The sunlight streamed onto Luke's face, gently pulling him from sleep.
He turned his head to glance at the clock on the nightstand: 7 a.m.
Time to get up, freshen up, and get ready for today's shoot.
Annie was long gone, but the wild night they'd shared still left Luke a bit embarrassed to think about.
He hadn't expected that kind of reckless behavior could actually make things more exciting.
When he awkwardly grabbed a towel afterward, hopping around to clean the ceiling, Annie had laughed so hard she could barely stand up.
Luckily, thanks to his superhuman skills, they'd both ended up sharing the embarrassment.
The soaked bedsheets were tossed into the washing machine, waiting for the hotel staff to handle them.
A master-level massage technique wasn't just talk, after all.
Kato bowed, Shimizu surrendered—when it came to this, Luke could hold his own against any expert.
The box of shrimp on the nightstand hadn't been touched, but after sitting out all night, it wasn't fit to eat anymore.
With a pang of regret, Luke placed the meal box in the recycling bin, got dressed, and headed out for breakfast.
"Morning! Didn't keep you up last night, did I?" In the hallway, Luke ran into Bob , who was looking more and more like Johnny Depp.
His apology was half-hearted, his sly grin betraying no real remorse.
"Keep me up? It was over by the time I brushed my teeth. What's there to disturb?" Luke shook his head dismissively.
"You must've heard wrong. That was Depp!"
"You're both the same—six of one, half a dozen of the other."
"No way! Don't tarnish my good name!" Bob shouted, feigning outrage, before turning and heading back to his room.
Luke paused, then it clicked: the guy had his "newlywed" wife with him. Of course he'd be having breakfast with her, not tagging along with Luke.
So, Luke made his way to the restaurant alone.
When he got there, he noticed a funny pattern: most of the female crew members were eating breakfast together in groups.
The male crew members, on the other hand, had an unspoken agreement to each claim their own table.
Almost every guy had a charming Thai woman by his side, smiling sweetly as she fed him bites of food.
They'd even delicately wipe crumbs from the corners of their mouths with a handkerchief.
Sure enough, everyone had a companion—even Director Verbinski wasn't an exception.
Luke gave him a nod and a smile, grabbed his breakfast, and sat down alone.
"What's up? Jealous?" Annie appeared with her own tray of food and slid into the seat across from him.
"Nah, they've got their lovely ladies, but I've got the bond of brotherhood to keep me company," Luke said with a grin.
Annie's face flushed red at his words.
"What are you even saying? Watch it, someone might hear you," she said, giving him a light playful smack.
Gone was the fierce, commanding vibe she'd had last night; now she seemed almost like a shy schoolgirl.
Maybe she was thinking back to last night's antics, because her cheeks grew even redder.
Luke decided not to tease her further. "Eat up. You'll need the energy. Once we're on set, there's no time for snacks."
With that, he focused on his food, eating quietly.
When he finished, he looked up to see Annie gently wiping the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, just like those "wives" with the other guys.
---
On the beach, the Black Pearl sat stranded on the sand, secured by thick ropes to keep the tide from carrying it away.
This was the spot where they'd start filming the cannibal tribe scenes.
Once Director Verbinski confirmed everything was ready, the day's shoot kicked off.
"Action!"
With the familiar clap of the slate, the first scene began.
Turner emerged from the beach, searching for traces of the Black Pearl. At last, he spotted it.
He stared at the ship, stranded on the shore, seemingly deserted.
Where were the crew? Where was Captain Jack?
"Anyone there? Is anybody on the ship?" he called out twice, but no one answered.
"The ship's here, so the crew must be nearby. They're probably fine, right?" Turner crouched down, noticing a trail of footprints.
Following the tracks, he made his way to the edge of the tropical rainforest.
Just then, a parrot swooped down from the distance and landed in front of him.
It was the parrot belonging to Cotton, the old sailor from the Black Pearl whose tongue had been cut out.
This clever bird definitely knew something.
"Hey there!" Turner greeted it.
"Don't eat me! Please, don't eat me!" the parrot screeched in panic before flapping off into the distance.
Eat you?
Is there something out here that would eat you?
Though confused, Turner's nerves were on edge.
Gripping his rifle, he cautiously stepped into the dense forest.
In the script from the previous world, Turner would've found subtle clues left by the crew.
While following those clues, he'd fall into a cannibal tribe's trap.
A rope would snare his ankle, leaving him dangling upside down.
He'd swing his sword clumsily to keep the cannibals at bay, only to be knocked out by a poisoned dart to the neck and dragged back to their village.
There, he'd find Captain Jack, already a prisoner of the tribe.
But this world's script had been rewritten by Luke. The movie couldn't follow the old version.
Turner's character, now played by Luke, was built up to be near-invincible.
If he just stumbled into a trap and got captured like in the original, it'd ruin his whole persona.
So, Luke had redesigned the scene.
Now, Turner moved through the jungle with his rifle in hand, swift and agile.
Suddenly, his brow furrowed—he'd sensed something. He lunged forward.
Clang!
A hook trap sprang up behind him but missed its mark.
Turner hit the ground, rolled, and swung his rifle in a smooth arc.
The rifle bent and snapped back, the force slamming into a patch of bushes.
Thud!
A camouflaged cannibal, painted head-to-toe in green, was sent flying backward.
The shock on his face was clear: How did he spot my perfect disguise?
"Urakarakara, riwa sikong labarasu…" the cannibal groaned in pain, shouting something incomprehensible.
Luke couldn't help but roll his eyes internally. Do cannibals really have to talk like that?
But it didn't matter how cannibals actually spoke. The audience expected them to sound like this, so that's how they'd be on the big screen.
As the cannibal's cries echoed, the surrounding jungle came alive with the rustling of leaves.