"The fountain isn't simply the stone arch, but this whole place is part of the fountain, to take it away, you'd need to take this entire dimension with you." Calypso shrugged. "I can't do that."
Rigel frowned, then sighed. He had expected this, but there was still a glimmer of hope.
"Okay." Rigel shrugged.
"Although I can't take it away, I can still hide it if you want." Calypso tilted her head slightly, looking at him curiously, but added.
Rigel blinked, that would be good. After all, with these subordinates talking, the source would soon be known. Rigel didn't want to stop it, because that would increase his fame, but it would still be complicated if someone else came here and damaged the fountain of youth, like the Spanish did in the movie.
"That would be good, what do I need to do?" Rigel asked.
"I have no way of creating something like Atlantis, even if I had an energy source like that pearl, but we can curse this land to drive out all invaders, but it will require many sacrifices." Calypso said thoughtfully.
Rigel frowned and asked. "How much would 'many sacrifices' be?"
Calypso looked at the captives thoughtfully. "About 100 would be enough for the whole island."
He already needed sacrifices for the source, he would need even more for what Calypso demanded. Sighing, he knew he had even more work ahead of him, he wouldn't use ordinary people for this, so he would need to find many heinous criminals.
He wouldn't even do that to common criminals, what Calypso would do would probably be extremely heinous for those 'sacrifices'.
"Alright, we can deal with that in the future." Rigel concluded, looking at the rest of the excited pirates. "None of you deserve to use the fountain, but you can earn that right in the future as long as you serve me."
The pirates looked clearly unhappy, but seeing Rigel's cold eyes, they swallowed hard and could only weakly agree.
Of course, Rigel decided to let Elizabeth and Will use the fountain.
Knowing it would take Pintel a while to finish his turn, he let Will go first, just as he expected. Will wasn't cursed, but Elizabeth was, she would be 'cleansed' after Pintel finished.
Rigel looked at Calypso and said. "I need you to stop me if I try to force the use of the fountain again."
Calypso smiled and said. "Of course, darling."
Rigel sighed and picked up one of the captives. He activated the fountain again, this time, he received vitality. He wasn't sick or old, so when it was finished, Rigel didn't look any different on the outside, but inside, he felt there was something more within him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
It was only when he put on the crown that he realized the change, he couldn't feel his life expectancy, but he could sense that there was some kind of different energy within him.
Moreover, just as he had expected, this left him wanting more, he was affected by the curse. Gazing at the fountain with longing, he realized that his Occlumency could somewhat mitigate this, but the desire was still there, deep in his mind.
He didn't need Calypso to help him, but he still wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
When Pintel emerged from the coffin, Rigel saw that he had truly lost any trace of the curse. He placed Elizabeth inside, who entered of her own accord. When she fell asleep, Rigel closed the coffin and put it inside his bag.
"Let's go back." Rigel said.
The group looked one last time longingly at the fountain, glancing enviously at Cotton, Pintel, and Ragetti.
However, the 70/100 loyalty still prevented them from acting outside the lines, they took the rest of the captives with them. The captives were already trembling, feeling lucky to have escaped, but their minds were already working on how to avoid the fate of returning to this place.
The group returned to Ragnarok while it was still night, fortunately, Calypso was with them, and Rigel could generate light, otherwise the return journey would have been much more complicated.
When they returned to Ragnarok, it was already morning, everyone was tired, and most went to sleep soon after capturing the captives again.
Rigel removed Elizabeth from the coffin and left her with Will, he himself went to sleep directly in the coffin. Salazar followed him soon after, the snake already considered that place his "home".
When he woke up again, he sighed with relief, the curse had been purged.
Rigel was relieved, but he didn't stay on the island, they needed to find heinous criminals for Calypso to use as sacrifices. So the ship set sail as soon as Rigel woke up, his compass already pointing to the horizon.
The goal this time was to gather 100 unhappy souls as quickly as possible, he didn't want anyone to destroy the fountain.
//-//
(2 months later)
On a merchant ship, a man gazed anxiously at the sea, he was the ship's captain.
"Sir, why are you so anxious?" A rookie asked, looking at the captain who couldn't stay still, constantly using his spyglass to scan the horizon in all directions.
Another, older crew member mocked the boy. "Boy, you don't know, these waters are extremely dangerous. The Devil's Son sails them."
"Devil's Son?!" The rookie's eyes widened, his body trembling with fear. "The one who destroyed an English fleet last month?"
"That's him." The man spat on the ground to ward off the bad omen, his eyes filled with evident fear hidden by his stiff bravado. "There are many stories about him, some ridiculous, if I may say so, but the fact that he's a Witch has already been confirmed. They say he unleashed a plague of the dead on London! Thousands died!"
[A/N: For those wondering if he did it, no, he only killed the baron the last time he was in London, but you know how it is, a rumor starts simple and ends up exaggerated.]
"I heard the king put a thousand-pound bounty on his head." said another sailor who was mopping the floor. "If I had that money, I'd never work again in my life."
"You can dream." The man who spoke first scoffed, then turned to the newcomer. "In any case, for the past few months, that man has been wandering the seas. He doesn't plunder much treasure, but he does take men. No one knows what he does with them, but no one has heard from the men he took since."
The newcomer swallowed hard, fear evident, but curiosity overcame his caution. "They say he found Atlantis, there's a mountain of gold there!" There was evident greed in his tone.
"Yes?" the sailor scoffed. "They also say he found the fountain of youth, is king of the mermaids, and seduced Calypso to warm his bed."
The rookie opened his mouth, even he thought it was unreal.
The captain finally spoke. "It's true, at least the part about the gold. I have a friend in Tortuga, they say everyone saw him carrying giant gold nuggets. Some even stole some of the gold, but the fate of those people was not good at all."
"What happened to them?" the newcomer asked, swallowing hard.
The captain looked at him and ran his finger across his neck, making the Rookie turn pale with fear.
"They say he killed Barbossa and Blackbeard, they also say he found the treasure of that bastard John Flint." The captain looked back at the sea with his spyglass, still speaking. "In all the chaos, if you see a black ship with red sails and a snake-shaped figurehead, you'd better turn around and run fast, they say it's the devil in the form of a child, killing anyone who opposes him."
Everyone fell silent for a moment, until the Captain's body froze, his body beginning to tremble fiercely.
The group stared in shock at the captain as the spyglass fell from his hand. The captain gathered all his strength and shouted. "Quick! Turn the ship to port! We have to run! It's him! The Ragnarok! The Devil's Son is here!"