Daylight had arrived, and the crew of the Dying Gull were at their stations, managing the sails as they sailed along the vast, blue ocean. They had been at this for around three days, and not much activity had transpired apart from daily ship routines. At Jack's behest, they had not bothered Carina about the map, but they were starting to become restless after being kept in the dark for several days on the details of the voyage.
Carina didn't mind, though. She liked that they hadn't disturbed her while she worked to make sure they were going the proper course. She couldn't afford any distractions, because three days had passed, and only two days remained before the stars disappeared again. And she wasn't going to wait several years before they reappeared either. For her, it was now or never.
"If only this ship could go any faster," she says mentally. The longer she spent on the Gull, the more she felt like her chances of swimming to the island would be better. Even if the ship were faster, Carina would still attempt to look for any excuse to get away from the pirates. None of them had attempted to hurt her (so far), but she still didn't trust any of them, especially Jack. To her, he was a means to an end, nothing more. Once she found the Trident, she would get as far away from him as possible.
Still, there was something about the pirate that she couldn't quite place her finger on. Carina's first impression of him when he stumbled into the astronomy shop was that he was some drunken, foolish criminal. The mere sight of him would give anyone that thought, and by his slurred speech and awkward stumbling that should've confirmed it. But... he had saved her. He didn't even know her and he had saved her from the Redcoats. She didn't understand why; he was a pirate, and pirates are greedy and self-centered and of low intelligence. But Jack Sparrow appeared to have none of those attributes, try as he may to hide them. He was quite good at it too, appearing very drunk and stupid whenever he presented himself, but Carina was smart. She saw through his charade, and saw that there was a very clever man hiding beneath all the dreadlocks and ragged clothing. Only a highly-educated person could've known what the "map no man can read" was without Galileo's diary, and that only reaffirmed her judgment on his intelligence. He was certainly an enigma, and she believed that if he weren't a pirate, he would've made an impressive stage actor.
Carina certainly respected Jack on an intellectual level, but she didn't know if she could trust him or even if she should. The fact that he already knew about the map (for a pirate no less) made her suspicious of him. And for that, she didn't let any sort of admiration of him show. Carina was a very proud person, and she would maintain her outward distrust of him. She wouldn't compromise finding the Trident just because one pirate seemed smarter than others. It was better to not even associate with their kind; she was an astronomer and they were nothing more than criminals. Once she had found the Trident, she would never speak to another pirate as long as she lived. Finishing what her father started is what mattered to her, not Jack Sparrow.
Standing at the bow, Carina was looking through the diary's contents for any sort of clue that she overlooked, while also keeping track of time on her chronometer. Flipping through the pages, she saw nothing of vital importance, but she did pause on a page that contained an illustration. It wasn't a chart or anything that could be used practically, but just a sketch that Galileo made of what looked to be a six-headed dragon.
"Is that what I think it is?" the voice of Henry spoke without warning, and Carina jumped slightly as she shut the book tight. She turned to see Henry was looking over her right shoulder.
"Dammit, you scared me," Carina scolded, and Henry quickly apologized, raising his hands and saying "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I was just- uh..."
"Just what?" Carina asked, curious what his intentions were, but Henry averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his head, saying "Nothing, forget it."
Sighing, Carina changed the subject and inquired, "What did you see?"
"Oh!" Henry said, eyes widening. He gestured to Carina to hand him the diary, and then he opened it up to the page where the dragon was, "There it is, look. It's a depiction of the Hydra."
"What's a Hydra, exactly?" Carina asked. Mythology was not her strongest suit for it was just a bunch of nonsense.
"The Lernaean Hydra is a beast in Greek mythology," Henry began, "A creature that guards the entrance to the Underworld. Legend says it was slain by Hercules, but it looks like Galileo might have found something to say otherwise."
Carina chuckled lightly, saying "Here you go again with the myths and curses and monsters. I thought you were mad at first, but it's just adorable now."
"Carina, come on," Henry whined. He hated how she kept doubting him, "Galileo wouldn't have put this in the diary for nothing. He knew something about it. At least see if he made mention of it."
"Very well," Carina said, scanning through the pages until she found the excerpt, and then translated it through very rough Italian, "Of all beasts known to man, none is more fearsome than the Hydra. A creature of massive size and strength, it has many heads atop its body, and should one be removed two more shall take its place. Only Poseidon can keep the creature at bay, for its life-essence is controlled by his Trident."
"Oh, this is just great," Henry complained, putting his hand over his forehead and turning around, "Now there's a Hydra. Isn't that just brilliant? Isn't that just... bloody... brilliant!?"
"You read too many stories," Carina scoffed.
"You don't read enough stories," Henry retorted, and then he looked up to see Gibbs, Marty, Cotton, Pintel, and Ragetti standing in front of the both of them, eyes fixated on him because he was the only once facing their direction.
Henry backed up to the edge of the bow, and then nudged Carina in the shoulder. She gave him a quick glance, and then she looked over her shoulder to see the entire crew facing them and her eyes widened. She turned around, making sure she was holding both the diary and the chronometer behind her back. Henry was the only one she trusted about this knowledge, and wasn't keen about sharing anything with the pirates. She took a step to the left and stood shoulder-to-shoulder to Henry, and then handed him the diary from behind her back so that they wouldn't find it on her. Henry subsequently took the diary with his arms behind his back and stuck it in the back of his trousers.
"Can we help you, gentlemen?" Henry began.
"We've been sailin' for three days on nothing but your word that it's the route to the Trident," Gibbs said.
"As it would 'appen, we're startin' ta think that your word don't mean a red cent," Pintel added.
"So, me and the boys were thinkin' you might share this knowledge with us to... better ease our minds," Gibbs finished.
"Oi, what be this?" Jack spoke, and the crew turned to see him walking towards the lot of them.
"We don't feel exactly comfortable sailin' with a witch that won't tell us where to go," Marty spoke up.
"I am not a witch," Carina sternly replied. She was getting tired of these idiotic accusations, "And I have told you where to go if you were paying attention. We'll find the Trident soon."
"You've been saying that for three days, miss," Ragetti said, "No offense."
"Leave her be," Henry spoke to the pirates, "Just give her a little bit longer."
"RAWK," Cotton's parrot squawked, "Walk the plank!"
"What did the bird say?" Carina asked, getting annoyed and raising an eyebrow.
Jack made his way between where Gibbs and Pintel were standing and said, "It has a point, you know. We've been out sailing for several days without any indication that you actually know the way. We're going to need proof."
"One thing we know for certain," Ragetti inserted, raising a finger, "is that stars don't shine by day. So how are we able to keep course in daytime?"
Carina gave a quick glance to Henry, and Henry did the same. Sighing, Carina pulled out her chronometer and showed it to the crew.
"What's that?" Marty asked.
"This is a chronometer," Carina said, "It keeps the exact time in London. I'm using it to make an altitude measurement to determine longitude. That's how we know where we are at sea during the day."
"Very impressive, lass," Jack complimented, hands resting at his belt, "How does a girl like you come to know stuff like this?"
"Well, not only do I study astronomy but horology as well," Carina said, feeling cocky at that moment. However, when she did, she saw that all the pirates had peculiar looks on their faces with the exception of Jack and Ragetti. Jack looked at his crewmates' confusion and then put his face in his hand.
"What?" Carina asked, puzzled at the pirates' reaction.
"Nothing, nothing!" Pintel spoke up, "No shame in that, dear. We all have to make a living."
"What? I just said I studied horolo- oh," she stopped, realizing how that sounded to a bunch of rum-soaked pirates.
"So did my mum," Pintel continued, "though she didn't crow about it as loud as you do."
Jack sighed, and ran a hand down his face in disappointment, rhetorically asking, "Why do I even have you on my crew?"
"No, no, you got it all wrong," Ragetti spoke up, facing Pintel, "Horology would be the study of time."
"Thank you!" Carina exclaimed, holding out both her arms to gesture her relief that someone understood her.
"Yeah, and she was always lookin' at her watch," Pintel said to Ragetti.
"Shut up, you," Carina said in a low voice, looking towards the deck and putting her arms back to her sides.
"I can vouch for that," Marty said to Pintel, and then everyone glanced at the dwarf for a moment, and he said "What?"
Everyone looked away from Marty, and then Ragetti continued, "Horology involves timepieces and the sun and such."
"Well, mum never talked about that," Pintel inserted, but Jack had grown tired of this bickering, requesting "Can we please get back to the topic at hand, gentlemen?"
After everyone had settled down, Jack looked at Carina and said, "So, you can keep track of the stars during the day, very good. But the real question is this, and it's been burning me ever since we left port: what stars do we follow?"
As he said this, he kept getting closer to Carina, until he was mere inches from her face. Carina was starting to feel nervous at his presence.
"I- I-" Carina stammered, but no words came out.
"What is it that you're not telling me?" Jack inquired, and Carina started to speak, saying, "You see, there's-"
"Ship to the aft!" Gibbs called out, and everyone's attention was focused on him, and he was standing at the back of the ship pointing out into the open ocean. Quickly, Jack, Carina, Henry, and the rest of the crew joined Gibbs at the rear and looked out over the water to see what he'd seen.
"What is it? What do you see?" Jack asked his first mate, hoping this wasn't who he thought it was. Gibbs took out a spyglass and placed it in Jack's hand, whereupon he opened it and looked beyond at the ship off in the distance.
There were blackened seagulls flying around it. It's mast was dragging in the water. It's hull was severely breached but still afloat. It was the Silent Mary.
Jack slowly lowered the spyglass as his face became petrified with fear at what he'd seen. Henry was right; he hadn't been making this up after all. Salazar had returned, and now he saw his decrepit ship sailing right towards him. He should never have given up his compass. If he hadn't, they wouldn't be in this mess. But now, El Matador Del Mar had returned, and he wanted his revenge on the man who sent him to Hell: him.
Henry seized the spyglass from Jack's grip, extending it so he could look at the Mary. He recognized the ship from when it attacked the Monarch, and feared that now the Gull would suffer the same fate.
"Salazar," Henry uttered aloud, and then the other pirates had heard him.
"Wait a minute, did you just-" Pintel began, his skin going pale, "Do you mean-"
"The Salazar?" Ragetti inserted, "The pirate hunter?"
"It would appear to be so," Jack said in a very serious voice, continuing to stare at the ship from far away.
"Jack," Henry said, "We need to get out of here right now. The dead will not stop until they have their revenge."
"Dead!?" Gibbs inquired, shocked at this revelation, "Jack, you never told us the dead were part of this deal!"
"There were reasons for that, mate," Jack responded, not even facing Gibbs.
"And why would that be?" Gibbs inquired sternly, but before Jack could respond, Carina asked, "Who's Salazar?"
"Only the most feared pirate hunter in all of history," Pintel began, "He's a savage killer he is. All men who fly the black flag are his victims."
"Never leaves any survivors except for one to tell the tale," Ragetti continued.
"And now he wants his revenge," Jack finished.
"What would he want revenge for?" Carina asked.
"Because I killed him," Jack finished, and Carina looked at him skeptically and said "So we're being chased by ghosts is what you're saying, right?"
"Without a doubt," Jack said, still staring at the Mary.
"I knew it was a bad idea to sail with you again," Marty inserted.
"That's it, kill them all," Pintel stated, and he, Ragetti, Cotton, and Marty pulled out their pistols on Jack, Carina, and Henry.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold it!" Henry shouted, raising his hands up in the air, and Carina did the same.
"I wouldn't be doing that if I were you, mates," Jack replied coolly, facing his now-hostile crew.
"And why shouldn't we?" Pintel asked.
"Because if you kill me, then I'll be dead," Jack stated simply and calmly, walking to stand between Henry and Carina and putting his arms out to make them stand behind him, "And Salazar wants his revenge against me. He can't have his revenge against me if I'm already dead, so he'll take his anger out on those that made me dead, which denied him of his revenge, and make you all dead, savvy?"
That seemed to make sense to the crew, for they started to give assuring nods to one another.
"But Jack, what are we going to do then?" Gibbs asked pleadingly. Jack didn't have an immediate answer, but then he looked out over the port bow and saw an island not too far away from them. Suddenly, lightning flashed inside his head, and his face broke into a smile.
"Here's the plan," Jack began, addressing his crew, and they started to lower their guns, "Me, Henry, and Carina here will take one of the lifeboats to shore on that island yonder, and draw the Spaniard's attention away from you; it's me he wants most. While he's trying to deal with me, we'll make our way across the island, and you sail around and pick us up on the other side. Simple."
"I'm not coming with you," Carina spoke up, but then Jack said "You have the map. I'm not letting the map out of me sight, savvy?"
"Fine, whatever," Carina rolled her eyes, deciding to go along with Jack's plan. Henry didn't argue and picked up the Brown Bess from the weapons' barrel and slung the strap over his shoulder.
"Goody," Jack responded. He turned his attention to Gibbs and said, "You'll be captain until we get back, Mr. Gibbs."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Gibbs loyally responded, and then Jack, Henry, and Carina got into one of the lifeboats and Marty and Cotton lowered them down.
"Just be sure to reach us in time, alright?" Jack called up, and Gibbs gave him the thumb's up. Jack returned the courtesy.
As Henry and Jack each grabbed an oar and started paddling away from the Gull, Gibbs turned to face what's left of the crew and said "Alright, boys. Jack's buying us some time. Let's make for the other side of this isle with haste. Cotton, release the foresails. Marty, man the aft lines. Pintel, Ragetti, I need you to-"
Gibbs looked behind him and saw that Pintel and Ragetti had disappeared. They were no longer on the ship. The only ones left were Gibbs, Marty, and Cotton.
"Devil curse those braggarts," Gibbs muttered under his breath, "Where are they?"
Pintel and Ragetti had gotten into the other lifeboat and were starting to paddle away themselves towards the island.
"Hey," Ragetti asked, "you suppose this is what we should be doin'?"
"Of course it is," Pintel responded, "A ship like that shouldn't need more than three people to crew it. They'll be fine."
"True enough," Ragetti said, "Besides, it's probably best we abscond ourselves. We were with Captain Jack the day he killed Salazar. Best to get out of his way should he remember us."
"He couldn't remember us," Pintel said confidently, but then his complexion became worried, "could he?"
"Stranger things have happened," Ragetti said, and Pintel replied, "Aye."
The Gull started to divert its course away from the island, and all that remained were the two lifeboats heading towards the island with haste.
"This is absolutely ridiculous," Carina remarked, sitting with her arms across her knees as Jack and Henry manned the oars opposite her.
"Carina, the dead are coming," Henry tried to explain again, but Carina wasn't having any of it.
"The dead? Really?" Carina asked in a mocking tone, "I'm an academic. I choose not to believe in supernatural nonsense."
"Nonsense?" Jack repeated, seemingly amused by her remark, "Welcome to the Caribbean, love."
"There's no rational basis for the supernatural. Science simply doesn't support it," Carina stated with confidence, and Jack just laughed as he kept on rowing.
"Do you not see what's behind us?" Henry asked, getting tired of Carina continuing to doubt him. She looked over her shoulder to see the Silent Mary still in the distance, not close enough for her to see the undead Spaniards.
On the deck of the Mary, Salazar was watching the boats escape toward the island with his spyglass. On those boats, he saw that Jack Sparrow was trying to flee with some girl and...
"Henry, tsk, tsk, tsk," Salazar muttered to himself, "I had so much hope for you. 'Tis a shame you'll have to die too."
He continued to survey the activity ahead, and saw Pintel and Ragetti in the other boat. Salazar smiled in glee; not only would he have Jack's life, but these two as well. Now that he had Barbossa aboard, he could get all four today. All that would be left would be Bootstrap Bill Turner.
But Jack Sparrow took priority over everyone else.
"Lezaro!" Salazar called over to his lieutenant, and Lezaro rapidly responded "Si, Capitan?"
"Drop them," Salazar said with a wicked grin, and Lezaro was happy to comply, repeating his order to his men.
"Drop them! Drop them now!" Lezaro ordered, and several crewmembers of the Mary made their way below decks to the hull to retrieve their secret weapons: three sharks that had had the misfortune of being trapped inside the Devil's Triangle, cursed just like the Spanish, chained up and awaiting use. Two were tiger sharks, and one was a hammerhead.
Back on the lifeboat, Carina stood up from where she was sitting and said "Alright, that's it."
"What're you doing?" Henry asked, watching her start to undo the buttons on the front of her dress.
"Dead or not, the men on that ship are looking for Jack, and Jack is on this boat," Carina said, getting the buttons down to her knee before continuing, "so I'm going to swim for it."
Jack cleared his throat and then said, "You know what? Normally, I'd make some remark in regards to a woman undressing right in front of me, but you're way too young for me to even entertain the thought."
Jack put a hand over his eyes and averted his gaze, and Carina went "Huh. Nice to see that chivalry isn't dead, even for pirates."
On the other boat, Pintel noticed that Carina was undressing, and said, "Hey, look! Over there!"
He pointed a finger at the activity on the other boat, and Ragetti replied, "What she be doin' that for?"
"Does there need to be a reason?" Pintel suggested, and the both of them kept staring at her.
"Carina, please stop that," Henry pleaded, just as she finished unbuttoning herself and then.
"Go ahead if you like, just don't make me look," Jack inserted.
"This has gone far enough!" Henry exclaimed, but Carina merely rolled her eyes as she finished removing her dress, leaving on only her undergarments.
"The dress smells of rum and stale hay anyway. See you ashore," Carina said as she took off her shoes, and as she was about to leap off, Jack stopped looking away and saw the small pouch tied to her leg. Before he could ask her about it, though, she jumped into the water and began to swim away.
Jack and Henry both watched as Carina began to swim towards the island, and then Henry faced Jack with a wide smile on his face and excitedly said "I saw her ankles!"
"Listen here," Jack said, "If we happen to make it out of this, then I give you my blessing for you to court your bonny lass."
As Jack and Henry continued to row towards the island, Salazar had made it to the edge of the Mary to see his men dropping the sharks into the water.
"Kill the Sparrow," Salazar spoke to the sharks. As he said this, the sharks came to life underwater, their eyes opening and what was left of their skeletal structures snapping into place. In Salazar's mind, this would be a perfect way for Jack to die.
"So," Jack asked Henry as they continued to paddle, "what has she got inside that little pouch of hers?"
"What do you mean?" Henry inquired.
"The thing around her leg, what's in it?" Jack asked again, rowing faster, "You must have some idea."
"No, none at all," Henry lied, and he continued to paddle along with Jack. As they continued to paddle as fast as they could, they saw that the Mary was getting closer and closer, whereupon Henry said "This isn't working. I'm going with her."
Henry put down his oar and then stood up as he removed his jacket, and Jack got up from where he was sitting and walked to the other side of the boat and asked "What do you think you're doing?"
"Salazar's on our heels, and I am not prepared to meet him again," Henry said, throwing his jacket down onto the boat. He got up on the edge and prepared to dive into the water, but just as he was about to leap off, the water before him splashed and out of it rose the head of one of the undead tiger sharks, its jaws snapping violently.
"WOAAAAAHHHH!" Henry yelled, flailing his arms as he tried to maintain his balance. Acting quickly, Jack had grabbed the back of Henry's trousers and pulled him back onto the boat, with Henry landing on top of Jack.
"Henry, you okay!?" Jack asked with panic in his voice.
"I think so!" Henry responded. Was that what he thought it was?
Without warning, a crashing sound came from behind, and both Jack and Henry saw the other tiger shark leap onto the back of the boat, breaking the wood of the rear and rocking the boat with intensity. The creature snapped its jaws repeatedly, but fortunately it hadn't touched either of the men on the boat before falling back into the water.
"Shark," Jack said with a high-pitched crack in his voice.
Jack and Henry both stood up on the boat and started to scan the water rapidly for the sharks. They both picked up their oars and prepared to defend themselves from the attack. Henry was looking at the front and saw one of the tiger sharks swimming beneath the starboard side, and then without warning the hammerhead shark's head came crashing into the port side, getting stuck between the wood it couldn't break. Before it could cause any more damage to the boat, Henry whacked its nose with the oar repeatedly, trying to get it to stay away, but eventually the oar became stuck in an open cavity in the creature's head. Henry struggled to pull the oar out of the hammerhead, but then it freed itself from the boat and made its way back underwater. Henry continued to pull to free the oar, but when the oar finally came loose, Henry had used too much force and ended up falling backward into the water, some distance away from the boat.
"Henry!" Jack cried out in fear. He was now sitting in the water where three hungry, undead sharks would soon be upon him. Jack extended his oar out to where Henry was and shouted "Grab on!"
Henry grabbed the end of the oar Jack extended, and Jack pulled as hard as he could to get Henry back on the boat before he was eaten. As Henry started to climb his way back into the boat, one of the tiger sharks saw his legs still in the water and rushed to chomp it. Jack had managed to pull Henry in just in time, for at the precise moment he did the tiger shark leapt over them, and both men could see clearly its undead state as it clamped its jaws down on nothing but air, dripping water on the both of them and smelling its foul breath. It then landed in the water on the other side of the boat with a tremendous splash, a lot of the water seeping into the boat along with what damage had been sustained.
Pintel and Ragetti had taken notice of the tiger shark that had been attacking them. Pintel pulled out his sword and attempted to keep the shark at bay, while Ragetti used both oars with rapid speed to get them to the shallows.
"Get back, fishy!" Pintel shouted at the shark, whacking its nose with his sword repeatedly. Ragetti noticed this and said "That just makes it angrier!"
"What, the sword or saying 'fishy?'" Pintel questioned, but he didn't await a response. He continued to whack the shark whose jaws continued to snap at him, but then the tip of his sword became stuck in its eye.
"Me sword's stuck!" Pintel shouted, grabbing onto the handle with both hands as he struggled against the force of the shark trying to pull away. Acting quickly, Ragetti stopped paddling for a moment, drew out his pistol, and shot the creature in the head, forcing the shark and the sword tip to separate. Ragetti didn't wait for a thank-you before he resumed paddling rapidly.
Carina's situation had been a lot better, for the sharks were not attacking her. She had made it to shore and started gasping for breath because of how much distance she swam in such a short period of time. Her knickers were completely drenched, and she was feeling sluggish from all the water still on her. After walking onto the shore for a few steps, she collapsed onto the dry sand and lied there.
"Are you alright!?" Jack asked Henry with concern, starting to use his hands to pale out as much water from the boat as he could. He didn't want anything bad to happen to him.
"I'm fine!" Henry replied, cupping his own hands as he tried to move the water out before the boat sunk, "I don't think this is working!"
"No, no! We'll be fine! We'll be fine!" Jack tried to reassure him, but he wasn't sure himself if they would make it out of this.
Salazar was watching the whole scene unfold from the bow of the Mary, displeased that the sharks hadn't finished off Jack already. Turning to his men, he unsheathed his rapier, and ordered "VAMOS!"
Salazar's men unsheathed their own swords and let out a mighty war cry, and then he and his crew jumped over the Mary and landed onto the water. Salazar raised his rapier and shouted "KILL THE SPARROW!"
The Spanish let out another war cry, and they started to charge across the water. Henry and Jack stopped paling water for a moment and took notice of Salazar's men rushing towards them. Jack looked over his shoulder at Henry and asked, "How do they do that?"
Ignoring Jack's rhetorical question, Henry stood up and said "We'll have to swim for it! I'll distract them!"
Henry grabbed hold of Carina's dress, balled it up, and threw it out far away from them. When it had landed, both the hammerhead and the tiger shark darted towards the dress and started to chew it up. Henry knew that Carina would be pissed off about this later on, but this was a matter of life and death.
"Now!" Henry shouted, and he leapt into the water, beginning to swim rapidly towards the shore. Jack stood up and was going to leap into the water himself, but before he did, he stepped on a loose plank of wood and his right leg fell through the bottom of the boat. Jack fell down onto his left knee while his right leg was submerged, and started to panic because the sharks were still in the water, Salazar and his crew were charging at him, the boat was sinking, and he couldn't move.
"Bugger," Jack said, and then he started to look around for something he could use to get out of this. Looking down at what was left of the deck, Jack noticed a long rope that had a grappling hook at the end of it, and then he smiled because he had just gotten another idea.
Jack grabbed the hook, and then turned around to face the back of the boat. Suddenly, the tiger shark had leapt onto the back of the boat and started to rapidly clamp its jaw down, while Jack swung the hook at it to keep it at bay, mocking it by saying, "Is that all you got, beastie!?"
The shark opened up its mouth wide, and Jack managed to stick in the hook between its teeth. Jack then grabbed hold of the oar and smacked the shark in the face, causing it to fall back into the water with the hook still in its mouth. Jack smiled, because this is exactly what he wanted. Salazar was closing in on him, but he wouldn't be a problem for long.
The tiger shark began speeding away from the boat, and with haste Jack tied the end of the rope to the front of the boat. As the shark began to swim away, it pulled on the rope and began to drag the boat along with it. Salazar had gotten close enough and was prepared to decapitate Jack with a single strike from his sword, but Jack ducked out of the way at the last second and the boat had begun to pull away. Salazar was puzzled at what just happened, and Jack was holding onto the rope as the shark speeded forward, and he laughed as he knew he had the edge.
However, Jack stopped laughing when he saw Henry swimming directly ahead of him, and if he continued going in the same direction, the shark would surely get him. Quickly, Jack yanked on the rope, causing the shark to divert away from Henry, and Henry looked behind him to see Jack coming in on the boat. Jack grabbed onto Henry and pulled him in, and continued letting the shark pull them closer to shore. Once the water had become shallow enough, the shark took a right turn to get back into deeper water, and the boat turned sharply on the dragging rope. Both men screamed as their boat came closer to shore, and then they were both thrown out as the boat crashed into the shore and was scattered into pieces.
Jack and Henry tumbled on the sand for a brief moment before coming to rest on the dry land. Pintel and Ragetti had managed to evade the shark and landed ashore, getting out and heading towards where the others were.
Carina lifted her head when she heard the war cry, and she turned her neck to see the undead Spanish crew rushing towards the shore.
"Wh- what?" Carina stammered in fear. This wasn't possible. These men were ashen, missing vital body parts, and running on water. Their distorted figures horrified Carina, and she began to pant heavily as she tried to come up with some rational explanation. But there was none to be found. Carina was wrong; the supernatural existed after all. It was the most horrifying thing she'd ever seen.
Pintel and Ragetti froze in place when the saw the Spanish, and Henry backed up when he saw them as well.
Jack groaned as he flipped himself to lay on his back, and then he put his hands behind him to push himself off the ground. When he did, his eyes widened in fear to see Salazar standing directly in front of him, his ghostly crew standing by his sides. Jack started to panic, looking at Salazar's ghastly features. There was enough of him left for Jack to recognize that this was the same man from all those years ago, but it was a horrifying sight to look at. He used his sword as a crutch, the left side of his head was missing, his dark hair flowed in the air like it were underwater, his face was cracked and pale, and there was black blood dripping from his mouth, which itself was broken into an evil grin.
"Hi, Jack Sparrow," Salazar wheezed, his thick Spanish accent sending a chill down the pirate's spine, "Long time, no see, no?"
Jack panicked, and then he quickly drew out one of his pistols and fired a bullet right at him. Salazar stumbled back a few steps, and then he laughed, "I almost felt that one."
Jack's breath started to pick up, and then he dropped the gun as he backed up some more, weakly uttering "S-Salazar? Armando Salazar? You're dead!"
"I know I am," Salazar replied with a hint of glee to his voice, "You killed me, remember? 'Tis only fair that I return the courtesy."
Jack's started to pant heavily, backing up even more, and Salazar and his men continued to walk forward from the shallows of the water. However, all of them stopped walking when two men had walked out onto the sand, both of them screaming out in pain as they suddenly disappeared into nothing but ash. Afterwards, all of the Spanish walked back towards where the water was.
Salazar looked at where his men had died, shock in his eyes, and then he said "Miguel... Rodrigo... no..."
Salazar then returned his gaze to Jack, and his anger rose again "You killed my men, you bastardo!"
Carina backed up in horror as she saw the undead Spanish collapse into dust, and then stammered out, "G- g- g- ghosts!"
Salazar was poised to strike at Jack with his rapier, but Jack, his nerves easing up, raised a finger and said "I wouldn't be doing that if I were you, mate. You lot are unable to step on land!"
Carina had gotten up from where she was, continuing to stare at the Spanish, and then shouted "GHOSTS! AAAAAHHHH!"
She began to make for the tropical forest beyond the shore, screaming as she ran towards the trees. Henry noticed this, and picked himself off the ground and called out "Carina!"
Carina didn't stop running away, but Henry wasn't going to let her go. Quickly, he snatched up his musket that was lying on the sand and slung it over his shoulder. As he was about to take off after her, Salazar's voice spoke up, saying "Henry, my boy, I'm very disappointed in you."
Henry turned around to face Salazar, and he continued, saying "I asked you to find Sparrow, and then you help him. Now you will share his fate."
"That would be the case if you could step on land," Jack inserted, and Salazar glared daggers at him. Henry didn't linger and began taking off towards the forest after Carina.
"You may have won today, Jack Sparrow," Salazar threatened, "But you will soon pay for what you did to me."
"I'd like to see you try," Jack replied with confidence, getting up off the ground and holstering his pistol. It only occurred to him then that his hat was missing, and he looked around to see it lying on the ground near him. Picking it up, he placed it upon his head, and then turned to face Salazar again and said "I do wish we could chat longer, but me map's just run away. Gentlemen, you ghastly lot of Iberian cutthroats, this is the day you shall always remember as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow... again!"
Upon finishing his statement, Jack began taking off towards where Henry and Carina were going, and the Spanish then noticed Pintel and Ragetti standing ashore.
"We're not with them," Pintel explained with a nervous laugh, "We're just here to... um..."
"We're here for my cousin's wedding!" Ragetti finished for him, and then the pair of them started to head into the forest.
Back on the Silent Mary, Salazar had Barbossa and his men strung up by their ankles from the rigging, and then said, "In the name of the King of Espana, I sentence you all to death!"
Salazar then gutted one of Barbossa's men. While he was continuing to kill Barbossa's men, Murtogg and Mullroy began to speak to each other.
"I think we should tell each other where our treasures are buried, just in case one of us survives this."
"Ooh, good idea."
"You go first."
"My treasure is buried beneath two crossed palm trees in an unmarked grave in Aruba. What about yours?"
"I haven't got any."
Murtogg looked at Mullroy with confusion, but their conversation was interrupted with Salazar addressing Barbossa saying "You promised that I would have Sparrow's blood!"
"Aye, I promised you that I would bring you to Jack Sparrow, and I upheld my end of the deal!" Barbossa argued.
"You promised me that I would have Sparrow's life at sunrise after three days, and he's still alive!" Salazar shouted at the pirate.
"But Jack be trapped on that island! He has no way off!" Barbossa argued further.
"We can't step on land! I lost two good men today!" Salazar continued, gutting another pirate.
"Then I'll make you a new deal," Barbossa offered, "Me men and meself will go ashore and bring Jack to you, and afterwards you can let us go! I swear it, on me honor!"
"Honor!?" Salazar shouted, "What honor, hombre? What honor? What would a pirate like you know of honor? You don't know what honor is!"
Salazar was poised to strike down Barbossa himself, but that's when he heard it.
"Wait! Do you hear that?" Barbossa motioned for Salazar to stop, and he did so. Afterwards, he listened out for whatever Barbossa was talking about, and he heard it too. Salazar walked over to the port side of the Mary to see six ships in the distance, military ships bearing the Union Jack, with fifers playing British Grenadiers as they sailed.
"It be the Royal Navy, Captain Salazar," Barbossa added, "They must've tracked down Jack."
Salazar was skeptical of this, and then he saw the six warships land on the shores of the island, not noticing the Mary, and about a battalion of Redcoats exited the ships with Captain Scarfield at the front.
Salazar cursed under his breath, and then he walked back over to Salazar and said "Bring Sparrow to me... alive... before the British get to him first."
"So we have an accord?" Barbossa inquired, and then Salazar cut the rope binding the pirate's real leg and peg-leg to the ship, causing him to fall onto the deck. His men subsequently cut the ropes off the remaining pirates, and Salazar spoke to him, saying "We have an accord, hombre."
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you like my latest chapter! It's the longest I've written so far, so I hope you enjoy. Lots of action and character interactions, and a change-up of events as they happen. The island sequence will be much different from whatever that mess was in the movie, so I hope you all enjoy. Anyway, continue to read, review, and share this story with as many people as you can, and I hope you guys have a good day and stay classy!
-Spent