As we sailed away from the wreck of the Interceptor, Barbossa's crew worked to rid the Pearl of the other ship's fallen mast. With that out of the way, we moved off to watch the inevitable explosion. We didn't have to wait long. The Interceptor's crew had only just been secured and warned by Pintel not to even think about the word 'parley' when…
BOOM!
Elizabeth had managed to escape her bonds and ran forward, but the explosion made her stop in her tracks.
"Will was still in there," I whispered to Jack. His face expressed some concern. Now his plan to get his ship back wouldn't work.
Barbossa laughed when the ship blew up. Elizabeth lunged at him insanely, screaming "You godless pirate!"
Barbossa turned and caught her arms, preventing the attack. "Welcome back, miss," he hissed. "You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It holds fair now you return the favour." Grinning, he shoved the struggling girl into the eager arms of his crew. They began to grab at her, pulling her hair and doing God knows what else. Screaming, she attempted to fight them back, but there was nothing she nor anyone else could do.
"Barbossa!" a recognisable voice called from the opposite side of the ship. Everyone turned and looked. It was Will! Knowing that he would survive the explosion, I wasn't surprised, but some happiness still seeped into me. He jumped off the railing and grabbed a pistol. Cocking it, he pointed the weapon at Barbossa. "She goes free!"
Jack looked both happy and worried at Will's sudden appearance; happy because his plan now still had a chance of working and worried because he knew that Will had no experience bargaining with Barbossa and was very likely to make critical mistakes.
Barbossa boldly approached Will. "What's in your head, boy?"
"She goes free," the blacksmith repeated. Barbossa was now only about a foot away from the pistol but he didn't care. In fact, he took a step closer.
"You've only got one shot, and we can't die," he boasted.
Will's eyes flickered to Jack. "Don't do anything stupid," Jack pleaded in a whisper. I bit the inside of my lip so I wouldn't say anything.
Will darted back up onto the railing, grabbing a rope to steady himself and keep his balance. He pointed the pistol at the crowd. "You can't." The barrel of the gun moved to rest under his chin. "I can."
There was a commotion to the side and Elizabeth tried once again to break free from her captors' grip.
"Like that," Jack sighed. I echoed him.
"Who are you?" Barbossa asked Will. Jack jumped in front of him, desperately, frantically trying to prevent the situation from becoming any worse.
"No one. He's no one. A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew, twice removed. Lovely singing voice though." He gestured back at Will with his thumb and whispered "Eunuch." I smirked.
An annoying thought crossed my mind. "Your aunt's nephew could either be you, your brother or your cousin. But if you throw in that distant cousin bit..." I quickly brushed those thoughts aside. This was not the time, nor the place for them.
But Will just didn't get what Jack was attempting to do, and proceded to do stupid things. "My name is Will Turner!" he announced loudly. Jack rolled his eyes and moved back to where he had been standing before. "My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs in my veins."
"Oy," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "He chooses this moment to embrace his pirate heritage."
"It's the spitting image of old Bootstrap Bill come back to haunt us," Ragetti's voice said from somewhere in the crowd.
"On my word, do as I say," Will warned. Jack and I glared up at him. "Or I'll pull this trigger, and be lost to Davy Jones' locker!"
"Name your terms, Mr Turner," Barbossa said. It was another chance for Jack's plan to work, if only Will would co-operate.
Ha! Fat chance.
"Elizabeth goes free!" Will demanded. Barbossa was tired of it. He wasn't the only one.
"Yes, we know that one. Anything else?"
Jack gestured wildly to himself. If Will were to name him captain of the Black Pearl, then Jack's plan would succeed. Unfortunately, that would have to happen at another time, if at all.
Will used the pistol to quickly indicate the Interceptor's crew before returning it to his chin. "And the crew. The crew are not to be harmed."
Jack had an "and what about me?" look on his face. Either Will didn't see it, or he chose to ignore it on purpose.
Barbossa stepped forward. "Agreed," he said. I groaned and closed my eyes. Our fate was sealed.
The excitement grew among the cursed pirates as we neared a small, sandy island with nothing more then a palm tree forest on it. When Barbossa figured we were close enough, Elizabeth was forced onto the plank. The pirates jeered and urged her forward with their cutlasses and sheer presence. Holding up her dress so she wouldn't trip, Elizabeth turned around and walked to the end of the plank.
Will shoved his way forward towards Barbossa but he was stopped before he reached him. "Barbossa, you lying bastard!" The irate blacksmith shouted. "You swore she'd go free." Elizabeth carefully turned aroundwhen she heard Will's voice, perhaps hoping that he could somehow get her out of this.
"Don't dare impugn me honour, boy," Barbossa said. "I agreed she'd go free. But it was you who failed to specify when or where." There was the loophole the Pearl's captain had found. The crew laughed with their leader and a gag was forced into Will's mouth. I noticed that the gag they used was in fact the strip of cloth Will had been using to tie his hair back. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
"Though it does seem a shame to loose something so fine, don't it lads?" Barbossa asked his crew. Many of them agreed with a splattering of "ayes". Barbossa stepped closer to the plank. "So I'll be havin' that dress back before you go," he told Elizabeth. Chuckles rose from the crew in anticipation. Elizabeth glared at Barbossa and removed the dark purple dress he had given her.
"I always liked you," Jack said to Koher as Elizabeth stripped. He was trying to warm up to his old crew. Maybe then he could stay on the Pearl. No luck though. Koher only grunted in a way that said "shut up!"
Once Elizabeth had taken the dress off she shoved it at Barbossa, who caught it. Standing in her underdress, I realised that taking off the dress had probably saved her life. We didn't want another incident like when she fell off the fort in Port Royal. The wolf whistles and cheering that came from the pirate crew members made me sigh angrily. "Goes with your black heart," Elizabeth muttered to the captain.
Barbossa held the fabric to his cheek. "Oh, it's still warm," he announced and tossed the dress to some people at the back. More laughter came from the pirates.
Elizabeth turned around again and walked back to the end of the plank. The pirates urged her on. Even the monkey hissed at her. Standing on the edge, Elizabeth paused to look back once more at Will. Bo'son grew impatient.
"Too long!" He stamped hard on the plank. The vibration caused Elizabeth to loose her balance and fall off. The pirates cheered as she hit the water.
Next, Jack was pushed forward to the plank. I hopped over the railing and stood on the little ledge over the side, ready to dive off. Jack's hands were tied in front of him and he was extremely reluctant to leave the ship "I'd really rather hoped we were past all this," he said to Barbossa.
Barbossa put and arm around Jack's shoulders in a 'chummy' sort of way. "Jack. Jack! Did you not notice?" He nodded towards the land. "That be the same little island we made you governor of on our last little trip."
Jack looked back at the island briefly. "I did notice."
"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape," Barbossa said. "But I doubt it." He removed his arm and drew his sword. Jack stepped back from the blade as others joined it. "Off you go."
"Last time you left me a pistol with one shot," Jack reminded them. Perhaps he was trying to buy time, or more likely he wanted his gun back so he could still shoot the mutinous man when the time came.
"By the powers, you're right." Barbossa lowered his sword. "Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward." The gun found its way into Barbossa's hand, along with his sword.
Jack looked down and saw Elizabeth swimming slowly away but still keeping an eye on the pirate ship. Jack got an idea. "Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols."
"Well, Barbossa's not exactly what I would call a gentleman," I muttered.
"It'll be one pistol as before," Barbossa said. "And you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself."
Without further ado, Captain Barbossa tossed the weapons into the water. Jack Sparrow gracefully dived in after them. Turning to look at the cursed pirates one last time, I flipped them off. I knew they couldn't see it, but I didn't care. Then I too dove into the sea.
AN/ Originally, I had Calypso giving the cursed pirates the finger a lot more times then what I have now. One of them was right before she followed Jack into the water and to the island. I decided to keep that one in for some reason. I guess I thought it was funny or something, I dunno.