Jack snapped from his daze and realized something.
"Something troubling you Jack?" Anamaria asked him.
Oh how she would of loved to be as lady-like for Jack just for a moment, but she shook the thought away from her mind. She was tired of waiting for Jack and then she found Nathaniel. He wasn't a pirate, not even a sailor; he was the owner of the tavern in Haiti. Anamaria knew that Jack would not hesitate to go to the tavern as long as he never found out about Nathaniel and nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Nathaniel was one of the reasons why Anamaria wanted to give up pirating. He helped Anamaria out when she missed the year and a half off the Pearl to try something different. And she has, a new life without Captain Jack Sparrow. Then, he comes back into her life and recruits her back into his crew. And look where that anchored her now.
"Aye," Jack muttered in disdain. "There is not one drop of rum or otherwise commendable liquor on this boat. Ship."
"Shall I bring a spring upon her cable captain?" Anamaria asked. She added captain to remind him of his position.
"Aye. No. Don't, we all ready have wind. We might as well go where you want to go," Jack said, he thought To Port Royal.
"Aye," Anamaria said. It was not like Jack Sparrow to easily give up rum, but something in him has changed.
"Oi!" Jack yelled a moment later. "On second thought, change course to that island." He was pointing to a barren island. Anamaria thought she saw something like a ship leaving from the island.
"Aye, aye," Anamaria said.
"You! You! And you! Actually all of you bring a shovel or something to dig with," Jack yelled as he walked across the deck.
There was a chorus of 'ayes'.
"See something Jack?" Gibbs asked when he reached the pirate.
"I see a lot of things Mister Gibbs, but what I do see is treasure," Jack said moving his hands around like he was holding onto something slippery.
The Black Pearl stopped about a mile away from the island and most of the crew loaded up on the longboats with their shovels. Jack was standing on the first longboat leaning heavily on one of the crews' head like a doorpost.
As soon as they reached the island, Jack let the crew get out first as he slowly made his way out.
"Where do we dig Captain?"
"Here. There. Oh and probably somewhere around those bushes too," Jack said. He was hopping in place on top of a patch of sand. "No not here. Well what are ye all waiting for? Dig!"
"Isn't this stealing?" Ragetti asked.
"It's not stealing - " Pintel started to say.
"Oh! I've found something! I've found something!" a mangy old pirate said.
"Well dig it out," Gibbs said.
A small cluster formed around the lone pirate as he and another dug up the hole. Their shovels stopped when they hit something hard at the bottom. They lifted it out of the hole, with the help of their mates, and saw that it wasn't the only wooden chest in there.
"Look there's more!"
"Well keep digging then," Pintel said. His eyes were focused only on the treasure.
"Okay we'll load these up to the Black Pearl and then we'll see what our friends have left us," Jack said.
The first longboat was loaded with two of the larger chests. Jack and another pirate rowed back to the Black Pearl, which Jack just sat at the nose of the longboat staring.
Once all of the chests have been opened and divided equally to the pirate crew, everyone was on edge thinking that their mate might take more than his share.
Jack ignored them and walked towards the rum lockers of his ship. His ship. After all these years, he got the Pearl back and that is all that mattered to him. Jack didn't notice the rope and his foot got tangled in it, disrupting his thoughts. Down he went. His arm had caught the railing and he brought himself up to his knees. Jack looked around and noticed the remaining crew watching him deciding if they should help him or not. Jack tried to pretend that he meant to do that.
He steadied himself and made his way towards the rum lockers even though he knew that they would still be empty. He passed the empty cages that usually held chickens and his stomach growled with hunger.
"Hush you," Jack said. His stomach growled again.
He went inside the rum locker and not too surprised, found no rum. For a moment, he wished that Bootstrap Bill were there with his half-crustacean body to offer him the last remaining bottle of rum.
He could almost hear that taunting voice saying "Time's up Jack".
"Jack!" Gibbs called out to him.
"Aye?" Jack inquired. Throughout all their troubles and hardship, Jack found Gibbs to be his closest thing he had to family, besides his father, which may be why Gibbs is his first mate. If only Jack found Gibbs before the mutiny.
"We thought the worse when we didn't see on deck," Gibbs stated.
"I found the worse when I came down here and found no rum. If seeing Bootstrap Bill was a dream, then this is a horrible dream without rum," Jack said holding an empty rum bottle. "I don't like this feeling."
"What feeling Jack?" Gibbs asked concerned.
"A world without rum. It's like the terrible I have way down in my gullet grasping that part of me where the food goes," Jack said grimacing.
"You do look terrible Jack. Maybe you should rest. Save your energy for the fight."
"Rest? After not receiving none for the past few days? I'd rest easy if I knew the surrounds were easy," Jack said. He clutched his stomach and thought he felt something soak through. He thought he heard the beatings of two hearts. "Do you hear that?"
"Damn the devil Jack! Why didn't you say anything?" Mister Gibbs said ignoring Jack's question. "Yer lucky to still are alive. I'm no doctor and that looks pretty nasty Jack. Come on lets get ye out of here and into your cabin."
Gibbs hoisted Jack up over his shoulder when Jack started to sway more dangerously than usual. He had a fairly hard time getting up those ladders and steps. The moment he reached the deck, he motioned for Ragetti and Pintel to carry Jack.
"Alive? I was dead almost a year ago. Can you believe that? I find that said terrible Beastie didn't have as much fowl breath as everyone has claimed 'im to have. Those teeth, there were so many. Beastie should do something about them. How did I get the Pearl back here? Can't seem to remember much after that," Jack muttered. He was feeling drowsy, but he kept trying to fight it off.
"It's a good thing that we're almost free of him then," Anamaria said nodding towards Jack.
"Not now! You're not going to make things better," Gibbs said about to walkout.
"Wait! Wait! I need a couple words with you guys. You Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti the one eye, Mister Cotton, and Marty," Jack said trying to get up, but he got tangled up with the air.
"And what about me Jack?" Anamaria asked.
"Sorry love, but you have work to do," Jack said shooing her away.
Once the small group was assembled in Jacks' cabin, he had them close the windows and the doors. Jack was leaning heavily against the bed hugging a pillow. The others were sitting around the bed looking at Jack.
"Is he going to say something?" Pintel whispered.
"Aye," Jack said his eyes focusing on something. "What I say here mustn't be uttered to open ears."
"Is it treasure? Gold? Silver? Copper will do nicely also Captain," Pintel asked. His eyes shining with the thought of unnamed treasures.
"Uh…No. But you being my most dishonest crew of loyal pirates I somewhat trust ye. I know we haven't done an ounce of honest pirating, but looking at current situations that I myself am in, I think that the Wicked Wench, I mean Black Pearl would probably do better without me sailing under her sails again. Barbossa and his crew of miscreants have found their spot of pirating over the eleven years, but I find myself wondering if…" Jack said not looking at them. He looked like he was having trouble saying the words and not believing what he is saying. He looked at each man and parrot before saying with false brightness in his voice, "So the ship is yours - "
"But - " Mister Gibbs said interrupting Jack and getting interrupted himself.
"- The moment me own heart does. I can't trust anyone else but the lot here. Maybe Tia Dalma also but her heart is not for the sea. So do what you want to Pearl," Jack said. He let them digest the news. "Slash that. Don't do anything that you want with the Pearl. Make sure she lives a nice and full life of pirating. There. So as you were now."
"Captain!" Marty said breaking the silence.
"Bugger. What are you pirates still doing here? I thought I told you to scurry on about," Jack said. He pressed the area around the wound and tried to not look like he was in pain. Not good, Jack thought.
"We can't take the Black Pearl."
"Aye you can and you will. It's about what a man can and can't do. And I'm saying that you can take the Pearl. I already know of your plans of dropping me off on Port Royal. It doesn't matter, I'm dying and that's that. What I'm saying is that when I die, I won't end up in Davy Jones Locker so there's nothing you can do to save me this time," Jack said.
The men surrounding him heard what he was saying and it was not what their Captain Jack Sparrow would say. This is a man resigned to his fate and Captain Jack Sparrow is not like that, not ever. Not when he was mutinied on an island, not when he was facing the gallows, not when facing the impossible, not when he was facing Davy Jones, and most certainly not when he was facing the said terrible Kraken. There was never a moment when the pirate wouldn't stop fighting even if it meant his end.
"So that's how you're going to leave us Jack? You've faced what no other pirate has faced before and now you're going to die from a misfired pistol shot?"
"Aye it appears so. My time was up long ago. I plan to die with a nice large bottle of rum next to me side. Doesn't sound that bad now does it?" Jack said with a smile that wasn't fooling anyone.
"Jack we're just going to Port Royal to help you get treated. We're not going to leave you no matter what the Code says," Marty said.
"Aye, we could never do that," Ragetti said. "Well we won't but the rest of the crew might."
"Well ye be forgetting that this ships' sails be flying black and I don't want to change the Black Pearls' colours just because of a little scratch," Jack said. He kept a death grip on the bed just so that he'll remain upright. He really didn't want to be fussed over unless it was with a lovely lass with bottles of rum around them around the bed or anything flat surfaced.
"Captain we really need to be getting you some rum," Pintel said.
"Aye, being sober does not fit you Jack," Gibbs joked.
"Well I feel somewhat assured. So the faster we go, the more supplies we can get and I bet you gents are ravenously hungry," Jack said. He could feel sweat trickling down his forehead.
"Do we have a heading Captain?"
"Aye. North to Port Royal," Jack said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He still had a feeling that things were just going to get worse when they reached Port Royal.
The pirates before him left in a hurry and left Jack alone in his cabin. Jack crossed to the other side of the cabin and closed the door. For a long time, Jack just leaned against the closed door and suppressed the shudders that cam to him. He slowly removed the pillow and found that it was spotted with blood. The borrowed shirt he was wearing had more blood on it.
"Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger," Jack muttered and held onto the pillow again. He tried to repress the sickness coming to him. "Ugh. I feel like I've eaten something rotten and it's staying down me stomach."
He really didn't want to, but his eyes closed before he could acknowledge that they were closed and he sagged to the floor. He could feel the waves rocking the Black Pearl back and forth in a strange rhythm, the rhythm of the sea.
He thought he heard a young girl singing softly "Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me".