Page 364
Page 364
Pantel spotted a stick of driftwood on the ground nearby, picked it up, poked the sea monster with it, and jumped away, just in case.
"Be careful!" Rajetti said.
"Oh, you're quiet now, are you?" said Pantel sarcastically. "Big fish! You deserve it!"
"Hey! I bet people would pay a shilling to see this monster!" said Rajetti, "and another shilling to sit on its head and have someone draw a picture of themselves."
"Kraken killer!" Pantel said happily. "We can also carve some miniature sea monsters out of coconuts and sell them! We can even cut a piece as a souvenir for them!"
Jack turned a deaf ear to the two pirates' foolish jokes, and moved closer to the sea monster.
It was almost sad that he would never have believed it was real if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
For as far as he knew, this sea monster was the last of its kind, and it lay there, all alone.
What was once a fearsome monster is now nothing more than a bunch of rubber tentacles.
"Still trying to escape, Jack?" Barbossa whispered behind him. "Think you can escape this world? The thing is, the last of anything, and soon there won't be any left."
"Sometimes things turn around," Jack said. "You and I are the living proof, man."
"Well, but that's just a gamble on the remote side, isn't it?" Barbossa replied. "There's no guarantee of return, but death is an absolute certainty."
Jack thought about this for a long time, and he was not willing to think about his own death now that he had just narrowly escaped death.
"The world used to be much bigger," Barbosa said.
"It's still the same size," Jack replied softly, "it just has less stuff in it."
He sighed heavily, looking like he had no other options: "There's going to be a Brotherhood, isn't it?"
"Our only hope."
"That's a sad interpretation in itself," Jack said softly.
After a while the landing party climbed to the spring, stooping through the bushes and weaving among the palms.
The springs spit out bubbles from the ground, forming a clear spring surrounded by sharp rocks and black sand.
Although Marty is not tall, he is the first to reach the spring.
As he bent eagerly to drink, he saw something floating in the pond, and leaning forward to see what it was, he jumped back with a cry of terror.
There is a dead body in the water.
Barbossa picked up a handful of water, put it to his mouth, tasted it, and immediately spit it out again.
"Toxic," he said, "contaminated by corpses."
The two pirates knelt down and turned the body over so that it was face up.
When Barbossa found out he recognized the man, he was taken aback.
It's Sten!
The one who pretended to be one of Sao Feng's pirates in Singapore!
A wooden nail, probably the kind Sao Feng was holding that threatened Will, went into one of his eyes.
A terrible suspicion filled Barbossa's heart.
Suddenly, as if echoing his fear, a scream came from the direction of the beach.
All the pirates hurried back to the beach, only to see Rajetti pointing madly at the sea.
The Black Pearl was no longer the only ship in the sea, another ship was floating beside her.
Barbossa quickly recognized the Chinese warship, it was Sao Feng's Empress!
There was an ominous click behind them, and Jack and Barbossa looked back to see Tai Huang and his men pointing their guns at them.
The two of them knew that these pistols were different from their damp weapons, they were not ambiguous when firing, and Tai Huang's men would never be soft-hearted.
The two sighed heavily, luck was not on their side.
They were betrayed.
......
As the landing party was escorted back to the deck of the Black Pearl, Barbossa and Jack saw that the pirates loyal to them were shackled and stripped of their weapons.
A group of Chinese pirates had taken over the ship, outnumbered and outnumbered.
But at least someone was trying to resist, with Elizabeth Swann in chains standing between two guards who tried to attack her but were clearly getting no good.
One had a bloody lip and the other had a swollen eye, and both looked unhappy.
Barbossa and Jack saw Sao Feng almost at the same time, still wearing the same black robe he wore in Singapore.
This Pirate King makes a great impression against the blue sky.
His eyes were calm and his expression was smug, and he was walking leisurely across the deck toward them.
"Sao Feng." Barbossa narrowed his eyes and said, "It's really an unusual coincidence that you appear here."
"Luck will only smile to those who are ready to meet its gaze." Xiao Feng replied wisely.
He moved closer to Jack, who had already slipped quietly behind Barbossa, trying, unsuccessfully, to be as inconspicuous as possible.
"Jack Sparrow, you have humiliated me greatly."
Without warning, Sao Feng punched Jack in the face, knocking the pirate's hat off.
Jack backed up again and again, almost falling, but he managed to stand still with a wave of his arms.
Jack stooped to pick up his hat and put it back on his head.
"Then we're in debt now," Jack said, raising his eyebrows hopefully.
"Not yet." Xiao Feng said sharply.
Just then, Will came up from below deck, looking anxious.
He quickly saw Jack's bruised jaw and Barbossa's angry eyes.
Then, he saw Elizabeth in shackles, and walked quickly to Xiao Feng.
"She wasn't part of the deal," Will said, "and she let it go."
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