Jack Sparrow and the seven avatars.

Chapter five: They have lost their mind

"I say we kill him."

Jack shoots the mo hawk guy a heavy glare. What is with him trying to kill him?

"I say we don't."

Everyone turns to the blonde with a shocked look on their faces. Jack was surprised. He would have thought the blonde would want his head on the spike to leave her to fight the monster alone. She shrugged her shoulders. "He is cute, and I would love something good to look at."

"And me?" Mo Hawk asked with a flirty look on his handsome face. The blonde eyes moved from his head to his toe, and then she said, "What is there to look at?" Her green eyes smiled at the boy. They seemed so friendly that Jack wondered if something was happening between them.

"Awh!" Mo Hawk clutched at his heart, looking as if he was hurt. The blonde rolled her green eyes but was still amused by the boy's acting.

"Guys, we are veering off track." Miss Purple tried to return to the discussion, but Jack wished she wouldn't. They're debating what to do with him, and it will not end in his favour. It looks like we have two options.

"How about he join us?" Straw Hat cuts in, and everyone turns to look at him. Jack tried to see his face but was not having any luck. What does he mean to join them? He was not interested in whatever they were doing here and wanted to go home.

"Let me get this straight. You want Mr Wuss here to join us?" the dark boy looked at Straw Hat like he had lost his mind.

"Why not? We are short on one person; he might as well take his place. We need all the hands we can get if we are going to make it through the seven gates. Moreover, if he is the replacement, he has a role here."

Nothing these guys were saying made sense to Jack, so he decided to join in the discussion about his future. "How about you send me home? I didn't mean to interrupt whatever this was," he chirped in, but his voice wasn't loud enough because he was nervous. He has always been socially awkward, and the dangerous situation wasn't helping.

They acted as if they didn't hear him and continued to talk about him like he wasn't there, hog-tied like a common criminal.

"I think his role is to get one of us killed because that is what would happen if we let the chicken join us. How of all the humans on earth, they sent one with no spine?"

Jack rolled his eyes at the boy's words. Of course, he has a spine; he wasn't an invertebrate animal. What is his problem? Jack can't understand why he hates him this much and wants to get rid of him, except for the obvious. He isn't even the one he left in the forest, and he is mad. Maybe he likes the blonde, and they are more than friends.

Great, he just tried to get his girlfriend killed. It would be better if they talked more about sending him home rather than killing him. He doesn't even want to be part of this s**t show. Whatever it is. He still thinks that this is a Hollywood production, and he somehow walked into a movie set, and they are toying with him for that.

Well, he is pretty scared now, and they must have had enough laughs, so why aren't they sending him home?

"You guys shouldn't discount him; he might have a lot to offer in that little body of his," the blonde defended, shooting him a wink.

Jack blushed and looked away. Was he as little as the blonde was making him sound? Maybe because she is about six feet and has lean muscles, he might appear minor to her.

"Why are you defending him? He left you to die, remember?" The dark guy reminded the blonde and everyone.

Jack winced at the reminder of his cowardice, but he had no option. The monster was a giant, and he had no idea what it was or how to fight it. Jack was not a fighter. He runs from confrontations and gets bullied a lot at school, and they want him to fight a monster.

He doesn't have a death wish.

"You are right. I am the one he left, and if I am not angry, then neither should you guys."

"Yeah, but we nearly lost you as we did, Kurma," the dark guy muttered as if in tears.

Kurma, why does that name ring a bell? Jack tried to remember where he had seen or heard the name, but nothing came to him.

"But you didn't." The blonde reached out to clasp the dark guy on the shoulder.

"So he stays?" Miss Purple asked, looking at everyone around Jack except him as if Jack's opinion didn't count.

Before anyone could comment, Jack raised his objection.

"I don't want to stay; I just wanna go home," he started crying. He felt ashamed for crying before them but couldn't help himself. The nightmare seemed to have lasted long enough, and he only wanted to wake up.

"And this is who you wish to join us," Mo Hawk mocked snidely.

"Hey, go easy on him," The blonde girl shot him a look and then turned to Miss Purple. "Maybe we should untie him now."

She was the leader. The only one who hadn't joined in the discussion was Lur. He was off to a corner, sharpening his sword like the discussion didn't concern him. Miss Purple made her way to Jack and untied him.

"Please stop crying; it is a little embarrassing seeing a grown man crying like a baby," she said as she untied the rope that held his hand behind. Once free, Jack groaned as feeling flowed back into his arms. His shoulders hurt from being held back. The dark guy worked on the rope on his legs.

When they had removed all the ropes from his body, he tried to stand, but his numbed feet couldn't keep him, and he stumbled. Miss Purple caught him, and his eyes fell into her gorgeous amethyst eyes. His heart started to beat fast as he drowned in their fascinating debt.

Jack didn't know how long they had stayed in that position until someone said, "I think he likes you, Karline."

The teasing words brought Jack back to his senses, and he flew off the brunette, his cheek on fire. "Thank you," he muttered shyly without looking at the girl.

"You are welcome. Now come and have something to eat. Your growling stomach is beginning to annoy me," she said, heading back to the burning flame. Jack followed. She was right. He was famished. The others brought up the rear. They all sat around the fire, with Jack positioned near Lur. He never looked up to acknowledge him when he sat down beside him. Karline passed him a lump of meat, and he frowned when he didn't recognise it.

"What is it?"

"Sentinel meat," the dark guy answered, causing everyone to laugh except Lur, whose only reaction to the joke was a twitch of his lips.

Jack didn't get the joke. He held on to the meat, intending to eat it until they told him what it was.

"It is a bush rabbit. Kurma caught it yesterday," the blonde girl answered.

At the mention of this Kurman person, everyone around Jack turned sad.

"What happened to him?" Jack asked, biting into the meat.