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Will Turner was very unhappy.
There was something Elizabeth did not know. Will had seen her kissing Jack on the Pearl .
Of course, he didn’t know that she had done it to trick Jack. He didn’t know that she had chained Jack to the mast. He thought Jack had chosen to go down with his own ship. He also thought that Elizabeth must no longer love him. Will was convinced she was now in love with Jack.
So Will did not particularly care that Jack Sparrow was dead. In fact, he probably would have left him that way, if it were up to him. But Will had his own mission, and unfortunately, it involved helping Jack.
After Beckett had ordered Will to hunt down Jack and his Compass, Will had wound up on the Flying Dutchman —no thanks to Jack’s scheming. Will had been Davy Jones’s prisoner for a short while. In that time, he had discovered something terrible. His own father, the pirate known as “Bootstrap Bill” Turner, was enslaved aboard the Dutchman . Bootstrap Bill had once been a member of the Black Pearl ’s crew, but he had wound up in the depths of the ocean after trying to get out of taking part in Barbossa’s mutiny against Jack. Cursed by the Aztec Gold and doomed to be trapped there forever, he had been more than willing to bargain with Jones when he had been found by the tentacled man. But the price had been terrible: one hundred years of servitude.
Bootstrap Bill was like the rest of the Dutchman crew now—covered in barnacles and crustaceans, a slave to Davy Jones. As time went by, he was gradually losing himself and becoming a part of the ship—literally. Long before the hundred years were up, he’d be lost forever, just another tortured soul swallowed up by the ship.
After reuniting, Will had sworn to rescue his father. He had made Bill a solemn promise: he would return to the Dutchman and free him, no matter what it took.
But in order to do that, he needed a ship—the fastest ship on the seas, the only one that could catch the Flying Dutchman . Which meant, he needed the Black Pearl . And that was why he was on this quest to save Jack. Wherever Jack was ... the Pearl would be there, too.
Now, soaking wet and defenseless, Will found himself in the middle of Sao Feng’s hideout. The Pirate Lord grabbed Will by the hair and dragged him to Barbossa and Elizabeth.
“This is the thief,” he snarled. “Is his face familiar to you?”
Elizabeth managed not to react. She and Barbossa both steeled their faces to look impassive, as if they had never seen Will before in their lives.
Sao Feng studied them and then shrugged. “No?” He picked up a large metal spike on a nearby table. This was a fid, a sharp tool used for winding ropes together. Sao Feng brushed the sharp end of the fid along the edge of Will’s face. “Then I guess he has no further need for it.”
He moved the fid sharply toward Will, and Elizabeth tensed. She couldn’t stop herself. The man Sao Feng was threatening was her true love and fiancé.
Sao Feng saw her reaction and frowned darkly. His suspicions were confirmed. Now he was sure they were working together. The two of them had come to beg from him, while their friend snuck around to stab him in the back.
“You come into my city,” Sao Feng growled, “you seek my indulgence and largesse, and you betray my hospitality?” His voice rose. “You betray me ?”
Barbossa bowed and spread his hands. “Sao Feng,” he tried, “I assure you, I had no idea—”
“—that he would get caught,” Sao Feng interrupted.
Barbossa winced. The Pirate Lord had a point.
Sao Feng narrowed his eyes, tapping the charts against his chest. He was putting the pieces of the puzzle together. “You intend to attempt a voyage to Davy Jones’s Locker,” he said. “And I cannot help but wonder: why?”
Barbossa sighed. It was time to be completely honest—not something that came naturally to pirates. The ex-captain of the Pearl drew a silver piece of eight out of his pocket and tossed it to Sao Feng, who caught it in midair and examined it.
A new, troubled look crossed the Pirate Lord’s face. “A piece of eight,” he murmured. He looked up at Barbossa. “It’s true, then?”
“Aye,” Barbossa answered. “The time is upon us. The Brethren Court has been called.”
Sao Feng banged on the wall. “More steam!” he bellowed.
Below the floorboards, the boiler and bellow system was normally worked by two attendants. But the attendants were now tied up. They had been overpowered by Jack’s crew of pirates, who had crept in through the steam tunnels. At Sao Feng’s cry, Cotton hurried over to the boiler mechanism and quickly figured out how it worked. Soon, steam was billowing up through the vents.
The other pirates once again unrolled their oilskin bundles, revealing swords, pistols, and grenades. They began placing the grenades in the floor joists, preparing to set off a massive explosion.
Gibbs, Jack Sparrow’s first mate, and Ragetti exchanged glances. They were underneath the room where their friends were confronting Sao Feng. If things didn’t go the way they were supposed to ... then this hidden group of pirates was the only chance Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa had to make it out ... alive.
Sao Feng breathed in the steam. “The Court has not met in my lifetime,” he said.
“Nor mine,” Barbossa said.
Sao Feng’s hand reached up and caressed the rope pendant he wore around his neck. “And when last it did, my father told me, it ended ... badly.”
“But the time before that, it produced the Code,” Barbossa pointed out, “which has served us well ... and it was the very first meeting that gave us no less than rule of the sea herself, didn’t it?” Barbossa was referring to the legend of Calypso, an ancient sea goddess. Made up of nine Pirate Lords, the first Court had captured Calypso and bound her in human form. With her no longer able to send storms to destroy them, their own rule over the sea had become absolute. It had been the turning point for pirates everywhere. The imprisonment of Calypso meant that they could be the lords of the sea.
Barbossa’s voice turned darker and more serious. “And now that rule is being challenged.”
“The East India Trading Company,” Sao Feng hissed. He, too, had seen the devastation wrought by the agents of the Company. He had heard of the mass executions, and he had lost some of his own men to their terrible slaughter. He knew that pirates were in grave danger of losing not only their lives, but their reign over the seas ... forever.
“Lord Cutler Beckett is a pox on us all,” Barbossa said, nodding.
Sao Feng began pacing back and forth. “There is a price on all our heads, it is true,” he said. “It seems the only way a pirate can turn a profit anymore ... is by betraying other pirates.” He gave Will a significant look, then turned back to Barbossa. “But pirates are either captain or crew, and nine squabbling captains trying to chart a course is eight captains too many.”
He shook his head and then continued, “Against the Company, what value is the Brethren Court? What can any of us do?”
Elizabeth couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “You can fight,” she cried.
Everyone turned to stare at her. Her frustration was boiling over. What was wrong with these pirates? Couldn’t they see what was happening out there? Didn’t they believe in the Pirate Code? Didn’t they want to take back the sea—their sea?
“You are Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of Singapore,” she said boldly, stepping forward. “You command in the Age of Piracy, where bold captains sail free waters, where waves are not measured in feet but increments of fear, and those who pass the test become legend.” A large pirate with a dragon tattoo tried to pull her back, but she shook him off and stepped even closer to Sao Feng.
With passion in her voice, she added, “Would you have that era come to an end on your watch?”
Sao Feng regarded her with an impassive expression.
“But here you are,” Elizabeth continued scornfully. “Your ships crowd the harbor, rotting on their lines, while you cower in your bathwater!”
The Pirate Lord’s eyebrows twitched, and Elizabeth grew silent. Had she gone too far? She held her breath as he circled her slowly, eyeing her like a predator might study an interesting bit of prey.
“Elizabeth Swann,” he said, “there is more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there? And the eye does not go wanting.” He gave her a charming smile, and she was shocked when she found herself smiling back.
Sao Feng turned back to Barbossa. “But I can’t help but notice you have failed to answer my question.” If the talk of the Brethren Court and Elizabeth’s call to arms had been intended to distract Sao Feng, it had failed. He pressed once again: “What is it you seek in Davy Jones’s Locker?”
“Jack Sparrow,” said a voice from across the room. Will Turner shook the wet hair out of his face and stood up straighter. His gaze was level and unafraid as he stared at the Lord.
Sao Feng froze. Silence fell. Barbossa looked pained.
“He’s one of the Pirate Lords,” Will said.
One of Sao Feng’s attendants, a girl named Park, giggled, but hid her smile when Sao Feng glared at her. The other, Lian, seemed to be hiding a pleased expression as well. Both of them had clearly encountered the legendary Jack Sparrow before.
Will and Elizabeth could both see how angry Sao Feng was to hear the name Jack Sparrow. A vein throbbed in his temple as he fought to keep his voice calm.
“The only reason I would want Jack Sparrow returned from the realm of the dead,” the Pirate Lord hissed, “is so I can send him back myself.”
Barbossa rolled his eyes and glared at Will. “Exactly why we preferred his name go unmentioned,” he said pointedly.
“So you admit you have deceived me,” Sao Feng said. His eyes scanned the room, and suddenly he spotted something suspicious. In the billowing waves of steam and heat, the dragon tattoo on one of his men was melting. It was a fake! There was another spy here—one who had gone so far as to infiltrate his organization. The man went by the name Steng, and he had joined Sao Feng’s pirates some time earlier. Through narrowed eyes, Sao Feng now glared at the man. Was he part of Barbossa’s group as well? The layers of deception appeared to be growing deeper.
Barbossa hadn’t noticed Sao Feng’s preoccupation, and he was still trying to convince him they were doing the right thing.
“Jack Sparrow holds one of the nine Pieces of Eight!” Barbossa said. “He failed to pass it along to a successor before he died.” As Barbossa spoke, Sao Feng caught the eye of Tai Huang. With a subtle gesture, he indicated Steng. Barbossa kept speaking: “And so we must go and fetch him back—”
“WEAPONS!” Sao Feng bellowed suddenly.
All at once, the Singapore pirates sprang into action. Before Will, Elizabeth, or Barbossa could move, the dragon-tattooed guards around them had seized swords and pistols from under the water in the tubs. Within moments, the three were surrounded by a ring of weaponry, all pointed at them.
Barbossa held up his empty hands. “I assure you, our intentions are strictly honorable—” he began. But he was interrupted by the sound of swords sliding up through the floorboards. The pirates below had realized that things were going wrong and had acted quickly, to arm their crew up above. Within seconds, Elizabeth had seized two of the swords and thrown one across the room to Will. Barbossa found himself with two swords in his hands, and suddenly his claims of honorable intentions seemed much less believable.
Sao Feng grabbed Steng and held a blade up to the pirate’s face.
“Drop your weapons, or I kill your man!” he shouted.
There was a confused pause. Barbossa and Elizabeth exchanged bewildered glances. They had never seen this man before.
“Kill him,” Barbossa said with a shrug. “He’s not our man.”
Sao Feng could see that they were telling the truth this time. But then ...
“If he’s not with you,” Will said, as though reading Sao Feng’s thoughts, “and not us ... who is he with?”
CRASH!
The answer came smashing through the windows.
East India Trading Company agents had arrived!