A Man of Fortune

11: Join Me in Paradise

 "Guys... you're gonna wanna see this," I said, staring out at the shocking scene in front of me. I helped the brothers up, us standing on a wooden platform overlooking Libertalia. We had finally found it. "Wow... look at this place," I said in wonder. It was beautiful: an open valley with plenty of old buildings made from both stone and wood, the greenery of the jungle slowly creeping up on them as they had vines and plants growing through the brickworks. In the distance was a grand looking building still mostly intact, it dominating over the town which was right in front of us.

"What d'ya see?" Sam asked openly.

"No houses, wide street... clearly a commercial district of some kind-," Nate started but Sam interrupted him.

"Yes thank you Nathan... c'mon, what do you see?"

"You just wanna hear me say it don't you," Nate said.

"Really wanna hear you say it," Sam borderline pleaded.

"Fine. Libertalia."

"Libertalia!" Sam laughed in disbelief. "The long lost legendary pirate utopia finally discovered after centuries by one Samuel Drake," he said and Nate and I looked at him.

"And?" We asked at the same time.

"And his slightly less charming little brother and gorgeous girlfriend who happened to be tagging on for the ride," Sam said and I froze.

"'Girlfriend'?" Nate quoted.

"He's just teasing Nate," I said firmly, glancing at Sam who seemed surprised at his own words. "C'mon. Let's go explore," I hopped down off of the platform, into the streets of Libertalia.

"This is... I mean, I'm speechless," Sam said. "Holy goddamn shit!"

"That's not really speechless," I laughed.

"It's just... this place, even without the treasure, this is quite the find," Sam said as we wandered.

"If only Alcazar saw it that way," Nate pointed it out.

"You just can't let us enjoy this, can you?" Sam said teasingly.

"I'm enjoying it... but we have a goal remember?"

"Trust me. I know about the goal," Sam said and I had to admit, it would be pretty hard to forget that a powerful drug lord was going to kill you if you didn't provide 200 million dollars worth of pirate treasure in three months. As we walked down the wide, cobbled street that the jungle plants had slowly began to engulf, I couldn't help but marvel at how well made the buildings were to still be intact three-hundred years later. They must have seen so many natural disasters, intense storms and been victims to decay but they were still well preserved. Naturally there were caved in roofs and collapsed walls, but that was to be expected after being abandoned for three-hundred years.

"This is... this is just incredible... how long would it have taken them to build this?" I asked.

"Probably looking at decades," Sam said, looking like a kid in a toy shop.

"Hey guys, check it out. Blacksmith forge," Nate called out to us and we followed the sound of his voice, seeing a broken sign outside of a building indicating that this was indeed a blacksmiths. Inside there was still the blacksmiths counter, large fireplace and even some of the tools. Nate and I inspected the items on the counter, the tools still feeling solid and strong.

"Avast you dirty dog-!" Sam pointed a cutlass at us before the blade fell off of the handle, clattering to the ground. Nate and I looked at each other whilst Sam stood there awkwardly.

"Nice," Nate said simply.

"I was doing a bit-,"

"Oh we got it," I said, trying to stifle a laughter. Sam coughed awkwardly, dropping the handle and pretending that something had caught his attention. "Worst pirate ever?" I whispered to Nate.