Chapter Six- The Crew
Jack awoke the next morning in a peculiar situation. He had fallen asleep leaning against the bedpost, Francesca's head on his chest. "That's interesting..." Francesca, however, muttered, "Sparrow..." snuggling in closer. "Hm?" Jack said, looking down. "Still sleepy, love?" Clearly, she was still asleep. "Ah... I think I could get used to this." He put his hat over his eyes and fell back to sleep.
Will crept out of his room, peering carefully into the captain's cabin. 'Well isn't this a sight,' he thought, noting the grin still present beneath Jack's mustache.
"Man of 1000 women finally settling down, Jack?"
Jack's hat fell off as he jumped out of bed, Francesca's head hitting the mattress with a plop. "Ow! Damn you, Jack! Can't you just let a good thing be?!"
"We've got crew inspection, love. Important business."
"Important enough to lose this?" Francesca said, holding up his hat.
"No- not my hat!!!" Jack said as she held it out of reach.
She put her hand on his shoulder, holding him back as she put the hat on her own head with the other hand. "Aha- it's mine now."
He let out something akin to both a sigh and a groan, "...Just for today."
"Jack!" Mr. Gibbs called from above deck.
Jack quickly snatched his hat from Francesca's head. "Bye, love."
"That man..." Francesca snarled, pointing at him as he left, "THAT....MAN...."
"Love you too," he grinned, running up the steps as she threw her sword at him.
Will scanned the room, "Did you sleep in there?"
"Apparently." Then, she laughed, "I slept in the same bed as Jack."
"Oh..."
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"...No. Not really."
Francesca left the room, "Believe what you like. I don't really care."
"What do you want me to believe?"
"I want to believe that none of the women in Tortuga meant anything to him. But that's the thought of a fool."
"I must be a fool then," Will said, sitting down in her room.
Francesca hugged him, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Thank you, Will. You'd be going on deck now."
Victoria glanced at them from Will's room. Will looked up.
"Oh..."
"What are you doing behind your Sparrow's back then?"
"Victoria- you just practically made out with Will yesterday. Besides- he's my friend."
"Is that true Will?"
Will nodded, "Of course, Vic."
"Did- did you just call me Vic?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Francesca burst out laughing, "Have fun, Will... See you on deck."
Will gaped at Victoria. "Ah... Vic– TORIA. Vic-toria? Wha–"
Francesca ascended the steps, leaving them alone with a snigger.
"Morning Sparrow, Mr. Gibbs."
"Good morning Francesca. Where'd Will run off to?"
Jack looked at Francesca, who motioned with her eyes to the door. Jack stifled a chuckle.
"Indisposed." Jack answered abruptly.
No sooner had Mr. Gibbs turned to address the crew, Will walked up in a daze. "Hello Jack," he muttered, "...What are we doing?"
Jack tried not to laugh, handing Will a rag to clean his face, which was covered in lipstick. "What do you find so amusing?"
Francesca turned to see Will wiping lipstick off his face, trying her best to keep a straight face. She look the rag from his hand, dipped in the salt water, and handed it back to him. "It'll clean it off better."
Will nodded a thank-you, wiping off his face entirely and inspecting the crew alongside Jack. The expression on his face was one of confusion and bliss.
"Feast your eyes, Captain. All of them, faithful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot," said Mr. Gibbs as they followed him down the straight row of pirates...They were pirates in the nautical sense...
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will said sarcastically.
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," he muttered without Mr. Gibbs noticing. He faced one of the pirates who had a parrot on his shoulder, "You, sailor!"
"Cotton, sir," answered Mr. Gibbs.
"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death? Mr. Cotton ! Answer me, man!"
"He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out," Gibbs said, as Cotton opened his mouth to show the space where his tongue should be. Jack was slightly appalled and stuck out his own tongue in a grotesque manner as Mr. Gibbs talked, "so he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how..."
"Mr. Cotton's...parrot. Same question."
"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" the parrot squawked.
Gibbs explained, "Mostly we figure that means 'yes'."
"Of course it does." Jack said, now facing Will, "Satisfied?"
Will looked slightly revolted, "Well you've proved they're mad."
"And what's the benefit for us?" a higher voice asked farther down the line.
Jack approached the voice that came from under an ugly black hat, which he removed to find a woman underneath. "Anamaria." Just as every woman who crossed his path, she smacked his face, and his head whipped around for the third time.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either," said Will.
"No, that one I deserved."
"You stole my BOAT!" Anamaria yelled at him.
At that, Francesca stepped up on deck, poking her head out of the door.
"Actually–"
Correction- for the fourth time, his head whipped around. This time, he waited to turn his head back 'round for the sting from the last smack to fade with a definite look of pain. He tried to speak to her again. "...borrowed, borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But...you...didn't!" she yelled an inch away from his face.
"You'll get another one!" Jack said quickly, trying to avoid another slap on the face.
She threatened him, "....I will."
"A better one," said Will.
"A better one!" Jack chimed in!
"That one!" Will pointed to the Interceptor.
"What one?..." Jack looked behind him. "...THAT ONE?!" he grinned out of fear of Anamaria, "Aye- that one! What say you?"
"Aye!" Anamaria shouted, echoed by the rest of the crew.
The crew began to board the ship, but Mr. Gibbs protested, "No, no, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir."
"Yes I know...We've already got two, so how's about one more. Besides... It'd be far worse not to have her."
Mr. Gibbs pulled Will aside, "...Two?"
"Aye," Will answered, smiling (off in whatever dreamworld he was), "two."
"God almighty- we'll be dead before we cast off..." Mr. Gibbs said aghast.
Within two hours out to sea, a terrible storm broke upon the Interceptor.
"Blast the women!" Gibbs cried over the roar of the waves.
Francesca and Vicky, however, were already helping the crew on deck as the waves crashed over their heads. "All this for Jack, eh?" Vicky screamed. "Nah- I ENJOY being killed by waves and hanging on for dear life to a rope that will probably break in two minutes! YOU?!" Francesca answered with another scream, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
Will gave a yell to Mr. Gibbs, "How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?"
"Aye, the compass doesn't point north," Gibbs shouted, "but we're not trying to find north, are we?" Then, he turned to Jack, who was happy as ever, and called, "We should canvas, sir!"
"She can hold on a bit longer," Jack answered with a delighted grin.
"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood, Captain?" Mr. Gibbs asked in a still louder yell.
"We're catching up."
The morning after the storm was as bright as it had ever been; the lagoon was not...
"Dead... men... tell... no... tales," Mr. Cotton's parrot squawked.
Francesca stood beside Jack, "Oh my god..." The entire crew looked into the blue-grey water to the countless shipwrecks strewn in the deep.
Mr. Gibbs spoke gravely, "Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage."
Jack had his eyes fixed on his compass, snapping it shut as Gibbs began to stare at him. Will asked cautiously, "How is it that Jack came by that compass?"
"Not a lot known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta . That was before I met him. Back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl," said Gibbs.
"He failed to mention that," Will said thoughtfully.
Mr. Gibbs began to tell his story, "Well, he plays things close to the vest now. And a hard learned lesson it was. See three days out on the venture the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share as should be the location of the treasure, too. So, Jack gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."
"Ah. So that's the reason for the..." Will started, imitating Jack's movements.
"Reason's got nothing to do with it. Now Will, when a man is marooned he is a given a pistol with a single shot. Well it won't do much good hunting or to be rescued. But after three weeks of starvin' belly and thirst, well... that pistol starts to look real friendly. But Jack made it off the island and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."
"Barbossa..."
"Aye," said Gibbs.
Will asked in wonder, "How did Jack get off the island?"
"Well, I'll tell you. He waded out into the shallows and there he waited three days and three nights till all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, harnessed them together and made a raft."
"He roped a couple of sea turtles," Will said disbelievingly.
"Aye, sea turtles."
Francesca passed them during the last few moments of the story with a laugh. "Sea turtles," she muttered, giggling as she went.
They both turned to watch her walk away, then Will continued with his question.
"...What did he use for rope?"
Gibbs drew a blank. Just then, Jack said, standing above them, "Human hair... from my back." He yelled to the crew, "Let go of the anchor!"
"Let go of the anchor, sir!" one of them yelled in return.
"Young Mr. Turner and I are to go to shore."
"Not without me!" Francesca called behind them.
Jack said, "Yes, without you."
"No you won't!"
"Sorry, love. Not this time."
"YOU WON'T!"
"Yes, I will."
"Why?"
"Because."
"EXPLAIN."
After a while of this irritatingly long relay of yes's and no's,
"WHY...NOT?"
"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU GETTING HURT, ALL RIGHT?!" Jack roared.
The crew had long been watching the debate, and a low rumble of whispers and muttering followed.
"Back to work!" Jack ordered.
"I am a pirate, and you're going back on your agreements of the parley."
"Follow me, love– below deck for a moment."
"Arrrrr! Walk the plank!" Cotton's parrot squawked.
"Cotton says there's to be some lovers' quarrel below deck," said Gibbs.
The crew broke out in laughter.
"NO ONE MOVES TILL I GET BACK!" Jack yelled over their laughter.
There was a dead silence, then, after they had gone below deck, the laughter continued.
"Francesca," Jack said irritably, "Don't make me do that again."
"What?"
Jack pointed dramatically to the door in frustration, "Out there! I have to have some credibility if I'm gonna keep this bloody crew in check."
"That's no excuse to ignore my rights in the parley when I–"
Jack looked at her, shaking his head, "Don't you get it, love? There is no parley anymore! I don't care about the damn code! To hell with it all- just let me keep you safe...HERE. Alright?"
"Aye."
"There we go. 'at's my girl, a true pirate."
"A true pirate fights till the end," Francesca sighed, "Which apparently isn't my choice either way."
"Your end shouldn't leave this deck till your sister, the eunuch and myself are all back on board sailing away from an island full of dead pirates."
"Yourself included?" Francesca said, moving closer to him, "What if I want you safe too?"
"You can't ask me to stay here or to take you along. This is a man's job....savvy?"
She returned to the deck, followed by laughter and hooting and howling from the crew.
"ALL HANDS TO POSTS!" Jack shouted, following Francesca, then retreating to the starboard side of the ship.
"Captain! What if the worst should happen?" Mr. Gibbs asked before Jack and Will left.
"Keep to the Code."
"Aye," said Gibbs, "the Code."