Marriage vs. Love

"My intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled," said Jack as he settled next to Elizabeth.

She was slightly annoyed by his presence, but answered him anyways, "I just thought I'd be married by now," she said in a wistful voice. Elizabeth did not notice the look of shock and disgust etched upon Jack's face. "I'm so ready to be married."

Jack handed her a bottle of rum and she willingly took a swig. "Lizzie, I am captain of a ship, and being captain of a ship, I could in fact perform a marr-i-age right here. Right on this deck. Right now…" he proposed.

She gave him a look of disgust and gave back the rum. "No, thank you."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Well I couldn't expect Captain Jack Sparrow of all people to respect the sanctity of marriage. To actually understand what it's like to love a person so much, you're willing to spend the rest of your life with them," explained Elizabeth.

"Pfft, marriage…" he mocked, "is nothing more than an ancient ritual designed to bind a woman forever in chains to her so-called loving husband."

"So what you're stating is that Will does not love me and I am an ordinary woman willing to bound forever as you described," countered Elizabeth.

"No… Elizabeth, you are the furthest from the definition of an ordinary woman, and I suppose you and Will share some sort of special bond with each other…" he admitted.

"Have you ever been in love?" Elizabeth inquired.

"What?" he responded in shock.

"It's a simple question, Jack, have you ever been in love?" she reiterated.

"Hmmm… I suppose during many, many, and many…" he emphasized "points in my life, I had believed so."

"And now, looking back, were any of them real?" she questioned. She never thought she would see the day, but the moment those words came out of her mouth, Elizabeth saw a look of utter lost and sadness upon Jack's face.

"Yes, once, but that was a long time ago." He took a swig of his rum. "Well now, let's not dwell on the dreary past," he noted, returning to his original purpose from earlier. "You and I, however, are very much alike. You and I. I and you. Us."

"Oh. Except for a sense of honor and decency and a moral center. And personal hygiene," she added for insult.

They continued to banter with each other, about the inevitability that Elizabeth would fall to the dark side of selfish impulse. Elizabeth confronted Jack with her belief, "You'll have the chance to do something… something courageous. And when you do, you'll discover something." He moved his head towards her. "That you're a good man." she finished.

"All evidence to the contrary." he argued.

"Oh, I have faith in you."

Davy Jones Collects on Jack's Debt

"Oi, fishface! Lose something? Eh? Scrungili!" Jack didn't notice the steps and promptly rolled down the deck. The crew knew that must've hurt, but Jack promptly raised his jar of dirt in response, "Got it!" "Come to negotiate, eh, have you, you slimy git? Look what I got. I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt. And guess what's inside it?" he taunted. Elizabeth was surprised by this blatant show of childishness.

"Enough!" Jones had no patience left for Jack Sparrow.

Jack's face fell at the sight of the cannons. "Hard to starboard..."

The Pearl's speed had saved them, and the crew cheered as the Dutchman fell far behind, seemingly having given up its pursuit. Will wanted to stand and fight in order to save his father.

"Why fight when you can negotiate? All one needs is the proper leverage…" A jolt shook the entire ship, and Jack's precious jar of dirt smashed open. He frantically searched for the heart of Davy Jones, but there was nothing there among the dirt except for a scrap of paper which he hurriedly put into his pocket. "Where is it? Where is the thump-thump?" but he knew someone must've take it.

Will warned the kraken was coming now, and as everyone else frantically sought to defend the ship, Jack quietly got himself into a boat, and started rowing away from his beloved Pearl. He continued heading towards the island in the not too far off distance, but he could not ignore the chaos taking place on the Pearl. Jack remembered the slip of paper he shoved in earlier, and pulled it out. It only contained three words, but Jack read and reread them. He recognized Tia Dalma's handwriting, and had no doubt of the note's authenticity. He felt a small comfort, and hope entered his heart after such a long time. Jack pulled out his compass and the needle finally agreed upon a heading. He knew now what he must do; he needed to save the people who were part of his life.

Jack returned in time to deliver the crucial shot, and the cargo hold loaded with gunpowder and rum exploded upon the kraken. It moaned in pain before it momentarily retreated back into the sea. Only Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Gibbs, Marty, Cotton, Pintel, and Ragetti survived the brutal attack from Jones. As much as it pained him, he gave the order to abandon ship.

"Jack, the Pearl," Gibbs implored.

He remembered what he sacrificed to raise her from the depths thirteen years ago, and it pained him to leave her now. However, Jack knew that right now survival was his only goal. "She's only a ship, mate."

"Abandon ship. Abandon ship or abandon hope." Gibbs agreed.

Jack gave the Pearl one last longing glance, or so he thought. Elizabeth had him fooled with her kiss until he heard the clink of the chains as she clamped his hand to the mast. "It's after you, not the ship. It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see? I'm not sorry."

He had only one last word for her: "Pirate."

As the remaining survivors rowed away, Jack managed to set himself free by greasing his hand with candle wax from a lantern. It was too late though as he met face-to- mouth with the kraken. At least he was reunited with his favorite hat. He greeted the leviathan, "Hello beastie." and attacked it head-on with his sword as the captain went down with his ship.