Disclaimer: Not mine, but I can dream...
"...they done wot's right by them... can't expect more'n that..."
Will turned around from rowing the longboat from the dank, dark treasure cave of Isla da Muerta and stared at the back of Captain Jack Sparrow. The captain was gazing ahead of him at the waiting HMS Dauntless, not at his beloved Black Pearl. After all that they had been through, he was not heading for freedom, for the horizen, for the life that had eluded him for ten long years...
The pirate captain then started to remove all of the treasure that he had ostentatiously draped himself with after the curse of the Aztec gold had been broken... one by one, he began to delicately let the jewels slip through his slender fingers into the water... splash... splash...splash...
No, he was not heading for freedom. He was a convicted criminal. He was heading for arrest, for shackles and the noose. He was heading for the "most certain death" that he always spoke of when swearing in a new member of his crew... now he had no crew, no ship, and soon he would have no life.
Will thought about that day on the dock in Tortuga... and he had seen this man display the most "courage and fortitude" that he had ever seen, yet he now had nothing. Will almost felt as though he, himself, was the executioner. He knew that he would not be able to bear watching the captain be shackled once they reached the Dauntless, not after all that Jack had risked for them... Will would have to turn away.
Captain Jack Sparrow lifted the heavy, bejeweled crown slowly from his own head, and lowered it to the surface of the water. Elizabeth and Will both watched in sadness as the captain hesitated, letting the beautiful treasure create small, glistening ripples along the surface, as though it was the bow of a tiny boat... then he let the crown slip from his grasp, and sink into the darkness. He then hung his head. He had felt like a king for a short while... now he did not feel like a king, he did not even feel like a pirate captain... he did not feel anything, at all, except despair.
They could not think of anything to say to comfort him.
After a moment, he raised his head up, then turned around in the boat and regarded the young couple. His eyes had lost their sparkle... they were deep pools of darkness... no light in them, now... but he smiled at them sadly, that trademark golden smile, and said, "Oi... no worries, you two. I took th' gamble, an' lost, eh? Bound to catch up wif me. At least ye have each other, again...an' me Pearl is in th' hands o' ones tha' were me friends... once..." He again turned his back to them, and said softly, "... ye'd both make fine pirates... much better than daft Jack Sparrow..." He hung his head, again. He huddled his arms around himself... he looked very small.
Will resumed rowing... "That's Captain... Captain Jack Sparrow..."
Jack turned his head slightly, "Aye... Captain Jack Sparrow... maybe they'll hang me bones at th' mouth of Port Royal Bay wif th' rest o' them. 'Pirates, Ye Be Warned.'" The captain chuckled softly.
"...I wonder if anyone will remove their hat an' salute me?"
They rowed on in silence... toward the gallows.