Bonus Chapter [1] - 60 Power Stones
As soon as he accepted Jack's request, the man first smiled, but then he froze, feeling strange. He threw his head back and widened his eyes in confusion.
He slowly turned his head towards Rigel, who was smiling at him.
"Excuse me for asking." Jack swallowed hard before continuing. "but I've just been cursed or something?"
"I should have sensed you'd notice." Rigel looked at Jack, impressed. "Anyone who swears loyalty to me is loyal to me, of course, it's not really that strong, just a slight admiration and a desire against betrayal, but for you... I think you've never been loyal to anyone but yourself, right Jack? How does it feel to experience this sensation for the first time?"
Jack froze, the corner of his lips trembling, and spoke. "Horrible, I don't want to feel that again, can I ask to leave?"
"Of course, but only after our mission, as you said before, until you recover your ship, you're my crew member." Rigel smiled, bringing the glass of juice to his lips and drinking it with relish.
"Is this real? I didn't feel anything." Gibbs said, examining his body as if searching for some kind of curse etched into his skin.
"Ah, my dear Gibbs, despite everything, you still know loyalty, or at least some of it, but Jack... I think he's experiencing it for the first time." Rigel chuckled lightly.
"Slander! I can be loyal!" Jack jumped up, adopting a dignified posture, but the three simply stared at him with empty, incredulous eyes.
Jack's lips trembled again before he sat up and spoke. "Well, let's leave that aside and focus on finding the pearl. Barbossa will take longer to reach the island without my help, but even so, we don't have much time."
"I'll assemble a crew." Gibbs stood up, ready to search for sailors crazy enough for this suicide mission.
Rigel finished eating and put things away, looking at Jack who still seemed dazed, his lips trembling.
'Could a kilogram of gold really be worth that much?'
That's probably what he was thinking.
Rigel shook his head and stood up, ready to return to the ship, getting a good night's sleep in this place seemed impossible. "Let you deal with the crew, I'm going back to the ship."
As soon as he said that, Will jumped right after him, he didn't like this lawless place either.
//-//
Rigel woke up to Billy shaking him, the boy was pale with fear, but still approached him.
There was a good reason, Rigel slept in the part of the ship with the most snakes.
There were even snakes crawling all over him while he slept.
"C-Captain, Mr. Sparrow brought the cr-crew back." Billy said, his voice trembling.
Rigel blinked a few times, still confused. He rose from the net with some difficulty, throwing the snake on top of him aside. Billy didn't move, even when the snake fell to his side, but he was still trembling.
Rigel rubbed his face, then waved his hand, drew his wand, and began his morning routine. He pulled out a jug of milk, poured a glass for himself and another for Billy, took two loaves of white bread, and handed one to Billy.
Billy's eyes widened with excitement, there really were benefits to his courage!
He sat on a crate nearby and ate quietly, still frightened by the snakes, but with Rigel close by, his fear lessened.
When the two finished eating and they got into a boat and rowed to the dock, Rigel actually just watched while Billy rowed, but the boy was still excited by the food, so He rowed quickly.
Rigel lowered his hat slightly, the morning sun was incredibly strong. He ran his hand through the water, feeling the sea snakes swimming alongside the boat.
After all, with so many pirates around, he didn't feel safe alone, so he brought along a good number of sea snakes, hidden in the water.
When the two finally landed, the group of pirates felt very strange.
A brat staring at a band of pirates, for a moment everyone was silent.
Gibbs cleared his throat and spoke. "That's the captain, Rigel Black. Don't take his height lightly, he's a witch."
"Wizard." Rigel corrected, without getting irritated.
"Okay, okay." Gibbs gave a forced laugh and took a step back.
Rigel looked at them, calmly walking past them, one of them snorted, unconvinced.
Rigel stopped, looked at him, and asked. "Any problem, sailor?"
"I don't believe in that witch nonsense. I'm not going to follow some brat across the sea. I say we should seize the ship and elect a real captain." the bearded drunkard said.
Rigel smiled, raised his hand, but instead of a wand, a snake leaped from his sleeve, striking the man directly in the face.
"AAAAAAH! " The man screamed, trying to remove the snake from his face, but Rigel just watched.
The group of sailors screamed in shock, trying to run away, but the exit from the wooden pier was already full of sea snakes that had come ashore shortly before.
They screamed again and ran back.