Roger's smile was so bright it made Jack's heart pound.
He felt like a weasel was eyeing him.
He remembered an old Caribbean Sea proverb.
When a madman smiles at you especially kindly, he either wants to steal your money or your life.
"Lin, my dear friend, you might have misunderstood something."
Jack cautiously pushed Roger's arm away.
"Davy isn't some big shot, he's a devil!"
"A deep-sea debt collector with an octopus face, always chasing debts!"
"I know, I know."
Roger waved his hand dismissively.
He was already calculating how to get his hands on Davy Jones's heart.
The the heart's chest!
Modern Age!
This isn't a devil, this is a walking experience pack, a mobile upgrade patch!
In Roger's eyes, it was no longer Davy Jones.
Instead, it was an ironclad ship spewing black smoke, and rows of breech-loading cannons gleaming with metallic luster!
"Cough, cough!"
Jack coughed twice heavily, interrupting Roger's daydream.
"Lin, we need to talk about our cooperation."
A rare hint of seriousness and urgency appeared in his smoky-eyed gaze.
"My deadline is approaching, and Davy Jones and his pet Giant Octopus, the Kraken, could come for me at any time."
"I need a fleet! A fleet that can send that Giant Octopus back to where it came from!"
"You promised me this before!"
Jack's voice rose, carrying the indignant grief of a worker demanding overdue wages.
"Fleet, fleet, I know."
Roger impatiently picked his ear.
"It's no use you nagging me about it every day!"
"I just don't have any gold coins!"
Roger spread his hands, completely unconcerned.
"No gold coins?!" Jack shrieked.
"You extorted so many gold coins from Port Royal a few days ago! Don't tell me you spent it all!"
"How could that be!" Roger said righteously.
"Am I the kind of person who spends gold coins lavishly?"
He silently added in his heart: I spent it all on upgrading the tech tree.
"Then you..."
"But!"
Roger cut him off, walked to the map, and tapped it heavily with his pointer.
"Gold coins are like water in a sponge; if you squeeze, there's always some."
"It's just that this time, we have to squeeze someone else's sponge."
His pointer landed firmly on the waters of Port Royal.
"You want a fleet? Simple."
Roger turned around and gave Jack a kind smile.
"Commodore Norrington has at least a dozen brand new frigates there."
"We just go and pick a few to sail back, right?"
"I call this a zero-gold-coin purchase."
"After all, we're pirates; buying a ship is too embarrassing, don't you agree, my dear Captain Jack."
Jack was completely petrified.
They had just offended them, and now they were going back to Port Royal.
And they were going to steal the Royal Navy's fleet?
What was this madman's brain made of?
How dared he?
"You... are you serious?"
"When do I ever joke?" Roger retorted.
Looking at Roger's matter-of-fact demeanor, Jack suddenly felt that Davy Jones wasn't so scary after all.
This Roger in front of him, he was the real devil.
Just then, there was a knock on the Captain's Cabin door.
"Captain, you called for us?"
Hector, with his two ugly henchmen, Pintel and Ragetti, walked in awkwardly.
Hector's face was foul.
He looked exactly like he was constipated, as if to say, "Even though I work for you, I still don't like you."
"Oh, you're here."
Roger glanced at them.
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