The Birth of the Shark Tooth [Pirates of the Caribbean Fanfic]

Chapter 7: Tortuga

We were fussing on the deck. The harbinger cried:

"Tortuga's ahead! We've arrived!"

Tortuga was like no other island I had seen before. All of the ships docked here had black flags flaunting on them, full of skull depictions. Each ship belonged to pirates. Only back then, seeing Tortuga, I truly got a view of how numerous the pirates truly were.

Captain Blood Rain and some of his crew, including me, went down on the land. As I knew from my mates, Captain had a serious meeting with one of the notorious Pirate Lords. Five of us followed the captain into the inn where this meeting was going to be held. I curiously observed the situation in the inn. It was my first time being on the pirate island, and I wanted to know more about what kind of life my father possibly led.

The view didn't fascinate me that much, to be sincere - whores and concubines in every corner, doing whatever they wanted with their filthy pirate men, as if no one was looking. There was even heavier turmoil in this inn than back in my hometown. Pirates, pilferers, swashbucklers, all kinds of bandits were tossing rum at the tables and swearing and swinging fists. Many of them wore eye-patches and had peg-legs, and all of them were covered in numerous scars received in battles. Many of them had yellow caved teeth and stunk even heavier than Stinky Joe. The smell of rum, whiskey, blood and sweat was in the whole inn, making it hard to breathe.

I already knew that pirates loved quarrelling and beating each other and that most of them were heavy drinkers and smokers, but still, on Blood Rain's ship the discipline was strictly preserved, so I couldn't imagine pirates could raise this much of a ruckus. Apparently, not every pirate captain paid big attention to discipline and order like Blood Rain did, because, in this inn, things had gotten totally out of hand.

Our captain and Yao Lee went up to the inn-keeper and began conversing with him. My other four companions and I began discussing matters among ourselves.

"So, who's this Pirate Lord guy Captain wishes to meet?" I asked my comrades.

"Yao Lee said it was the captain of the Black Pearl," a short middle-aged man with a long beard and multiple scars, Feng, who was the most easy-going out of our crew members, answered.

"Captain of the Black Pearl?!"

As you might remember, I was already too familiar with that ship name. It was the same legendary Black Pearl I had often heard about - the fastest ship in the oceans. The appearance of her black sails on the horizon meant certain doom for her prey.

"Yes," Feng nodded, "Jieke Sipaluo."

Jieke Sipaluo... These words meant nothing in Chinese. But I knew better than that - Feng was a Chinese man who knew no English, so pronouncing English words was hard for him. I instantly modified the name back into English in my mind, but even so, I got a pretty weird name in the end - 'Jack Sparrow'.

"Jack Sparrow, you mean? That's his name?"

I pronounced the name in English, to get completely sure. I couldn't imagine such a powerful pirate would have this kind of a wimpy name.

"Yes, that's right."

Yes, it was definitely Jack Sparrow. What a weird name for a notorious Pirate Lord of the Caribbean and the captain of the famous Black Pearl...

"Why does he carry the name of a bird?"

"Many legends are told..." Now my other comrades cut in. "They say he got that name in one of his battles against a Spanish captain in his young years and stuck with it."

It was truly incomprehensible to me. I had known many cool pirates with amazing and terrifying aliases. Even my own captain - Blood Rain - was a good example of that. I couldn't believe one of the nine Pirate Lords and the captain of the Black Pearl could carry the name 'Sparrow' as if some innocent birdie. It was really weird to me.

It sparked my curiosity towards this meeting even more. When Captain and Yao Lee finished talking with the inn-keeper and Yao announced to us that the meeting was going to be held in secret between the two captains and their first mates, my curiosity grew to its peak. As people are always intrigued and interested in things that are forbidden, so was I anxious to hear the discussion that was restricted to us simple pirates.

Thus, I found out where the exact room was where the captains and their first mates would converse, waited for the night to come when the meeting was about to begin, and sneaked out of the inn. I looked up at the window which led exactly into that room of forbidden treasure.

I grinned as I noticed how easy it was for me to climb up. Apparently, mast climbing experience paid off really well - now I could satisfy my curiosity without any problems. I dashed at the wall, carefully and quickly crept up, jumped through the window and appeared in the darkened room.

The chamber was wooden, with scarce furniture - a table, some chairs, a wardrobe, and a bed. No one was inside yet, as I had expected. I quickly glanced around searching for a good place to hide and finally chose the place behind the wardrobe. I immediately hid. It was a pretty good timing, for soon enough I heard how the door creaked. My heart throbbed - here it was...

I indeed overheard the familiar deep voice of my captain, and also caught the sound of many footsteps. A faint light caught my eyes - they had brought a lamp in, which they put on the table. Soon, the four silhouettes sat down. Then, another, foxy voice of a man spoke. I understood that this voice should belong to the one my captain sought to meet:

"Well then, what's yer concern, mate?"

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杰克斯派罗(Jieke Sipaluo) - Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 'Jack Sparrow' (Author)