A/N: wow, I was actually writing the entire time that I wasn't updating for once. It took a little bit to come up with the procedures for the pirate meeting and I thought that they might be slightly formal about it because of the code, but of course, that was before I saw AWE. And speaking of which, I will attempt to end it somewhat like the movie was ended, but I'll give it a little spin of my own. Don't leave me now, we're just getting to the most important part! Enjoy yourselves.

DISCLAIMER: umm.

Chapter 9

Barbossa's voice needed a bit of tuning, but it would do for the moment. Jack was just Jack and bellowed the song, though surprisingly in key. Funnily, Barbossa was almost embarrassed for him, but more for the fact that he himself was singing along and completely out of tune.

Now that she knew it, Elizabeth would sometimes join in with the chorus, and soon the whole crew was up on deck singing.

Passing pirate ships took the song up and sailed with it. A gang of Asian pirates picked it up from a bunch of Australian buccaneers and began roaring in a mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Cantonese. Within hours the song was picked up by the attentive ears of an Asian pirate captain, who set sail immediately. His crew sang raucously, giving the signal to a band of Brazilian pirates.

From there the words were passed on to a small Canadian junk, and then an African galley, until the seven seas seemed to echo with song. By the time the week was out, a time during which the crew of The End very much hoped that Davy Jones thought they had died, Shipwreck Cove was crammed with pirate ships, all proudly flying the Jolly Roger or identifying flags of the captains' own design.

Elizabeth, Barbossa, Will, and Jack all stood at the rail of The End in a row, staring around the cove.

"There's not been a gatherin' like this in our lifetime," Barbossa voiced to no one in particular. Jack curled his lip.

"And I owe them all money," he muttered as though he had just realized the fact. "Bugger."

"Ye're borrowin' nothin' from me," Barbossa told him.

Jack cursed again while the older man started pointing ships out to Will and Elizabeth.

"That there's Sao Feng," he said, indicating an Asian junk with accordion-like sails that looked about the color of parchment. "And Vaunesse. An' there's that odd one who wears a turban, could ne'er pronounce his name."

"And the fourth pirate lord…?" Elizabeth prompted.

"Present," Jack murmured, keeping his eyes on Sao Feng's ship. "They're all here, we should go in."

As if on cue, every ship produced a plank and placed it between their own ship and another.

"In?" Elizabeth asked Barbossa, eyeing the woods all around. "In where?"

"Aye, in," he answered unhelpfully. "Follow Jack."

Elizabeth obeyed him.

Where there had been nervous, excited chatter before there was now a tense hush. The atmosphere crackled with it as Jack led the way nimbly over the planking despite his head wound.

"Jack is the fourth pirate lord?" Elizabeth whispered to Barbossa as they crossed the deck of yet another foreign ship.

"Aye," Barbossa muttered. "One from each corner o' the world." He seemed reluctant to speak aloud for whatever reason, almost apprehensive.

Elizabeth left the silence as it was until, walking along a well-worn path in the woods, they came upon a building, and she turned around and said, "That's…it?"

Barbossa nodded, his eyes fixed upon the building. "Built by Morgan and Bartholomew 'emselves. Very respected by all pirates."

The structure had a heavy darkness, a certain foreboding about it that was intimidating to those who had not seen it before. That was the most grandeur the building had about it. Elizabeth started at it in slight confusion. Definitely not big enough to house the entire crowd of pirates, she decided. No arches; no turrets; no sculptures of women or ships; nothing but a rough, worn carving of a skill and crossbones above the doorframe to identify the building for what it was.

And yet there was a certain reverence about the pirates, as Barbossa had said; not only those who passed through the door, but even those who stayed outside for the sake of space.

Barbossa was allowed inside because he was a captain, Will and Elizabeth because of his and Jack's allowance. The rest of the crew remained outside to exchange tales and brags with the pirates from other countries.

Jack and Barbossa doffed their hats and then replaced them as they passed beneath the doorframe. Will and Elizabeth touched their foreheads uncertainly out of respect for the pirates' customs.

Inside the building was a large room. A table with four ornate chairs was at the room's head. Below it was a longer, rougher table with wooden chairs all around it. Two rows of benches were around the perimeter of the room. It was once of these benches that Will and Elizabeth sat on, staying together only so that they could easily find Jack and Barbossa at the end of the meeting.

Barbossa headed for the long wooden table and sat at one end. Sao Feng, Vaunesse, Jack, and the short man who wore a bejeweled turban appropriately walked, swaggered, waddled, and strode confidently to the high table.

When everyone was seated, every bench and chair in the room was filled, and some pirates were even scattered around on the floor.

The four pirate lords stood. The hum of talk died away.

"Welcome, Brethren," Sao Feng announced in a slight accent. He paused to look around at all of the pirates.

"Never did I imagine that I would witness such a gathering in my time, though my title was handed to me by my father. I know that I didn't call this meeting, and so I merely welcome you all and ask the one who did to step forward and state his reasons."

Before Jack could speak, however, Vaunesse raised his voice. "I, also, never thought that I would witness a gathering such as this," he said in a thick Australian accent. "However, I never imagined that when such a gathering came that a woman would be in the Brethren's chambers."

All heads turned to Elizabeth, and there was an outbreak of disturbed muttering. Jack quickly spoke up.

"Miss Elizabeth Swann is present at my own invitation and for my own reasons," he said firmly. "She may be the cause of my death, but she was also the reason that I was saved from death. She also played a part in the reason for this meeting. I advise that none of you dogs dare hurt or touch her."

The man with the turban was nodding slowly, his eyes closed. Sao Feng spoke again.

"Good. As we are now aware of who called the meeting, may we find out why? Or was it merely for your entertainment, Captain Sparrow?"

Jack cast the Asian pirate lord a dark look.

"We called the meeting to give news and present a decision," he said in a clear, carrying voice. "Lord Bucket, I mean Beckett, of the East India Trading Company got his hands on the heart of Davy Jones. But," he added quickly, speaking loudly over the pirates' cries of outrage, "we'd made a deal with Jones: our lives for his heart. We managed to steal said item from Beckett's office."

Jack pause to allow the pirates a cheer. Then he went on.

"Jones still thinks that Beckett has the heart, and as long as he thinks that way, Beckett will let him believe it. We heart that whoever kills Jones must captain the Dutchman for eternity. So the decision…is this: have one of the Brethren become captain of the Flying Dutchman, or find something else to do with the heart?"

The uproar at this was deafening.

"SHUT UP, THE LOT O' YE!" Barbossa thundered over it all. "'SNOT GETTIN' US NOWHERE!"

The pirates all fell silent, giving Barbossa almost meek looks.

"Thank ye," Barbossa said, and sat.

"Thank you for your incredibly loud set of lungs, Captain Barbossa," Sao Feng said, raising an eyebrow. There was a flutter of nervous laughter throughout the room.

"Ye're quite welcome," Barbossa retorted. "Be happy it wasn' quiet when I decided to aid ye."

"We're all very thankful, Barbossa, as I could her 'HAAUUL OON THE MAIN BRACE! MAKE READY THE GONS!' from the brig on the Pearl," Jack commented with a small smile.

More quiet, scattered laughter. Barbossa sniffed. "Might we get back t' what I was bellowin' about in the first?"

"Good point," Jack said. "Well, us four'll present our opinions, I suppose. Then a few others'll come up and make an argument for one point or another. You can't just come up and say your point of view and sit down, you'll get your say so in the voting. Sao Feng, you first."

Sao Feng clasped his hands, unclasped them, closed his eyes, and fiddled with his beard before he spoke. "The best course of action would be to have one of the four of us captain the Dutchman," he said, almost hesitant. "This way there would be a ruler of the seas that understood the needs of the Brethren."

This short statement done, he nodded to the short man in the turban, who gave a quick nod in return.

"We should hide ze heart zomewhere and use it to control Jones," he declared in a surprisingly high voice. "Ve vill know zat he vill deal wiz his crew appropriately. Also, ve vould haf no means of being sure zat ze one of us vill not turn on ze Brethren, because ve vill haf no heart to control him."

He shifted his attention to Vaunesse. The Australian pirate lord was hard to predict: he often seemed soft-spoken, but could turn violent when the need arose. "I agree with Kretzvblak's opinion," he said shortly. "Captain Sparrow?"

Jack closed his eyes in thought, frowning. It seemed to Elizabeth that he was swaying lightly, but took it as a trick of the light. He opened his eyes, still frowning, and touched his bandage briefly.

"I say we select the most trustworthy one of us four to captain the Dutchman. It would be useful to have a pirate lord that ruled the seas and was unable to be hanged or manipulated by the Company."

Jack sat, though the other three were still standing.

"Captain Sparrow!" one of the men at the same table as Barbossa called. "What'd you do ta your 'ead, addle your brains ev'n mo'?"

"That, my friend, is no business of yours," Jack said coldly. "Have an opinion on the matter, Van Blipley? Care to share it with us?"

"Van Bletley, Sparrow," the man spat. "I say we control Jones with the heart."

"Oh?" Jack said. "And why's that? 'Cause it's the opposite of what I said?"

"Yes, that's why, now may we bloody move on?" Barbossa said irritably. "Like a bloody pair of housewives gibbering away at their poor husbands, you are…"

"Thank you once again, Captain Barbossa. Now, any that wish to share an argument may step forward," said Vaunesse.

Nearly the whole long table of pirates stepped to the front, including Barbossa and Van Bletley. Elizabeth almost laughed aloud at the expression of disgust and exasperation on Jack's face.

Although Jack had expressly told them not to, many of the pirates merely stated their opinion and sat back down. He finally pulled out his pistol and threatened to shoot the lips off the next person to do so. About half hastily went back to their seats.

After what seemed like days, it was time for the voting. Jack stood up on his chair to count, murmured the numbers to Vaunesse, and sat. The numbers were passed from Vaunesse to Kretzvblak and from him to Sao Feng, who nodded. He announced, "The heart of Davy Jones will be hidden, and the Brethren will control him this way."

For some reason, all eyes focused in on Jack. Confused whispers erupted quietly around the room. Jack was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and a small grimace across his face. His eyes opened. He seemed surprised at the stares.

"What're you looking at?" he demanded of one shy-looking pirate. The pirate gulped and quickly looked away, provoking laughter from the room once more.

"Why we still 'ere? Decision's been made," Jack continued, suddenly seeming eager to leave.

"Where will we put it?" one of the captains shouted.

"We'll find that out once we're actually sure we'll be alive to hide it," Jack answered. "Go on, all of you get out of 'ere, shoo." He rose and swayed down the room. The rest of the pirates followed him with great noise and chatter, again doffing and donning hats at the door.

Will and Elizabeth wound their way through the throng to Barbossa.

"Why's Jack suddenly wanting to leave?" Will asked.

"He don't think they made the right decision," Barbossa said. "An' his head hurts, I can tell."

"Don't you think those stitches should come out?" Elizabeth said.

"I reckon they should sometime soon," Barbossa answered unconcernedly.

"When?"

"When he rips 'em out in frustration instead of 'is hair."

"Really, Barbossa."

"Tomorrow. Happy?"

"Quite," Elizabeth said, satisfied.