With a simple diversion, Fang Yuan lured Barbossa's strongest undead pirates away to fight the Royal Navy.
Yet Barbossa wasn't worried at all—the curse he hated most had become his trump card.
But when he saw the Vial of Blood in Fang Yuan's hand, his brow suddenly furrowed.
"You've brewed Young Turner into a potion?"
A melted man can't lift a curse, you know."
Now it was Fang Yuan's turn to frown.
What did these damned pirates take him for?
In this era, tales of Sacrifice, alchemy, and cannibalism are common; Fang Yuan has seen plenty on the open sea.
Of course, such things existed in his past life too—just more discreetly hidden.
Take the neighbors across the sea—every so often a suspicious mass-Death case pops up.
"Will Turner's Blood can break the curse on you," Fang Yuan said flatly.
Elizabeth was still present, yet Fang Yuan didn't hide the fact he already knew the coins' secret.
Elizabeth gaped in shock; she'd thought Fang Yuan came to rescue her and had been overjoyed—until her dream burst.
Barbossa's brows knitted as a thought struck him.
They were only one drop of Will Turner's Blood away from lifting the curse.
If they became mortal again, he'd be hopelessly outnumbered and doomed.
The situation had flipped: Barbossa now had to stop Fang Yuan from breaking the curse!
The sea changes faster than the weather, and Barbossa never imagined he'd one day fight to protect the curse.
He knew only four of his men remained; even undead, they couldn't hold off so many foes. He thrust his pistol against Elizabeth and snarled, "Stay back, or I kill her!"
The three remaining Black Pearl crewmen swung their guns toward the nearest target—Jack.
"We knew you were up to no good!" they cursed him.
"Have you forgotten?" Jack reveled in their panic, savoring ten years of pent-up vindication.
He flung his arms wide. "We're pirates—hahaha!"
None of us are saints; the pot shouldn't call the kettle black.
Fang Yuan, the one being threatened, didn't even blink; he strolled toward the Treasure Chest.
"You think I care about some official's daughter?" The question shook Barbossa's confidence.
Hearing that, Elizabeth's face filled with grief and despair.
But she was Barbossa's only bargaining chip; he tried a warning shot to see if Fang Yuan truly didn't care.
Yet while Barbossa was shifting his aim, Fang Yuan's gun spoke first.
Bang!
Barbossa's pistol flew from his hand; Fang Yuan sprinted forward and sprang, snatching Elizabeth to safety.
Elizabeth stared, slack-jawed, arms around his neck. "I thought you didn't care about me?"
Fang Yuan tilted his head. "Maybe a tiny bit."
"And you still used me?" she pressed.
He merely smiled. "I'm a pirate."
Indeed—Fang Yuan is a pirate; doing bad deeds is part of the job description.
Men of the sea act on whatever whim strikes them.
And that very freedom was exactly why Elizabeth yearned for the pirate life.
After the emotional roller-coaster, she flung her arms around him, rose on tiptoe, and kissed him without hesitation.
Thoughts of being used and endangered vanished; hadn't he saved her in the end?
Wasn't Fang Yuan's treatment of Elizabeth a textbook case of PUA?
While Fang Yuan claimed his beauty, Jack on the other side met misery.
The moment Fang Yuan fired, the pirates reflexively pulled their triggers; three bullets thudded into Jack.
Clutching his chest, Jack staggered back. Barbossa, pinned under Fang Yuan's men, burst into laughter at the sight.
"Hahaha, your plan fails—you'll never get the Black Pearl back!"
Jack retreated into the moonlight; his whole body turned skeletal, cutting Barbossa's laughter short.
"You… pirate!"
In the end Barbossa could only sigh.
"You… are Fang Yuan?"
Ignoring the dancing, triumphant Jack, he turned to Fang Yuan and asked.
In the Caribbean, only the notorious Black King could muster so many men and make Jack obey.
Fang Yuan nodded.
"Good."
Barbossa exhaled in relief.
He was, after all, a Pirate King of the seas—however embarrassingly, the Pirate King of the land-locked Caspian. Still, his name carried weight, and losing to a mightier pirate sat better than falling to some nobody.
"You accept your fate?" Fang Yuan asked suddenly.
Sensing a lifeline, Barbossa's tone flipped instantly: "You'll… give me a chance?"
His sudden humility was no disgrace—everyone wants to live.
"I can," Fang Yuan said, jerking a thumb toward Jack, "but I promised he could shoot you once."
"Heh-heh-heh—Jie-jie-jie!"
Jack swaggered over with a wicked grin and drew the pistol that always carried a single bullet.
"Don't worry, Barbossa."
Jack "kindly" consoled his mortal enemy.
"You won't run any risk of recovery," he whispered close to Barbossa's ear.
Then Jack simply picked up a knife, slit his palm, and let the blood pour straight onto the coins in the chest.
He had taken the coins, and now he needed blood to lift the curse.
Fang Yuan, however, deliberately waited more than ten minutes, making sure the pirates who had left earlier had sneaked aboard the Dauntless and started their battle, before producing Turner's Blood.
"If the curse is broken, can The Jackdaw handle the Dauntless?" Barbossa hastily tried to stop him.
"I'll obey your orders!" To save his life, Barbossa was ready to throw everything away.
If Jack could become Fang Yuan's lackey, so could he.
But Fang Yuan pointed at the fifty Black men on the spot: "No problem. Once your curse is lifted, we can put it right back!"
He had trained this many Black Slaves—who obeyed only him—precisely for this moment.
Ordinary folk, once turned undead, would end up like Barbossa and his crew, weeping and begging to break the curse after losing every human pleasure.
But Fang Yuan's slaves were brainwashed from the start; they followed his orders completely. Turning them into undead wouldn't cost them any humanity—they'd never had it to lose.
You can't lose something you've already lost.
Barbossa understood: Fang Yuan had come for the curse on the coins from the very beginning—he wanted an army of the undead!
Yet after hearing Fang Yuan's words, Barbossa was suddenly struck by inspiration.
"Release me—I want to die on my feet!" he shouted, struggling.
Fang Yuan waved a hand, and the Black men let Barbossa go at once.
Barbossa stood up, walked over to Jack, and declared with head held high.
"Even if you're on top now, remember: it was the Black King who gave you the chance to beat me!"
His voice rang out like a bell, as though he were marching to martyrdom rather than facing a debt collector.
That pissed Jack off—this was his revenge; how dare Barbossa steal the spotlight?
Bang!
Without hesitation he fired; the bullet struck Barbossa square in the heart, and Fang Yuan poured Turner's Blood into the chest.
The next instant, bright-red blood seeped from Barbossa's heart.
Though bullets of this era weren't the refined slugs of later centuries, a shot through the heart was still instantly fatal.
Yet Barbossa, struck, uttered no last words—he lunged at the Treasure Chest and pulled out another coin!
In an instant he turned skeletal again, halting his own Death mid-process!
Uh… what?
Jack was stunned; he hadn't expected Barbossa to pull such a stunt.
He shot Fang Yuan a look—aren't you going to do something about this?
But Fang Yuan merely shrugged: "I said you'd get one shot. You've taken it."
What the hell!
Jack clutched his head—how could the rules allow this?
Bug abuse?
Still, he realized Fang Yuan wanted not just him but Barbossa as well.
"So the Black Pearl is still mine, right?" Jack asked hurriedly.
"Of course." Fang Yuan had no use for the Black Pearl, so he nodded.
Captain Jack could only sigh and ignore the half-dead-yet-alive Barbossa.
But Barbossa wouldn't let it go; he even mimicked Jack's earlier moves, thrusting out a cringe-inducing hip-shake dance right in front of him.
Furious, Jack scooped up Barbossa's fallen pistol and pumped several shots into his backside.
Fang Yuan shook his head and pointed at the chest; Barbossa understood at once.
He slashed his hand, dripped blood, and tossed the coin he'd taken back into the chest.
"Thank you, Captain!" he shouted.
The old pirate knew Fang Yuan's hint had given him the idea for this exploit.
Jack sensed trouble—this bastard Barbossa seemed better at brown-nosing than he was!
"Captain, the battle outside is still raging—your orders?" Jack barked, playing the loyal subordinate.
He was right: originally Barbossa's undead crew could sow chaos aboard the Dauntless, but with the curse broken and everyone human again, those few dozen pirates wouldn't even be an appetizer for the Royal Navy sailors.
By now the navy must be marching on the cave once more.
Fang Yuan shook his head; he knew they were all rebels. He ordered every one of the fifty loyal men present to take a coin.
Instantly Fang Yuan had a force of fifty undead at his command!
And this was only the first wave—there were 882 aztec gold coins in the chest, meaning Fang Yuan could ultimately field an army of nearly nine hundred undead.
"This is the true foundation for ruling the seas," Fang Yuan murmured.
"Go—take back my Dauntless!"
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