The crew had made it back over to the dockyard, cautiously observing their surroundings in fear that more Redcoats may have followed them. Fortunately, none had, and they started to head over towards the Dying Gull over at the far end of the yard. When they had reached the battered, old schooner, Jack gestured for his crew to come to a halt as he turned around to face Gibbs.
"Before I forget, did you happen to stock up on rum beforehand?" Jack asked of his first mate, to which Gibbs replied, "Aye sir, we have enough barrels to last us some weeks."
"We spent what gold was left from the vault on it, by the way," Pintel inserted.
"Excellent," Jack replied with a smile, seemingly content with Gibbs' thinking ahead. He then looked over to Henry and Carina, and then said, "Fair warning to you both, if you touch my rum without my permission, you walk the plank."
"Very well," Henry obediently replied, wanting to maintain a good standing with Jack, but Carina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, saying "Makes no difference to me. I don't want your rum anyway."
Henry faced away from Carina as he bit his lip out of habit. He didn't want whatever was on her mind to cause conflict between her and Jack.
"Ah, but you will, lass," Jack said, pointing his finger upward for emphasis, "When sailing on the high seas, water spoils rather quickly. Rum lasts longer, so you'll have no choice but to drink it, savvy?"
"No, I don't savvy," Carina retorted, a hint of mockery in her voice as she repeated his catchphrase, "Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" Henry let out a small, unnoticeable chuckle at their sparring.
"Well, for one, I'm captain of this ship," Jack said, gesturing over to the Gull.
"This is your ship?" Carina replied with sarcasm, observing the Gull's fractured state, "I should've figured as much."
"Not to interrupt a, ahem, conversation of such import, but I think it's best we depart before we're discovered," Gibbs spoke into Jack's ear.
"Right," Jack replied, recognizing they were pressed for time. Carina sighed, not having any desire to continue her argument with the pirate.
"Alright, any more questions? Things we're forgetting? No? Alright? All aboard then," Jack ordered, and Henry, Carina, and the crew walked on the planks linking the ship to the docks. Once they were aboard, the crew made their way to their stations, and Jack and Gibbs made their way over to the helm.
"Can I have a private word with you, Henry?" Carina asked, and Henry nodded as they both walked over towards the bow of the ship. Once they had made it, Henry asked her, "What's on your mind?"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Carina inquired.
"You said you needed a ship," Henry answered plainly, to which Carina responded, "No, no, I mean... sailing with pirates. Doesn't that concern you?"
"Not really, no," Henry replied, "My parents were, and they knew Jack back in the day."
"Well, I don't trust Jack," Carina stated.
"I trust him," Henry answered her.
"The fact that you trust him makes me trust you even less," Carina almost laughed. This whole thing seemed ludicrous in her eyes.
"Come on, he's not a bad person," Henry defended, "He's just a little... uh..."
"Drunk?" Carina inserted.
"I was going to say 'eccentric,'" Henry finished, "Besides, he did save your life."
"And I was almost hung because of it," Carina replied bluntly.
"And then he helped me to save your life after that," Henry added. Carina sighed, tired of this back-and-forth between the two of them, and gave up.
"All hands! Prepare to drown!" Gibbs shouted from the helm.
"Cut the rope!" Jack ordered, and Marty and Cotton cut two ropes with their swords that released the Gull from the wooden pegs it was being held upon. It then slid into the water with a very audible splash, and the crew noted that the ship had not sunk.
"Here we go," Henry commented to Carina.
"She floats!" Marty shouted, and the crew gave a cheer. Jack began to chuckle as he grabbed the wheel and began to sail away from St. Martin.
"Let's go get that horizon," Jack said to himself, seeing the sun in front of him. At long last, he was back on the open ocean in command of a ship, and the quest for Poseidon's Trident could begin. Maybe his luck was finally changing after all. He just hoped it would be enough to stop Salazar if he truly had broken free.
But at the thought of the Trident, Jack's grip on the wheel tightened. The thought of finally finding it made him feel slightly uneasy, and he didn't know if it was a good or bad feeling. His mind then went to Salazar, and Jack closed his eyes tight in an attempt to get him out of his head for the moment.
Jack never really liked thinking about the past. He was many things, but nostalgic was not one of them. There was simply too much he couldn't bear to think about. He didn't want to feel that pain again.
"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies..." Jack began to sing in a low voice, "Farewell and adieu you ladies of Spain..."
The crew picked up on Jack's singing, and continued along with him.
"For we've received orders for to sail back to England..."
Henry and Carina looked ahead to the vast sea in front of them. They were finally going to find the Trident of Poseidon. It was if their entire lives had been building up to this, and they could finally get to do right by their fathers.
"And we may never see you fair ladies again."
The Queen Anne's Revenge sat in the middle of the ocean, it's blood-red sails blowing in the wind as the ship was anchored in place. Barbossa had on his uniform from the time he was a privateer in the Royal Navy, and his crew were dressed in the clothes of British sailors. It mattered little for they were still pirates, but Barbossa felt it best to present himself and his crew as respectable as possible for when Salazar finally came.
"Ship dead ahead!" one of the men called out from the bow. Barbossa took out a collapsible telescope from his coat pocket and looked ahead, seeing the decrepit, battered image of the Silent Mary not far away. Its breached hull glided across the sea with ease, and its fallen mast dragged across the water as it moved. A flock of undead seagulls circled around the Mary, squawking as they did so.
Barbossa collapsed his telescope and put it back in his coat, and he breathed deeply, knowing he would have to play his cards just right if he were to make it out of this one. It wasn't like with Jones where he was open to bargaining; Salazar was ruthless and never offered mercy to any pirate he came across except one per ship. And now he wasn't bound by the laws of the Spanish Crown, but running free like a mad dog.
Barbossa's grip on his blunderbuss-cane tightened, and he heard Mullroy speak up from beside him, saying "Sir, we would never question your reason as, uh, Captain, but uh..."
"But," Murtogg interrupted, "is there a reason, ahem, as Captain that you've chosen to sail in this unreasonable direction?"
Barbossa opened his mouth and ordered "Tell the men to be prepared to be boarded, to stand their ground, and show no fear!"
He then limped his way over to the bow of the ship as the men began to draw their cutlasses and firearms. When he made it to the bow, Barbossa saw that the Mary was coming in dangerously close.
"Capitan," Lezaro called over to Salazar, his hands at the wheel, "A ship sails towards us! Looks to be a British frigate!"
Salazar made his way over to the helm and said, "No, no, Teniente. Pirates."
He held out his sword and scabbard to Lezaro, and Lezaro took them without question. Salazar then took the wheel from him, and a smile formed upon his face at his next victims.
The front of the Mary lifted, showing to the crew of the Revenge the exposed ribs of the ship. The ribs then opened up like a set of jagged teeth, prepared to clamp down upon the pirate vessel in front of them. Some of the pirates took some steps backwards in fear. The men below decks prepared the bow cannonades in case they needed to use the Greek Fire.
Acting quickly, Barbossa unsheathed the Sword of Triton from his scabbard, and pointed it in the direction of the Mary, which then froze in place before it could claim the Revenge.
Feeling the sudden motion of the Mary stopping in place, Salazar was confused.
"Que?" Salazar asked aloud. Who was able to stop him like this?
"Captain Armando Salazar!" Barbossa called up from the deck of the Revenge, "I hear you be lookin' for Jack Sparrow!"
Salazar let his grip go of the wheel. Had the pirate spoken right? He knew about where to find Sparrow?
"Men!" Salazar barked, taking his sword and scabbard from Lezaro, "Prepare to board!"
The ghosts jumped off of the raised bow of the Mary onto the deck of the Revenge. The Spanish held their ghastly swords and muskets up to the pirates, keeping them in place. Mullroy was pinned against one of the masts by a ghost that had little more than a hand and a hat left of him, and Murtogg waved his hand through where his torso should've been. One pirate panicked and fired his pistol at a ghost, the bullet right through him and striking one of his own crewmates instead.
"Hold point, and await orders!" Lezaro told his men, and they continued to hold the pirates at their mercy.
Barbossa's gaze remained on the front of the Mary when suddenly he heard a thudding sound from behind him. He didn't look immediately, trying to keep his calm before he spoke, and he heard the faint wheezing of Salazar as he used his rapier to walk closer to him.
Slowly turning, Barbossa faced Salazar and gazed upon his deathly appearance, with the left side of his head all but gone and his hair flowing like it were in water. Barbossa gulped, and Salazar began to study him very curiously, almost as if he had seen something.
"M-my name is Captain Bar-"
"I know who you are, Hector Barbossa," Salazar interrupted, and Barbossa froze.
"You know my name?" Barbossa inquired, wondering how the ghost knew who he was.
"Those clothes do not fool me. I remember you," Salazar began, "Thirty years ago, you were first mate aboard the Black Pearl, back when it was captained by Sparrow."
"That doesn't explain to me how you know my name," Barbossa stated.
"When my crew and I were murdered by you pirate bastardos, the Devil's Triangle cursed us. But it did more than leave us in pain and suffering. It gave us knowledge of things that are, were, and will be. It's not much knowledge, it was like looking through a keyhole, but it was enough to fuel our desire for revenge," Salazar stated.
"What is it that you know?" Barbossa asked.
"I know the names of every single pirate aboard the Pearl the day we died," Salazar began, "Over the years, many names have been lost to us, and the reason being is that they've died. Only five names remain."
Salazar began to encircle Barbossa, walking around him slowly as he spoke.
"Barbossa..." Salazar began, "Pintel... Ragetti... Turner... Sparrow."
He nearly shouted the last name into Barbossa's ear, venom in his voice as the pirate flinched at his words.
"That monster..." Salazar remarked, "We've spent decades in agony because of him."
"And now I stand before you with cordial intent so that you may have your revenge," Barbossa replied coolly, but Salazar, standing in front of him, merely chuckled.
"'Cordial intent,'" Salazar repeated, amused by Barbossa's wording, and then he turned his head to face his crew and said "Do you hear that, men? This pirate wishes to be cordial with us!"
The crew of the Mary laughed loud at their Captain's comment.
"So let me show you what my cordiality is, hombre," Salazar began, "Every time I tap my sword, one of your men will die, so I suggest you speak quickly."
Salazar then tapped his sword against the deck, and one of his men gutted one of Barbossa's.
"You might want to go a bit faster, Capitan," Salazar spoke, and he tapped his sword twice in quick succession. The pirate that had accidentally shot one of his crewmates was stabbed, as was another pirate close to him.
"Where's Jack Sparrow!?" Salazar demanded, whereupon Barbossa quickly replied "Jack be sailin' for the Trident of Poseidon."
Salazar chuckled, "That old sailor's tale? Don't think of me as a fool now, Capitan."
"Would you doubt the existence of the supernatural given what the Triangle did to you?" Barbossa asked, "He be sailing for the Trident as we speak, and should he succeed he could destroy you."
"It does not matter!" Salazar shouted, "He will die, as will you!"
Salazar pointed his rapier at Barbossa, and Barbossa quickly spoke "I be the only one that can lead you to him!"
Salazar paused for a moment, and then asked "And how do you propose to find him?"
"With this," Barbossa speaks, holding up Jack's compass. Salazar snatched the compass from Barbossa's grip, and then he opened it up. As he did, he saw the needle spin around in rapid circles, and Salazar was confused.
"The compass points to whatever the holder wants most, but it appears to not work on the dead," Barbossa inserted. Salazar then gave the compass back to Barbossa, and the needle pointed straight off the port side of the Revenge.
"What is it that you want most, Barbossa?" Salazar inquired.
"I want to live, and I will do whatever it takes to survive," Barbossa answered.
Salazar's gaze narrowed at Barbossa.
"I declare that you shall have Sparrow's life by sunrise three days hence, or you can take my own and my crew's then," Barbossa said, "Do we have an accord?"
Salazar considered his offer for a moment, and then he leaned in closer, saying "Take me to him, and you will live to tell the tale."
"You have my word," Barbossa replied, "I thank ye, on behalf of me crew."
Salazar looked away, and then without warning tapped his sword five times consecutively. Five more of Barbossa's men were killed instantly.
"Then you can take what's left of them and come aboard, Capitan," Salazar said, "Gather what you need and we'll depart. Oh, and by the way, have you and your crew change your clothes before you come aboard so that my men can see you for the pirates you are."
"Very well," Barbossa complied, and he began to limp his way over off the bow. Before he left, he heard Salazar speak, "I'm curious, Capitan Barbossa. You were Sparrow's first mate. Why not let him find the Trident so he can kill me? Why would you sacrifice the life of your former Capitan?"
Barbossa turned to face him, and he pulled his coat and shirt back to show the scars over his heart.
"You weren't the only one that was killed by Jack Sparrow," Barbossa replied, "You weren't the only one who was ever cursed either. I suppose it's only fair that I help you take your revenge, even if I never realized it for myself."
"Interesting," Salazar commented, "Very interesting. Now, vamos."
Barbossa walked over towards the helm while the rest of the crew was changing their clothes. He talked to Scrum who was at the wheel and said in a very low voice, "Scrum, you'll be the Captain of the Revenge. I want you to take half the crew and follow the Mary from a safe distance. I'll let you know when I need ya."
"Will do, sir," Scrum replied, "Thank you for this honor."
Barbossa nodded, and then he went back to his cabin, and changed back into his traditional pirate attire. Afterwards, he and half of his crew, including Murtogg and Mullroy, departed from the Revenge and got onto the deck of the Mary. Barbossa was then escorted to the helm, and he began to sail the ghostly ship towards wherever Jack Sparrow was.
Barbossa hoped he was doing the right thing.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay! Life was catching up. For my American readers, Happy Thanksgiving! I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I had to get another one out before any more time had passed. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts. The feedback really helps because I created this story for the fans. More is to come very soon, I promise. Until then, be sure to read, review and share this story with as many people as possible. Thanks you guys and stay classy!
-Spent