Not All Treasure Is Silver and Gold

Chapter 8:

A blur of faces, most of them belonging to men, encompassed their surroundings as they shot off their guns with a bang of smoke or rode by on their horses, kicking up dust. Captain Jack Sparrow led Robin and William through the masses as he went on with his infamous spiel about Tortuga. Robin was half-heartedly listening to him, her focus was on making sure she stayed between the two men. Robin was admittedly unnerved by everything around her.

“More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep the sweet proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga. Savvy?” The Captain paused as they came into view of even more drunkards. Robin grimaced at the sight. It was surreal. “What do you think?” He leaned over to ask them.

“It’ll linger.” Will answered.

Robin scoffed, “I think you need a dictionary to remind yourself what ‘sweet’ and ‘proliferous’ are.”

Sparrow ignored Robin and pulled William closer to him, “I’ll tell you, mate, if every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted.”

Robin rolled her eyes, but then immediately smirked to herself as she watched a woman with tall scarlet hair strut towards Captain Jack Sparrow.

“Scarlett!” The pirate called out to her in elation, meeting her halfway before being slapped across the face. Robin tried to contain her laughter as she stood beside Will. “Not sure I deserved that.” Captain Jack Sparrow murmured.

Robin glanced over his shoulder to see yet another woman approach, as accordance with the movie scene she’d watch so many times, the blonde scowled at Sparrow when he turned to face her.

“Giselle.”

Giselle sneered at him. “Who was she?”

“What?”

After the next slap, Robin couldn’t contain her laughter. Captain Jack Sparrow gave her a bemused stare. “I may have deserved that.”

Robin grinned at the pirate, “And you’ll deserve the next one.”

Without any more pauses, Captain Jack Sparrow led the two ‘siblings’ to his destination. A pig pen, that smelled worse, but was a lot less noisy and populated. Sparrow filled two barrels of water and had Will carry one of them.

As they neared a sleeping Gibbs, Robin stood a foot away from the men, mostly because of the smell.

“Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!” The man bellowed once the water the pirate threw at him splashed his face. He jerked up, but once setting eyes on Captain Jack Sparrow he relaxed. “Mother’s love! Jack! You should know better than to wake a man when he’s sleeping. It’s bad luck.”

Robin’s eyes widened as she watched the large pigs behind Gibbs. She had an urge to pet them and moved closer to William’s side.

“Ah, fortunately, I know how to counter it. The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink.” Jack kneeled before him, “The man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking.”

“Aye, that’ll about do it.”

Sparrow pulled him up to his feet. Will immediately threw his barrel of water once Gibbs was on his feet. “Blast! I’m already awake!”

“That was for the smell.” Robin replied at the same time as Will. Gibbs looked at the two in bewilderment and then glanced at Captain Jack Sparrow in question.

The pirate threw his arm around the man to lead him away from the pig pen, “In due time, Gibbs.”

Robin heard Gibbs mutter something about ‘women’ and ‘bad luck’. She shook her head, but she and Will followed the two.

They proceeded to a nearby saloon that was as loud if not louder than the outdoors of Tortuga. Robin kept a wary eye on the drunk and violent occupants of the pub. William kept a wary eye on Robin. And Captain Jack Sparrow’s eyes were anxiously searching for a drink.

“Keep a sharp eye.” The Captain said to them before seating himself at a table with Gibbs.

Robin leaned against a pillar, Will glued himself to her side, crossing his arms. Robin’s eyes watched the men as they threw each other around, or threw a drink back. It was all dramatic and overdone, something that could only be realized in person. Robin was still trying to get use to the fact that she was indeed experiencing all of this in person.

“This is fun.” She muttered to herself.

“Has your adventure not been satisfying thus far?” William asked with obvious sarcasm.

Robin smiled up at him, he was a few inches taller than her. “Well, it’s only just begun.”

Will furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head over his shoulder. Robin realized he was probably trying to listen to Captain Jack Sparrow and Gibbs’ conversation. Robin tried her best to listen as well, even though she already knew exactly what they would be talking about. At that moment, a rather large, rather drunk woman staggered their way and practically threw herself at Will. With a yelp, Robin backed away from the two and Will struggled to keep the woman at a distance.

“...are the children of Bootstrap Bill Turner.” Robin’s ears perked when she heard the pirate’s voice. “His only son and daughter, savvy?”

Robin frowned at his words.

“Leverage says you. I think I feel a change in the wind says I.” Gibbs replied.

An eerie thought struck Robin. Would the pirates try to sacrifice her to the cursed treasure? Robin chewed the inside of her cheek. For awhile, she felt that this adventure were real. Reality seemed to be plummeting down on her. Would she even survive being here? Would she be able to go back home?

“Are you alright, Robin?”

Robin nodded, not meeting William’s eyes because her thoughts were still clouded by sudden anxiety.

After a moment, Gibbs stood from his seat from the table and exited the saloon. Captain Jack Sparrow on the other hand was ready for a refill.

Will strode up to the pirate and looked at him expectantly, “Well?”

Sparrow tried to drink from his empty mug and frowned as he replied, “This time tomorrow, we will have an able-bodied crew that can set sail to save your bonny lass.” He nudged Will toward the bartender and lifted his mug for emphasis. “Get me another, will you?”

William rolled his eyes, and more out of thanks than want, he trudged to the bartender. Robin took Gibbs’ seat, her thoughts still strained.

“How long do you plan on hiding it from me?” A voice drawled.

Robin glanced up at the pirate in confusion. “What?”

Captain Jack Sparrow stared at her determinedly, “The Aztec gold you’re hiding in your bosom. I know you have it, and I now know why.”

Robin scoffed and tugged at her shirt to reveal her collarbone. It was bare. “You don’t know as much as you think you do, Captain.”

Sparrow’s eyebrows raised as he caught a glimpse of her smooth skin, but his eyes locked with hers again. “Where is it?”

Robin released her shirt and shrugged, “You’ll have to ask the pirate that marooned you.” After realizing what she just said, her eyes widened at the same times Captain Jack Sparrow’s eyes did.

“How do you know about that?” His brown eyes held that spark of interest again.

Robin let out a nervous laugh, “Uh, well… you’re Captain Jack Sparrow.”

With a loud clank, William dropped another mug in front of the pirate whilst giving a suspicious glance between the two sitting down. Sparrow gulped at the drink eagerly, seemingly forgetting what he and Robin were talking about.

When he clanked his mug back onto the table, he locked eyes with Robin once more, a smug look on his face. “Aye.”