Jolly Mon - Deep Sea Showdown

The theme music of the Pirates of the Caribbean buzzed in all minds as a ship entered the watchers' visions, plowing toward the docks of Port Royal. [Image 1]

It was a Dory; a small, shallow-draft boat of approximately 5 to 7 m (15 to 22 ft) in length, with a single mast and sail.

At the top of its single mast's rigging, a person was standing tall, garbed in a pirate's attire. One could tell that he was gazing keen-eyed at the harbor. [GIF 1]

Captain Jack Sparrow had arrived.

The music intensified in the thoughts of many inadvertently, and the greedy eyes watching the incoming main character shone even more brilliantly.

Noticing that his boat was filling up with water, Jack Sparrow jumped down and began bailing it out using a bucket. [Image 2]

Jack then spotted the skeletal remains of three pirates, still clad in buccaneer rags, hanging from gallows erected from a rocky promontory along with a fourth unoccupied gallows bearing a sign that said — "Pirates Ye Be Warned". [Image 3]

Pausing, Jack Sparrow took off his hat and placed it above his heart—a moment of exaggerated respect for the doomed pirates as he sailed by them. [GIF 2]

Unlike the main storyline, Captain Jack Sparrow wasn't alone in giving respect to these hanging pirates.

The moment Jack Sparrow took his hat off, a short-haired young man in seaman's clothing also took off his hat and bowed toward the gallows. At this moment, this young man was standing on a cliff, eying Jack Sparrow and his actions.

Simultaneously, the tip of a shark's fin peeked out from the distant sea. Then, a woman rose on this fin as if she was standing on water. Her hair was gold and wet, and her eyes were blue. She, too, took off her slim hat and bowed at the gallows.

Somewhere else, a dark-skinned young boy, prowling the harbor, also paused. He had no hat, but only a bandanna. The young boy took off the bandanna and bowed at the distant gallows.

At the bottom of a nearby cliff, the water rippled, and a figure made of water shot up. It looked like this man was made of water, and even his face seemed almost transparent. A hat materialized on his head, and he, too, took it off and bowed at the gallows.

A young man, wearing a torn straw hat, half-open white shirt, knee-length pants, and a red sash around his waist, was standing on the sandy beach close to the docks.

Just as Jack Sparrow gave his respect to the pirates hanging at the gallows, he took off his straw hat and bowed at them, like everyone else.

[

Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn…

You have achieved a Milestone

Milestone: Pay respect to the corpses of Pirate Sven the Vicious and his two brethren along with Captain Jack Sparrow (Only applicable to Contestants with Pirate Title)

Milestone Rewards:

1. +3 Charisma

2. If you were to get executed by Marines, your corpse would get replaced with one of the two unknown pirates by Sven the Vicious' side among the various Pirates of the Caribbean Worlds in the Multiverse

]

As Kai saw the milestone, a grand weight lifted off his shoulder.

This milestone looked simple, but it was one of those that had serious consequences.

For one, it only applied to the Pirates. Second, it ensured that, if captured, the said Pirate wouldn't be beheaded but hanged, keeping the corpse intact. Then the said Contestant had at least some chance to become an undead, rather than losing life for good. However, this was only a tale spread throughout the Primordial Tower; unconfirmed and unreliable.

It couldn't keep the Contestants from not getting this milestone, though.

Unlike Kai, the Contestants' arrival to this World, especially around The Night of Truce, with Jack's arrival on the next day, was completely random. Not achieving a milestone when they were already here would be just plain stupid.

However, this paying respect, with the main character of a Random World, was just a premier to the incoming bloodbath.

Only Kai in this world knew how vulnerable Jack Sparrow was now, for he didn't have any Protector.

In the Multiverse, all Protectors of the main Characters were the most powerful among the Contestants. So powerful, in fact, that not even the top Characters in the Random Worlds, which didn't have any Abnormality Limiter, could hope to pose any threat to them.

For example, if Kai's Main Mission hadn't cleared his Random World off all the Protectors, then Harry Potter might as well have been enjoying protection from a Top-Level 6th-floor Contestant with absurd Skills, Items, Titles, and Stats. Or, there was even a possibility of this Protector being a low-level 7th-floor Contestant.

One could guess the dread hidden behind such a Protector by remembering the four Protectors who were present at the Night of Truce. They all were around mid-level 6th-floor Contestants and represented the heights a Contestant could achieve in the Primordial Tower. If Kai's exploding strength and Bloodlust hadn't caught Hadoken by surprise, then he wouldn't have scared the Nen-user off so easily, like the case with Moraine.

That's why the Protectors of the main Characters were called Prime-Protectors. A level below them were Lead-Protectors, protecting major Characters. Only then normal Protectors, like Moraine, Blade Singer, Aloof, and Hadoken, came into the picture.

No wonder all were just eying Jack Sparrow from afar, not daring to approach a radius of several hundred meters from him.

They couldn't see the Prime-Protector, but they knew he was there, somewhere.

Kai sneered inwardly as he guessed others' concerns. If Jack Sparrow wasn't so important to his plans, then he would have acted by now. But there was no benefit in harming Jack Sparrow, only endless suffering. Such things had already been tried out and forgotten in the Primordial Tower.

No. Kai wasn't here for Jack Sparrow. At least not for some time.

It was the boat he wanted.

It was the boat they all wanted, their desire for this sinking ship rising through the roof with every passing moment.

Jolly Mon!!! [Image 4]

Jolly Mon was a small fishing dory and obtaining it was a task second only to the Jack Sparrow's Compass for Kai.

It was unknown when the Jolly Mon was built, but it was one of five boats owned by Anamaria's family (-a female Character who appeared later in the main storyline-), who used it for smuggling. Jack Sparrow had stolen this boat from her. [Image 5]

Before arriving at Port Royal, Jolly Mon made port in Shipwreck City, where Scarlett and Giselle (-two wenches-) were convinced by Jack that he would marry them. [Image 6]

Jack Sparrow had obviously tricked them.

However, unknown to the pirate captain, and knowing his treacherous nature, Scarlett had taken four nails off of the Jolly Mon, in case Jack would get cold feet before their wedding.

That's why, by the time Jack arrived at Port Royal, the Jolly Mon had already begun to sink beneath the waves.

For Kai, this sinking boat was just too important.

If a Contestant were to take this boat back to Anamaria, and convince her to sell it to him, then Jolly Mon would become an Item; it was known.

And if a Contestant were to sail the entire Caribbean Sea using Jolly Mon before carrying out the above-mentioned task, then it even had the chance to become a Named Item. Still, such things prominently depended on the Contestant's experiences during this voyage.

Kai wanted to accomplish neither of these tasks. He wanted it as it was; an Artifact!

However, this wasn't any ordinary Artifact. For someone like Kai, who was not only a Pirate but who was also a Captain and had a crew and a boat, this Artifact was a source of prime nourishment.

Actaea was an Item in making, Kai knew. If he could get Jolly Mon, and fuse it with his ship, then Actaea's grade and Stats would experience a substantial boost upon completion.

If the Jolly Roger was a Pirate's Identity, then the Ship was the crew's Spirit.

How could any Captain let go of such a chance?

As Jack reached the ports, his boat kept sinking lower and lower into the sea. Kai's hazel pupils narrowed, and he walked into the sea, taking one step after another.

Ahh!

A scream melted into the bustling harbor, but no one put any mind to it. Such things were common in this era, to say the least. Only Contestants like Kai knew the bloodbath had already begun, and it would reach its prime in the next 15 minutes.

As Kai gawked at the main Character, Jack made an unusual yet graceful entrance to the Port Royal harbor, stepping onto the wooden dock from the masthead. He made port just in time, despite bailing as fast as he could, his craft sinking silently beneath him. And as Jack stalked off flamboyantly, the boat reached the docks, leaving only the top of its single mast above the water. [GIF 3]

Later, Jack bribed the harbormaster to ensure that his name would not appear on the ledger. Nevertheless, this already had nothing to do with the Contestants.

With an elegant dive, Kai rushed into the sea, his body becoming red, giving off scalding heat. Even before he could submerge himself entirely, Golduck-Kai had already come into being, thrashing the seawater with its monstrously powerful tail.

The shark fin, protruding up from the sea surface, vanished. The dark-skinned young man, who had been prowling the harbor, had already disappeared.

The young man, who was standing on a cliff, had already jumped off moments ago.

The water-like entity had melted back into the sea as well.

These weren't the only ones, though. There were more; dozens, at the least.

And all wanted one thing…

Jolly Mon!

But this boat demanded sacrifice like it always had in the various Random Worlds spread across the Multiverse.

A sacrifice of blood, rage, and slaughter!

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AN: A lot of sentences within chapters are in Italics and bold, and their absence cause the weight of some words drop by over half. It makes the shocking factor disappear. Anyway, nothing I can do about it. Not here.

A break tomorrow.