Choosing You (Will Turner)

03

Evelyn pulled at the edge of her sleeves of her dark blue silk bathrobe as she and the others were lead through the bathhouse. Thankfully, Leo made sure she didn't have to change in front of all those men. After his words of discouragement, he found an area in the room that allowed her enough privacy to change while he, holding his coat up to blocker her, kept guard, watching the men so they didn't take a peek at Evelyn.

The bathhouse was full of steam. As they maneuvered their way through the house, they passed tub after tub on each side of them. Giant, dirty men sat in the water while several whores posed themselves on the edge of the tubs. Evelyn swallowed, an uneasy feeling swarming back around in her stomach. She made eye contact with each of the men in any of the bathtubs she looked at, even made eye contact with some of the whores. Some of which were not happy to see a young and beautiful girl walking through the bathhouse. Saying nothing, Evelyn shifted her focus forward on the giant man with a big tattoo stitched on his back. This blocked her view of what where she was going but she could care less. She bit her lip, glances twice more at each side wondering where Will had been during all of this.

The man before the group walked off to the side of the room, opening Evelyn's view. A pair of twin girls had moved away from a man that had his back turned to the crowd. He had his arms raised, taking in the fresh steam that had risen below him. As it clear, the man turned around. Scars were stretched across the side of his face and a long, dark skinny beard flowed down to his chest. Evelyn instantly realized she was standing before was Captain Sao Feng. Captain Barbossa bowed at Evelyn's side. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Evelyn and Leo to bow as well. The two shared an expression before bowing awkwardly as well. The captain's dark eyes zoomed their focus on the pirate beside Evelyn. "Captain Barbossa, welcome to Singapore." He spoke, voice soft and airy, like an ancient whisper. Barbossa stood tall, bowing his head in gratitude while the others stood up. Captain Sao Feng held up a red scarf in between his long nailed fingers, bringing it up to his nose to sniff. He turned his head to one of the twin girls and quietly said, "more steam." The girl bowed her head, pulling down at on a ball that was at the end of a string that caused repeating clicking noises to occur, followed by the rising of more steam. "I understand that you have a request to make of me." Sao Feng spoke louder than before, walking down a few steps to come face to face with Barbossa. Evelyn and Leo slowly moved behind their captain, watching over his shoulder to look upon the captain of the evening. For Evelyn, she just leaned over to look around Barbossa's shoulder in order to see.

"More of a proposal to put to ye." Barbossa replied. "I've a venture underway and I find myself in need of a ship and a crew."

A hum came from Captain Sao. He took a step back, a puzzled look on his face. Lifting a hand up, he reach to scratch his head with his long, dirty nails. "It's an odd coincidence."

"Oh! You have a ship and a crew that you don't need?" Evelyn asked in her usual sweet voice.

"No." Captain Sao, closed his eyes as his still continued to scratch his head. He shortly stopped, lowering his head and he walked slowly from them. "Because earlier this day, not far from here, a thief broke into my most revered uncle's temple and tried to make off with these." He came to a stop in front of a old man that was holding a rolled up item. He pulled out the object, flipping it into both hands. Evelyn, Barbossa, and Leo all exchanged a look before Captain Sao turned back to them. "The navigational charts." He tilted his head, looking at them. "The route to the Farthest Gate." He threw it to one of his men that was standing closest to Evelyn without so much as blinking.

"Wouldn't it be amazing if this venture of yours took you to the world beyond this one?" The captain started speaking to Barbossa in his whisper like tone once more, lifting his hand up for affect.