her bed, staring dully at the wood above her. Alicia sat down on her own bed and kicked off her boots. She would need a nice, long nap before her next shift on deck. She laid down on her own bed and sighed. Alicia turned to look at Lynne. She didn't seem to have noticed her at all, since her eyes never left the ceiling.

"What are you looking at?"

There was a long pause before Lynne finally spoke up.

"When are we going back Alicia?" she demanded.

Alicia was surprised. She wasn't prepared for this question. She sat back up and stared at her friend.

"You know how the pirates are Lynne. They won't give up that easily. They'll surely hunt us down. We need to shake them off first before we can finally go home. Besides, Jack promised to protect us so I don't think there'll be any trouble as long as we stay at the Pearl."

At this, Lynne sat up as well and came face to face with Alicia.

"Safe? You can't be serious Alicia. We're nowhere safe as long as we're at sea. If your pirate friend really wants to help, it's best if he sail to Port Royale this instant and drop us there."

Alicia could see her friend's eyes flaring up like tongues of fire. All this goose chase must have gotten to her nerves. Still, she tried to calm her down.

"Lynne, if we go back right now there's no doubt the pirates will chase us there. They'll be ruining the whole town and we'll risk more ladies' lives than we could ever imagine."

"There's the Navy, I believe they're capable enough."

"But think about it. They can die but the pirates can't. Will the Navy stand a chance?" Alicia breathed in. Her friend really is testing her patience.

"At this point our conversation is leading us nowhere. Seems to me all that is left is to wait for eternity at this old, rotten ship, and we're not even sure if we'll live through it." Lynne looked around the room and scowled.

Alicia was in the brink of bursting at her friend. She sighed deeply and said slowly.

"We're doing this for safety purposes. We need to ensure our own, and other people's safety. If you can't take it, then you have to bear with it."

Lynne laughed sarcastically. "You really think that Captain Sparrow is on our side? What if he's into this evil plot with the captain after all? What if he's taking us to him right now? He's immortal too isn't he? Wouldn't he want to be normal once again just like what Tom Smith wanted?"

Alicia stood up suddenly, she may be her friend, but she said too much. "You shouldn't accuse the person who saved you, you know."

Lynne stood up as well. "And he saved your life too, didn't he? Don't be so gullible as to fall for him Alicia. Sure he has the good looks and he seems to be really attracted to you but you have to remember that he's a pirate! And pirates are evil, all of them. This could be all a pirate's evil plot and we have no way to escape from it!"

Alicia kept all her fury to herself and stormed out of the room. She ran as fast as she could barefooted, up to the deck and straight to the crow's nest. Good thing no one was on duty. She sank to her feet and sobbed in her hands. Gulls cried and flew past over her. She looked up and stared into the open sea. The sky was getting hard, but she could faintly see the outline of a ship. She rubbed her eyes and dried the tears to stare at it. No doubt it's a ship.

"Ship sighted due east!" She shouted. Much hustle and bustle was heard down below as the captain started to shout orders to his crew.

She took out her spyglass and stared at the ship's flag. It can't be! She jumped down from the crow's nest and avoided the busy pirates as she ran towards the captain. Jack Sparrow was shouting orders to his crew and didn't notice her.

"Captain, that ship." Alicia gasped for breath. Jack gave her a questioning look. Alicia took a deep breath before she continued. "That is a British Navy ship."

Jack's mouth fell upon and snatched Alicia's spyglass from her. After verifying the fact with his own eyes, he pushed the spyglass back to her hands and clapped his hands to get the crew's attention. Everyone stopped his work and looked at him.

"My fellow scallywags, what comes towards us is a ship." He snapped his fingers. "A British Navy ship to be particular." He grinned his trademark grin and his golden teeth glimmered. The crew looked back at him and at each other and smiled as well, the fear in their faces seemed to have vanished.

Jack Sparrow nodded approvingly. "Well, let's get on me crew. We've got a ship to loot."

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