Chapter 1: Jack Sparrow's Return

Chapter 1: Jack Sparrow’s Return

The moon was high above a dark ocean. A stone prison stood above a beach. A group of guards carried six wooden boxes to the prison wall and threw them into the ocean below.

Jack seemed calm… at first. Then his eyes grew round with fear and he quickly searched the box. He found it-his hat! He placed the hat on his head and smiled.

He reached into the box again. “Sorry, my friend,” he said. He pulled hard at the leg bone of the other body in the box.

With the bone in his hands, he lowered one end into the water. Then he rowed the box toward his ship, the Black Pearl.

Gibbs, a fine old pirate, was waiting on the Pearl for Jack’s return. He helped his captain onto the ship.

Jack took a piece of cloth from his jacket and looked at it carefully.

“So you found something?” asked a toothless pirate named Leech. Every man on the ship wanted news about the treasure.

“Yes, but I haven’t studied it yet,” Jack said.

Suddenly, a small monkey jumped in front of Jack and screamed. It took the piece of cloth and ran into the sails. When the moon shone on the monkey, its skin disappeared. Only its bones were left. This was Captain Barbossa’s monkey and, like its owner, it was cursed. It was the living dead.

Jack hated the animal. He took out his gun and shot at it. The monkey fell and dropped the cloth, but quickly jumped up again. It smiled.

One of the pirates caught the piece of cloth.

“It’s a key,” he said.

“It’s even better than a key,” Jack said. “It’s a drawing of a key.” The sailors didn’t understand. They looked at Gibbs. “Captain,” Gibbs said. “We wanted gold, and…”

Jack turned to his men. “What do keys do?” he asked.

“They unlock things,” Leech said, suddenly excited. “Important things,” Gibbs said. He imagined chests full of gold. “So we’re going to unlock something!”

Jack shook his head. “No. We don’t have the key yet, so we can’t unlock anything, stupid!”

The sailors looked at Jack. “So we’re going to find the key?” Gibbs asked.

“A key won’t help us,” Jack said impatiently. “We don’t know what it opens. Please,” he added, “try to understand!”

“So which way are we going?” another pirate asked.

“Ah, yes…”Jack opened his Compass. On his last adventure, this Compass took him to Isla de Muerta and the hidden treasure. But this time he seemed unhappy when he looked at it.

He closed it quickly and waved his arm. “Pull up the sails. Let’s go… that way,” he finally said, pointing toward the ocean. “Captain?” Gibbs asked.

“I’ll plan our trip later. Now hurry and start sailing!” Jack ordered.

The men were unhappy, but prepared to sail.

“The captain’s acting a little… strange,” one pirate said quietly to Gibbs.

“Yes,” Gibbs answered. “He doesn’t know where we’re going!”

Outside a small church in the Caribbean town of Port Royal, Elizabeth Swann was on her knees in her wedding dress. Her tears mixed with the rain. Around her were overturned chairs… and no husband. Slowly, she went inside to wait.

Through her tears she saw a man come into the church. With him were an officer and a group of soldiers who were pushing a prisoner. The prisoner was the man she wanted to marry, Will Turner.

“Will!” Elizabeth called. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know,” Will said sadly. “You look beautiful,” he added softly.

“You! Free the prisoner immediately,” said a loud voice from the door. It was Elizabeth’s father, Governor Swann. He looked angrily at the officer.

The officer didn’t move. Governor Swann studied the man’s face.

“Cutler Beckett?” he asked finally.

“It’s Lord Beckett now,” the man replied.

“Lord or not, do you have a reason to arrest this man?”

“I do. Mr. Mercer?” Beckett said to a man next to him.

Mercer gave him a letter. Governor Swann looked at it.

“This letter isn’t for the arrest of Will Turner!” he said. “This is for the arrest of Elizabeth Swann!”

“Is it?” Beckett asked. “My mistake. Arrest her,” he ordered.

The soldiers took Elizabeth.

“Why?” Elizabeth asked angrily.

Beckett didn’t answer. He produced two more letters.

“Here’s the letter for William Turner. And this one orders the arrest of James Norrington. Do you know where he is?”

“Commodore Norrington left here some months ago,” the governor answered quickly. “We don’t know where he is.”

“Why are you arresting us?” Elizabeth asked bravely.

Beckett looked at his prisoners. “You helped a pirate to escape. The punishment for that is death,” he said happily. “You remember Jack Sparrow, don’t you?”

Will looked at Elizabeth. “Captain Jack Sparrow,” they said together.

“Yes,” Beckett answered. He turned to his men. “Take them away.”

Captain Jack Sparrow had his own problems. Alone in his room on the Black Pearl, he held his Compass tightly in his hand. He looked at it and quickly closed it. Then he shook it and looked at it again. Not good. He reached for a drink. The bottle was empty. He left the room to find another bottle.

The drinks cupboard was almost empty. He smiled when he saw a bottle on the lower shelf. He opened it and turned it over. Sand fell onto the floor.

“You have no more time, Jack,” a voice said suddenly.

Jack turned. In front of him was a man’s face, covered with animals and plants from the bottom of the ocean.

“Bootstrap?” Jack asked. “Bill Turner?”

“Yes, Jack Sparrow. You look good.”

Jack looked at the sailor. “You don’t,” he said. “Is this a dream?”

“No.” Bootstrap said. He gave Jack a drink. “You got the Pearl back,” he said.

“Your son helped me,” Jack told him.

Now Bootstrap was surprised. “William? A pirate?”

“Yes,” Jack said. “He’s too honest, though,” he added. “So why are you here?”

“Davy Jones sent me,” Bootstrap answered. “I’m sorry that I fought against you. Everything went wrong after we took your ship. I was cursed, and at the bottom of the ocean. I couldn’t move and I couldn’t die.” Jack looked afraid. “Then Davy Jones came to me and made an offer. If I spend one hundred years on his ship, I can rest after that.”

Bootstrap looked at his old captain. “He wants you. He owns you, too, Jack. He lifted the Pearl from the ocean floor for you. You were her captain for thirteen years.”

Jack started to speak, but Bootstrap stopped him. “You can’t stop the curse,” he said. “Your soul will spend a lifetime on his ship.”

“Davy’s ship, the Flying Dutchman, already has a captain,” Jack said quickly. “He doesn’t need me.”

Bootstrap shook his head sadly. Captain Jack Sparrow never stopped fighting.

“It’s Davy Jones’s world for you, Jack. Jones will send his monster, the Kraken, and pull the Pearl back down to the bottom of the ocean… and you with it.”

“Any idea when?” Jack asked. He tried not to sound worried.

Bootstrap lifted his arm and pointed to Jack’s hand. Jack stepped away, but it was too late. There was a black mark on his hand. He was now a marked man!

“He’ll find you,” Bootstrap said.

Jack looked up, but Bootstrap Bill was gone. Jack screamed and ran through the ship.

“Get up!” he shouted to his sleeping men. “Hurry!”

Then he tied a cloth around his hand, covering the black mark. He didn’t want anyone to see it.

Gibbs found Jack behind the mast. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“We’re going to land!” Jack shouted.

“Which port?” Gibbs asked.

“Land! It doesn’t matter where.”

The monkey jumped down from the mast onto Jack’s shoulder and knocked his hat into the ocean.

“Jack’s hat!” Gibbs cried to the other men. He knew the captain loved his hat. “Turn the ship around!”

“No!” Jack said quickly. “Leave it.”

His men were surprised.

Gibbs turned to Jack. “What’s coming after us?” he asked quietly.

Captain Jack Sparrow’s hat sailed far away from the Black Pearl. A sailor on a fishing boat picked it up. He liked it and put it on his head. When another sailor tried to take it from him, the two men began to fight.

Suddenly, the boat shook. The sailors looked around, then down at the hat. They tried to throw it into the ocean. Too late! Their boat broke into pieces and was pulled down into the ocean…

Then the water was calm again.