"You've always run away from a fight." Barbossa shouted,
" I have not!" Jack argued
"You have so!" Barbossa shot back.
"Have not!"
"You have so!"
"Have not!" Jack said once again.
"You have so, and you know it!" Barbossa shouted.
"Have not, slander and calumny!"
"Oh how bloody immature!" Marie said exasperated,
Jack winced and continued cautiously,
"I have only ever embraced that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions. I submit here and now, that is what we all must do, we must fight...to run away."
"Aye!" Gibbs shouted causing all the other pirates to agree.
"As per the code, an act of war, and this be exactly that, can only be declared by the pirate king." Barbossa said.
"You made that up." Jack said.
"Did I now? I call on Captain Teague, keeper of the code." Barbossa said.
Jack took on a frightened face. Marie looked at it curiously. Someone stood and said,
"SeSumbhajee proclaims this all to be folly! Hang the code! Who cares... "
Suddenly he was shot in the head. They looked over as someone said quietly,
"The Code is the law." He stepped into the light and Marie's eyes widened. He looked just like Jack, but older. He stood behind Jack and said, "You're in my way, boy." Jack quickly scooted out of his way nervously.
Two old men carried a large book and set it on the table. Captain Teague whistled and the dog with the keys came over handing Teague the keys to open the codex. She looked over and heard Ragetti and Pintel ask curiously,
"How did...?"
"Sea turtles, mate." Teague answered not looking at them. Marie rolled her eyes and muttered,
"Again with the sea turtles…"
He opened the code and read for a moment before saying,
"Barbossa is right."
"Hang on a minute." Jack said looking for loopholes, he read through and said,
"Fancy that."
"There's not been a king since the first court, and that's not likely to change." A French pirate said.
"Not likely." Teague agreed.
"Why not?" Elizabeth asked,
"Because the king is elected by popular vote." Gibbs supplied.
"And each pirate only ever votes for hisself." Barbossa finished.
"No surprise there…" Marie said.
"I call for a vote." Jack said.
And thus the votes were called,
"I vote for Ammand, the corsair."
"Capitan Chevalle, the penniless French man."
"SeSumbhajee votes for SeSumbhajee."
"Mistress Cheng."
"Gentleman Jocard."
"Elizabeth Swann."
"Barbossa."
"Villanueva."
"Elizabeth Swann." Jack's voice rang out.
"What?" Elizabeth asked.
"I know, curious isn't it?" Jack said.
"Definitely that." Marie said.
Suddenly all the pirates began arguing. Jack with a bout of wit addressed the group,
"Am I to understand that you lot will not be keeping to the code, then?"
At this the guitar that Teague had been playing snapped a string. The room went silent for a moment. Then Mistress Cheng spoke,
"Very well, what say you Captain Swann, king of the Brethren Court?"
"Prepare every vessel that floats." Elizabeth replied, "At dawn, we're at war."
"And so, we shall go to war." One man said with an unusually high voice. She looked at Gibbs,
"Eunuch?"
He nodded.
Marie went to Jack and hugged him,
"You did great."
"I did, didn't I?" she rolled her eyes at him and saw his face become serious. He approached Captain Teague who was giving him a look, clearly aware of Jack's trickery.
"What? You've seen it all, done it all, you survived. That's the trick, isn't it? To survive."
"It's not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is, living with yourself, forever." Teague replied. He looked at Marie, "Got yourself a girl?"
"Aye, that I did. This here's Marie Dawn, Marie, my father."
"I thought so." She said nodding at him, "Nice hat, by the way."
He grinned at her and she knew she had his approval.
"How's mum?" Jack asked,
Teague held up a shrunken head and Jack looked at for a moment before saying,
"She looks great."
They went to their ships and waited. A ship appeared out of the mist and Marty shouted,
"The enemy's here! Let's take her!"
As the crew began to shout in excitement, the rest of the armada became clear and the crew became silent. They all looked at Jack in anger and he looked at them nervously and said,
"Parlay?"
