—Carl—

"Look alive," Gibbs yells to the crew," and keep a weather eye! Not for naught it's called Shipwreck Island, where lies Shipwreck Cove and the town of Shipwreck!" I shake my head, walking alongside the older man.

"For all that pirates are clever cobs, we are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things," Jack says as he joins us, frowning in disappointment. "I once sailed with a geezer lost both of his arms and part of his eye."

"What'd you call him," asks Gibbs.

"Larry." Gibbs and I share a look before following our Captain up the steps to the upper deck, the wind tousling my hair. I run my hands through it irritably, wishing I had a way to cut it shorter without using a knife of a straight razor. It's dark by the time we reach our destination, sailing into the Cove and getting a great view of the fortress from the deck. The fortress is entirely made up of ships that had been brought down, all different makes and models sticking out at odd angles to for a blockade of sorts. The years had turned their painted hulls black and the constant damp has made them moldy.

All the same, it's a welcome sight that fills me with a small bit of hope. Lanterns hung out on the ships, giving off a pale glow that was just enough for Cotton to steer the ship safely to the man-made dock. "Whoa," I say, surprised," it's bigger than you described."

"There's not been a meeting like this in our lifetime," Barbossa states proudly.

"And Jack owes most of 'em money." Said pirate glares in my direction before nodding in agreement. We all file off the ship and into a rather large room where there's a huge anchor suspended above a long table, melting candles burning on top of it. Already, everyone is bickering amongst themselves. It's like dealing with a bunch of four-year-olds. Barbie picks up a cannon ball, bangs it on the table, and begins a long, dramatic speech that they pay no attention to. I climb up onto the table, fire a shot in the air, and yell for them to shut up. That is an effective method! "Okay people; give up your nine pieces of eight!" Ragetti walks around with a bowl and each pirate lord put a piece of junk in it. Not at all what I was expecting, but whatever.

"Master Ragetti, if you will," Barbie says, holding out his hand.

"I kept it safe, just like you asked," Ragetti says sheepishly, not meeting Barbie's gaze.

"Aye, and now I want it back." He slaps the back of Ragetti's head, making the wooden eye pop out. It is then put in the bowl and I just know Kit isn't going to be happy about Ragetti being hit or having his eye stolen.

"Sparrow," Villanueva shouts, all eyes landing on my brother as he touches the coin dangling from his bandana.

"Might I point out that we are still short one pirate lord," he says smoothly, walking over to the table," and I'm as content as a cucumber to wait until Sao Feng joins us."

"Sao Feng is dead," Terasa states, drawing the attention to her and her band of misfits. I let out a sigh of relief when I find Kit with her, that breath being sucked back in from the shock of seeing Norrington in full Naval garb right beside her. Terasa draws her sword and stabs the large globe just as all the other lords did when they entered, signaling to all of us how high in the ranks she has risen since I last saw her.

"He made you Captain? They're just giving the bloody title away now." The other pirates begin to shout again, the meeting room echoing with shouts in all languages and some pretty creative curses that I'll have to write down for later use. James steps forward, a resolute set to his jaw.

"Our location has been betrayed; Jones and Beckett are on their way right now," James informs us.

"Who betrayed us," Gentleman Jocar demands to know.

"No one among us," Barbie assures.

"Where's Will," I hear Terasa ask Jack in a whisper.

"Not among us," he whispers back. Kit climbs onto the table beside me with some help from James; another person on the table draws everyone's attention to the brunette, which is good, because it seems she's prepared a short speech of her own.

"Doesn't matter how they found us, but what're you chicken shits gonna do now that they have," she asks in a stage voice. "Will you sit in here and slowly starve to death or will you stand up for what you believe in? What will you do when Beckett shows up with his fleet and knocks all our protection down?"

"Fight," I yell.

"Why fight if they cannot get to us," Mistress Ching asks. "Shipwreck Cove is a well-supplied fortress." Obviously they can get to us or they wouldn't be coming here, would they lady, I think sarcastically.

"There be a third course," Barbie states before the pirates can get loud again. "In another age, at this very spot, the first Brethren Court captured the seas goddess and bound her in her bones." The others make noises of agreement, not seeing Barbie's plan yet, though I was beginning to catch on. "That was a mistake. Oh, we tamed the seas for ourselves, aye. But opened the door to Beckett and his ilk! Better were the days when mastery of the seas came not from bargains struck with eldritch creatures, but from the sweat of his brow and the strength of his back alone. You all know this to be true." He gives a shirt break to push his way to the head of the table while the pirates talk amongst themselves. "Gentlemen, ladies, and Norrington…." Squishy scoffs, making sure to stay near the table so he can help Kit down if need be. "….We must free Calypso."

There's a moment of awkward silence before the shouting begins again. "Shoot him," Amman commands.

"Cut out his tongue," Jocar yells.

"Do both," exclaims Jack.

"Then cut that hideous beard, "Katherine adds, gaining the approving nod of her father.

"Sao Feng would have agreed with Barbossa," Tai says.

"It's not likely Calypso's mood has improved! She'll still be our enemy," Chevalle screams over the noise.

"We release Calypso," Villanueva yells.

"You threaten me?"

"I silence you!" Thus, the meeting room becomes hell on earth. Pretty entertaining actually—Terasa summons some popcorn and her, Katherine, and I sit back to watch the drama unfold while James marvels the buttery treasure that is popcorn.

Growing fed up with the arguing that gets us nowhere, I stand and fire another shot into the air. "The first court imprisoned Calypso and we'll be the ones to release her. In her gratitude she'll grant us boons," Barbie smiles.

"Whose boons," Jack asks," your boons? Utterly deceptive twaddle-speak, says I."

"And you have a better idea?"

"Cuttlefish, eh?" He gestures for a few of the standing pirates to get out his way so he can walk while he speaks. "Let us not, dear friends, forget our dear friends the Cuttlefish. Flippant glorious little sausages. Pen 'em up together and they'll devour each other without a second thought. Human nature, isn't it? Or….Or fish nature." He shakes it off, moving around the table until he reaches Mistress Ching, his hands on her shoulders. "So yes, we could hole up here well provisioned and well-armed and half of us would be dead within the month, which seems grim to me any way you slice it." He begins to move again, struggling to get past the pirates without starting another brawl. "Or, as my learned colleague so naively suggests, we could release Calypso, and we can pray she will be merciful. I rather doubt it. Can we pretend she is anything other than a woman scorned, like which fury hell hath no? We cannot."

"Get to your point, old man," Kit shouts from her spot on the edge of the table.

"We have to fight."

"You've always run away from a fight," accuses Barbie.

"Have not."

"Have so."

"Have not."

"You have so and you know it."

"Shut up," Katherine exclaims," I thought you both were grown men, yet here you stand arguing with each other."

"As per the code," Barbie continues, dodging Kit's fist easily when he tries to punch him in his mouth," an act of war, and this be exactly that, can only be declared by the pirate King."

"You made that up," Jack argues.

"Did I now? I call on Captain Teague, keeper of the code." Jack's confident expression changes to that of a child that knows he's about to get a belt across his ass for doing something bad.

"Sesumbhajee says hang the code! Who cares—" The assistant is then shot by a new member striding down the steps of a cabin a few feet away from the table.

"The code is the law," says Captain Teague; my father. "You two, off the table." I hop down and help James get Katherine down as well, smiling when I notice the smug look on the woman's face.