KINGDOM HEARTS III: SECOND WAR.
Author's Note: Before we continue on, I have good news and I have bad news.
Good news; We finally have a release date of KH3 and Frozen has been confirmed to be in it for real.
Bad news; 2018 is no longer the release year, because the game's been delayed to January next year, and (Spoilers ahead, so you've been warned) apparently we have to fight Aqua because now she's been norted or something.
Anyway, let's continue on, shall we?
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy.
CH39: Unexpected Aid.
A few days later on Sao Feng's ship, nearing nighttime, Elizabeth, who was dressed silken Chinese clothes by two women, stood in the Captain's Quarters along with the two said women, as well as Aqua, Serah, Mog and Isa who all had to wear these medallions around their necks and ordered to stand on guard as Elizabeth's bodyguards. While four of the worldly travellers had a fair idea on what Sao Feng had in mind with Elizabeth, they knew that, despite it being a mistake on the Chinese man's part, it wasn't much choice if they had to escape from Beckett as well as Dulor.
Aqua was lost in her thoughts. She knew that the others would be just fine, but the chances of Barbossa intentions of requesting Calypso for aid was very slim based on everything she and her friend had learned. If he succeeded, it could be his biggest mistake.
So lost in her thoughts that something within her suddenly sparked, and Aqua's eyes suddenly went wide, and like a jolt electrocuting her mind, she gasped softly as her world suddenly went black and then a new image appeared in her mind.
She was facing Mickey and Riku who, having donned new clothes for whatever reason, looked horrified and in Mickey's case, devastated.. Aqua had no idea what was going on, but given their expressions, she knew that it wasn't good. Then, as though speaking to them, she spoke in a somewhat darkish voice that rang in her own ears.
"I had no choice."
Then the instant as it happened, Aqua's vision returned to normal and she blinked, confused. She was still standing, and she was back in reality.
"Aqua?" Isa's voice charred her back as Aqua turned to face him, Elizabeth, Serah and Mog who all suddenly looked concerned.
"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked, slightly worried.
"What happened?" Serah asked, really worried, with Mog muttering a puzzled and very concerned, 'Kupo?'
Realising that her mind wandered and, to her grave concern, she'd just seen a dark vision or something, and shook her head, replying apologetically, "Nothing. I'm fine. My mind just wandered." though in retrospect, now Aqua was really concerned.
What had that been about? Was a vision of the future? If so...then something bound is about to go wrong. Deep down, Aqua couldn't help but think about her time in the Realm of Darkness and, given the looks of horror on Mickey and Riku's faces, it terrified her. Is she going to end up giving into darkness for whatever reason that she had no choice but to give in? What could that really mean?
"Only your heart is hollow enough to be a demon's."
The words of her Shadow back in the Realm of Darkness returned to her mind. Could that mean that she was right? That Aqua's heart was hollow enough to be a demon's? She survived for twelve years in that realm without giving in. Could this mean that the Light in her heart was fading?
Her thoughts were interrupted when Sao Feng walked in and she, Serah, Mog, Elizabeth and Isa turned to face the man who said something in Chinese, clapped his hands and the two Chinese women left the room, leaving just the two of them.
"The three of you leave us as well for the time being." Sao Feng turned to the four worldly travellers who, while giving him small glares, knew they had no choice and nodded, then nodded to Elizabeth and then walked out of the room, heading towards the deck to leave the two of them time to talk.
"I imagine this will not go well if Elizabeth tells him the truth." Isa whispered softly so that Sao Feng wouldn't be able to hear as he and his three current companions walked.
"Why is that?" Serah inquired. The main reason why she went with was because she couldn't stand the thought of Elizabeth going on her own and, given her own experiences before, she refused to allow Elizabeth and Will, despite each other's grudge at the moment for keeping secrets, to become seperated by death.
"Sao Feng thinks Elizabeth is Calypso." Aqua replied this time. "Based on his and Barbossa's conversation, they intend to set the real Calypso free and think that she would change her mind on humanity and would help them to fight our enemies."
Serah's eyes widened before she shook her head quickly, saying, "They can't do that! Nothing's ever simple with Gods. Especially the ones of evil. While I don't know the full story of Calypso, it can't work. That's more selling yourself to serve as the Goddess' servant."
The trio and Mog all paused before the two Keybearers turned to face the pink-haired young woman, with Isa quiring, "How is it that you know?"
"Because...because in legend, a Goddess of the Dead of the Unseen Realm freed those who saved two worlds from their fate of the l'Cie. But that caused the Chaos to spill into the mortal realm, and weaken her power. Before hand, a warrior died while sacrificing himself to save the person he loved, and in sympathy as they say, she gave her heart to him, but it turned into a curse as he was rendered immortal, while the person he cared for had the eyes of the Goddess, to see the future. But each time she died, she died at a young age, and would then be reincarnated just to be with him, over and over again until he couldn't take it anymore." Serah relucantedly explained.
"Isn't that connected to Bhunivelze and Chaos himself?" Aqua inquired, absorbing the new information she and Isa were hearing.
Serah nodded, "Yes. One of the former l'Cie was then taken from the time when...when she just reunited with her only sister, and taken to Valhalla to become the guardian of the Goddess, and history changed, with only her younger sister knowing the truth, but no one else did. That same younger sister would then be gifted with the same ability to see through time, and had travelled through time with a young man who came from a future where humanity died out. But they fell into the trap of the man who had succeeded in getting what he wanted, and the world merged with the Unseen Realm."
"Thus Bhunivelze has woken many years later." Isa caught on and concluded. "How is it you know so much?"
Sighing deeply, and knowing she made the slip, especialy when Mog looked really nervous before he nodded his permission to have her tell them, Serah began to speak again, "Because, I-"
But she was cut off when the entire ship shook slightly and a huge loud roar of cannon fire echoed in their ears and the trio gave out alarmed cries before sharing a look and to make things worse, Heartless appeared, some in Pirate forms, others in Shadow forms. Either way, combined with yelling and screaming coming from the deck outside, they immediately knew they were under attack.
Aqua and Isa both summoned their Keyblades while Mog transformed into Serah's weapon as the trio stood ready before leaping and hacking and slashing at the monsters. Aqua cartwheeled out of the way when one of the Pirate-Heartless slashed at her before she returned the favor and was much more successful in destroying it.
"Freeze!" She chanted, freezing up three Heartless solid in ice before she destroyed them with ease, and then leaped back when a Water-Jellyfish Heartless appeared. She then chanted a Lightning spell to shock it before she jumped and sliced it in half, destroying it.
Isa swiped at five Heartles back before he destroyed them with his Keyblade in sky-upper-cut style, before whipping around quickly as another tried to ambush him from behind and smashed it onto the wooden floor in incredible ease the way he would with his Claymore.
Serah fired three Arrows at three Heartless, one at the time which destroyed them before she turned her bow into her Sword and hacked and slashed down at the Heartless that attempted to attack her. She backed off when two Heartless attemped to attack her from both sides and they bumped each other which gave her the advantage to swipe them both into oblivion at ease at the same time.
By the time they were finished, Tai Haung came running in, demanding, "Where's the Captain!?"
"In his Quarters." Isa replied.
"We have to get to him and Elizabeth!" Serah quickly cried out, worriedly.
"Let's go!" Aqua declared, and the trio nodded, despite Tai Haung's distrust in the worldly travellers, but knew that they had concerns of their own and even though they had distrust in his Captain, they were willing to go and check on him anyway.
So the four of them hurried back to where they came from as the chaos continued to happen behind them. "Captain! The ship is taken. We cannot-" Tai Haung shouted as he took the lead, but halted to a complete stop as he, Aqua, Isa and Serah saw what had happened, their eyes widening in horror.
There layed Captain Sao Feng, impaled by the large splinter of wood sticking out from the side of the room, bleeding and dying and with Elizabeth kneeling next to him as he pulled her close to his head. Both Aqua and Serah gasped in horror as their hands covered their mouths, while Isa shut his eyes and turned his head away at the sight of the poor man, Pirate or not, and Tai Haung, in absolute devasation to see his Captain dying right before his eyes, took off his hat as horrified honor to farewell his superior whom he served for many years.
"Forgive me...Calypso..." Sao Feng whispered to Elizabeth in his dying breath, as Elizabeth was shocked and horrified by this. His grip on her hand loosened before his own fell and he layed limp where he no longer moved or breathed.
He was dead.
When Isa dared to look again, he questioned Elizabeth who stood, holding some kind of necklace which he'd seen Sao Feng wear, apparently giving it to her for some reason. "What did he say to you?"
Elizabeth was in silence for a moment, before turning to the group and Tai Haung, saying in utter disbelief herself, "He made me Captain."
This didn't please Tai Haung at all, as he emotionally hissed, "You are not my Captain!"
Aqua, Serah and Isa shared a concerned expression as things had changed drastically, before they, Elizabeth and Tai Haung quickly left the room and onto the deck only to freeze when the entire Chinese Crew were horded up and taken by the familiar mutant Fish-Pirate crew, as the familiar large ship of the Flying Dutchmen floated next to theirs, and hordes of Heartless and EITC(Short for East Indian Trading Company) soldiers around. Among them was Davy Jones and, to their annoyance, Pete.
"Not him again." Isa groaned as he caught sight of that fat bumbling idiot that was Maleficent's Second in Command.
"What's Pete doing here?" Serah asked, shocked. What was more shocking to her was that the stories of Davy Jones and his crew being Mutant Fish was true and that was really terrifying.
"You know him?" Aqua asked, a bit surprised.
Serah nodded, "Strelitzia, Mog and I ran into him and fought him early in the beginning of our adventure together."
"He's the one who wanted Barbossa to join Maleficent a year ago." Elizabeth muttered as she too recongised the fat cat.
"Alright, which one of you nitwits is here the Captain of this piece o' junk?" Pete asked the captured Chinese Crew.
Tai Haung didn't hesitate as he pointed at Elizabeth, exclaiming, "The Captain is her!" and soon the rest of the Chinese crew pointed at the young woman who stood there on the top the stairs along with Aqua, Isa and Serah. Pete and Davy Jones looked and their expressions were that of disbelief, especially Pete's.
"What? That li'l pipsqueak? What's she doin' here with those three bozos?" Pete asked, shocked.
"What are YOU doing here, Pete?" Serah demanded in return, glaring angrily at him. Both Aqua and Isa glared at Pete's direction as well.
"I ain't telling youse nothin'! By the way, where are your little pallies at?" Pete replied, glaring back.
"None of your business." Isa hissed.
"Tow the ship, and put these yahoos into the Brig." Pete ordered the Fish-Crew and Heartless, waving them over. He then gazed at the group above and grinned, "Looks like you're all goin' with us, now." while Davy Jones shook rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
Knowing that they were outmatched and with the Chinese Crew captured, Aqua, Serah and Isa relucantedly dismissed their weapons and Mog returned to normal before they, Elizabeth and Tai Haung was dragged bodily towards Elizabeth's new crew, but they didn't struggled. If anything, Elizabeth was livid as casted a glare at Pete.
"You were involved in my father's murder." Elizabeth hissed coldly at him, which surprised Pete.
"How'd you know he's dead?" Pete whispered back, before looking nervous as he admitted, "Not that I saw what happened. Blame Beckett if ya' want, sister. I dinna want to see it."
"See what? Which side you chose?" Elizabeth scoffed, pulling out of two of the fish crew's grasp and retreated to her friends and crew's side, adding to a stunned Pete. "Well, now you do."
The Chinese ship was being dragged behind the Flying Dutchmen while Elizabeth, her new crew, Aqua, Serah, Mog and Isa were thrown into the brig, and no sooner they were locked inside Elizabeth called out two men, thinking either one of them was Bootstrap Bill Turner, though neither one were as they scoffed and thought she was crazy.
"I don't think you'll have luck in seeing Bootstrap in here." Isa commented to Elizabeth, as Tai Haung explained to the rest of the Chinese Crew what befell of Sao Feng.
"Bootstrap?" Serah asked, confused.
"You know my name." A voice in the corner of their cell spoke before either Aqua, Isa or Elizabeth could answer, and they, Serah and Mog turned to see who spoke. They went towards the corner and saw, within the wall, was another mutant Pirate, with shells, coral and starfish sticking onto him as he then emerged and approached. He barely looked human as he even had seaweed growing on him.
"Are you Bootstrap Bill Turner?" Aqua gently inquired. "We heard about you from your son, Will Turner."
"He made it alive?" Bootstrap asked, sounding excited and very relieved.
"Yes, Will is alive, and he wants to save you." Elizabeth answered this time. So this was the father of her husband to be.
This somehow made Bootstrap's happiness falter, before he sighed in sadness, "He can't come. He won't save me."
"But your his father." Elizabeth pointed out.
"He can't come, because of you." Bootstrap replied, gazing solely on the blond-haired woman, "You're Elizabeth. I have heard of you. If William slays Davy Jones, he will have to take his place. The Dutchmen must have a Captain. If he saves me...he will lose you."
Elizabeth's eyes watered, as she slowly realised that Bootstrap was right, also rememebering vaguely on what her own father said before she lost him forever. As it it wasn't bad enough that Beckett had taken him away from her, if Will continued the path to try and save his own...he was lost to her as well, and she would be left with nothing, with nowhere else to go. She nodded in her understanding.
In the end, Will couldn't have both. He would have to sacrifice either one to have the other, by making a difficult decision.
"Tell him not to come and stay away. It's too late for me..." Bootstrap informed her and the others, returning to the wall. "I'm already part of the ship...part of the crew..."
Elizabeth was about to approach him again, but Aqua placed a hand onto her shoulder, and when the former turned to the latter, the blue-haired woman shook her head in sadness.
"His heart and mind are fading away, the longer he stays. Not even memories, are safe from the darkness." Aqua told her, with slight tears in her voice.
'If Will has to choose...he'll lose either one. Unless someone else takes his place, Will has to make the decision. Either way...someone close to us will be lost.' Serah thought in sorrow. A duty to attend with no choice...it gave her memories of her previous life.
Isa just stared, before sighing and placed a hand to his face. Things just gotten more and more difficult. Especially for Will.
Meanwhile, back on the Black Pearl, Will had managed to escape the Brig silently and was now tying up dead bodies of the British Soldiers to barrels and tossing them overboard the ship to float in the ocean. It was his plan to have Beckett follow them like a bread crumb trail, in hopes to still free his Father in an exchange.
Yet, as he was almost done with his work, Will stopped to gaze at the knife that was given by his father when he escaped the Dutchmen earlier, and couldn't help but think more clearly on what he was doing. What Elizabeth's now late father had said echoed in his mind; if he choose to save his father, he would end up becoming Captain of the Flying Dutchmen.
But in the progress, he was losing Elizabeth and his future with her. But he didn't to this, while he had Elizabeth, Bootstrap would remain trapped onboard the Flying Dutchmen for eternity. It didn't help that he betrayed Sora and the others who, along with Jack, had helped him rescue Elizabeth in the first place, and instead of helping them in return, he betrayed them to their enemies.
Especially since Sora was the Keyblade's chosen and the hero, even though the teenager really shouldn't have been involved.
But the more Will thought about it, the more he realised that even before they met, Sora didn't have a choice. He and all of his friends had gotten involved because of Maleficent and Xehanort.
"You escaped the Brig quicker than I expected." A familiar voice spoke from the side, startling the young man to look up and saw that, surprisingly and silently without him even knowing, Jack was lounghing against the mast. When did he get there? Well, Jack was always a strange man to begin with.
The older man stood up before he began slowly climbing down, using the ropes as support as Jack continued at the puzzled Will, "William, you notice anything or rather, you notice something that's not there to be noticed?"
While Will still didn't understand 'Jack-Language', he took him a moment or two to realise that everything was quiet and, given that he was the first to notice that Will escaped, the younger man muttered in realization and even more confusion, "You haven't raised an alarm."
"Odd, isn't it?" Jack replied, before adding as he gestured at Will's work, "Not as odd as this. Come up with this all by your lonesome, did you?"
"I said to myself; Think like Jack." Was his reply.
Jack quirked an eyebrow at Will's answer. "This is what you arrived at? Lead Beckett to Shipwreck Cove so as to gain his trust, accomplish your own ends? It's like you don't know me at all, mate." He said, feeling a bit insulted.
Will's demenor falted as he sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, Jack had a point.
"How does your dearly beloved feel about this plan?" Jack asked again, and when Will looked away, not answering, the silence was an enough answer to him. "Ah...I see you haven't felt fit to trust her with it."
As Jack now stood beside him to his left, Will thought more until he admitted his worries, "I'm losing her, Jack. Every step I make for my father is a step away from Elizabeth.
"If you choose to lock your heart away, you'll lose her for certain." Jack pointed out, before brightening up a little as, after he had a thought about it himself, he decided that a loophole could be made, and that said loophole would get Will out of this crossroad. "If I might lend a machete to your intellectual thicket, avoid the choice all together, and change the facts. For example, let someone else dispatch Davy Jones."
"You mean Sora?" Will asked.
"No, not him or anyone else in his team. They already have enough problems as it is." Jack replied. He had made up his mind that, when he and his companions had returned to this world and the crisis of Davy Jones and Beckett was dealt with, that Jack would be staying as this is his homeworld, and he missed it terribly. Keyblade wielder or not, Jack didn't think he'd be useful in Sora's future fight against Chaos and/or Bhunivelze.
"Then who?" Will asked, dumbfounded. It didn't last long as he suddenly realised, seeing Jack's cheeky grin at the corner of his eye, that he somehow knew the answer as he turned fully to the older man, asking, skeptically and shocked, "You?"
Jack nodded, explaining, "Death has a curious way of reshuffling one's priorities, as does Darkness. I slip abord the Dutchmen, find the heart, stab the mutant-beating thing, your father goes free, and you will be free with your Bonnie-lass."
"And you're willing to cut out your heart and bind yourself to the Dutchmen, forever?"
"No, mate. I'm free forever. Free the sail the seas beyond the edges of the map and free from death itself."
It was Will's turn to point out the facts as he replied, with a small smirk, "You have to do the job though, Jack. To ferry souls to the next world, or you'll end up just like Davy Jones."
The Pirate Captain grimaced and shuddered as he fingered his beard at the horrible thought, saying, "I don't have a face for tentacles." before adding, "But immortal has to count for something, eh?"
He then remembered something as he then passed on his Compass to Will who took it in confusion as the latter asked, "What's this for?"
"Think like me. It'll come to you." Jack replied, before purposely shoved his hands onto Will's chest and shoved the quickly stunned younger man over the railing and overboard. Shortly after Will landed in the ocean, Jack then shoved the last barrel with the dead body into the water next and then called out to the younger man a farewell, "My regards to Davy Jones."
As Will swum over to the barrel before clinging onto it as well as Jack's Compass, left to wait for another ship to come and get him while the Black Pearl sailed away without him, he couldn't help but grunt in sheer annoyance to himself, "I hate him."
Back onboard the Dutchmen, after what felt like forever if not days since they were captured, Isa finally sighed before he silently approached the doors and summoned his Keyblade.
"What are you doing?" Elizabeth asked.
"I'm getting us out of here. That's what I'm doing." Isa replied without looking at her.
"How can a large Key open up a tiny lock?" Tai Haung scoffed.
The blue-haired man rolled his eyes and replied, "A Keyblade can lock and unlock any lock and leave it at that. Besides, I'm sick and tired of being imprisoned onboard this vessel run by fish."
"How 'bout you leave the unlocking to me?" A new voice whispered from outside of the brig, startling everyone as an unfamiliar figure emerged from the shadows from the stairs after having snuck down. He was a tall man, a bit taller than Zack, with spiky white hair, blue eyes, wearing a white long jacket and pants with black boots and opened up black shirt, black gloves and a beanie on his head.
Apparently Serah recongised him, because she went up to the bars with hope and surprise in her voice, whispering, "Snow!?"
"Calvery has arrived, Serah." The man, identified as Snow, smiled as he pulled out the set of keys and unlocked the doors. "We'd better get outta here before those weird fish-guys notice. That means all of us."
Elizabeth nodded to Tai Haung who then silently gestured the rest of the crew to follow and head out silently and carefully, while Serah and Snow shared an embrace.
"Who is he?" Aqua whispered, curious on who this stranger was and how he got here.
Serah turned to face Aqua, replying, "My hero."
"Your future husband?" Isa inquired. "Well, at least he got us out." He then asked the taller man, "How did you get those keys and get onboard the Flying Dutchmen?"
"Had a little help, from her." Snow answered, gesturing at another figure that wasn't seen until she approached from the shadows as well. This time both Aqua and Isa recongised her and their eyes widened in confusion and shock while Elizabeth looked confused.
"Shantotto?" Aqua softly exclaimed, recongising the Tarutaru who smirked.
"Much as I enjoy seeing you again, remove that shocked look on your face. We must leave this dreaded floating place." Shantotto replied.
Despite that they had questions on what Shantotto was going in this world and how she knew about other worlds, the others knew that she was right. So they silently followed her and Snow to the deck of the ship without any of Davy Jones' crew or Pete noticing, forgetting that Bootstrap was still in the Brig himself and that Snow had accidently left the gates open. The Chinese Crew were climbing across the towing line back onto their ship by the time the others had arrived.
"I was wandering around when I heard about Caius and Arydn causing problems again and knew that I had to do something to help out. Then Shantotto arrived and told me that you needed help, so I agreed to come with and, well, this is where we ended up." Snow explained, a look of seriousness on his expression.
"So you knew about other worlds, didn't you?" Isa whispered to Shantotto.
"Knowing this knowlage of the worlds' existance is a fair example for instance. I apologise for not speaking of my role, but it is necessary for Sora to achieve his goal." Shantotto replied, before adding, "Yet, fate is always mean, because on way to Shipwreck Cove is a traitor yet to be seen."
"That guy, Beckett. He knows about whatever's goin' on. Shantotto's powers lets her know what's going on in certain events. That's why you guys have to watch yourselves for what's coming." Snow continued, before snorting softly, "Can't tell if he's worse than Dysley or not."
Isa raised a skeptical brow. Cloud was right; Snow really is a hothead. What possessed Serah into wanting to marry this guy, the blue-haired young man would probably never know.
"You're not coming with us?" Serah asked, worried.
Snow was about to reply when another voice cried out, somewhat angrily from above them and the group looked up, alarmed and saw that Bootstrap was there, before he went to go and try to stop them from escaping.
"Go! While you still got a chance." Snow urged, as he and even Shantotto stood in fighting positions.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Serah pleaded, especially as Elizabeth, Aqua, Isa and Mog hesitated in leaving the man who freed them and Shantotto behind.
The taller man gazed at her, saying with sadness and urgentcy still in his eyes, saying softly this time, "I failed to keep you safe more times than I can count, and lost you once. I'm not making that mistake again, Serah. You have to go. Do it not just for me, but for Lightning too."
"Don't just stand there. Hurry on to the Pirate's lair." Shantotto added, pulling out her staff.
Serah and four of her friends hesitated, before she muttered, "Promise that we'll meet again soon."
"Wouldn't be a hero if I didn't come out of this alive." Snow smiled, and leaned down, sharing a short but passoninate kiss with Serah, which made Elizabeth just stand there and watch, thinking about Will and then realised she and him weren't the only ones who had to put their wedding on hold, remembering that Serah mentioned that she and Snow were going to get married themselves.
As soon as it was over, Serah, Elizabeth, Aqua and Isa then hurried to climb their way back onboard Sao Feng's ship, while Snow and Shantotto stood guarding the tow line, just as a now deranged Bootstrap approached, demanding, "What are you doing?"
"Being a hero. You ain't gonna stop us from doing the right thing, man." Snow sneered at the mutant Pirate.
"If you wish to live the most, then it would be best that you return to your post." Shantotto added.
"No one leaves the ship." Bootstrap muttered, gazing out at the escaping prisoners.
"I'd listen to her if I were you...!" Snow hissed. "Don't push it."
Bootstrap ignored Snow's words, and instead began chanting, "Part of the ship, part of the crew, part of the ship, part of the crew..."
"Back off." Snow warned.
"PART OF THE SHIP, PART OF THE CREW!" Bootstrap shouted, before raising the alarm, "ALL HANDS! PRISONERS ESCAPING!"
"SHUT IT!" Snow grunted, whacking Bootstrap's head so hard that the mutant Pirate stumbled before falling onto the deck hard, unconscious. He didn't waste time in gazing at him as he turned to Shantotto, knowing that the alarm as been raised.
"Snow!" Serah screamed out, seeing that her hero and Shantotto were in trouble despite that Bootstrap has been knocked out cold. She, Aqua, Isa and even Elizabeth attempted to make their way back, only for Shantotto to cast a Firaga Spell on the Tow Line and cutting it, causing everyone on the rope to scream and fall into the water.
"Go! We'll be fine! I promise!" Snow called out to Serah, before he and Shantotto turned back to face the danger head on.
Serah and the others resurfaced, before she attempted to swim back but was held back by Isa who grabbed her and pulled her towards the Chinese Ship despite her protests, "Snow! NO! Shantotto!"
"They'll be fine! We have to use this chance to escape." Isa pointed out to her as he struggled to swim himself and the woman in his arm towards the other ship.
Despite that she wanted nothing more than to return to her lover, Serah, with tears falling and mixing in with the seawater on her face, limped before reluctantedly allowed Isa to carry her towards Sao Feng's ship, knowing that he was right. She had to put her trust in Snow and hope that he would be alright. Elizabeth and Aqua, likewise, headed towards the vessel to head to Shipwreck Cove.
Snow and Shantotto in the meantime stood their ground as the Fish Pirate Crew gathered around and cornered the two of them who didn't seem worried.
"Intruders! How did they get onboard the ship?" One of the Crew members asked, just as Davy Jones arrived along with Pete who seemed just as confused.
"Who're you two clowns?" Pete demanded.
"Just two heroes." Snow replied, glaring back.
"Are ye' now?" Davy Jones spoke this time, before inquiring to Snow, "Do ye fear death?"
Snow just grinned, as the Chinese Ship had by now already vanished from sight and into the night sailing towards Shipwreck Cove, "Nah, not one bit. But I got a promise to keep, and if I die today, that would end up breaking it. Heroes gonna live and all."
"Hero, you say? Then ye' are no different than Sora." Davy Jones snarled.
"You've both the garb of a fool and a wit of one!" Shantotto snickered at the cursed Pirate in sheer amusement, "I could laugh at you for days before being done."
This managed to make the pirates and Pete bewildered as they stared at her with wide eyes, as she continued, "Now be good boys and lay your heads down to rest. Leave the fate of the future to one who can do it with zest."
"Do ye' think we take orders from you, imp? You're just as an annoyance and cunning as Jack Sparr'a!" Davy Jones growled dangerously, unsheathing his sword. "Ye' full of yerself, interferin' and intruding my ship! One would think people gave you suspicion."
"Confusing yourself with others now, are we? I can fathom how wretched your life must be." Shantotto smirked, unfazed, which even made Snow a bit bewildered.
"Ye must be old if you speak of that. Ye canna be a child if yer hearing is becomin' lost." Davy Jones snarled.
"More like your mind is so infantile. That even listening proves a trial."
A pause.
"Well, as much as this young hero and I love to stay, we shall be pressing on, so good day, I say!" Shantotto concluded, and before the Pirates or Pete could even say anything further, she held up her staff which glowed in bright light which made the villians shield their eyes to avoid in being blinded. When the light faded, everyone's eyes widened in disbelief as both Shantotto and Snow had suddenly disappeared.
"De you know where they went?" Davy Jones growled at Pete who gulped scaredly.
"They could be anywhere by now. What that little pipsqueak did was a dirty trick!" Pete shrugged.
Another pause.
"...I'll take that as a no." The Pirate Captain replied. He then turned to the rest of the Crew and ordered, "Back to yer stations, and see to Turner!"
"Aye, sir!" The crew muttered, moving towards the unconscious Bootstrap, while Pete hurried to follow Davy Jones.
"Turner may have attempted to follow them." Davy Jones growled.
"I don't think so. Maybe that white-haired fellow knocked him unconscious. Besides, wasn't he the one who alerted us in the first place?" Pete pointed out, which made both of them slow to a stop.
The cursed Pirate turned to him, as realization dawned onto him. "Part of the ship, part of the crew. Turner's heart and mind have forgotten his past. Perhaps the Brig is no longer necessary for him."
"...I see your point." Pete admitted, scratching his head in thought.
"Do you really?" A familiar voice spoke up, startling the two as Dulor, having boarded the ship himself, approached them. "Or are you having second thoughts?"
"What're you doin' here?" Pete asked, before Dulor swiped the Key from his neck and clutched it in his hand, prompting the fat clumsy villian to protest, "Hey!"
"The Dutchmen is under my Command now." Dulor said, sinisterly.
Davy Jones growled, but knew there was no choice. Despite that Pete was a useless lug of a villian, at least he was careful not to cross him and was actually a bit terrified but had agreed to the bargain. "For now..."
He will get his chance to free himself from Maleficent and Beckett. He promised himself this.
Back with Sora's group...
Even though lingering Heartless appeared onboard the Black Pearl, it was pretty much a smooth sailing, all things considered. Finally the ship and her passengers and two Captains arrived at Shipwreck Island, which was such an amazing sight to those who'd never seen it before. Especially the worldly Travellers, the Turks and pretty much most of the Pirate Crew who all stared in awe at the sight before them. It was a huge island of green, rock and mountains.
"Whoa...!" Sora breathed, in awe. "It's huge!"
"Ya got that right." Reno agreed, his eyes wide. "Can't wait to see what's inside this place."
Myde let out an impressed whistle, "Didn't expect to see the place looking like this."
"It's beautiful!" Kairi exclaimed, and Xion, Skuld, Strelitzia, Elena and Tifa nodded in agreement. "So much bigger than the island back at home."
"A bit smaller than the mainland but still big enough." Riku nodded in agreement.
"Too bad this place is where all the Pirates gather." Terra commented.
"Not just gather." Jack piped up, "There are some Pirates who actually live here. Some were even born here before they would go sailing out to sail the seas."
Lea raised an eyebrow, asking, "Since when did Pirates settle down and have families?"
"I said it to miss Kairi before, and I will say it again; Where do you think Pirates come from? Palm Trees?" Jack replied in half-sarcasm. This made Sora, Riku, Roxas, Ven, Terra, Lea, Myde, Cloud, Zack, and even Vincent and the Turks snicker a laugh, while Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Xion, Skuld, Strelizia, and Tifa giggled.
"Good point, and a good one too." Lea snickered in amusement.
"Look alive and keep a weather eye," Gibbs ordered the crew which got everyone else's attention. "Not for naught it's called Shipwreck Island. Where lies Shipwreck Cove and the town of Shipwreck."
"Shipwreck Town in Shipwreck Cove on Shipwreck Island?" Cloud asked, skeptically as he and the others gazed at Jack with raised eyebrows at the cheesy names, while Donald bursted out laughing and the crew began to disperse.
"What kind of cheesy names are they?" Zack asked, dumbfounded.
"That's a lame way to name three places in a same location." Myde slumped with a raised eyebrow.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Vincent muttered, rolling his eyes.
Jack nodded in agreement, "Well, for all the pirates are clever cogs, we are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things."
"That explains everything." Sora shrugged, placing his hands behind his head, gazing at Jack in annoyance. He and the others heard that Jack sent Will overboard, or at least left him to an island considering he was a traitor and while he was angry with him, Sora couldn't help but still be a bit miffed at Will himself. He then decided to find him later once this was sorted out.
The Pirate then said to his friends, including Gibbs who came over, "I once sailed with a geezer who lost both of his arms and part of his eye."
"Ouch. Poor guy." Ven muttered in sympathy.
"What'ya call him?" Goofy asked, curiously.
Jack paused, before answering as he pulled a face, "...Larry."
"Larry? No wonder pirates are unimaginative." Vanitas scoffed in Sora's mind, and Sora did his best to ignore him. Besides, Sora kind of liked the name Larry.
"I don't know." Xion spoke up, "I really like how you named this ship the Black Pearl. It suits her perfectly."
"Really?" Jack asked, surprised at the former Replica who nodded with a smile.
"I agree. I don't think there's a better name for it." Roxas nodded.
Lea smirked, "Yeah. Not only it's simple and not complicated, but it really has a nice ring to it. Got it memorized?"
"I don't think all Pirates are unimaginative in namin' things. Even I like the name the Black Pearl." Mickey nodded in agreement.
"...Thank you." Jack muttered, looking a bit embarrassed. Even Gibbs was a bit impressed with the worldly travellers' words.
"Do you think all of the Pirate Lords will be here?" Skuld inquired, changing the subject.
"Of course they will. None failed to appear yet." Jack replied, still uncomfortable with doing to his second Brethren Court. He then whispered softly to his friends after Gibbs excused himself, "Hear me out, mates. It's going to be a very uncomfortable meeting."
"With a bunch of pirates including you and almost everyone else on this ship, I'm already preparing myself for it." Terra rolled his eyes.
"I think it would be better if we all prepare for the worst." Tseng advised wisely, and Rude and Elena nodded in agreement.
Reno on the other hand scoffed, "C'mon, Tseng. We've faced worse than normal pirates. You and 'Lena weren't there when most of the rest of us saw Chaos after Sora and Riku smashed Xehanort's Keyblade into pieces."
That alone was enough to make the Worldly Travellers, including Jack, shudder. Though Strelitzia, Cloud, Zack, Tifa and Vincent had no idea why, but from the looks of their friends, there was more to Xehanort's Keyblade than they all originally thought.
Even so, Cloud muttered in somewhat agreement, "Can't be worse than Sephiroth."
As the group talked, at the front of the ship, Barbossa and Tia Dalma were having a slight disagreement which their conversation was kept somewhat private.
"I do not renege on a bargain once struck. But we agreed on ends only. The means are mine to decide." Barbossa said, as he swept a hand and removed hair from her face only for Tia Dalma to snatch his wrist.
"Caution, Barbossa." She hissed warningly. "Do no' forge' i' 'as by my power ye returned from de dea', 'r wha' i' means if ye fail me." and as she said this, Barbossa watched in sudden horror as his hand, upon the woman's touch, began to become skeletal, like the time when he was cursed up until a year ago.
She then let go and his hand returned to normal. But Barbossa quickly yanked Tia Dalma as she began to storm off, pull her back to face him. "Do not forget why you had to bring me back! Why I could not leave Jack to his well-deserved fate." The woman lowered her head. "It took nine pirate lords to bind you, Calypso. And it'll take no less than nine to set you free."
Tia Dalma, or rather as only Barbossa somehow knew of her true idenity, Calypso, jerked her head up back to him as he finished his sentence. How long he'd known, possibly when he was dead. Yet the Pirate Captain hadn't said anything until now, and he intended on freeing her from her own curse.
Barbossa then called out Pintel and Ragetti who were nearby and had quickly came over in an instant, waiting for his next order. "Lock this Fish Wife in the brig." He commanded.
Despite the slight fear that the Voodoo woman was indeed Calypso, which also explained why she was so creepy ever since they met her when they, Jack, Gibbs, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Namine and Will met her for the first time, the two pirates obeyes and lead Tia Dalma/Calypso towards the brig.
Jack and Sora both noticed Pintel and Ragetti taking Tia Dalma downstairs and shared a glance, while Lea's brows narrowed as he too noticed. He had a hunch on where that woman was being taken and that just raised the suspicions of her even further. Had she said something that made Barbossa into imprisoning her? Or was she connected to Davy Jones? Or maybe, just maybe...she was Calypso herself.
If she was indeed the Goddess in human form, which the redhead felt was horribly most likely, then it was no wonder she creeped him and many others out. But if that was the case, then everyone was in more danger than anticipated.
The question is, why did she direct him and the others to help other worlds before heading to help Sora and meet up with King Mickey?
'Maybe she knew that Chaos was returning and was tryin' to slow us down. Or maybe she wants us to disappear?' Lea thought to himself, troubled. Given everything he and his friends knew about the two legends, it wasn'f farfetched that Calypso still held a grudge even after hundreds of years.
Either way, the redhead knew, that releasing Calypso could prove to be a huge mistake.
As the Black Pearl sailed through the narrow opening that only Pirate Lords knew of, there before them stood Shipwreck Town and most who'd never seen it before now knew why it was named Shipwreck Cove. The town consisted of the masts, hulls and other wrecked parts of ships that had been layered on top of each other until they stuck up out of the water, towering above the whole ships that lay moored on its numerous docks.
Despite that, as night fell, the entire place lit up like lanterns in streets and a golden Christmas Tree. Everyone gathered on the deck as they arrived along with other pirate ships that had docked there.
Sora's group, Cloud, Tifa, Zack, Vincent and the Turks were among those amazed by it.
"Look at that!" Elena softly exclaimed.
"I've never seen anything like it." Tifa whispered, stunned.
"Amazing." Strelitzia breathed in awe.
"Gosh..." Mickey breathed.
"Whoever built this must've taken years to set it up." Lea muttered with wide eyes.
"That's a lot more pirates than I've ever seen!" Sora softly exclaimed in awe.
Barbossa nodded in agreement, "There's not been a gatherin' like this in our lifetime."
"And I owe them all money." Jack muttered uncomfortably, cringing. Sora, Barbossa, Riku, Lea, Roxas, Terra, and Donald all rolled their eyes at Jack's comment.
"Why am I not surprised?" Cloud shook his head with an amused but exasperated smirk.
Reno snorted to Jack, "That's a hellva debt you have to pay, man."
"Yeah, no kidding." Zack chuckled in agreement.
The room that they were all in for the Brethren Court was full of pirates, mostly men, all talking until Barbossa banged a small cannonball on the long table they all stood around. All except for Sao Feng were presented. Sora's group, Strelitzia, the Turks, Cloud, Tifa, Zack and Vincent stood beside Jack and Barbossa's crew, while Jack himself stood by the globe that held all the Captain's sword stabbed into it, flicking the stumpy sword that might as well be a dagger once as it bounced a couple of times before turning his attention back to the Court.
"As he who issued summons, I convene this, the fourth Brethren Court." Barbossa spoke, rather grandly. This was the cue as the other Pirate Lords took their seats while Barbossa waved a hand to Ragetti who silently nodded and carried a large dish with a red throw pillow in it around the court. "To confirm your Lordship and right to be heard, present now your pieces of eight, me fellow Cap'ns."
As Ragetti gathered around the other seven Pirate Lords, one by one they dropped their Pieces of Eight, which were not coins or jewels as Sora and everyone else on the Black Pearl had been expecting. Instead it was just...random items which included a broken bottle neck.
"Those are Pieces of Eight?" Goofy asked, puzzled.
"They're just pieces of junk." Donald remarked.
"What a rip-off. I was expectin' silver coins with decorations on them." Myde grumbled, disappointed.
Gibbs nodded, explaining to the trio and the dumbfounded Pintel and annoyed Reno and Rude, "Aye, the original plan was to use nine pieces of eight to bind Calypso. But when the First Court met, the Brethren were to a one skint broke."
"So they just gathered useless everyday junk as the next best thing?" Reno asked skeptically. "I wouldn't even call that useful. How the hell can those things keep Calypso bind anyway, let alone be called Pieces of Eight?"
"Yeah, change the name." Pintel agreed.
"What? To 'Nine pieces of whatever we happened to have in our pockets at the time'? Oh, yes. That sounds very piratey." Gibbs responded sarcastically as he rolled his eyes in exasperation at Pintel's stupid suggestion.
"He makes a good point." Rude muttered, as Reno sighed.
"Point taken." The redhaired Turk grudgely admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he couldn't come up with a better name for the pieces either, before he and most of those outside of this world cringed when Barbossa bopped Ragetti on the back of the head which made the latter's wooden eyeball fall out and land in the Pirate Captain's hand, which he then dropped into the bowl.
"...Ew." Myde moaned in a whispered, disgusted. His worldly companions, Cloud's group and the Turks shared his disgust. They then watched as Ragetti went over to Jack who was reluctanted to surrender his piece of eight which, as they and Barbossa noticed, was the small miniture coin on his bead attached to his bandana.
Instead, Jack went over to the table and said, "Might I point out that we are still short one Pirate Lord and I for one am as content as a cucumber to wait until Sao Feng joins us."
"I'm afraid Sao Feng has perished." A familiar young man's voice spoke across the room which made everyone turn to see who spoke, all stunned and slightly startled. In the doorway were Elizabeth who was dressed in Chinese Garment for new role as the new Pirate Lord. With here were Isa who'd been the one who spoke, Aqua, Serah, Mog and Elizabeth's new Crew.
"He fell to the Flying Dutchmen." Aqua added.
"Isa! Aqua! Serah! Mog! Elizabeth!" Sora exclaimed in relief, as the said five rejoined him and the others, but not before Elizabeth struck her sword into the globe while the court's chattering grew more heated.
"And he made her Captain?" Jack asked about Elizabeth, just as shocked and stunned as everyone else. "They're just giving the bloody title away now."
Elizabeth ignored his comment and instead raised her voice to get the rest of the court to pay attention, "Listen. Listen to me!" and once they quietened down, she continued, "Our location has been betrayed. Jones is under the command of Lord Beckett and a madwoman named Maleficent; they're on their way here."
"Who is this betrayer?" An Afraican Pirate Lord demanded when he heard the new youngest Pirate Lord inform them of this.
"Not likely anyone among us." Barbossa quickly replied.
"Where's Will?" Serah asked, noticing that they were missing someone.
"Not among us." Lea chimed with a shrug.
"And it matters not how they found us, the question is what will we do now that they have?" Barbossa continued.
Elizabeth was the first to answer that question, as her's was pretty much logic. "We fight."
Instantly, six of the other seven Pirate Lords and their crew burst out laughing at that idea, before a Chinese female Captain stated her argument, "Shipwreck Cove is a fortress. A well-supplied fortress. There is no need to fight if they cannot get to us." and the other Pirate Lords nodded in agreement.
"Not unless they have Davy Jones showing them the front door." Cloud muttered under his breath sarcastically. Though it was also the truth as, given how it was that Pirate who somehow knew about this in the first place, would have no choice but to show them. Or maybe he was being paranoid.
"There be a third course." Barbossa spoke up, explaining to everyone else. "In this very spot long before us, the First Brethren Court captured the sea goddess and bound her in her bones." Despite the words of agreement, he shook his head, "That was a mistake."
Now he had their attention as Barbossa continued, "Oh, we tame the sea for ourselves, aye, but opened the door to not only Beckett and his ilk, but to also the witch Maleficent and her army of monsters called the Heartless! Better were the days when the mastery of seas came not from bargains struck with eldritch creatures, but the sweat of a man's brow and the strength of his back alone, ye all know this to be true."
Despite the rotten things Barbossa had done, Sora's group, the others from other worlds and Elizabeth couldn't help but feel slightly inspired by the man's words. Even Vincent and Tseng were generally impressed. Though Lea on the other hand knew where this was coming and thought to himself worriedly, 'Here we go.'
"Gentlemen." Barbossa continued, quickly adding to admend both Elizabeth and the other only female Chinese Pirate Lord, "Ladies." and then he concluded folding his hands. "We must free Calypso."
Dead silence as every pirate Lord stared at Barbossa blankly. Barbossa's face faltered. Mickey, Donald, Goofy and even Myde all heard crickets chirping for the effect in their heads. It wasn't long before the rest of the court roared in outrage.
"Shoot him!" The French Pirate Lord yelled.
"Cut out his tongue!" The African Pirate Lord added.
"Shoot him and cut out his tongue, then shoot his tongue!" Jack quickly suggested in agreement, adding as he cringed, "And trim that scraggly beard."
"Sao Feng would have agreed with Barbossa." Tai Hueng stepped forward.
"Aye." Barbossa nodded.
The African Pirate Lord on the other hand disagreed, "Calypso was our enemy then, she will be our enemy now!"
"And it's unlikely her mood's improved." The French Pirate Lord muttered in agreement.
"Have to agree with those two guys on that part." Lea whispered to Isa who nodded in agreement.
The Spanish Pirate Lord, who hated all things and people French, pulled out a pistol but placed it onto the table, saying to the French Pirate Lord angrily, regardless on whether he believed Barbossa's case or not, "I would still agree with Sao Feng. We release Calypso!"
"You threaten me?" The French Pirate Lord growled.
"I silence you!"
He picked up his gun just to have it go off when he was punched in the face. In that instant, the emotions which had been simmering below the surface ever since the meeting starting exploded. Suddenly the air was filled with shouts and gunshots, as pirates began to pound each other, spilling over onto the trouble. The only ones not joining in the fight were the Chinese female Pirate Lord, Sora's group, Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Zack, Serah, Mog, Strelitzia, the Turks, Jack, Barbossa, Elizabeth, and their crews who all just watched on, cringing and winching and watching in disbelief.
"This is insane!" Tifa said in frustration and disbelief.
"This is politics." Jack pointed out.
"This is just like the Bar fight back at home once every second week or so." Reno muttered, "Only in a court full of pirates."
"This is ridiculous! How can they fight in a time like this!?" Mickey exclaimed, just as annoyed and frustrated.
"This is so stupid and frustrating." Cloud groaned, facepalming himself in exasperation.
"They are all insufferable." Tseng groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose roughly.
"No argument there." Zack shook his head, sighing.
"Man, this isn't the time to be fighting! Beckett and Davy Jones are getting closer to us by the minute!" Sora growled in irritation, and Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Xion, Ven, Terra, Strelitzia, Skuld, Aqua, Donald, Goofy, the Turks, Vincent, Tifa and Aqua all nodded in agreement.
"If they not be here already." Barbossa pointed out as he rolled his eyes in annoyance and exasperation.
Tifa growled in annoyance, placing her hands on her hips. "They're acting a lot worse than children!"
"You said the same thing about Jack and Barbossa." Cloud reminded, but was in full agreement with his friend.
Finally, after a good solid of two minutes, Serah couldn't take it anymore.
"This has gone too far." Serah hissed, and before anyone could stop her or even know what she was about to do, she took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, "THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The outburst of Serah's yell brought an instant halt to the riot as all Pirates who had been fighting looked at Serah, as did those who hadn't been fighting as it made everyone else in the room practically freeze, most in fear, others in shock, and the rest in disbelief.
"I've just about had it with your bickering! You should be ashamed with yourselves for behaving like this during a crisis! You should know better!" Serah shouted, glaring angrily at all of the Pirates. After taking a breather, she folded her arms scoldingly as she inquired challengingly, "Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?"
Dead silence.
"I don't think that's gonna help." Zack pointed out, worriedly.
"Yeah, I think you just made the Court angry." Lea added, worriedly.
To their and everyone else's surprise, the pirates all returned to their previous seats as they gazed at the young woman with somewhat terrified expressions.
"Actually, I think they're bound to listen." Gibbs pointed out, terrified by Serah as well.
"No way!" Zack muttered in disbelief and amazement.
"She's scary." The French Pirate Lord muttered, before saying awkwardly, "Perhaps, it would be best to continue this meeting without fighting, or else we will face the wrath of that young woman's terrifying anger." and the rest of the pirates all mumured their agreements.
"We apologise for the mischief, Miss." The Spanish Pirate Lord muttered, somewhat sheepishly.
Serah nodded, unfazed. "Good. That's a promise." She then turned to Barbossa and gestured, "You can continue, Captain Barbossa."
Jack stared at Serah in terror himself, and even Barbossa looked nervous before the latter nodded a little awkward thanks before shaking himself out of it to turn his attention back to the court, rather thankful for the young woman to have shut everyone else up when he was one minute behind in doing so himself...without yelling.
"Whoa...she's so scary she can even make the pirates quiet." Sora muttered softly.
"Ooh...She reminds me of Minnie." Mickey admitted, scared himself.
Strelitzia giggled, explaining to the others, "Serah's a Teacher in her homeworld. She can be a sweet and caring person when the children behave themselves, but if the students misbehave, that's the result they would be getting. Her students called her 'Meanie Miss Farron'."
Kairi, Aqua, Elena, Tifa, Skuld and Xion all smiled approvingly at Serah's actions.
"Damn. Remind me to never get on her bad side." Reno whispered, scared himself, and if he hadn't been so terrified, he would've laughed at Rude and Tseng's and even Cloud, Zack, Vincent, Terra and Isa's expressions.
"It was the first Court wha' imprisoned Calypso. We should be the ones to se' 'er free and in her gratitude, she will see fit to grant us boons." Barbossa continued, already back to his normal self, as though Serah's outburst hadn't fazed him at all.
'I don't see that happenin'.' Lea thought to himself.
Apparently, neither did Jack, because the younger Pirate inquired to his rival, "Whose boons? Your boons? Utterly deceptive twattle speak says I."
"If you have a better alternative, please share." Barbossa offered sarcastically.
"Cuttlefish." Jack began, which raised dumbfounded expressions from everyone, as he continued while moving across the room, "Eh? Let us not, dear friends, forget our dear friends the Cuttlefish. Flipping glorious little sausages. Pen them up together and they will devour each other without a second thought. Human nature, isn't it? Or…or fish nature. So yes," he grabbed the female Captain's shoulders and the two men closest to her grabbed their weapons. "So, yes, we could hole up in here well-provisioned and well-armed and half of us would be dead within the month. Which seems quite grim to me, anyway you slice it. Or..."
He paused and gulped as he nearly bumped into a taller, stronger and scarier man, then slithered carefully past him as Jack continued, "As Hector here so naively suggests, we can release Calypso, and we can pray that she will be merciful. I rather doubt it. Can we, in fact, pretend that she is anything other than a woman scorned like which hell hath no? We cannot."
There was a murmur of agreement, and by then, Jack had reached the other end of the table. "Res ipsa loquitur, tabula in naufragio. We are left, only one optain. I agree with and I cannot believe the words coming out of my mouth..." Jack trailled off, struggling to put the right words out, gesturing at Elizabeth, never having thought he would ever adress her as such, especially since what she put him through.
"Get on with it." Sora whispered in exasperation, only to flinch when Kairi casted him a glare and he smiled sheepishly at her.
"...Captain Swann." Jack finally blurted out, "We must fight." and Elizabeth smiled approvingly at that.
"You've always run away from a fight." Barbossa pointed out.
"Have not." Jack protested, and by then everyone else in the room looked back and forth between the two men as they bickered, with the women glaring at Jack and Barbossa for starting yet another useless argument.
"You have so."
"Have not!"
"You have so!"
"Have not!"
"You have so, and you know it!"
"Have not. Slander and calumny." Jack tried to make his point, before continuing with his own statement, "I have only ever embraced that oldest of noblest of pirate traditions. I submit that here now, that is what we all must do. We must fight...to run away."
Donald facepalmed himself, while Gibbs and most of the other pirates agreed with Jack.
"Remind me to never come to this meeting again." Riku mumured softly, and Sora, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Terra, Mickey, Goofy, Cloud, and Vincent nodded in agreement.
Barbossa on the other hand, having his arms folded this time, pointed out smugly, "As per the code, an act of war can only be declared by the Pirate King."
"Pirate King?" Sora asked, dumbfounded. His companions and other friends shared his confusion.
"Since when did Pirates even have a king?" Reno asked, skeptically.
"You made that up!" Jack accused Barbossa, though he didn't sound all convincing and actually felt his score lowering.
"Did I know? I call on Cap'n Teague, Keeper of the Code." Barbossa declared, which all but made Jack's expression falter right to a horrified and uncomfortable look.
"Uh oh. Looks like trouble." Lea muttered, worriedly.
"Sri Sumbhajee proclaims this all to be folly!" A man with a turban on his head spoke for Captain Sri Sumbhajee who apparently couldn't speak. "Hang the code. Who cares-"
BANG!
A gunshot sounded and the man fell over dead which made everyone jump in fright and the women outside of Port Royal gasped in horror, Sora and the others gasped in terror, as Goofy exclaimed, "GARWSH!" and Donald screamed while clinging onto Goofy.
"Oh my gosh!" Mickey exclaimed, horrified. "Where'd that come from!?"
Soon all except for Jack slowly turned to the direction where the gunshot had came from, and saw a lone man from a small staircase above, as he blew the smoke from the pistol, saying in a deep and warning tone, "The Code is the Law."
"Who is that?" Vincent whispered, as the other Pirates returned to their seats.
"Maybe he's Captain Teague." Skuld guessed softly. Captain Teague in the meantime descended the stairs and was coming towards the main table, coming behind Jack who still hasn't moved and looked even too terrified to even do so. When the man stepped into the light, Sora and his friends and allies outside of this world were surprised.
Because despite the red coat and completely different Pirate attire, with a larger hat, he strongly resembled to an older version of Captain Jack Sparrow, and immediately Sora and the rest of his travelling companions felt deja vu as they remembered how Cassim looked like an older version of Aladdin in Agrabah.
"Unless I'm mistakin', I'm guessin' he's Jack's dad." Lea whispered.
"I think you're right." Roxas nodded in agreement.
"Me too." Ven agreed.
Teague in the meantime, stopped behind the younger pirate, and told him, "You're in my way, boy." which Jack just silently slithered to the side without argument or even attempting to make one. Teague gestured behind him, and two ancient pirates hobbled forward, carrying between them a massive book.
"What's with the Book?" Terra inquired.
"The Code." Pintel breathed in awe.
"You mean Parley?" Goofy asked, curiously. Teague in the meantime whistled and a dog carrying a key came forth. Almost immediately Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion, Pintel and Ragetti recongised it; it was the same Dog left behind on Cannibal Isle!
"No way!" Lea exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief. "How'd that dog get here!?"
"Sea turtles, mate." Teague answered with a mere shrug while taking the keys, unlocked the lock and then opened up the book while the Dog barked and then left. The older Pirate then scanned through the book until he found what he was looking for and said, "Ah, Barbossa is right."
"Sea turtles?" Tseng inquired, surprised.
Reno rolled his eyes, having heard that story before. "At least it's more convincin' with the dog then it is with Jack and Will standin' on two of them."
"Now I'm certain I don't want to know." The Wutaiian Turk sighed.
"Hang on a minute." Jack mumured as he moved over as Teague stepped back to allow the younger man to read through the book to make sure himself. "'It shall be the duties, as the king, to declare war, parley with shared adversaries...' Fancy that."
"There's not been a king since the first Court." The French Pirate Lord said. "And that's not likely to change."
"Not likely." Teague muttered in agreement as he moved away from the table, picked up a guitar and sat against the wall behind Jack.
"Why not?" Xion asked, puzzled.
"You see, the Pirate King is elected by popular vote-" Gibbs began.
"And each Pirate only over votes for hisself." Barbossa finished.
Ven sighed as he muttered while folding his arms, "Guess we're stuck." and his friends nodded in agreement.
However, Jack didn't seem to be giving up as he called up, "I call for a vote." which made the other pirates groan but knew that they didn't have much of a choice for that matter, while Teague then played a tune which was immediately pleasent.
An Arabian Pirate Pirate then started, "I vote Ammand the corsair."
"Capitaine Chevalle, the penniless Frenchman." The French Pirate Lord spoke next as he stood up.
"Sri Sumbhajee votes for Sri Sumbhajee." The Indian Pirate beside Sri Sumbhajee spoke for his Captain.
The chinese female Pirate Lord stood up as she spoke, "Mistress Ching!"
"Gentleman Jocard." The African Pirate Lord spoke next.
Elizabeth shrugged, then decided to play along and spoke next, far less enthusiastically, "Elizabeth Swann."
"Barbossa." Barbossa said next.
"Vallenueve!" The Spanish Pirate Lord said next.
A pause, and when it came to Jack's turn, his answer surprised and shocked everyone else except for Teague in the room.
"Elizabeth Swann." Jack concluded.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, astonished.
"What?" Sora echoed, equally shocked.
"Huh?" Donald asked, dumbfounded.
"Shocking, isn't it?" Jack smirked.
Lea shared at him, before asking suspiciously, "Who are you and what have you done to Captain Jack Sparrow?"
Not liking Jack's popular vote, the other seven Pirate Lords protested and demanded Jack to vote for them or at least that's what Jack and his travelling worldly companions thought was what they said. So many people spoke up all at the same time that it sounded like gibberish at this point.
"Am I to understand that you lot will not be keeping to the Code then?" Jack finally spoke up loudly to get everyone to shut up.
The combination of Serah clearing her throat loudly and scoldingly, followed by a loud sharp twang of a guitar string breaking and Teague looked up sharply with a dangerous gleam in his eyes gazing at the rest of the Court who, all remembering both Serah's terrifying outburst and Teague shooting dead one of the Indian Pirates, slowly and scaredly returned to their seats.
All except for Mistress Ching who was the first to ultimately agree with the vote, being a woman herself. "Very well." She responded, before turning to Elizabeth and inquired, "What say you Captain Swann, King of the Brethren Court?"
Elizabeth felt nervous, but she knew what she had to say, and stood tall and bold, "Prepare every vessel that floats. At dawn, we are at war." and Jack smiled approvingly. It seemed he finally had the heart to forgive her. It was the same determination that had him exiled from this world in the first place, and it was going to take that same determination to end the darkness that was Davy Jones and Beckett.
Sri Sumbajee rose from his seat, and, for the first time since the entire Court began, spoke...in a much higher voice higher than Mickey's, "And so, we shall go to war!" if not around the same pinch.
Jack, Sora, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, Terra, Ven, Aqua, Serah, Mog, Strelitzia, Skuld, Myde, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Cloud, Tifa, Zack, Vincent, Tseng, Rude, Reno and Elena all shared at Sri Sumbhajee incredulously while most of the other pirates cheered in agreement, while no one noticed Barbossa jerk his head at Pintel and Ragetti who both hid the bowl full of most of the nine Pieces of Eight and innocently skittered away.
"How much helium did that guy suck into his throat to make that tone permament?" Reno half-jokingly asked to Rude who shrugged.
"We should get some sleep. Tomorrow's the big day." Terra suggested, and the others nodded in agreement.
"Great, looks like we're going into war after all." Myde grumbled as he followed the others out.
"At least it's not the Keyblade War." Goofy pointed out.
Sora made to follow, but stopped as he looked back to Jack who in turn faced Teague who just stared at the younger Pirate.
"What?" Jack shrugged, approaching his father whom he hasn't seen in a long time. "You've seen it all, done it all, and you survived. That's the trick, isn't it, to survive?"
"It's not just about livin' forever, Jackie." Teague shook his head as he set the guitar aside and stood up. "The trick is, livin' with yourself forever."
Sora listened in to the conversation, and realised that this was indeed Jack's father. Despite that the teenager felt that this reunion was awkward, Sora decided that he should leave them both be and headed out the door to follow the rest of his friends to get some sleep, leaving the two men into their conversation. As Terra said, tomorrow's the big day, and while this wasn't the Keyblade War, it was still a war that they were all going to participating.
Jack considered his father's words. It's been years since they were this close, and considering how the younger man always had an awkward relationship with Teague, Jack didn't know what else to say.
Except for one thing; "How's Mum?"
Teague didn't answer straight way. Instead, he held up a shrunken head for Jack to see.
An awkward silence.
"...She looks great." Jack said nervously with a failed smile.
Tomorrow would be the big day of war, and as everyone knew, many lives were going to be lost. And a sacrifice was going to be made.
A/N: While Snow isn't my favorite character, since Commodore Norringtion does not exist in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, I'd thought I'd stick to the franchise's canon a little bit and stick in Snow instead.
Sorry for the delay of posting this chapter. Had trouble in how to write it up.
See you in the next chapter!