Jack and I swam down through schools of fish to touch the bottom where Jack's pistol and cutlass had sunk. Despite the fact that Jack's hands were tied, he still swam quite well. He kicked down in powerful strokes with his legs. His weapons were resting on a rock. He grabbed them and kicked off the rock, swimming for the surface. He did all this with such ease I had to wonder how many times he had to fetch things underwater while his hands were tied before.

It was a long swim to the beach. I helped Jack out the best I could when he needed it. The pirate didn't say a word to me. I assume it was because he was upset.By the time we reached shallow water, Jack's bonds had been cut. We arrived shortly after Elizabeth. Standing on the beach, we could see the Black Pearl on the horizon, just starting to sail away.

"That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away on my ship," Jack sighed. I could tell he was frustrated and exhausted. He was back at square one, in almost the same situation he had been in ten years ago. Things were different this time around though. Jack knew about the rum cache, Elizabeth was there, and of course, I was there.

Elizabeth but her hands on her hips as Jack trudged onto the dry sand and took his boots off so they could dry out. "So, how are we going to get off this island?" she asked.

Jack looked at her blankly. "What?"

"We have to save Will. How are you going to get us off the island?"

Jack looked at me. It would appear to Elizabeth that he was staring off into space. I shrugged and shook my head. Jack looked back at the girl.

"I can't." He walked quickly into the palm tree forest. Elizabeth and I followed. The other young woman was exasperated.

"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape it in the same way you did then."

Jack turned on her. "To what point and purpose, young missy?" he snapped. "The Black Pearl is gone. Unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice…" He quickly looked her up and down. "Unlikely," he concluded. "…young Mr Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."

Jack turned and continued moving through the sparse trees, searching for the right one. Elizabeth followed, still ranting. I moved more quietly with the pirate, who was ignoring the young lady as best he could. Jack knocked on one tree and heard that it was hollow. "But you're Captain Jack Sparrow," Elizabeth said. Jack took five large steps away from the tree and bounced up and down on a trap door hidden under the sand. Elizabeth continued to remind him of his reputation. "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau port without even firing a shot." She moved in front of him, demanding his attention very much like how she demanded Norrington's attention in Port Royal. "Are you the pirate I've read about or not?" Jack just looked at her. "How did you escape last time?" she asked.

Jack moved her backwards, off the trap door. He continued to look at her, trying to form words in his mouth.

"You may as well tell her the truth," I said.

"Last time…" Jack began with hesitation. "Last time, I was here a grand total of three days, all right? Last time…" He bent down and lifted up the trap door. "The rum runners used this island as a cache." Jack started down the sandy stairs into the shallow rum cellar. "They came by and I was able to barter passage off." He explained. "From the looks of things, they've long been out of business." He reached around and found two differently shaped bottle of rum. "You probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." Jack emerged onto the surface, rum bottles in hand.

"So that's it then?" Elizabeth sounded bitter. "That's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow." Jack stood in front of her. He looked like he was good and ready to get drunk. "You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum," Elizabeth concluded.

"Welcome to the Caribbean, love," Jack slurred. I smiled and the pirate and I walked back to the beach. As Jack passed Elizabeth, he shoved one of the bottles of rum into her hands. Jack offered me some once were back by the water. I shook my head.

"I don't drink."

"Suit yourself," he mumbled. We sat down in the sand.

A few moments later we were joined by Elizabeth. "So," the woung woman said. "Is there any truth to the other stories?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. I looked at Jack.

"Truth?" He lifted his right sleeve, reviling his pirate brand and sparrow tattoo.

"Yeah, we know about that," I thought.

Jack rolled up his other sleeve. This time, long, cruel scars were exposed. They criss-crossed down his arm, across the underside of his elbow like white veins. My eyes went wide and my mouth opened in a silent gasp. My hand went to cover my mouth. Elizabeth took a step back.

Jack pulled down the right side of his shirt collar. Two ugly bullet wounds, long since healed, stood out on his chest. I realised quickly that Captain Jack was a very lucky man. Any of these injuries would have, could have, and should have killed him, and yet there he was, still very much alive.

The pirate looked at Elizabeth, his expression emotionless. "No truth at all."

I felt tempted to fish out of my assignment the stories behind the scars, but I decided not to. For me, it was best left a mystery, and I simply dismissed them as evidence of the rough life a pirate lives.

Elizabeth was quiet, and also chose not to say anything about the scars. Jack changed the subject.

"We'll stay here a month, maybe more. Keep a weather eye open for passing ships and our chances are good," he told us.

"And what about Will?" Elizabeth said softly, still not wanting to give up. "We have to do something."

Jack raised a finger in acknowledgement. "You're absolutely right." He raised his bottle of rum in a toast to the horizon. "Here's luck to you, Will Turner," he said to the sea.

Elizabeth looked sadly at the pirate. Then she too sat down on the beach, sighing. "Drink up, he hearties, yo ho!" she said quietly and took a small sip.

Jack frowned at her. "What was that, Elizabeth?"

"It's Miss Swann," she corrected. Jack made a "jeez, sorry" expression and gesture and looked away. I smirked. It was a taste of his own medicine. "It's nothing," Elizabeth said. "Just a song I learned as a girl when I thought it would actually be fun to meet a pirate."

Jack looked at her again. "Well, come on. Let's hear it," he commanded.

"No," the woman replied. I'm sure singing for Jack wasn't exactly the first thing she wanted to do.

"Come on. We've got the time," Jack said.

"And it's not like we have anything better to do," I added. Jack gave me a look and I shrugged. "It's true."

"Well, maybe after I've had a lot more rum," Elizabeth replied.

"How much more?" Jack grinned at her, his gold teeth catching the light. She smiled weakly back.

It turned out to be not that much more. By the time the sun had set, Jack had all the words memorised. He and Elizabeth built a bonfire and began do dance around it, singing the song at the top of their lungs. Jack was getting drunker be the minute, while Elizabeth was only acting more drunk then she really was. In fact, I think she was still quite sober, sober enough to still think strait. I kept out of their way, sitting up in a near-by palm tree. I knew this wasn't going to be the safest place to be later, but it was fine for the moment.

I just sat there, not making any sounds, letting the wind blow my hair. I could smell the ocean and the fire and plainly hear the drunken singing below me. Intoxicated people make me nervous, and I knew that nothing was going to happen to Jack that night, so I kept my peaceful distance. I don't think Jack even noticed that I wasn't there.

"We're devils, we're black sheep, we're really bad eggs, drink up me hearties! Yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!"

"I love this song!" Jack declared loudly. He and Elizabeth caught each other and began to swing around. Elizabeth giggled. "Really bad eggs!" Jack shouted. Then he found he could no longer stay on his feet. He collapsed into the sand. He grabbed Elizabeth and dragged her down beside him. "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time," he told her.

"And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirates on the Spanish main," she said quickly, mimicking drunken behaviour.

Jack liked the sound of what she had said. "Not just the Spanish main, love. The entire ocean. The entire world!" He gestured out to the sea. "Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is…what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom."

I sighed quietly and looked out over the ocean. Freedom. I can't think of a single soul on earth who didn't like to have his or her own freedom.

I looked back down at the two and I saw Elizabeth lean on the pirate. "Jack, it must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island," she said.

I didn't have to see Jack's face to know what he was thinking. "Oh, yes," he said, putting his arm around her and draping his fingers on her shoulder. "But the company is infinitely better then last time and the scenery had definitely improved." Elizabeth sat up out of his grasp. She also knew what was on his mind.

"Mr Sparrow!" she exclaimed.

"Mmm?"

"I'm not entirely sure I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk."

Jack pointed a finger at her. "I know exactly what you mean, love." In my mind's eye, I could see him run his fingers over his moustache and curl up the ends of it in some sort of attempt to spruce himself up. It didn't really work.

Elizabeth lifted her bottle of rum in a toast. "To freedom!"

"To the Black Pearl!" Jack clinked his bottle against hers. Then they both lifted their bottles to drink. Jack chugged his rum down, leaning backwards until he passed out in the sand. Elizabeth only got a taste of her rum before she put her bottle down, knowing she had succeeded in her goal for the night.

She moved to the other side of the fire to sleep for a few hours before she would set to work making the signal. I sighed and glided down to sit on the sand beside Captain Jack. I continued to watch the dark ocean until the sun rose.

AN/ I decided to add the scene where Jack shows his scars into this chapter. It was requested that I do this, and now I'm glad that I did. You may have noticed that I've changed the delated scenes a fair bit. This was so they would fit in better with what I had already written for this chapter and I wouldn't have to rewrite it all.