Hina of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Chapter 6
New Course

One word could fully describe the weather on the seas: Horrid. The heavy storm whipped around the water, both from the clouds and the sea. The waves were choppy, rocking anything that wasn't tied to land. A short distance away from a small group of rocks that was similar to the crustation claws used by Kanako was a shipwreck. The ship itself was cut clean in half. And of course, a distance away from it was a black ship with similar sails.

Keitaro stood out on the deck, occasionally having to wipe his glasses clean of the rain as he beheld the ship that they were looking for. He then turned to Alias in disbelief, the said captain wearing an umbrella hat on his head and a definitely worried Su beside him. And believe you me friends, a worried Su is never a good sign.

"That's the Flying Dutchman?" Keitaro finally asked in disbelief. "It doesn't look like much."

"Neither do you Keitaro, so don't go underestimating her," Alias said with a smile as he leaned onto the rail.

They stood there in silence for a few seconds before Alias sharply slapped the wood, shocking Su into speaking. "Must've hit a reef!" Su shot, sounding even more worried than she looked.

"So then Keitaro," Alias spoke trying to deter Keitaro's suspicions, "what's your plan of action?"

Keitaro sighed, looking back at the shipwreck, understandably ticked. "I'm going to go onboard and search the entire ship until I find your damn key."

"And, if there are crewmen…" Alias questioned.

"I take out anything that's in my way," he answered before walking off.

"…I like that plan!" Alias said with a smile to Su. "It's simple. Easy to remember."

"Your chariot awaits you your highness!" Drill Bit said with a cackle as he dangled off of the ladder, Keitaro making his way down with a lit lantern to the longboat that he was to use.

"Oi! Keitaro!" Alias shouted as said man sat down in the boat. "If the worst is to happen, just let Davy Jones know that the Unknown Alias has sent you to settle his debt. Probably save your skin!"

Keitaro nodded in registration before he began to row. Alias looked on, clenching his fist in worry.

"Douse the lights," he whispered/commanded to Su.

And so, Keitaro struggled against the ever increasing waves, leaving the silhouette of the Black Tama with nothing but his clothes, a sword and a lit lantern.

He hoisted himself onto the deck of the wreck, lantern in hand as he cast its light upon the ship. There were a few bodies, the unnatural positions they were in suggesting that they were dead. He then noticed that there was someone at a post, pulling continuously on a pulley system and muttering to himself.

"Sir?" he asked with the lantern light not doing much illumination in the storm.

"Hoisting the jib, captain's orders," he continued to mutter, but still noticing Keitaro.

"Sir!" Keitaro shouted to catch the man's attention. "It's no use! You've hit ground."

"No!" the man whimpered, pausing his pulling. "Beneath us! The foul breath!"

Keitaro was confused, until he heard something fall onto the waterlogged deck. He turned and went to the noise, seeing the body slowly climbing onto the deck. He went to the body, hanging the lantern onto the nearby pole. He helped the body onboard, and flipped it over. He quickly stood up and gasped in fright, seeing that the face was now amorphous.

Then he heard it. He looked out to the side, just in time to see a dark and moldy ship arising from the waters, the bow similar to a carnivorous fish and water emptying out of the ship. Keitaro at once put two and two together. That was the real Flying Dutchman, and Alias had tricked him again.

Keitaro kept his focus on the ship, so he was surprised to hear footsteps behind him. He turned and again was shocked. There were many soldiers, each one with its own aquatic theme to their bodies, and they all seemed to be coming out of the wood of the ship itself like ghosts. He watched in fright as they spread out, looking for any survivors on that ship. Then one more came forth, this one seemed to be lumpy with sea urchins scattered about on his body and clothes.

"Down on your marrowbones and pray!" he shouted, swinging his iron bolo as a weapon.

Keitaro quickly jumped up, landing on the man's back and leaped off. He drew his sword as another sailor attacked with his own. He continued to parry, making sure to keep them at distance. But he could easily see that they would win as they began to gang up on him. He parried another sword, using the swing to dip his into a barrel of flammable liquid. He then jabbed his sword into his lantern, setting it ablaze.

He began to circle around, using the flaming metal to keep the circle of enemies at edge, never leaving his back turned for too long. Soon a coral covered sailor decided to attack, only to be cleanly slashed in the stomach by the sword. The sailor screamed in agony as his now sliced belly poured out whole fish and stomach acid. Keitaro stared in revulsion, leaving his back open too long. One other sailor came up, and swiftly knocked Keitaro in the back of his head with a bone club. The impact was too much, and Keitaro fell too the ground unconscious, his sword still in hand as the sailors laughed in triumph and crowded about him.

Keitaro was held still onto his knees along with four other still wholly human sailors. He then looked off as a sound came. They were heavy footsteps, all five of the survivors now cowering with every loud 'thunk!'. Keitaro then saw the owner of the footsteps and was surprised. The figure stopped next to a sailor that was like a hammerhead shark.

"Five men still alive. The rest have moved on," he reported.

The figure then came to the five. Dressed in a large coat and hat that were filled with holes and covered with seaweed, his left arm was a large crab arm, his right seemed to fray off into tentacles, and even more tentacles made some form of a beard on his face, the skin a moldy green. Davy Jones looked just like he did in the movie except for the fact that he seemed leaner, taller, and his face seemed softer.

(Fun fact! The skin for Davy Jones in the movie was actually based on a used Styrofoam coffee cup! Aint movie business grand?)

Davy kneeled before the sailor next to Keitaro, his right hand holding up a pipe and a tentacle holding a lit match. The match went into the pipe, Davy taking a few breaths through it to ignite the tobacco inside. The tentacle then rose to a stub on the side of his face, the stub opening to blow the match out. In other words, he was setting an ominous mood to freak them out.

"Do you fear death?" he said slowly, his tone rivaling the creepiness of a phantom's. "All your deeds laid bare? All your sins punished! I can offer you an escape," he finished with a sly smile to the now hopeful sailor's face.

"Don't listen to him!" the sailor on the far end blurted.

A now angry Davy went to the man, noticing the clattering rosary in his hands. Heh. It's always the Christians. He lifted the man up with his claw, threatening to guillotine him at a second's notice. "Do you not fear death?" he asked as he drew on his pipe.

"I'll take my chances sir," he said fearfully, yet inspiringly.

Davy remained unchanged as he let go of the sailor and nodded to the sailor behind the man. "To the depths with him."

The sailor smiled as he lifted the man. Keitaro couldn't even try to watch as the sailor sliced the man's throat and chucked the corpse into the waters.

"Cruel blackguard!" another survivor spat at the monster before them.

"Life is cruel," Davy said angrily as he tapped his claw arm with his pipe. "Why should the afterlife be any different? I offer you a choice," he continued as he knelt once more before the man. "Join my crew and postpone the judgment. 100 years before the mast. Will ye serve?"

"…I-i-I, I will serve," the man agreed.

"There…" Davy said with a smile. He got back up, about to offer it to the other men, until he noticed Keitaro. He actually had to do a double take before speaking. "You are neither dead nor dying. What is your purpose here?"

Keitaro sighed. He knew he'd be playing directly into Alias's hands, but it's better than dying here. "The Unknown Alias has sent me to settle his debt."

Davy's eyes shot wide open. "What is your purpose here?" he asked again slowly.

"The Unknown Alias has sent me to settle his debt," Keitaro repeated but more calmly.

"Heh," Davy laughed. "Did he now? I don't I'm ready to accept that offer just yet," he said with a grave face, unintentionally showing a bit of his original character.

Back on the Black Tama, Alias stands on the deck with dark energy covering his eyes. Using the darkness to enhance his vision, he watched the entire scene play out. His breathing was becoming rapid in fear as he saw Keitaro pass the message. Then he saw Davy turn, seeming to be looking directly at him. He then wiped the dark energy off his eyes, only to see that Davy was now standing directly before him. Before he could respond, he heard sounds and turned to see some of Davy's crew taking his by surprise and was now held to blades.

Alias turned back to the towering and intimidating Davy Jones. "He heh, hi Davy."

"You have a debt to pay," Davy began, his tentacles fraying a bit in anger. "You've been captain of the Black Tama for 7 years. That was our agreement."

"Well just to clarify a few things here Davy," Alias sputtered, taking one step back every time Davy took a step forward. "First off it was only for the story and the story has long since been over. Secondly, I was only technically captain of the Black Tama for two years before I was viciously mutinied upon."

"Your story may be over, but you still kept the Tama, even after the story," he counteracted. "That still makes you its captain. And even then for the mutiny you were a poor captain but a captain nonetheless. Have you not introduced yourself all these years as 'the infamous Captain Unknown Alias'?"

The crew just had to laugh as Davy had imitated the author, with the author himself grimacing at the logic. Dang all of logic! It never makes sense!

"But you already have one soul to serve your ship over there, just like we agreed!" Alias said to Davy, pointing behind him to the wreck that Keitaro was on.

"One soul is not equal to another!" Davy protested. A grave mistake.

"Aha!" Alias said with a triumphant smile. "Now we've established the situation, we've established the principle, now we're just haggling over the price."

Davy's eyes shot open. "Price?" he quoted, realizing his mistake.

Alias donned his sly face and came up to him. "Just how many souls is my soul worth?"

Davy pondered a bit. This was Alias's only chance so it had to seem possible, but was not. He smiled as he decided. "101 souls in three days."

"1-o-1 souls?" Alias asked in confusion. "Wouldn't you rather have 101 Dalmatians?"

"One hundred and one human souls," he clarified before seeming to ponder something. "On second thought, I could always use a dog on the ship. 100 human souls and 1 dog soul in three days."

Alias smiled as he spread out his arms. "You're a diamond covered in slime Squidbeard!" he cooed as he turned. "Just hand over the boy and I'll be on my way." He stopped short though as a sailor cut off his path with his sword.

"I shall keep the boy," Davy said. "Consider it a down payment. That just leaves you 1 dog and 99 human souls left to go!" he said with a laugh.

Alias smiled again. Time to play con man. "Have you not met Keitaro?" Alias asked, getting to close to Davy's face. "An excellent carpenter, he has an unnatural healing factor, not to mention that he's a very good singer. He's worth at least 20!" he then noticed Davy's angry face. "Maybe 15 ½. And did I happen to mention… he's in love," he said softly as Davy's face softened as well and his eyes clouded over. "With a promised girl no less. He's due to be married. Engaged. Taking him from her or her from him, would be even 5000 times as painful as having to work on your ship. Would you not agree?" Alias spoke silently, resting his head on Davy's shoulder from behind him and hoping to work over Davy's sore spot for love.

Davy's eyes then cleared again before glancing at Alias and then steeling. "I shall keep the boy, 99 souls left to go. But I wonder Alias, would you honestly live with this? Would you condemn and innocent man, a friend no less, to a lifetime of servitude while you roam free?"

Alias glanced his eyes around in thought. "Ehhh, yeah. I'm pretty much good with this. Shall we seal it in blood, or whatever you have?" he said as he stretched his right hand out.

Alias gasped and shuddered in disgust as Davy grasped his slimy tentacled hand around Alias's. "Three days," he finished. He try to leave, struggling before yanking his hand away from Alias before leaving like the rest of his crew. "Three days."

Alias stared at his slimed hand, noticing that the black spot disappeared back to normal flesh as a still worried Su came up beside him.

"Su?" Alias called before she could speak. "Get me a towel before I wipe this on your shirt."

"But captain, did you really have to give that octopus guy Keitaro? And where are you going to get 99 more souls? Are you going to give him those Nobody things?"

"Yes Su, I had to give him Keitaro. I know how this movie goes, so I know that Keitaro's going to be fine. As for the Nobodies question, no. They're only bodies, not souls."

"Then how are we going to get 99 more souls?" Su asked frantically.

Alias smiled brightly. "Hm. Su, Davy Jones ordered his steak meal just fine. He specifically ordered his side dishes and even done so for his drink. But he didn't say whether he wanted that steak rare or well done."

"……The only thing I understood is that you just made me hungry."

"Sigh, He didn't say what condition the souls had to be."

Su then widened her eyes with a smile in realization. "Ohhhhhh! Tortuga?"

"No Su," Alias said with a smile at Su's confused face. "Activate the Gummi Drive," he commanded before wiping his hand on Su's shirt, which honestly could look like a grope. "We're going to the OC Graveyard."

Off on the open seas of the spacestream, the browser author stood in his office with the same soldier and cabin boy.

"I can't believe this!" the browser screamed in anger as threw more and more papers onto his desk. "These fees are getting more and more stupid! Anonymous fees, Mary Sue fees, registration fees, and heaven forbid! Browsing fees! Are we all here just to line the Association's pockets these days?"

"I'm afraid the only true free world for the authors is the OC Graveyard sir," the cabin boy said.

"A pirate author world is what you mean!" the browser shouted. "Well no way! I'm an honest author, I leave my fair share of reviews, I make no Mary Sues and I sleep well at night thank you very much!" he ranted, not noticing the dress that just flew by the window.

The other two however, couldn't help but notice and bringing the browser's attention the window. They all peeked out a window, just in time for the wedding dress to fly by. The three men looked at each other before rushing out of the room.

The entire gathered onto the deck, staring in fear at the airborne dress; the sleeve of which was now pointing out. Above them amongst the ropes, Naru chuckled as she carefully operated the brooms in her hand like a puppet master, making the dress seem like the medium of a ghost. The men however were as convinced as day.

"She wants you to do something," the soldier said to the captain, looking at the sleeve pointing somewhere.

The browser then came to a conclusion. "She's trying to give a sign."

Naru smirked. She then made the dress swing out overboard. The men followed it to the rail, and then suddenly ducked down in fright as the dress swung back. The dress then broke a lit lantern, causing the carefully laid oil to catch fire. But the men didn't see it.

"Quick! Over there!" the browser shouted. "Look for the sign!"

The men all rushed over to the other side, not noticing the message beginning to form from the fire. That's when the other stowaways saw the message.

"So this is what Naru-san wanted them to see," Ema guessed, Leon remaining silent on her shoulder.

"But what is that place? And why would Naru want to go there?" Shinobu whispered.

"Well there's only one way to find out!" Sarah spoke before sitting herself onto a nearby barrel. "What's this over here?" she called aloud in a deep enough voice to be passed off as a male's.

Her call caught the men's attention as they looked at the fiery message in the wood. There was a disc surrounded by a ring of fire, with an arrow pointing to it. At the other end, there were two words that were obviously the 'sign'. From above, Naru chuckled. Not only has the course been set, but now she also found her followers. The men continued to stare in awe, deciding to heed the message 'OC Graveyard' written in flames.

Date of Update: 8/15/2007