The Captain's Treasure

The Black Mark, Negotiations and A Daring Rescue.

The Black Pearl

Jack is plotting a course on a map, the "P" brand mark on his right arm visible as he taps the Compass. Jack looks in his bottle, turns it upside-down and is dismayed when only a few drops spill out.

"Why is the rum always gone?" Jack asks himself and rises to his feet, as he does he staggers slightly. "Oh! That's why." Jack walks out of his quarters and past the crew sleeping on hammocks, some of the crew are snoring. "As you were, gents." Jack goes downstairs to the hold and unlocks the door to the storage room. Inside he examines the rack where they store the alcohol.

Some what suspiciously he sees dripping wet clams attached to a beam of wood.  Jack shakes his head as if to clear it and spots a rack of full bottles.

"Ah!" Jack pulls a sideways bottle from the rack and looks on in horror as sand and not rum pours out of the bottle.

"Time's run out, Jack" Comes a deep voice from the shadows. Jack drops bottle of rum in fright and it breaks on the floor, he carefully walks over to see who spoke.

In the shadows he sees a man with dripping hair sitting in profile. "Bootstrap. Bill Turner?" Jack questions in disbelief.

Bootstrap looks up from where he's sitting on a barrel, crabs scuttle across his face and as he opens his mouth sea water pours out. "you look good Jack."

"Is this a dream?" Jack asks.

Bootstrap looks confused a moment but answers, "No."

Jack nods "I thought not. If it were, there'd be rum." Bootstrap immediately hands Jack a bottle of rum that Jack pries from Bootstrap's hand with a crackling sound.

"You got The Pearl back I see." Bootstrap observes.

"I had some help retrieving the Pearl, by the way." Jack tings the lip of the bottle with his fingers, then blows across the top of it, "your son." Jack takes a drink from the bottle.

"William?" Bootstrap asks, looking both hopeful and disappointed at the same time. "He ended up a pirate after all?"

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your carbuncle?" Jack inquires.

"He sent me," Bootstrap replies, "Davey Jones."

Jack looks scared for a moment but nods to cover his panic. "Ah. So, it's you then. He shanghaied you into service, eh?"

"I chose it. I'm sorry for the part I played in the mutiny against you, I stood up for you, everything went wrong after that." A small hermit crab scuttles by Bootstrap on top of the barrel where he sits. He grabs the hermit crab, pops it into his mouth, and crunches on it.  Jack moves his mouth, jaw, and tongue around in revulsion while watching. "They strapped me to a cannon, I ended up on the bottom of the ocean. Weight of the water crushing down on me. Unable to move, Unable to die Jack."

Jack takes another drink of rum and hands the bottle of rum back to Bootstrap. "I thought that if even the tiniest hope of escaping this fate came I would take it, I would trade anything for it."

Jack nods and while Bootstraps is distracted taking a drink of rum he comments. "It's funny what a man will do to forestall his final judgment." Jack starts to walk off, but Bootstrap stands up at the same time and intercepts Jack, blocking him from leaving.

"You made a deal with him Jack, he raised The Pearl from the depths for ya. 13 years ya been captain."

"Technic..." Jack starts to argue but Bootstrap interrupts. 

"ya won't be able to talk yerself outta this Jack, the terms what applied to me applies to ya. 100 years before the mast."

"Yes, but the Flying Dutchman already has a captain, so there's re..."