The Golden Baby, Captain Fishleg’s ship, is moored at the docks of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, where Zagor and Chico have the chance to meet his friendly crew once again.
But the surprises are not over yet: on board there is also the treasure hunter Digging Bill, who has accidentally come across the map of the place where, centuries earlier, the Esmeralda had sunk the ship of Captain Maldonado, laden with Inca gold. Digging Bill has hired Captain Fishleg and his Golden Baby to track down the wreck and recover the treasure. However, others are interested in this treasure as well, for example, a ruthless Egyptian crime boss… Monsieur Hammad!
Thanks to Zagor’s intervention, the Golden Baby manages to set sail on its expedition, but then the unexpected happens: Chico accidentally burns the treasure map of the Esmeralda! Fortunately, Ramath the fakir steps in and, using his psychokinetic abilities, summons the spirit of Captain Maldonado and learns the location of the treasure.
To locate the wreck that still holds it, Zagor dons a diving suit and descends into the depths of the sea, venturing into a new and fascinating world, and manages to recover one of the treasure chests before the Esmeralda becomes definitively unreachable.
But then, as if emerging from the depths of time itself, the pirates of the ruthless Captain Serpent appear, descendants of those faced centuries earlier by the captain of the Esmeralda. They easily capture Fishleg and the other sailors: some want to use them as slaves, others to feed them to the sharks. But not Zagor, who brings hell into the pirates’ lair!
The final duel between the Spirit with the Hatchet and Captain Serpent has an unexpected outcome… but even more surprising is the content of the only chest recovered from the wreck of the Esmeralda!
With 389 pages this is now longest Zagor story surpassing Assalto alla banca(308 pages).
