Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the characters. It's a shame, if you ask me, but I don't.

A/N: Not much action her,e but this chappie brings up what will follow...hope you'll like it all the same. Oh, by the way, I'm not really sure if the Panama channel had already been done in that period, if not, please tell me and I'll fix that mistake. Thanks.

Chapter 3: Set Sail to China!

As soon as the boat returned to the Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow made the crew set sail to China. Ana Maria was a bit surprised and dubious about that, but Gibbs reassured her.

"It's both in our and the lad's interest, this trip. He'll find something to rescue his lass with and we will get the biggest treasure on Earth" he said to her. "Now, please, steer the ship, will you?"

Meantime, Jack was going over some maps in his cabin, while Will was looking at the compass in front of his eyes. He hoped it really worked, but Jack assured him it was thanks to it that he managed to find Isla de Muerta, so he decided to trust it.

Plus, he had opened it four times in the last hour and it always pointed on the same direction. So, at least it was not pointing a casual direction, but was really giving them a route. If it would be the right one, they would know only once they reached China.

As days passed, they crossed the Panama channel and found themselves in the Pacific Ocean.

"Interesting people resides in this part of the world, Will" Jack said to him one day, while they were both on deck, taking advantage of the wonderful weather. The Pearl was going at full speed, and the sea was calm.

"How so?" Will asked. He was growing more and more accustomed to Jack's company. Maybe he really was a pirate at the heart, thanks to his father.

"Well, they are extremely skilled in bargaining. It's not easy to trick one of them to your advantage when selling or buying something, and I very well know that as I risked to be hung during the period I passed in Singapore" Jack continued, his faithful bottle of rum going often to his lips.

"You still haven't told me what were you doing in there, though" Will noticed.

"Well, you remember I told you about a moment in my life when I was young and inexperienced, right? I'm not always been captain, lad, it is something you become with time. If you're skilled, of course. So, when I was still a simple sailor, the ship I was onto went on this part of this world for some trades. I got to spend some days on land, and met a young woman. She was really gorgeous" Will could see Jack talking about her with longing, and that amused him a bit. He could surely relate to how the captain was feeling, he thought grimly, thinking for a moment about Elizabeth.

"So, in those days I stayed there, we bonded, and we became lovers. I thought we would be together forever, and I was truly happy for it. But then, I found out she was engaged to another, wealthy man of the city, and that I had been just a bit of fun before her marriage. I wandered for a couple days, alone and sad, till I met a pirate, Edward Thornby if I don't remember bad, and he told me about rum solving it all and those things" Jack continued. Will noticed now he rarely detached the bottle from his lips, and he swore he saw an hint of a tear in his right eye.

After that, an awkward silence followed, while both men thought about the women they loved, and both drank rum to drown their hurt.

Gibbs observed them from the wheel, and guessed Jack had told the other one about his unfortunate love adventure. Only he and Ana Maria knew about it among the crew, so it was good the other members were busy working, so they could not listen.

A couple days later, weather suddenly got worse. They still kept the route the compass was indicating them, but Jack knew they would deviate a fair bit to pass through the incoming storm. And right he was, because the route they were following was bringing them right into the center of it, so the captain steered the ship so that they would just be brushed by it.

As time passed and the dark clouds approached, Jack thanked all the Gods he knew for having taken that decision, because even being just brushed by the storm, he and the crew had to face the worst weather conditions all of them had ever seen.

"I can't imagine what it would be like to pass exactly through it" he mused, while Gibbs and Will, soaked to the bones, were lowering some of the sails.

Ragetti and Pintel were doing the same on another mast, and the rest of the crew barely managed to stay on board, as the Pearl was rocked between the huge waves.

That blasted storm lasted for an entire day, and once they were out of it, Jack decided the crew, and him too, needed some rest, so directed the ship toward a small island.

"Lower the anchors" he bellowed then, and all of them went on land to relax a bit. There was little vegetation on the island they had stopped to, but at least they could lay on the sand and get drunk without a single worry in the world. Well, almost all of them, as Will went for a walk, deep in his thoughts.

Half a day later, they returned to the ship, and set sail again toward the direction the compass was showing. Jack started looking at the horizon with his telescope, but nothing was appearing.

Will was growing impatient, the storm had made them lose precious time, and he so much wanted to get the Eye and go back to Port Royal before Elizabeth married Norrington, or it would all be useless. Once she was married, he didn't know if he would have the heart to release her from the locket's effects, as it would damn her to be married to a man she didn't love. He couldn't do that to her, as bad as she was treating him now.

"Calm down, lad. We're gonna find those pirates, blow them away and take what we came here to retrieve. You'll then have your lass and we will be rich"

Will snorted. Treasure, it was all what a crew of pirates could think about. But after all, they were obsessed with gold, he was with Elizabeth. And he remembered something Jack had told him on Isla de Muerta.

"Not all treasures are made of silver and gold"

So, Elizabeth was supposed to be his treasure. From a pirate point of view, she was. And he was obsessed with her. But the problem was, she was not a thing or a mass of coins or jewels. She was a breathing being, and a wonderful young woman at that if she wasn't under some strange magic influence. So he should not think about her as a treasure or a prize.

Shaking his head, he went to sit on the prow of the ship, trying to be alone with his thoughts. The fresh breeze blew on his skin, and for maybe the first time in his life he felt a strong connection with the sea. He had to admit, apart for the storm, the trip had been really pleasant.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by Ragetti on the crow's nest, shouting.

"There's land in front of us!"