Ahab saw his men one by one go down. He started to see another fleet of pirates, 50 pirate ships against one tattered ship. There is almost no chance of surviving at this shot. He is surrounded, he saw Captain Mason jump to the sea and swim away rather than helping their crew. Talked about cowardly deserters.
Then Captain Jones finally came out and he was different. His right hand seemed weird.
Ahab stood frozen. Blood dripped from his saber, the cries of battle fading into the background as his eyes locked onto Captain Aaron "The Kraken" Jones.
The pirate captain was unlike anything Ahab had ever seen. His towering frame was wrapped in a tattered black coat, but it was his right arm that sent a chill through Ahab's bones.
It wasn't just a hook. It was something else entirely.
Gleaming metal, segmented joints, and glowing veins of blue light coursed through the mechanical limb, twisting and flexing like it was alive. It hissed when it moved, a sound Ahab had never heard before.
"This... this isn't possible."
But it was. And it was standing in front of him.
Jones grinned, showing teeth that were too perfect for a pirate. He held up a small, leather-bound book in his left hand and tapped the cover with his metal fingers.
"I know you," Jones said. "I've read about you."
Ahab narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Jones chuckled, flipping through the pages. "Oh, it's all here. The rise of Captain Ahab. The navy's greatest young officer. The hero of the pirate wars. But you don't stay the hero, do you?"
Ahab's grip on his sword tightened. "Enough riddles. If you're going to kill me, then do it."
Jones shook his head. "Kill you? No, no, no. That's not how the story goes. You're supposed to win this battle. You're supposed to lead the navy to victory, defeat the legendary Captain Redbeard, and become a symbol of strength."
Ahab's breath hitched. Captain Redbeard?
That pirate had been dead for decades. What was Jones talking about?
"But then..." Jones snapped the book shut and grinned. "Your own people betray you. They turn on you, call you a traitor, and execute you at the navy headquarters."
Ahab felt his heartbeat thunder in his chest.
"This is nonsense," he spat.
Jones laughed. "Is it? Then tell me, Captain. How did I know you'd be here? How did I know the navy would send you on this suicide mission? How did I know you'd take that ship full of rejects and try to fight back?"
He lifted his robotic arm and pointed at Ahab. "Because it's already been written."
Ahab's mind was spinning. This wasn't just an ambush. This was something far bigger.
"Where did you get those books?" Ahab asked, his voice low.
Jones smirked. "I stole them. From a place you wouldn't believe."
Ahab didn't have time to process that, because at that moment, the second fleet of pirate ships surrounded them, their cannons aimed and ready to fire.
Jones stepped forward, offering a hand.
"You can still escape your fate, Captain Ahab," he said. "Or you can follow the story... and die."
Captain Jones threw the Books to Ahab's direction.
"Read the title, Captain. And tell me, if the thing I just said is the truth or it was all a made up story from me."
Ahab hesitated. The battle raged around him, but his eyes were locked onto the book lying at his feet.
"Elias Ahab: The Bloodline of the Madman."
His name. His story. Written centuries after his time.
Captain Jones watched him with an amused grin. "Go on. Read it. See what fate has in store for you."
Ahab clenched his jaw. He didn't trust the pirate. He didn't trust anything about this. But something deep in his gut told him that whatever was in that book mattered.
He knelt, picked up the book, and flipped it open. The pages were aged, but the ink was crisp, clear and far too modern for his era. His heart pounded as he read the first words:
Ahab, son of the infamous madman who hunted Moby Dick, would rise as a hero of the navy... only to be betrayed and executed as a traitor.
Ahab's breath caught in his throat. He turned the pages, scanning details that shouldn't exist. The victories. The ambush. The trial.
Despite his service and dedication, the navy deemed him a liability. Framed for treason, he was shackled and paraded before the people of Nantucket, where he met his end at the gallows.
Ahab's hands trembled as he turned to the final page.
Some say his death was necessary. Others say it was a mistake. But one truth remains, Ahab died a man betrayed by those he fought for, just as his father was betrayed by his own madness.
He slammed the book shut, his heart a storm of fury.
Jones chuckled. "You see, Captain? Your fate is already written. Your people will turn on you, no matter how many pirates you kill. But I can change that."
Ahab shot him a glare. "Why do you care?"
Jones spread his arms. "Because I'm sick of reading the same damn story! In my time, they teach us about you like a cautionary tale. 'The Fool of the Seas', that's what they call you."
His metal fingers curled into a fist. "But I can rewrite history. I can destroy the Ahab they talk about in schools and make you a true legend."
Ahab's mind was spinning. His time? Schools? Was Jones saying he wasn't just from another land—he was from another time?
The pirate grinned, as if reading his thoughts. "Oh, I see the questions on your face. And trust me, you wouldn't believe the answers."
Ahab's grip on his saber tightened. His men were still fighting. His ship was burning. And now, standing before him, was a man who had read his entire life like a story.
Jones extended his metal hand.
"Join me, Ahab," he said. "Let's burn the history books together."
Ahab hesitated and had a little thought to accept "The Kraken" offers. But, his mind is a mess right now. Betrayal, Future and why is there a book about him? They learned about him? What is All this actually?
But, one thing about this man is he has a solid determination and he doesn't want to live a traitorous life like a lot of people around him.
"No." Ahab says while drawing his saber towards Captain Jones.
"Very Well" Captain Jones said. "Whoever kills a legend becomes a legend anyway, that means I will kill you and I will become the man who ends the bloodline of the madman!"
Ahab rushed toward Jones with a saber in his hands but Captain Jones turned his robotic arms into a blaster and shot Ahab with pink coloured blast. Those things shocked Ahab but, he's already accepting his fate that he can't win this. At least he didn't die a traitor like others wanted him to be.
The blast shoots Ahab into the sea.
As he drowned by the sea water and maybe thought this was his last breath, Ahab saw something swimming in the sea. It was a white whale. Is this perhaps... Moby Dick's.
Suddenly everything around Ahab is transitioning.
Ahab staggered forward, his boots squelching against the marble floor, soaked with seawater. His chest burned where the blaster had struck him, but there was no blood—just a lingering heat, as if the wound wasn't fully real.
He turned back. The whale was gone. The sea was gone.
Instead, towering bookshelves stretched endlessly around him, their spines glowing faintly in the dim golden light. Dust hung in the air, yet it smelled fresh, untouched by time.
His eyes landed on the wooden front desk. A brass nameplate gleamed atop it:
"Thomas "Tom" Taylor – The Keeper of Human Imagination and Consciousness"