Aftermath
By: L'Morgan
Disclaimer: I guess I really do need to remind you all that anything and everything related to Pirates of the Caribbean, their characters and settings are all the property of Disney - Disney - Disney - nobody - but -Disney ---- I-just-borrowing-to-play-with-and-giving-back. Only Disney can make money on anything to do with Pirates of the Caribbean. NOT ME!
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Summary: Port Royal lies in ruins.. But worse trouble may yet be heading their way! What is Jack Sparrow up to now?!!
Chapter 11: Never The Same
The following days in Port Royal were busy, and sad both. Unfortunately the medical knowledge available at the time did little to save the truly injured or extremely ill, and the continuing tremors sometimes brought down more walls and buildings.. But at least now they had food and tools and materials to create shelter with. Each day now the earth shook less and for that they were all thankful.
The prospects of rebuilding the town where it had stood before seemed extremely bleak however. Most of the land was still under the water and showed no signs of rising. But the very thought of even scouting out another site was beyond their means at the time. There was too much needed just to get from one day to the next for the survivors as it was.
The daily large group funerals were greeted with a heavy heart, but now and then the word of a birth came as well, lending hope for tomorrow and the tomorrows yet to come.
Commodore Norrington found himself suddenly living in a town where the normal street crimes of theft and petty pilfering seemed to have evaporated as if they had never existed at all. This left him with time for much thought, and frequently the subject that came to mind was the thoroughly confusing man, Jack Sparrow.
Where before he had found the man to be annoying, insolent, arrogant, sly, sneaky, and almost any other derogatory description he could imagine - now he was having a hard time limiting his description of the pirate to only those terms. New ones kept creeping in. Ones like generous, sympathetic, caring. The part that made him smile was that he could imagine that Sparrow himself might well make faces to hear himself described in such terms. He had to wonder what would make what appeared to be a man of apparently at least occasional basic morals and conscience, turn to a life of crime.
Was it really all about gold and coin and goods? And if it were, then how did he explain the supplies left behind - the supplies that were daily used by nearly all in some form or another. Those items on hand had made the difference more times than he could count just in the last week alone.
The repairs on the naval ship 'Freedom' were nearly complete. Within a week or so they would have at least one form of mobile seafaring defense to secure the bay with. They were lucky to have that. Without the supplies that had been left, even those repairs would have taken months and months to accomplish.
Eventually he came to the conclusion that perhaps while the word 'pirate' defined the person who commits acts of piracy itself - just perhaps, there were other parts in a man that somehow failed to be included in that definition. He certainly had heard of pirates whose reputation for bloodletting and terror made Sparrow look like a ball of fluff in comparison. Yet the man had a definite reputation of his own for being dangerous. It just seemed that Sparrow was more inclined to stay his hand when it came to acts of violence, more so than most other pirates with his caliber of reputation.
He had been reading over the 'illustrious Captain's' past exploits for himself.. Something he had never taken the time to do before now. Of course he had been extremely busy then and who could blame him for not having the time? Sparrow had never really made Port Royal a place he visited frequently and so the file had just been added to the growing number in the closet full of boxes of them. It had taken him hours to find the thing. But - it was always wise to know what one could of one's enemies.
Although, when he was out in the town it was clear that nobody in Port Royal today seemed to consider Jack Sparrow their enemy. His reports said the man had indeed sacked an entire town without firing so much as a single shot. Now just how had he managed to do that?
The story was that they had apparently considered him to be an overly persistent and drunken buffoon, and made the mistake of not taking proper precautions to secure the Mayor's residence. Sparrow had taken the man and his family hostage.. And then it appeared he had simply persuaded the entire population into handing over their goods. After he left, the mayors' family had described the pirate as attentive to their needs, considerate of their social position, polite, patient, and fair.
Now - just how ~does~ one politely hold an entire family hostage for 4 days? The problem was, that in his mind, Norrington could see exactly how Jack Sparrow would have left them with those impressions. He had to bite his lip hard to keep himself from smiling at the thought.
Oh how he prayed long and hard that it would be many, many, many months before he ever had to encounter the man again. Helpful or not, the man had a death sentence over his head. And as the Commodore of Port Royal, it was his sworn duty to carry out that sentence. Norrington sincerely hoped that if anyone was going to hang that particular pirate, that it would not be him and not happen in Port Royal?
The townspeople right then would have gladly strung him up if he had attempted to put the pirate in the brig rather than let him leave. It would indeed be hard to hang a man in a town that currently considered him practically their personal hero..not to mention the issues it would bring to his mind personally.
Everywhere one went in Port Royal now one found volunteer work crews, more times than not all singing some Pirate's song. Apparently music was a frequent thing aboard a pirate ship when it came to tasks. Odd concept indeed - but it did seem to move along the work at hand along at a smoother rate. Some of the lyrics were not what he would call suitable for mixed company, but what could you expect from a group of pirates. That word again - pirate. It was no longer as clearly a black and white issue as it had been in his mind - it might never be the same again - and he wasn't sure he was glad of the change at all.
Commodore Norrington sighed. The whole issue was confusing. He inwardly swore that he would pray every night now that whatever the good Lord had intended by putting that particular pirate in the position to become so revered, that that same good Lord would have the mercy to keep Jack Sparrow out of Port Royal for years to come. Send him gallivanting off to the Bahamas, Cuba, the Gulf, even perhaps Bermuda or the Carolinas, but please, ~please~ keep him out of Port Royal? Was that really too much to hope for?
~ ** ~
Jack sighed happily to himself as he sat in the smoke-filled noisy tavern in his most favorite town in the entire Caribbean - the glorious locale known as Tortuga. He spotted a few others that he recognized here and there amongst the patrons. He at least could still make such observations - that was pretty good considering this was their third day in port. The Pearl was completely restocked now, the lads were all havin' a good time, now if he could only persuade his 'drinking companion' of the evening to leave off his current intentions. Jack had an idea what he wanted and wasn't exactly thrilled.
He glanced over at Gibbs who was sitting at his side, merely sipping at his mug with an amused look as he watched the various goings on.
"Drink up Captain Jack - night's young yet lad!" he said heartily and Jack considered his mug that the man was filling for him.
"You sure that's only rum in there?" he asked as he eyed it suspiciously. Ever since the good doctor had pulled that little stunt on him, he had been rather sensitive about what was put into his cup.
Gibbs laughed. "Oh now, it didn't hurt you a bit Jack. They only did it for your own good." He observed and Jack frowned.
"Luckily it wasn't a night I decided to visit the crows' nest or check the sails for myself." He observed dryly and Gibbs smiled reassuringly.
"I wouldn't have let you Jack - plain and simple as that. Even if I had to create one of them diversions of me own, I wouldn't have let you do nothin' that would'a got you hurt." He reassured and the pirate captain looked at his mug and then at the man.
"And so would you like to enlighten me as to why my quartermaster is buying his captain his fourth round of rum? You're makin' me a might uneasy here mate - I know you're up to something. You haven't been so friendly any other night. Not that I expected you to be - but we're talking money here now. Savvy?" He said and Gibbs smiled at him broadly.
"Aye, Savvy, Captain. you always were razor sharp at catchin' on." He said and Jack gave him an unhappy look.
"I hate when you say that Gibbs, it means you are absolutely up to something," he commented sourly as he leaned over his drink more. The older shrugged casually, then considered the younger briefly.
"It's those stitches Jack - time for em' to come out." Gibbs said bluntly and the one frowned and shuddered and gave him a dark look.
"No its not." He said stubbornly to his mug as he took a big swallow and the one smiled at him as if amused.
"Yes it is lad, and you know I be right. Now drink your rum - you weren't awake for them goin' in this time - but there's no need to not have a little buzz goin' when we take em out." He said and the one looked at him dourly and sighed.
"You know, I AM the Captain here. We're supposed to be doin' what I say, not what you say, mate" he offered and Gibbs chuckled soundly.
"Now did I say a word when you ran into that pretty little blonde the other night? What was her name?" he asked and Jack smiled warmly now as he nodded.
"Chante." He said and Gibbs nodded.
"I didn't go lookin' all over creation for you lad - not even when you didn't show up at the Pearl till almost noon... An I was all for us stoppin' to pick up that pretty little prize that ended up being a British freighter on the way here. Now you n' me, we both know your dear friend Commodore Norrington is gonna get his drawers all up in a knot over that one." He said and Jack laughed softly with a pleased look.
"He shouldn't though - it wasn't even headed to Port Royal" he observed and Gibbs smiled.
"Won't matter to that one Captain, and you know it as well as I do. Strange man he is. All tied up in his duty and honor till it's about t' choke the life out of him." He observed and Jack smiled mildly and took another big swallow from his mug and let Gibbs pour him more without comment.
"'Sides Captain, as your quartermaster, its my job to keep track of what needs fixin, what needs replacin, what needs oilin' and greasin' and waxin' - least ways that what your ship articles says." He told him and Jack frowned mildly as he took a healthy swig of his rum.
"I'm not a piece of rigging that's gotten frayed -, and remind me to change those articles. I need to add 'except for the Captain', he observed dryly and Gibbs grinned widely.
"No you ain't Jack a piece of the riggin' - but you're an important part of the ship. Besides, you leave those things in too long and they'll fester and you could loose that arm lad. Hate to see that happen just cause you're havin' a streak of bein' stubborn at a bad time." He said, liberally pouring more rum in Jack's mug yet again.
"I'm not stubborn." Jack said firmly to his cup and the older sailor chuckled.
"No, course you're not Captain. Not a stubborn bone in yer' whole body." He agreed easily with a wide grin.
Suddenly a drunken sailor careened against the edge of their table, laughing. They made no comment other than to smile as the man righted himself and leaned back towards the other table beyond, swaying severely and nearly spilling the contents of the mug in his hand.
"- Are too! We're leaving at dawn even, I tell ya! What the Captain hears - them forts just fell right down into the water like they was made uh mud! Half the bloomin' town is gone! Just got the one fort left and it can't shoot across the bay a' tall! Hell yeah we're goin'!" he bragged to his friends at the other table.
"Not gonna be much to loot if half the town is under the water mate! Less you plan on asking the fishes to lend you a hand or got you a pretty little mermaid to bring it up for ye'!" another one countered and now the man shook his head.
"No, but from what we heard, the Governor's still there - and you know they got more than was just at the docks part. Hell - all the rich folks live up in the hills - wasn't them houses that fell into the water! Pretty lil' rich girls, most the men dead n' gone. Oh yeahhhh!" he slurred in happy anticipation.
Jack looked at Gibbs; all humor suddenly gone from his expression, then quickly drained his mug in one large gulp.
"Meet me outside," he leaned forward to whisper to the older man, who nodded mildly.
Jack set aside his mug, then rose and pushed back his hat somewhat. He swayed severely one direction, then another, and then ended up by the man who had been speaking and nearly fell into him.
"Careful there mate -" the one said sloppily as he stood Jack up and the pirates' eyes widened and then narrowed at him.
"Hey, I kno' yah mate! How ya' been! Gla' to see ya!" he exclaimed with a severe slur and drunken grin as he threw a glad arm around the man, who laughed as he nearly fell over as well, as did the rest of the table.
"Sur' - I kno' yah! Yah be Billy Stone. sailin' on the Red Rose with Cap'n Fellowes! Oh am I glad to see ya' Billy!" he exclaimed, staggering into the man and hugging him with both arms and now the table laughed even more at Jack's hugging the man.
"You been havin' a bit too much ta drink mate - I ain't who you think I am!" the one said as he pushed Jack away a bit roughly, and the pirate nearly sprawled across the table, to look up at him with a hurt look.
"Billy - com'on Billy - so what if she liked me too! We's mates! Not like she's exclusive to anyone, if y' know what I mean?" he exclaimed in an apologetic tone, as he had to try three times to get up before one of them helped him.
"I not your mate, friend. I sail on the Rover, under Cap'n Cutter. And my name's not Billy! Now come on, get on wich' ya'" he said laughingly as he turned Jack around and shoved him away from them and the one staggered severely, caught himself against another table and looked back
"My apologies ta' ya then sir! I woulda' swore you was him! You look jus' like him!" he said while swaying drastically then gave a friendly salute and staggered towards the door and out and the others went back to their business. Not a one of them noticed when in a few moments more Gibbs rose and made his way outside as well.
He stopped in the dark street and waited for the figure to step out from the shadows and then crossed over to him with a grin.
"We need to find the crew and get to Port Royal before Cutter does Gibbs. That man will massacre the entire town." Jack said, in a suddenly stone- sober tone as he pulled the older sailor away from the door and Gibbs nodded.
"Aye, aye Captain. It'll take us a bit to round 'em up sir, but we'll find em." He said surely and Jack looked a bit worried.
"I'm going back to the Pearl and get started. Anyone I find on the way I'll bring along." He said and Gibbs nodded and started off on his own in one direction and Jack in the other.
Suddenly the Captain stopped and made a hissing noise and Gibbs looked back at him.
"Bring along a few bottles of rum Mr. Gibbs - I want these stitches out as soon as we leave port!" he whispered loudly and Gibbs nodded with a knowing smile and left on his assigned mission.
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Disclaimer: I guess I really do need to remind you all that anything and everything related to Pirates of the Caribbean, their characters and settings are all the property of Disney - Disney - Disney - nobody - but -Disney ---- I-just-borrowing-to-play-with-and-giving-back. Only Disney can make money on anything to do with Pirates of the Caribbean. NOT ME!
*************************
Summary: Port Royal lies in ruins.. But worse trouble may yet be heading their way! What is Jack Sparrow up to now?!!
Chapter 11: Never The Same
The following days in Port Royal were busy, and sad both. Unfortunately the medical knowledge available at the time did little to save the truly injured or extremely ill, and the continuing tremors sometimes brought down more walls and buildings.. But at least now they had food and tools and materials to create shelter with. Each day now the earth shook less and for that they were all thankful.
The prospects of rebuilding the town where it had stood before seemed extremely bleak however. Most of the land was still under the water and showed no signs of rising. But the very thought of even scouting out another site was beyond their means at the time. There was too much needed just to get from one day to the next for the survivors as it was.
The daily large group funerals were greeted with a heavy heart, but now and then the word of a birth came as well, lending hope for tomorrow and the tomorrows yet to come.
Commodore Norrington found himself suddenly living in a town where the normal street crimes of theft and petty pilfering seemed to have evaporated as if they had never existed at all. This left him with time for much thought, and frequently the subject that came to mind was the thoroughly confusing man, Jack Sparrow.
Where before he had found the man to be annoying, insolent, arrogant, sly, sneaky, and almost any other derogatory description he could imagine - now he was having a hard time limiting his description of the pirate to only those terms. New ones kept creeping in. Ones like generous, sympathetic, caring. The part that made him smile was that he could imagine that Sparrow himself might well make faces to hear himself described in such terms. He had to wonder what would make what appeared to be a man of apparently at least occasional basic morals and conscience, turn to a life of crime.
Was it really all about gold and coin and goods? And if it were, then how did he explain the supplies left behind - the supplies that were daily used by nearly all in some form or another. Those items on hand had made the difference more times than he could count just in the last week alone.
The repairs on the naval ship 'Freedom' were nearly complete. Within a week or so they would have at least one form of mobile seafaring defense to secure the bay with. They were lucky to have that. Without the supplies that had been left, even those repairs would have taken months and months to accomplish.
Eventually he came to the conclusion that perhaps while the word 'pirate' defined the person who commits acts of piracy itself - just perhaps, there were other parts in a man that somehow failed to be included in that definition. He certainly had heard of pirates whose reputation for bloodletting and terror made Sparrow look like a ball of fluff in comparison. Yet the man had a definite reputation of his own for being dangerous. It just seemed that Sparrow was more inclined to stay his hand when it came to acts of violence, more so than most other pirates with his caliber of reputation.
He had been reading over the 'illustrious Captain's' past exploits for himself.. Something he had never taken the time to do before now. Of course he had been extremely busy then and who could blame him for not having the time? Sparrow had never really made Port Royal a place he visited frequently and so the file had just been added to the growing number in the closet full of boxes of them. It had taken him hours to find the thing. But - it was always wise to know what one could of one's enemies.
Although, when he was out in the town it was clear that nobody in Port Royal today seemed to consider Jack Sparrow their enemy. His reports said the man had indeed sacked an entire town without firing so much as a single shot. Now just how had he managed to do that?
The story was that they had apparently considered him to be an overly persistent and drunken buffoon, and made the mistake of not taking proper precautions to secure the Mayor's residence. Sparrow had taken the man and his family hostage.. And then it appeared he had simply persuaded the entire population into handing over their goods. After he left, the mayors' family had described the pirate as attentive to their needs, considerate of their social position, polite, patient, and fair.
Now - just how ~does~ one politely hold an entire family hostage for 4 days? The problem was, that in his mind, Norrington could see exactly how Jack Sparrow would have left them with those impressions. He had to bite his lip hard to keep himself from smiling at the thought.
Oh how he prayed long and hard that it would be many, many, many months before he ever had to encounter the man again. Helpful or not, the man had a death sentence over his head. And as the Commodore of Port Royal, it was his sworn duty to carry out that sentence. Norrington sincerely hoped that if anyone was going to hang that particular pirate, that it would not be him and not happen in Port Royal?
The townspeople right then would have gladly strung him up if he had attempted to put the pirate in the brig rather than let him leave. It would indeed be hard to hang a man in a town that currently considered him practically their personal hero..not to mention the issues it would bring to his mind personally.
Everywhere one went in Port Royal now one found volunteer work crews, more times than not all singing some Pirate's song. Apparently music was a frequent thing aboard a pirate ship when it came to tasks. Odd concept indeed - but it did seem to move along the work at hand along at a smoother rate. Some of the lyrics were not what he would call suitable for mixed company, but what could you expect from a group of pirates. That word again - pirate. It was no longer as clearly a black and white issue as it had been in his mind - it might never be the same again - and he wasn't sure he was glad of the change at all.
Commodore Norrington sighed. The whole issue was confusing. He inwardly swore that he would pray every night now that whatever the good Lord had intended by putting that particular pirate in the position to become so revered, that that same good Lord would have the mercy to keep Jack Sparrow out of Port Royal for years to come. Send him gallivanting off to the Bahamas, Cuba, the Gulf, even perhaps Bermuda or the Carolinas, but please, ~please~ keep him out of Port Royal? Was that really too much to hope for?
~ ** ~
Jack sighed happily to himself as he sat in the smoke-filled noisy tavern in his most favorite town in the entire Caribbean - the glorious locale known as Tortuga. He spotted a few others that he recognized here and there amongst the patrons. He at least could still make such observations - that was pretty good considering this was their third day in port. The Pearl was completely restocked now, the lads were all havin' a good time, now if he could only persuade his 'drinking companion' of the evening to leave off his current intentions. Jack had an idea what he wanted and wasn't exactly thrilled.
He glanced over at Gibbs who was sitting at his side, merely sipping at his mug with an amused look as he watched the various goings on.
"Drink up Captain Jack - night's young yet lad!" he said heartily and Jack considered his mug that the man was filling for him.
"You sure that's only rum in there?" he asked as he eyed it suspiciously. Ever since the good doctor had pulled that little stunt on him, he had been rather sensitive about what was put into his cup.
Gibbs laughed. "Oh now, it didn't hurt you a bit Jack. They only did it for your own good." He observed and Jack frowned.
"Luckily it wasn't a night I decided to visit the crows' nest or check the sails for myself." He observed dryly and Gibbs smiled reassuringly.
"I wouldn't have let you Jack - plain and simple as that. Even if I had to create one of them diversions of me own, I wouldn't have let you do nothin' that would'a got you hurt." He reassured and the pirate captain looked at his mug and then at the man.
"And so would you like to enlighten me as to why my quartermaster is buying his captain his fourth round of rum? You're makin' me a might uneasy here mate - I know you're up to something. You haven't been so friendly any other night. Not that I expected you to be - but we're talking money here now. Savvy?" He said and Gibbs smiled at him broadly.
"Aye, Savvy, Captain. you always were razor sharp at catchin' on." He said and Jack gave him an unhappy look.
"I hate when you say that Gibbs, it means you are absolutely up to something," he commented sourly as he leaned over his drink more. The older shrugged casually, then considered the younger briefly.
"It's those stitches Jack - time for em' to come out." Gibbs said bluntly and the one frowned and shuddered and gave him a dark look.
"No its not." He said stubbornly to his mug as he took a big swallow and the one smiled at him as if amused.
"Yes it is lad, and you know I be right. Now drink your rum - you weren't awake for them goin' in this time - but there's no need to not have a little buzz goin' when we take em out." He said and the one looked at him dourly and sighed.
"You know, I AM the Captain here. We're supposed to be doin' what I say, not what you say, mate" he offered and Gibbs chuckled soundly.
"Now did I say a word when you ran into that pretty little blonde the other night? What was her name?" he asked and Jack smiled warmly now as he nodded.
"Chante." He said and Gibbs nodded.
"I didn't go lookin' all over creation for you lad - not even when you didn't show up at the Pearl till almost noon... An I was all for us stoppin' to pick up that pretty little prize that ended up being a British freighter on the way here. Now you n' me, we both know your dear friend Commodore Norrington is gonna get his drawers all up in a knot over that one." He said and Jack laughed softly with a pleased look.
"He shouldn't though - it wasn't even headed to Port Royal" he observed and Gibbs smiled.
"Won't matter to that one Captain, and you know it as well as I do. Strange man he is. All tied up in his duty and honor till it's about t' choke the life out of him." He observed and Jack smiled mildly and took another big swallow from his mug and let Gibbs pour him more without comment.
"'Sides Captain, as your quartermaster, its my job to keep track of what needs fixin, what needs replacin, what needs oilin' and greasin' and waxin' - least ways that what your ship articles says." He told him and Jack frowned mildly as he took a healthy swig of his rum.
"I'm not a piece of rigging that's gotten frayed -, and remind me to change those articles. I need to add 'except for the Captain', he observed dryly and Gibbs grinned widely.
"No you ain't Jack a piece of the riggin' - but you're an important part of the ship. Besides, you leave those things in too long and they'll fester and you could loose that arm lad. Hate to see that happen just cause you're havin' a streak of bein' stubborn at a bad time." He said, liberally pouring more rum in Jack's mug yet again.
"I'm not stubborn." Jack said firmly to his cup and the older sailor chuckled.
"No, course you're not Captain. Not a stubborn bone in yer' whole body." He agreed easily with a wide grin.
Suddenly a drunken sailor careened against the edge of their table, laughing. They made no comment other than to smile as the man righted himself and leaned back towards the other table beyond, swaying severely and nearly spilling the contents of the mug in his hand.
"- Are too! We're leaving at dawn even, I tell ya! What the Captain hears - them forts just fell right down into the water like they was made uh mud! Half the bloomin' town is gone! Just got the one fort left and it can't shoot across the bay a' tall! Hell yeah we're goin'!" he bragged to his friends at the other table.
"Not gonna be much to loot if half the town is under the water mate! Less you plan on asking the fishes to lend you a hand or got you a pretty little mermaid to bring it up for ye'!" another one countered and now the man shook his head.
"No, but from what we heard, the Governor's still there - and you know they got more than was just at the docks part. Hell - all the rich folks live up in the hills - wasn't them houses that fell into the water! Pretty lil' rich girls, most the men dead n' gone. Oh yeahhhh!" he slurred in happy anticipation.
Jack looked at Gibbs; all humor suddenly gone from his expression, then quickly drained his mug in one large gulp.
"Meet me outside," he leaned forward to whisper to the older man, who nodded mildly.
Jack set aside his mug, then rose and pushed back his hat somewhat. He swayed severely one direction, then another, and then ended up by the man who had been speaking and nearly fell into him.
"Careful there mate -" the one said sloppily as he stood Jack up and the pirates' eyes widened and then narrowed at him.
"Hey, I kno' yah mate! How ya' been! Gla' to see ya!" he exclaimed with a severe slur and drunken grin as he threw a glad arm around the man, who laughed as he nearly fell over as well, as did the rest of the table.
"Sur' - I kno' yah! Yah be Billy Stone. sailin' on the Red Rose with Cap'n Fellowes! Oh am I glad to see ya' Billy!" he exclaimed, staggering into the man and hugging him with both arms and now the table laughed even more at Jack's hugging the man.
"You been havin' a bit too much ta drink mate - I ain't who you think I am!" the one said as he pushed Jack away a bit roughly, and the pirate nearly sprawled across the table, to look up at him with a hurt look.
"Billy - com'on Billy - so what if she liked me too! We's mates! Not like she's exclusive to anyone, if y' know what I mean?" he exclaimed in an apologetic tone, as he had to try three times to get up before one of them helped him.
"I not your mate, friend. I sail on the Rover, under Cap'n Cutter. And my name's not Billy! Now come on, get on wich' ya'" he said laughingly as he turned Jack around and shoved him away from them and the one staggered severely, caught himself against another table and looked back
"My apologies ta' ya then sir! I woulda' swore you was him! You look jus' like him!" he said while swaying drastically then gave a friendly salute and staggered towards the door and out and the others went back to their business. Not a one of them noticed when in a few moments more Gibbs rose and made his way outside as well.
He stopped in the dark street and waited for the figure to step out from the shadows and then crossed over to him with a grin.
"We need to find the crew and get to Port Royal before Cutter does Gibbs. That man will massacre the entire town." Jack said, in a suddenly stone- sober tone as he pulled the older sailor away from the door and Gibbs nodded.
"Aye, aye Captain. It'll take us a bit to round 'em up sir, but we'll find em." He said surely and Jack looked a bit worried.
"I'm going back to the Pearl and get started. Anyone I find on the way I'll bring along." He said and Gibbs nodded and started off on his own in one direction and Jack in the other.
Suddenly the Captain stopped and made a hissing noise and Gibbs looked back at him.
"Bring along a few bottles of rum Mr. Gibbs - I want these stitches out as soon as we leave port!" he whispered loudly and Gibbs nodded with a knowing smile and left on his assigned mission.
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