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

Chapter 14: Janette's Father

Notes of Hong Lee (Blood Rain)

Once the sun shed its first rays to the sea, I opened my eyes, but so great was my horror when I couldn't see Janette beside me! There were some shells and barnacles left on the sand where she'd been lying before.

"Get up! Get up you all!" I roused my crew, "Janette is missing!"

While my crew was fussing and looking for her, Captain Jack Sparrow, Mr. Gibbs, and their crew woke up too. Jack glanced at us with barely opened eyes. His head was probably still dizzy from his previous drunken night. He rose up and asked me with annoyance:

"What happened, chap?"

"Janette is gone! She has certainly been kidnapped by the sea demons of Davy Jones!" I exclaimed with worry, pointing on the barnacles and shells on the sand.

"Whoops, the lass is gone?" Jack opened his mouth in surprise, and then coldly shrugged: "Well, no matter. We'll find another one, ay."

This careless attitude of his made my blood boil.

"Of course it matters!" I raised my voice, "I love her!"

"Ye barely know her, mate. After all, no wonder she ran away from ye. She's too good for ye."

This guy was really getting on my nerves...

"What do you know, Jack? All you've been doing in your life was drink and carelessly roam the seas! You are a man of yourself, Jack, while I seek for greater dignity and honour, as a Chinese man and as the apprentice of Master Cheng. You could never understand how I feel."

"Nay, it's not like I don't understand, mate. More like - I don't care," he answered with a rather cold tone. "I say - why should we bother for a single lass who's already as good as dead?"

"She would never die so easily! She is the one who can kill the Megalodon and get Jones off your tail, so you'd better care for her well-being, Jack. Davy Jones is probably using her as a bait to lure you and me in."

"You mean, lure you in, 'cause saving damsels in distress isn't really my style." he opened another rum bottle. "I've had enough of it."

I put my hand on the handle of my sword - his attitude made me want to kill him for good... But then I restrained myself and spoke as calmly as I could:

"Jack, she is not just a simple girl. Janette came all this way to find her pirate father. I am the one who brought her into this mess, so I feel terribly guilty for the trouble she got in. The thing is," I sighed, "I cannot save her alone. You are the most experienced in fights against Davy Jones. There could be no one to help me better than you in this affair."

"Aye, if ye feel it is yer fault then ye go save her."

There was just no convincing this guy...

"Jack," Mr. Gibbs cut in, "if it was a guy we could, of course, leave him behind without any regrets but, leaving a young girl in peril... Don't you think it'd be too cruel?"

Jack stopped drinking his rum and glared at Gibbs with an annoyed face. Then he rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Ugh, alright... Let's go save that lass."

I smiled.

"Thank you, Jack."

"Thank Mr. Gibbs." he walked off.

We returned on our ships and began our search. We assumed that, since at night Jones didn't order his sea demons to eliminate all of us, he clearly wanted to lure us into the sea and make us fight there, so he could enjoy seeing our deaths. Jack knew what type of a man Jones was, so he assured me this was the right idea.

I left my cousin, Yao Lee, on my ship, and got on the Black Pearl to further discuss our strategy with Jack Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs.

"We will need to attack together if we want to save yer lass 'cause Jones is currently immortal and without our whole strength we will not be able to subdue him. Furthermore, if there is a large gathering of ships prepared to battle, sharks always appear on the surface of the sea." Jack grinned.

I understood his hint - he meant that the Megalodon would feel the blood once the battle was started and would come to our gathering point. There, once Janette was free, she would be able to attack him and finish him for good, which would also kill Jones forever, and both Jack and I would reach our goals.

After discussing this strategy and agreeing upon the details, we began thoroughly observing the sea, in order to find any trace of the Flying Dutchman.

"Let's hope yer lass is still alive," Jack told me.

"I am certain she is. If Jones didn't have a plan to lure us in, he would order his sea demons to exterminate us right on the beach, and would not kidnap Janette just like that."

"Aye, ye're right," he murmured and uncorked another rum bottle.

"Ugh... I promised her I would help her find her pirate father after she helped me obtain Calypso's treasure. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to her."

"How are ye going to find that guy if ye don't even know his name?" Jack shrugged. For him, these love promises sounded like a vain thing of young fools. He had experienced a lot of it while chasing after William Turner and Elizabeth Swann the Pirate King, and then their son Henry Turner and Barbossa's troublesome daughter. He was quite fed up with this young couple thing, I could tell.

"I will seek all over the Seven Seas..." I clutched the hand-rails of the prow. "One thing Janette has told me that can serve as a clue - her mother, Vivienne Moreau, was saved by that pirate in a tavern... and it would happen nineteen years ago since Janette is nineteen. That is already something, right?"

I got a different picture this time - Jack did not react coldly like before. Once he heard these final words of mine, he widened his eyes and spat out all the rum he had in his mouth. He then barely swallowed the last rum he had left and glanced at me with a bewildered expression of a frightened man. His face had gone all pale.

"V... Vivienne Moreau? N... Nineteen years ago?" the rum bottle fell off his hand, breaking onto the floor.

"What? You... You know about that event?"

"I... I know nothing." he went even paler and looked away.

Why was he so terrified? Could it mean...

"Wait... You are her father?!"