The situation over on the Queen Anne's Revenge was more or less the same as what was happening on the Black Pearl. The pirates, led by Scrum, were putting forth all their might to repel Salazar's ghostly crew. However, no matter how many shots they fired or how many blows they landed, they just kept coming. If something didn't change soon, they were all going to die.
Meanwhile, the British and pirate fleets were still engaged with each other. None dared to get close enough for boarding, but a hefty amount of cannon fire was exchanged by the two sides. Balls ripped through hulls, masts, sails, and sometimes the unfortunate sailors that were in the path of the artillery.
On the deck of the Pearl, Henry was fending off one of Salazar's men with the barrel of his gun. It was hard to gain an advantage over an opponent that couldn't be hurt. Eventually, he struck the ghost in the head (what was left of it anyway), and ran off, knowing that beating these guys would be a matter of just surviving long enough to reach land. He climbed up the rigging on the starboard side and started to reload his musket, not knowing when he'd get another chance to do so.
While he was doing so, Henry looked down over the starboard side to see Jack dueling with Salazar - standing on the cannons of their ships out over the water. Henry was perplexed, for he had never seen such an odd place to do battle before. For a minute, Henry watched as the captains exchanged lightning-fast blows with each other, taking note that most of Salazar's strikes were offensive while Jack's were defensive.
Henry realized that in this time he was up here, he could be doing something. So, after he finished loading his musket, he made sure his legs were wrapped tight on the rigging, and aimed his gun towards Salazar.
Salazar was wearing Jack out, and Jack knew it. The Spaniard struck a particularly hard blow that knocked Jack's sword-arm to his right, leaving his chest wide open to attack. Noticing this, Henry took aim and shot at Salazar's shoulder before he could strike at Jack, disorienting the ghost for a brief moment.
Taking the opportunity Henry had given him, Jack leapt to his left away from Salazar. He stepped off the Pearl's cannon and onto one of the Mary's that was closest to him. By the time Salazar had regained his focus after Henry's gunshot, he looked to his right to see Jack standing on the cannon next to him. Without hesitation he raised his sword up and tried to deliver a heavy blow, which Jack rebuffed before facing away from Salazar again. Jack then leapt off the Mary's gun back onto one of the Pearl's, and continued on with this pattern as he jumped from gun to gun, stepping off one to reach the other. Salazar followed suit and chased Jack in the same manner as he was fleeing.
Carina was still sailing the Pearl to the best of her ability, making sure the ship was lined up with the constellation. She was starting to panic a little; if they didn't find the island soon, then the route would vanish completely. Nevermind the fact that if they didn't find land soon, Salazar's crew would slaughter them.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Carina practically begged, "It has to be here somewhere!"
"REEF! REEEEEEEEEEF!" she hears Gibbs shout out, and Carina looks ahead, nearly straining her eyes to make out the rocky formation directly in front of them. It stretched out completely in front of the Pearl and even accounted for some distance to their left. The Mary, however, did not have such an obstruction in front of them.
This was not good.
"Ye need to veer off, lass! Now!" Barbossa shouted up towards her, "Hard to port!"
Carina panicked, "Which one's port again!?"
Before Barbossa could vent his frustrations, he took notice of a British warship coming up close to their port side. Any closer and they'd be trapped between them and the Mary, and would be forced into the reef ahead.
"We're all going to die," Barbossa mumbled to himself.
Carina looked around, trying to figure out some way of getting out of this situation. Her eyes kept darting from the approaching British ship, over to the Mary, to the reefs ahead, to the crew on the de-
Of course! she thought, It's absolutely mad, but it could work!
"I got an idea!" Carina shouted out, "But we'll need grappling hooks!"
Soon enough, whatever men currently weren't engaged with Salazar's made their way below decks to fetch the hooks like Carina requested, and brought them back up to the top deck.
"When I say so, get ready to throw the hooks starboard!" Carina ordered.
One of the pirates looked to starboard to see the Silent Mary right next to them. He looked back towards Carina and asked, "Are you sure you don't mean port, lass?"
"No, I mean starboard!" Carina said firmly, remembering that starboard was right, "Just trust me!"
Reluctantly, the pirates did as she instructed and stood at the ready on the starboard side. It was then that Barbossa realized what her plan was.
She was going to perform a bootleg turn. Just like Jack had done all those years ago at the Devil's Triangle.
And her plan was based on pure instinct.
"She's daft, you know that, Captain?" Pintel commented, to which Barbossa replied, "Aye, daft like Jack!"
The British ship was getting closer to their port, the reef closer to their bow, and Carina took a deep breath.
She began rapidly turning the wheel hard to port, gritting her teeth while she did so. As she did, the Pearl started to veer hard to port as well and turned the ship to the left. Because of Carina's sudden and risky move, the British had to veer off themselves to avoid the Pearl colliding into their ship.
"Nyrrrgh!" Carina grunted as she exterted all her strength to keep the wheel going to port. Some of the men and ghosts had fallen over from such a hard shift, which was good because it gave the pirates time to recover for the next series of attacks the ghosts would unleash on them.
Meanwhile, Jack and Salazar's dueling over the water had been broken up by the sharp turn, with Salazar giving Jack a vengeful scowl as the Mary continued going straight ahead while the Pearl was making a detour. Jack heaved a sigh of relief and was standing atop of one of the cannons near the bow.
Thankfully, Carina's effort had paid off, because the Pearl had avoided colliding with the reef at the last possible second.
"We steered clear!" Gibbs happily relayed.
"Throw the hooks onto the reef! Let it grab us!" Carina ordered, "Now!"
There was confusion as to what exactly her plan was among them, but the pirates nevertheless did as they told and threw the grappling hooks, which then latched themselves onto the reef which was now to their starboard.
Jack was watching all of this unfold as he stood on the cannon still, seeing the grappling hooks fly over his head and onto the reef in front of him. Had this really been all Carina's idea?
Jack laughed; she had most certainly gotten this from him.
As soon as the hooks attached themselves, Carina began to quickly turn the wheel the other direction, moving the ship hard to starboard. Like before, it required her to exert all her energy, and also like before it knocked down more than a few people on deck. Nevertheless, the ship started to sail around the reef they had just come alongside, and the plan was once they got around it was to get back on the route right next to the Silent Mary.
Barbossa had lost his balance from the sudden shift of movement, which was already difficult to maintain with a peg-leg, and he fell over on his front. The Sword of Triton slipped through his grasp and slid over towards a cannon slot in the starboard rail. Barbossa gasped, because the sword was now sitting on the edge just barely managing to stay on the ship. If he lost it, nothing could stop the Mary from crushing them.
Quickly, he began to army-crawl his way towards the sword, dodging past the constantly shifting feet of pirates and Spaniards. The sword looked to be teetering over towards the edge, the weight of the blade working against it.
Salazar felt the connection between himself and the Mary become open again. He considered using the ship-killer again, but decided that he wanted to try something different. A little more... up-close.
Barbossa had managed to reach the sword at just the right moment, because when he got there the sword had slid from its position and over the edge. Acting quickly, Barbossa grabbed the handle before it could be claimed by the sea forever, and heaved a sigh of relief once he had hold of it again.
Pulling the sword back through the hole, Barbossa heard an inhuman scream come from behind him and saw that one of Salazar's men was charging right at him. The ghost reeled his own sword back to strike at Barbossa, but Barbossa had managed to put the Sword of Triton between his body and the blade at the right moment.
He repelled the ghost's advance, and Barbossa began to stand up quickly, engaging the ghost head-on.
"Go back to the Hell from which ye came, ya poxy cur!" Barbossa snarled as he and the ghost exchanged blows.
Carina was still turning the wheel hard to starboard, and she could feel the burn in her arms as she exerted herself to limits she never knew she had. Eventually, they had made their way around the reef, and Carina sighed in relief as she let go of the wheel and straightened the ship out.
"Cut the lines!" she ordered, and the men cut the lines of the grappling hooks they'd just thrown so they wouldn't turn into the reef again. Afterwards, Carina saw that they were sailing right towards the Silent Mary. The sane side of her was saying that she should steer clear of the haunted ship, but the reasonable voice in her head knew that they had to get back alongside to follow the route to the Trident.
Carina turned the ship hard to port again, getting the Pearl aligned with the Mary again. It knocked the ghost that was fighting Barbossa back and the older pirate absconded his position. Carina looked up into the night sky, and saw that they were beneath the constellation again. They were back on track, but Carina knew that it wouldn't be long before the stars vanished completely.
But something popped into her head. They had just passed a particularly high reef, so that must mean...
"Find that island, lass! Or we'll all die!" Barbossa called up to her.
"We're nearly there!" Carina exclaimed, "It's- it's here somewhere!"
Jack was still standing on one of the Pearl's cannons towards the bow, holding onto the base of the rigging to keep himself upright. As the Pearl was veering back towards the Mary, Jack looked to see where Salazar was, but he couldn't see him along the ghostly ship's port side.
Suddenly, he heard the sounds of creaking wood, and Jack directed his attention towards the Mary's figurehead, a woman holding a long spear. The creaking became more audible, and soon enough Jack saw that the head of the figurehead had turned towards him. Afterwards, its "body" started to break away from the ship, forming arms and legs as it turned from a simple decoration to a seemingly sentient being. All the time, the figurehead kept its attention on Jack, and it raised its spear high up like it was poised to strike.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Jack complained.
The figurehead had finally broken away completely from the Mary, and began to thrust its spear down at Jack. Thinking quickly, Jack leapt back off the gun he was standing on and made a grab for one of the Pearl's cannons on the top deck so he could pull himself back up. But the gun was wet, and so his grip slipped off and he fell. Fortunately, he was able to have his feet land on two adjacent cannons from both the Mary and the Pearl, and flailed his arms to keep his balance for a moment.
Jack looked up and saw that the hulking figurehead was now standing on the guns between both ships at the bow, and it started to raise its spear again. Jack stepped onto the gun of the Mary, and he jumped back when the spear was thrust towards him again. He caught one of the Mary's upper guns and pulled himself up. He looked out towards the figurehead, which was preparing for another strike. He turned around so that he could leap away from it again, but that's when he saw Salazar hanging off the side with his rapier raised.
"AAH!" Jack screamed as the Spaniard swung his sword towards him. He narrowly avoided the strike, but it caused him to lose his balance on the cannon. He slipped and fell, his back hitting against the Mary's gun, flipping him over as he fell onto one of the Pearl's lower guns, groin first.
"OW!" Jack moaned as he felt the pain. He couldn't dwell on it for long, because when he looked in front of him, he saw one of Salazar's men lighting the fuse of the cannon in front of him, a sinister look on his face. Jack's eyes widened in fear, and saw that the Mary was drifting closer to him. The gun started to get dangerously close to his face, and Jack backed up as far as he could until the cannon was pressing his face against his own ship, mere moments away from firing.
Suddenly, the Mary started to drift away from the Pearl, and subsequently the gun moved away from Jack's face. He was about to simply make a run for it, but then he looked upward and saw that the figurehead was now standing atop the deck of the Mary, looking down right at him. He also saw that the cannon was held in place by rope, which was probably so that the guns didn't fall off the ship when Salazar used his ship-killer ability, and also saw that a line of rope lead up to the top deck.
Jack smirked, for he had just gotten another brilliant idea.
As the figurehead prepared to strike, Jack leapt forward and grabbed the rope hanging alongside the Mary. His weight pulled him down, but simultaneously pulled the lit cannon out of its slot and pointed it upward towards the figurehead, which subsequently fired. The figurehead's, ahem, head was blown clean off by the shot, along with destroying its wooden spear. Though it did not speak, it appeared to reel back in pain from the cannon shot. Its arm got tangled in the ropes on the top deck, which forced the cannon back down and pulled Jack upward.
Jack let go of the rope and landed on the top deck of the Mary, smiling at his own cleverness once again. However, that moment of victory was cut short by realizing he was now on Salazar's ship, and he turned to his right to see that the Spanish ghosts still aboard had become aware of his presence.
"Alli! Matenlo!" the ship's pilot pointed towards him, and several undead Spanish soldiers came walking towards him with their swords drawn. Jack had his sword at the ready, awaiting what was to come.
"NO!" Salazar's voice shouted out, and all heads aboard the Mary turned to see that Salazar had climbed up over the port rail, "Sparrow is mine!"
Salazar's men backed off, one of them saying "Capitan's orders!"
But it wasn't much relief for Jack because Salazar was now charging towards him. He blocked a couple of quick thrusts here and there before turning and running away towards the Mary's bow.
"What's the matter, hombre?" Salazar taunted, limping towards Jack, "Afraid?"
"... Maybe?" Jack inserted, backing up around the bow and heading backward on the starboard side. Afterwards, he climbed up and began to balance himself on the starboard rail.
"Running away has always been your strategy, Sparrow," Salazar snarled, getting up on top of the rail to face Jack.
"Who says I'm running?" Jack asked rhetorically, but then immediately afterwards Salazar swung his sword at Jack, trading blows with each other yet again. Salazar pressed into Jack, pushing him back along the rail and hoping to make him fall into the sea. He had no idea why he would choose to put himself in a difficult position, though.
Jack had backed up along the rail steadily, careful not to fall over into the water as he led Salazar along. He didn't really have a plan in mind, only to keep him distracted long enough for them to reach land.
He looked over his shoulder and saw they were approaching the Mary's fallen main mast. Thinking quickly, Jack leapt back and balanced himself on the beam, continuing to block Salazar's attacks while he did so. He stepped left, elevating himself above Salazar for a moment, but Salazar merely stepped up and started fighting him on the mast. Since he was already dead, Salazar's stamina couldn't diminish, and so, yet again, he was pushing Jack back, and all he could do was block or dodge his attacks.
Nearing the point where the mast had split, Jack looked down below and saw some of the other ghostly crew aboard with their swords drawn, ready to pounce on him if Salazar pushed him off.
Jack looked up at Salazar, and he knew that, despite his body's protests, he had to start pressing into him. If he was going to win, defending and retreating were not going to be enough.
Jack swung hard, knocking Salazar's sword away from his center so that his chest was left wide open. It wouldn't kill him, but Jack lunged forward and attempted to stab him through the chest. However, Jack immediately regretted his decision when the sword just passed right through him, and worse still, Salazar made himself become solid once more, and Jack couldn't pull his sword out no matter how hard he tried. Salazar just stood there and laughed while he watched the pirate struggle.
After a few moments of struggling, Jack looked up towards Salazar and gave a nervous chuckle.
"Sorry 'bout that, mate," he nervously spoke, and then Salazar's amused expression turned to rage again as he started swinging towards Jack. Jack screamed and ducked from his blow at the last possible second. Salazar kept going for hacking maneuvers like Jack was a swine in a slaughterhouse, and Jack kept moving backwards for now he had no weapon to defend himself with.
Except...
Jack ducked beneath another one of Salazar's blows and reached for the sword still stuck inside his chest. With lightning-fast speed, Jack drew one of his pistols out and quickly fired point-blank at Salazar, causing him to stagger back slightly and for Jack's sword to become dislodged from his chest.
Jack smiled as he now had his weapon back, but the victory was short-lived as Salazar resumed attacking. He managed to strike a blow that knocked Jack's empty pistol from his hand, and Jack knew he had to get off the mast right then and there.
Jack jumped off the mast onto the deck as Salazar swung at him, and then rushed for the starboard side of the Mary before any of the ghosts before could catch up to him. He saw the pirates on the Revenge engaged with more of Salazar's men, but decided that now was the time to run. Jack jumped over the edge and landed upon the Revenge's deck, and then looked behind him to see that Salazar was getting ready to jump off as well.
Salazar jumped down and began fighting Jack again, and the latter knew that this couldn't go on for too much longer. As soon as he got an opportunity, he started to run towards the Revenge's rigging closest to the bow, and began climbing upwards. Salazar, naturally, followed him up, trying to strike his rapier at Jack's boots. Jack eventually climbed to the platform above, and then he grabbed one of the ropes and began swinging towards the stern. Again, like before, the rope didn't grant him enough clearance, and he started swinging back the other way. Salazar got up on the platform and was prepared to strike at Jack when he swung back, but Jack simply loosened his grip on the rope and let himself descend, going out towards the bow. Unfortunately, the rope that Jack was swinging from was within striking range for Salazar, and he cut the rope with one clean swipe.
Jack felt the rope disconnect from the ship him just as he reached the apex of his swing, which happened to be over the water in front of the ship. He started screaming at the same moment he began falling, but at the last second he was saved. Not by his own efforts, but because his overcoat became caught on the tip of the bowsprit.
"Oh," Jack said simply as his fall came to a halt, hanging from the bowsprit by his coat. It was an awkward position to say the least.
The sound of thudding came from behind him, and Jack craned his neck to see Salazar standing at the edge of the bow.
"Would you look at that?" Salazar remarked to no one in particular, "A sparrow that actually thought he could fly."
"To be fair that was more of a... fall," Jack responded, and then he saw the Spaniard walking along the bowsprit towards him. Acting quickly, Jack pulled his arms out of his overcoat as Salazar came closer, and then he was falling yet again. He caught onto the bow cannonades of the Revenge at the last second, surprising the pirates that were stationed below at the guns.
"Er… hello there," Jack waved his hand as he pulled himself upward.
The pirates aboard sheepishly waved back.
"Listen, when I tell you, get ready to fire that fire, savvy?" Jack asked, and the men nodded. Jack looked back up to see Salazar prepared to jump on him yet again (he had an affinity for that, didn't he?), and then clambered his way over to the port guns of the Revenge just as Salazar jumped down onto the bow cannonades. Immediately following that, Jack shouted "FIRE!"
Salazar didn't have time to react before he was consumed with flames. Jack grinned like he had already beaten him, but not long after did Salazar emerge from the flames without a scratch on him, discounting the injuries he had received prior to becoming a ghost.
Jack immediately turned away and started to leap across the gap between the Revenge and the Mary, stepping from gun to gun just as he had done earlier. He was just about to reach the sterns when suddenly the hulking, headless figurehead from earlier climbed down over the side of the Mary and hung from its side. Jack stopped in place and screamed, and then decided to turn back around to get away from it, only for Salazar to show up behind him hanging off the side of the Mary again.
This was not good.
Back over on the Revenge, Jack's overcoat was still hanging from the bowsprit, blowing in the wind as the ship continued moving on into the night. Eventually, the wind was blowing hard enough that the coat was blown right off the bowsprit and started flying over the heads of the pirates and ghosts still fighting with each other. The coat ended up smacking Scrum in the face, who was still piloting the Revenge at that moment.
"AAAH! Get it off me!" Scrum yelled out, trying to pull Jack's coat off his face. The moment he let go of the wheel, the ship began to swerve to port.
Jack looked over toward the figurehead again, and then saw the Revenge swerving over towards them. The monstrous wooden figure was crushed when the Revenge collided with the side of the Mary, in addition to snapping away the Mary's fallen mast completely and having it sink into the ocean.
Jack smirked quickly, but then he looked over towards the Revenge and saw that he was in the path of one of the cannons as it was getting closer to the Mary. Screaming, the cannon smashed into him, which caused Jack to smash through a brand new hole that was created in the ghostly ship's side. Jack fell onto the deserted middeck of the Mary, a pile of debris covering him.
The battle was not going well for the pirates. They kept losing men, and still not one of the ghosts fell. Those that were alive felt their strength draining fast, and there was no land in view yet.
Gibbs, Murtogg, Mullroy, Pintel, Ragetti, Marty, Cotton, and the rest of the men were holding out the best they could. Even Jack the Undead Monkey did his part in trying to disorient the ghosts from landing killing blows on the crew. Cotton's parrot, meanwhile, was up above being chased by the undead seagulls.
"RAWK! Shiver me timbers! Shiver me timbers!" the bird squawked.
Henry had just deflected the blows of the ghost he was fighting, and broke it off and started to run overtop of the cargo they had to get close to the helm.
"Carina!" Henry called out, "How much longer!?"
"We're nearly there, Henry! Just hold on!" Carina responded.
"Please let it be soon!" Henry begged, and resumed fighting again, this time going one-on-one with Lieutenant Lezaro.
Barbossa had been locked in battle himself with one of the ghosts, forsaking his job at keeping the Mary at bay because it didn't seem like Salazar was in a position to use it. So, he used the combined efforts of the Sword of Triton and his (empty) blunderbuss cane to keep his enemies at bay. He parried one of the ghost's advances to his left, only for the transparent figure to quickly raise his sword back and cut across Barbossa's right arm.
"AGH!" Barbossa winced in pain, dropping his cane and holding his left hand to his arm for a moment. It was times like this that gave him pause, and he remembered what it was like to not feel anything at all.
Regaining his focus, Barbossa saw the ghost smiling at him, and, with his temper rising, the pirate pulled out his skull-handled pistol and shot at the ghost, sending him back far.
"Come and get sumthin' from ol' Hector, ya bunch of filthy, spectral bilge rats! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Barbossa bellowed.
Jack had managed to push the wooden debris off of him, and slowly got up off the ground eliciting sounds of discomfort. He observed his surroundings, and saw that he was inside the Silent Mary. The deck was suspiciously empty of all beings. Even though he could hear the sounds of swords clashing and cannons firing, it was eerily quiet where he was standing. Too quiet.
He picked his sword off the deck, and slowly began to walk forward with his weapon raised. He saw the buildup of algae along the walls, the molded wood, the crusted-up cannons, and split deckboards. Since it was a quiet moment, Jack couldn't help but think about how he was responsible for this. He could never have imagined what it must have been like to be trapped in hellish conditions like this for a day, nevermind for several decades.
He actually started to feel bad about what he did to Salazar.
As if on cue, Salazar popped up from around the corner, and Jack screamed in surprise. The Spaniard spun around and struck, his rusted rapier making contact once more with Jack's hanger. The next blow Jack ducked under, and then a series of quick blows followed after that. When it finished, Jack started to breathe heavily, and Salazar took notice of this and did not hesitate to exploit it. He swung hard enough that the force knocked Jack off his feet, who fell face-first back onto the deck.
"You're getting slow, old man," Salazar taunted, laughing while he did so, "To think, you're older now than I ever was. But deep down you're still that boy who ran away all those years ago."
Jack, grunting, had turned back around to look up at Salazar again, who was prepared to come down on him again with another strike. Jack brought his sword up to meet Salazar's and they clashed together. Salazar reeled his arm back and swung hard again, and Jack blocked again. He swung down, again and again, each strike more powerful than the last. Eventually, he had struck so hard that Jack's sword had been flung from his grasp, landing several feet behind where Jack lay.
Jack looked at his weapon, now far away from his reach. He looked back towards Salazar, who kicked him right in the nose.
"UGH!" Jack moaned, placing a hand to his probably-broken nose. He thought he felt blood dripping down his face.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Salazar continued to taunt, "The pain..."
Salazar kicked Jack again, only this time he hit him in the stomach. Jack rolled back from the force of the kick, clambering onto his front as he tried to crawl away from Salazar.
"You've never known pain like I have, Jack," Salazar spat, black blood dripping down his chin, "Never."
Salazar stomped on Jack, causing him to wince as he felt his chest press down on the deck. The Spaniard leaned downward and picked up Jack's tricorn hat right from his head. He held it in his hands and observed it for a moment, scoffing at such a simple thing. After a moment, he threw the hat hard to his right, which went out one of the Mary's port cannon windows and, miraculously, landed right on the deck of the Pearl.
"You're scum. You and all your kind are a plague to this Earth," Salazar began, kicking Jack again, "I'm here to cleanse your evil from this world once and for all! And when I'm done with you and every last pirate here, piracy will finally die the painful death it so rightfully deserves!"
Jack held his head upward, taking in what Salazar was saying.
He'd heard this speech before, about how once every pirate was dead that it could never rise again.
Oh, how wrong he was.
"Come on, cobarde! Pick up your weapon and fight like a man!" Salazar shouted, backing off to give Jack room, "I want to look into your eyes when I kill you!"
Jack, despite the pain that he felt surging through his body, knew that he had to keep fighting. He had to. There was no way he was going to let this monster be his end. And if he had to face him alone, then so be it. But Jack already knew that he wouldn't have to.
He just had to ask himself why he didn't think of it sooner.
"The... the..." Jack began, coughing, "The King..."
Salazar looked at Jack questionably as the pirate started crawling towards his sword slowly.
"The King... and his men... stole the... Queen... from her bed..." Jack spoke, his words sounding like he was trying to sing, "... and... bound her in... her bones..."
Salazar recognized the tune he was singing.
"Stop that," Salazar said.
"The seas... be ours... and by the powers..." Jack grabbed hold of his sword, standing himself up, "... where we will... we'll roam."
"STOP THAT!" Salazar bellowed, swinging his sword at Jack, but the pirate held firm this time.
"YO-HO!" Jack defiantly sung, "HAUL TOGETHER!"
"I SAID STOP THAT!" Salazar screamed, who was absolutely livid at this point, continuing to swing hard at Jack.
"HOIST THE COLOURS HIGH!" Jack continued, and somehow had regained enough strength that he was now pressing into Salazar. One strike after the other, forcing him back down the way they came, "HEAVE HO! THIEVES AND BEGGARS!"
Jack began swinging down hard on Salazar, causing the Spaniard to stumble in surprise to this sudden burst of adrenaline from Jack.
"NEVER - SHALL - WE - DIE!"
Henry was still locked in fierce combat with Lezaro, Salazar's loyal right-hand man not once letting up on the boy. Henry was doing the best he could to defend himself with his gun, but Lezaro was far more experienced than him and was striking with all his might.
Henry stepped back after a series of quick blows, and was prepared to whack Lezaro across what was left his head with the butt of his musket. But at the same moment he swung, Lezaro's blade struck particularly hard on the gun, and all at once the weapon snapped in two. It had taken so many hits with swords that it wasn't able to hold together.
Henry's eyes quickly darted to his broken weapon, and then back up to Lezaro who started swinging at him yet again. He had to leap back to avoid having the blade cut his chest, and as a result he fell back onto the deck, dropping his useless musket alongside him. He started backing up on his hands as Lezaro approached him, raising his sword and poised for the kill. The ghostly Spaniard flashed a wicked grin, and because of the eyepatch Henry wasn't able to tell if he was blinking or winking.
Henry's breath picked up, and he closed his eyes, preparing for the end.
"Hey," a hoarse-sounding voice called out from behind Lezaro. The smile disappearing from his face, the ghost slowly turned around to face who was addressing him.
A man stood there, soaking wet from head-to-toe. He had on a red shirt and a black overcoat, but they were covered in all manner of algae and seaweed. He wore a greenish-blue bandana over his head, and his naturally handsome features were partially obscured by crustaceans built up along his face. In his right hand, he held a Royal Navy officer's smallsword, one that he had forged himself twenty years ago.
"Get the hell away from my son," William Turner nearly snarled at Lezaro, and with sudden speed raised his left hand back and punched the ghost hard in the face, sending him falling onto the deck.
Henry looked up at Will with a combination of surprise and relief.
"FATHER!" he called out, recognizing the man before him instantaneously. His face broke out into a wide smile. He hadn't seen his father for near ten years.
The elder Turner, however, did not look as pleased to see his son as his son was to see him.
"What did I tell you, boy!?" Will spoke angrily to Henry, "I told you to stay away from all this!"
Henry's excitement faded as quickly as it came, and the smile disappeared from his face.
"Father, I was just-" Henry began, but Will seized his son's arm with his free hand and hoisted him on his feet.
"I told you not to go after the Trident!" Will yelled, clasping his hand around the back of Henry's neck, "It's a fool's errand!"
"No, father! It's not!" Henry retorted, "We have the map, we're nearly-"
"I don't want to hear any excuses!" Will shouted again, "I've come to get you out of here!"
"What!?" Henry asked in surprise, "But we're almost there! Jack needs our help!"
"Jack can take care of himself!" Will responded, "I'm not gonna lose you!"
"You've already lost me for twenty years!" Henry shouted in his father's face, pushing his hand off of him. Will stood staring at his son in stunned silence, and the sounds of the battle raging around them seemed to diminish.
"I want you back! Mother wants you back!" Henry yelled in Will's face again, but the latter made no effort to respond, "I've never given up on you, father! And I'll be damned if I start now, now that we're so near the end!"
"Henry-" Will began, but his son cut him off.
"I'm not a child anymore, father!" Henry said, "This is my life, my choice! You've more than endured enough suffering for one lifetime, and I will break your curse! I promised you that, remember?!"
Will continued to stand in silence as Henry had his outburst.
"You can leave if you want, but I'm staying! I'm seeing this through to the end, and I'm going to help Jack!" Henry finished.
Will faced away from his son for a moment, looking towards the ghostly Spanish galleon to his right. He then turned around and saw the pirate crew engaged in combat with the ghosts. He recognized some of them, men he had not seen for near twenty years. Men he had fought alongside in their battle for freedom. They were being overwhelmed, surrounded. If something didn't change, then they were probably all going to die.
He remembers when he died at the hand of Davy Jones. It was not a pleasant memory.
And then he remembers Jack Sparrow. The selfish pirate who had given up his chance for immortality to save him. Without him, Henry would never have been born.
He faces his son again, recognizing this. He comes to his decision.
"I'm not leaving here yet," Will says, smirking placing his hand on Henry's shoulder, "I still have a debt to pay."
Henry's hopes immediately shot back up, and Will took his hand off his son's shoulder and picks up a fallen pirate's cutlass from the deck.
"You're going to need this," Will said, and Henry, despite not knowing how to properly wield a sword, took hold of the weapon.
"Thank you," Henry replied, grateful that his father wasn't going to leave again.
"It's good to see you son," Will smiled. Henry returned the courtesy.
Immediately afterwards, a rumbling occurred beneath the raging ocean. White foam formed at the surface, and the vibration became so intense that it was audible. Without warning, a big splash occurred, and out from under the water rose a monstrous ship, with sails covered in seaweed, a bowsprit resembling the jagged teeth of a beast, and a crew that looked to be taken over by the elements of the ocean, including crustaceans and their body parts resembling that of sea creatures.
All hands, pirate and ghost alike, stopped fighting for a moment and gasped in awe and fear of the rising ship. The crew of that ship had their swords raised and looked poised for a fight.
"It's the Flying Dutchman, boys!" Gibbs called out, "And she's on our side!"
Carina stared at the newly arrived pirate ship. She would've been in more awe if she hadn't seen multiple cursed ships within the last twenty-four hours alone.
Lezaro had regained his stance, being helped up by two of his men, and they all started to look towards the Turners, who were also looking back at them.
"Pirata!" Lezaro spat in venomous anger as he readied himself to fight. The men standing beside him subsequently drew out their swords.
"So," Will remarked, studying the spectral features of the Spanish in front of him closely and realizing something, "you must be the lost souls. The ones I couldn't lay to rest."
"We were trapped in the Devil's Triangle because of filth like you!" Lezaro shouted.
"Aye, and I'm sorry that I couldn't enter to deliver you to the next life," Will spoke plainly, "No man deserves such suffering. Allow me to help you."
"Oh, we're not ready to rest just yet," Lezaro threatened, "First we'll feast on your blood!"
At this, Lezaro lunged forward with his sword and impaled Will through his chest, causing the Dutchman's captain to groan in pain for a moment before regaining his composure and looking at the Spanish lieutenant in his eye.
Lezaro looked confused. How was he not dead?
It seemed as if Will was able to read his mind, because almost immediately afterwards he smirked and said, "One of the perks of being immortal. Now, I suppose we'll have to do this the less kind way."
Angrily, Lezaro pulled his sword out and was prepared to cleave Will's head from his shoulders if that's what it took. Will raised his smallsword and began fighting the ghost.
One of the other ghosts standing alongside Lezaro lunged forward with his sword and began to fight Henry. The younger Turner did his best to block, but he had had no practice with actual swordfighting before, so he knew he had to anticipate his enemy's strikes as best as he could.
Meanwhile, the Dutchman had made herself prepped and ready for battle, and began sailing the opposite direction of the Pearl, the Mary, and the Revenge. From her starboard side, she was firing out cannon shots toward the British ships nearby, but that was not her priority. The ship began to veer hard to port and was now sailing directly behind the Mary.
The ghost crew that was onboard the Mary noticed the Dutchman sailing in behind them, and hasty orders were made to make for the aft turrets to fire upon the approaching ship. The Spanish got in position in the castle-like turrets and began firing on the Dutchman to little effect. Not a moment later, the Dutchman revealed its two triple-barreled guns at the bow and started firing upon the Mary, concentrating their fire at the aft turrets which splintered even more than they already were.
The Dutchman started to gain on the Mary, and as it got closer the crew assembled close to the bow so they could leap forward and overtake the ghost ship. Once they were close enough, the sea-like crew jumped onto the rear of the ship and climbed their way up top, and started engaging the small amount of ghosts at the helm.
"The Mary's being boarded!" one of the Spanish officers on the deck of the Pearl shouted, and all at once several of their numbers broke off fighting the pirates on both ships and began clambering their way over to the Mary to fight off the Dutchman's crew.
The ghost that Barbossa had been fighting had fled back to his ship, and that afforded him with an opportunity to rest for a few moments. He turned his head to the right to see Will and Henry fighting off the ghosts that were still remaining. Eventually, Lezaro and his man broke off from fighting the Turners and made their way back to the Mary.
"Mr. Turner!" Barbossa called out, and at that moment both Will and Henry turned to face Barbossa and answered at the same time, "Yes?"
Will then noticed who it was speaking to him, and his mind flashed back decades ago when he had fought both against and alongside Jack's mutinous first mate.
"Captain Barbossa!" Will said in surprise, smiling, "My God, am I glad to see a familiar face!"
"Me? I'm the one glad to see you," Barbossa began, "and I must admit ye couldn't have picked a better time!"
"I heard the call of the Brethren and knew I had to answer," Will replied, looking down towards Barbossa's peg-leg.
"What happened to your leg?" Will asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
"What happened to yer face?" Barbossa retorted, gesturing towards the crustaceans built along his face.
"Fair point," Will responded, "Where's Jack?"
Jack was still pressing into Salazar, not letting the ghost have anything close to an opportunity for even a second. He kept swinging into him as hard as he could, and in his mind he kept repeating the same message to himself.
Keep him away from Carina just a little longer. She'll get us to safety. Keep him off her.
Jack, much to his own surprise, managed to disarm Salazar, his rapier flying over to the middle of the gundeck. The Spaniard looked in astonishment as the old, bruised, and battered pirate managed to best him in one-on-one combat.
"Que demonios!?" Salazar exclaimed, looking from his empty hand back to Jack, who was pointing his sword out towards him.
"Just give it up, Salazar," Jack spoke plainly, but Salazar wouldn't have it.
"Never," Salazar spat, "I vowed that I would make you pay for what you did to me, and I intend to keep my promise."
"Do you think revenge against me is going to undo your curse?" Jack questioned, "No, it's time you moved on, mate."
"How dare you tell me to move on!" Salazar shouted, "You don't know what I've had to endure because of you!"
"Nor do I much care," Jack said, but he regretted those words a moment later when Salazar charged at him. Jack tried to lunge forward and stab him through the chest, but his sword harmlessly phased through the ghost. At the same time, Salazar's cold, dead hands wrapped themselves around Jack's throat and the two of them fell onto the deck floor.
Jack had to let go of his hanger as he reached both hands towards his throat, trying desperately to pry Salazar's hands off before he suffocated him. He could feel the Spaniard's grip tightening and his flow of air being cut off, for he started to sputter at the mouth as he thrashed violently on the deck.
Salazar was unmoving, consumed with rage as his grip tightened around his arch-nemesis's throat. The anger of what Jack had done to him was ever present, and his thoughts were nothing less than pure fury as he attempted to choke the life from the pirate.
Using what strength he could, Jack managed to push away Salazar's hands from his throat for a moment, catching his breath. Immediately afterwards, Salazar's grip was back on his throat, only this time he hoisted Jack on his feet and slammed him against one of the inner walls of the Mary.
As he held Jack against the wall, Salazar realized something as he watched the pirate struggle to escape.
"You're afraid..." Salazar wheezed, "... but not of me."
Salazar loosened his grip for a moment, and Jack ceased struggling and looked into the dead man's eyes.
"No... I've seen men who are afraid of me... and you're not one of them," Salazar spoke, though his voice sounded more curious than threating of that moment, "You fear not for yourself... but for something... someone."
Jack's heartrate sped up at that moment. How did he know? There was no way he could know. Not a soul alive knew about Carina except for him and Barbossa.
"I'm not going to kill you, Jack," Salazar spoke softly, "Not yet. I'm going to keep you alive long enough to learn what it is you fear most."
No, please don't. For the love of God, please don't.
There were battle cries coming up from above deck that seemed to be drawing closer to them, and Jack and Salazar turned their heads to see several of the Dutchman's crew were descending down the stairs towards them with their swords raised. Among the men present were...
"William!?" Jack called out, recognizing Bootstrap Bill Turner instantaneously among the lot.
"Turner!" Salazar hissed with venom in his voice, recognizing the man as one of the Pearl's crew the day he died.
"Jack!" Bootstrap shouted, and at that moment the sea-like crew of the Dutchman surrounded the ghostly Spanish captain with their swords raised. Salazar looked at each and every one of them, knowing he was surrounded. But seeing as he couldn't die, this wouldn't be a problem.
Salazar let go of Jack's throat and Jack fell down onto the floor right next to where he dropped his sword. The next moment, one of the Dutchman's crew (who looked like a seahorse) lunged forward with his cutlass and tried to strike at Salazar, but the Spaniard easily evaded his blow and took hold of the sword by its handle. He then turned it around and impaled it through the crewmember's stomach, who hollered in pain for a moment before Salazar pulled it back out. Another one (who looked like a hammerhead shark) tried to strike at him from behind, but Salazar quickly moved his sword to his back and blocked that advance, turning around and slashing the crewmember across his chest.
Jack didn't hesitate a moment after that, picking up his sword and rushing towards the stairway that led up to the top deck of the Mary. Bootstrap subsequently followed after him while the other men stayed below to keep Salazar occupied for a moment.
"What mess have you gotten yourself into this time, Jack?" Bootstrap asked Jack as they reached the top deck of the Mary, where the ghosts and sea creatures were engaged in heavy combat with each other.
Jack turned around to face his former crew member. Not surprisingly, he looked pretty much the same as when he saw him, except there was noticeably less crustaceans and the starfish was absent from his face.
"Remember the Devil's Triangle? Before the mutiny?" Jack responded with, and it did not take long for Bootstrap to put two and two together, saying, "Salazar?"
"That was my reaction, too. Anyway, that was him just below," Jack gestured towards the stairwell from which they just came.
"Oh, great. And now you've gone and gotten my grandson involved, have you?" Bootstrap bitterly replied, to which Jack said, "To be fair, he sought me out to free you and your bloody eunuch son, so you're welcome."
Bootstrap scoffed, "You haven't changed."
"You have no idea, mate," Jack replied sternly, and their attention was back on the battle around them. The immortal crews of the Mary and the Dutchman were pretty much in a stalemate as they kept pressing into each other ferociously.
"We have to get back to the Pearl!" Jack commented, and Bootstrap nodded in agreement. They ran to the port rail and jumped over, rolling onto the deck of the blackened pirate ship.
At the moment they did, Salazar, having dispatched with the Dutchman crewmembers below on the gun deck, limped his way up the staircase holding onto his rusted rapier and the cutlass he took off the one who attacked him earlier.
"Come on, mis amigos!" Salazar called out to his men, "Press into them! Don't let this pirate scum get the best of you!"
As he finished, two of the Dutchman's crew charged towards him. Salazar easily parried their advances with both of his weapons, and subsequently ran them through. He quickly pulled the swords out, and was delighted to see their blood coating the blades. He moved on, fighting off the Dutchman's crew with such speed and ferocity, relishing in each strike he made.
The Spanish defending the Mary felt motivated by the sight of their captain's commitment to their cause, and they gave off a rallying cry and started to push the Dutchman's crew back.
Jack picked himself off the deck of the Pearl and looked ahead of him, and before him stood Will, looking right at him with a look ranging from incredulousness to gladness.
"Will Turner, is that you?" Jack asked, not believing his eyes. He hadn't seen the man in twenty years. Not since that day at Shipwreck Cove where everything changed.
"You called me, remember?" Will commented with a smirk, and Jack got to his feet.
"Not a bad look, if you ask me," Jack said, referencing Will's cursed appearance, to which the latter rolled his eyes, "How's immortality been?"
"Bleak, very bleak," Will said, "Ferrying souls gets a bit depressing after a while."
"Ah, well," Jack remarked, "with a bit of luck, you won't have to do it for much longer thanks to your son. He's a good kid, Will."
"Thank you for watching out for him, Jack," Will said, and his voice was slightly tense because he felt guilt for not being the one by Henry's side.
The reunion between old friends was cut short by the sound and sight of the Dutchman's crew leaping off the deck of the Mary and onto the decks of the Pearl and the Revenge, followed closely behind by the Spanish ghosts. Jack backed up and stood alongside Will, both men holding their swords at the ready.
"I wish the circumstances were better," Will began, "but it's good to see you again, brother."
"You too," Jack commented, eyes on the Spanish as they descended down. Immediately afterwards, Bootstrap Bill and Barbossa joined up alongside them.
"Figured ye could use an extra hand in this fight," Barbossa commented, holding the Sword of Triton firmly in his grasp.
"Just like old times, eh Jack?" Bootstrap inserted.
"Ain't it just?" Jack quipped, and the men stood at the ready as the ghosts landed on the deck. Salazar, brandishing both his swords, leapt down in front of the four, eyeing them all with venomous rage. Soon after, Lezaro landed to Salazar's left, and two more men joined them.
"KILL THEM ALL!" Salazar bellowed, and he and his men charged at the pirates. Intense fighting resumed throughout the ship as the crews of both the Pearl and the Dutchman attempted to defend themselves from the Mary's crew.
The line of the four legendary pirates was broken as they each engaged one of the crew. Salazar was using both of his swords and pressing into Jack, pushing him over towards the bow. Will and Bootstrap were engaging Lezaro side by side, and the Spanish officer hastily was blocking incoming strikes from both sides. Barbossa, using the Sword of Triton, was fighting off two ghosts at the same time, and proved to everyone that neither his age nor his injuries prevented him from being a formidable warrior.
Carina looked down at the raging battle on the deck with high anxiety. She wondered how much longer the pirates would be able to fight back the ghosts before they got the best of them. She turned her head to the right and saw light starting to creep up over the horizon.
"The stars will soon be gone!" Carina worriedly spoke to herself. If they didn't reach land soon, then the stars would disappear for good and the route to the Trident would be lost forever.
But then, up in the distance, she saw something. Something that caused her to smile and gave her hope.
Land.
Carina was overjoyed at that moment. She had found it. At long last, she had finally found the island that Galileo spoke of. The one her father had died searching for. The one she had been searching for her entire life.
"I've done it, father," Carina spoke to herself, tears of joy coming down her face. She had finished what he had started.
Meanwhile, Henry had just parried another strike from one of the Spanish, and quickly turned and ran away from him. He leapt over a few of the bodies of dead bodies and made his way over to the capstan.
"Carina!" Henry called up to her, and Carina looked down at Henry, her exhilaration ever present in her demeanor.
"Henry! Look!" Carina spoke joyfully, "The island is there!"
Henry turned his head around and saw the faint outline of the island in the distance. His eyes widened in surprise, and he too became overjoyed.
"You found it!" Henry spoke, beaming up at Carina. The Trident of Poseidon was now within their grasp.
But at that moment, something happened.
Something monstrous had occurred.
At first, no one paid any mind to it. They were preoccupied with the battle between themselves that they paid no mind to their surroundings. They thought it was just the raging ocean.
But the sound picked up in intensity.
It sounded less like the waves, and more like the roar of a beast.
A gigantic, fearsome beast.
The sound then became so loud and disorienting that all combatants, pirate and ghost alike, stopped fighting with each other. The ships they were on rocked with such intensity from the vibration of the noise that it was difficult to maintain balance. Even Salazar, in his bloodlust, stopped fighting for a moment as the shaking engulfed them.
And then, towards the banks of the island, that's when they all saw it.
A tremendous splash from the ocean ensued, and out of it rose a massive, green, reptilian-like head with several rows of sharp, pointed teeth.
And three more of them rose along with the first, all identical in shape, size, and color. Soon its body emerged and sat floating in the water near the island.
The beast let out a deafening roar, which shook the very foundations of the ships on the water. All ships, British, pirate, and cursed alike, stopped fighting and took hold of the monster that had made its presence known to all of them, striking fear in their very beings.
"HYDRA!" Henry shouted out, recognizing the beast from the drawing inside Galileo's diary.
One of the British ships had sailed too close to the beast, and the Hydra's heads gathered close together and lowered themselves level with the ship. All at once, the heads collectively shot out streams of fire from their mouths, engulfing the ship in flames instantaneously.
"Dios mio!" Salazar spoke as he saw the mythical beast with his own eyes. The Hydra roared again, and now everyone was deathly terrified.
They were all dead.
Henry knew that they had to do something. If it wasn't the ghosts that killed them, it would be the Hydra. It was directly between them and the Trident.
At that moment, he saw his father staring at the Hydra, witnessing the destruction it caused, and that's when he got an idea.
"Father!" Henry called out, and Will turned around to face his son.
"This is enough, Henry!" Will spoke, "I'm taking you out of here right now!"
"No, no! Wait! I have a plan to beat it!" Henry explained.
"How in the world do we stand a chance against that thing!?" Will gestured to the beast.
"Because you're the captain of the Flying Dutchman!" Henry said, "You're immortal, and your ship is unsinkable!"
"And?" Will asked, not following Henry's line of thinking.
"You can distract the Hydra long enough while we get the Trident, and with it we can kill the beast!" Henry elaborated.
"No," Will said, "I'm not leaving your side. Not with Salazar still aboard."
"If you don't distract it, then we'll all die!" Henry shouted, "If you want to protect me, this is the only way!"
Will wanted to protest yet again, but he could not deny the logic of Henry's plan.
"I'll be fine! Just go! Now!" Henry told him, and reluctantly Will raised his voice and ordered, "SAILORS! BACK TO THE DUTCHMAN!"
All at once, Bootstrap Bill and the rest of the Dutchman's crew turned their attention towards Will, and Bootstrap himself said, "You heard the Captain! Move it!"
The cursed crew made their way off the Pearl and clamored over back to the deck of the Dutchman, whereupon Will took the wheel from the designated pilot and sailed out from behind the Silent Mary. They came up around the Queen Anne's Revenge's starboard side and started sailing closer to the Hydra.
"Prepare to fire port broadside!" Will bellowed, "Concentrate fire at the necks!"
The Dutchman got in range of the beast, and it roared again at the cursed ship. As it prepared to breathe fire upon them, Will gave the order to fire, and a sudden, swift barrage of cannonballs shot out at the Hydra's leftmost neck, and the force of the barrage had managed to take the head clean off the neck, leaving nothing but a bloody red stump and the creature howling in pain.
The crew of the Dutchman gave a cheer for their momentary victory, but a moment was as long as it lasted. In an instant, the severed neck of the Hydra looked to be reshaping itself, and within mere moments two more heads had grown out of the spot where the previous head had been, and the beast had more heads than when it first emerged.
"Not good," Will's voiced cracked, and the Hydra quickly started to drag itself through the water in an attempt to strike at the Dutchman. Will quickly turned the wheel hard to starboard and narrowly avoided the fiery blast of the five heads.
"Hold them off!" Will shouted, and he bit down on his lip, hoping that Henry's hunch was right.
The sun was beginning to rise now. Back on the deck of the Pearl, the crews were broken off of their entrancement and resumed fighting each other. Salazar continued to press into Jack with great ferocity, using both of his swords to his advantage as he continuously wore Jack out.
"Why won't you just die!?" Salazar bellowed, his form becoming less refined and more savage by the moment. Jack was evading and blocking with all his strength, but that burst of energy he had before faded. Jack managed to dodge one of Salazar's strikes and moved in behind where he was, hoping to gain an advantage. Salazar was able to disarm him and knocked him back down on the deck again. Jack backed up in fear, and watched as Salazar discarded the bloody cutlass and raised his rapier. He stood above Jack, poised for the kill.
Jack looked up in fear as Salazar prepared to end his life, but then he looked in front of him and saw the outline of the island just up ahead. He had not noticed it for the Hydra had pulled his attention, and the daylight had illuminated the atmosphere enough that it was now visible.
"The island!" Jack exclaimed. Carina had found it. She had finally found what he had searched for all those years ago, after Bonnet gave him Galileo's diary. What's more, they now had reached land, and they could escape from the ghosts.
Salazar seemed to recognize this as well, for at the exact moment Jack spoke, he craned his neck around to make out the dimly lit formation in the distance. He inhaled sharply as it now registered to him that they were close to meeting the shore, and if he and his men were anywhere close to it then they would all turn to dust.
The pilot of the Mary had taken notice as well, and he began veering off the Spanish galleon hard to starboard. The Queen Anne's Revenge veered off as well to stop from the ghost ship colliding with their own.
"GET TO THE MARY!" Lezaro shouted, and the ghosts began to break off fighting and clambered back onto the side of the Mary.
Salazar turned his neck back around and rushed past Jack, completely ignoring his target and bolting towards the stern of the ship.
Jack's eyed widened in horror as he saw Salazar rushing for the helm, where Carina was still at the wheel.
"NO!" Jack shouted, trying to get up off the deck as best he could. He couldn't let anything happen to her.
Salazar had leapt up onto the quarter deck next to Carina, and Carina jumped in fear and screamed at the sight of Salazar.
"Boo!" Salazar said, and almost in an instant Carina pulled out the pistol that Jack had given her, thumbed back one of the hammers, and pulled the trigger, firing off a shot and sending Salazar back a couple of feet into the starboard rail. When he'd regained his balance, Salazar said, "That wasn't very nice, chica."
Carina's breath picked up in terror, and her hand began to shake from the recoil of firing the pistol. She tried to thumb back the other hammer, but Salazar walked forward and smacked the gun out of her hand before she could fire off another shot.
Salazar then tried to seize the wheel from Carina, determined to steer the Pearl away from land and back out into open water. Carina struggled to maintain her hold on the wheel to prevent him from doing so.
"Let go, you bastard!" Carina shouted at the ghost, but Salazar's grip on the wheel was firm and there was no chance of him letting go. His temper rising, Salazar raised his sword and prepared to strike at her.
"Carina!" Henry's voice called out, and both Carina and Salazar looked to see Henry rushing up the starboard stairway with his sword brandished. Salazar directed his attention to the young Turner, and both were prepared to strike at each other. However, at the same moment they did, the Pearl suddenly made contact with the shores of the island, crashing against the surface hard.
The force of the crash sent all hands aboard, men and ghost alike, falling onto the Pearl's deck. Carina still kept her grip on the wheel despite the motion jerking her forward, but Salazar and Henry were forced into the rail directly in front of them. The Pearl kept driving further onto land, while the Mary was continuing to veer away hard to port so they wouldn't make contact with the land. Salazar looked out in front of him and watched in horror as he saw several of his men still aboard crumble to dust before his very eyes.
"No," Salazar wheezed. They didn't deserve that fate. And there was no way he was going to go out that way either. Not before he had gotten his vengeance.
Acting quickly, Salazar wrapped his arm around Henry's neck, and he heard the boy struggle. Holding onto him tight, Salazar leapt off the starboard side of the Pearl and managed to grab one of the aft turrets at the last possible moment. He had his arm around Henry's throat, and the boy called out "CARINA!"
"HENRY!" Carina reached out with her arm, but it was in vain. The Silent Mary was now sailing away from the Pearl, and Henry was now their prisoner.
The Pearl came to a halt, having been run aground but without any substantial damage to the hull. Despite the sounds of the raging battle in the distance, they were safe... for now.
Jack had properly gotten up from the deck and rushed his way over to Carina, who had stepped away from the wheel and was now looking out towards the Mary as it sailed away with the young Turner. The screeches of the undead seagulls were ever present, and the sun had just about risen over the horizon.
"Carina, are you alright?" Jack asked, walking up to the quarter deck where Carina was, but she merely responded with, "He took Henry!"
Jack gulped at the mention of that. Salazar had Henry. This was not good. Who knows what plans the Spaniard had for him? Will was not going to be pleased with this.
"Don't worry, we'll find a way to save him. I promise," Jack told her, and he meant it. He wanted Henry safe just as much as she did.
"The Trident be all that can save him now," Barbossa called out, limping up towards the both of them.
"Then we have to find it!" Carina worriedly spoke. Jack placed his hands on her shoulders, and he said, "And we will."
Carina stood in silence for a moment, and then she nodded. Moving away from Jack, she made her way down to the bow to get a closer look of the island beyond. Jack followed closely behind her.
When they arrived at the bow, they looked over to see the island was blackened and barren, probably a volcanic landmass. There were no discernable features in sight.
"This has to be it," Carina said, pulling out Galileo's diary, "It has to be here."
She was flipping through the pages, trying to find some detail that she might have missed, or something she overlooked.
At the same time, Jack was looking out over the bow, and he noticed something. The sun was slowly rising up over the rocky hills of the island, and it was illuminating the ground.
"Carina, look!" Jack tapped her arm, and Carina looked up from her book to see what Jack was talking about.
The sunlight was shining down on the ground, revealing something rather odd and beautiful at the same time. Rocks of all different colors and varieties, glittering all around the blackened surface, and steam along the surface. Their shine was unmistakable, and all the crew gathered on the starboard side to look at the remarkable sight now before them. It was something quite unlike what most of them had ever seen in their entire lives.
It looked like someone had taken the night sky, and put it on the ground.
"Look at it, Jack," Carina spoke, transfixed by the amazing sight before her, "Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?"
Jack looked away from the island and looked towards Carina, whose brilliant blue eyes were continuing to gaze in wonder at what they had found.
"Yes," Jack quietly spoke, continuing to gaze at his daughter. He never would have ever believed that he would see anything as beautiful as her. Apart from her mother, of course.
"These aren't just rocks," Carina spoke, "They're stars. This island is a map of the heavens!"
"Do you suppose Galileo made this," Jack began, "or Poseidon?"
"I don't know," Carina spoke honestly. The past few days have taught her a valuable lesson about keeping her mind open, "It could've even been Asteria."
Carina looked out in front of her, and she saw four bright-red stars glowing prominently on the surface. They looked to be on raised positions compared to the other stars on the ground.
"Wait a minute..." Carina closed the diary in her hands and looked at the cover, seeing the constellation of the Trident had five stars. These red ones must've made up the constellation, but there were only four of them.
"One star is missing," Carina spoke again, "Where is it?"
"Use this," Jack said, and Carina looked over to Jack to see that he was holding his compass out towards her. Carina looked at the compass oddly, than up at Jack. This was the same one that he had given her back in St. Martin, the one he had traded in and it started spinning out of control. And now he'd gotten it back somehow.
"This compass is special," Jack explained, "It doesn't point North, but it points you towards what you want most in this world. Take it."
Carina didn't know what to say. She wanted to doubt Jack's judgement, but she had come to trust him so much in the past few days that she couldn't refuse. After putting away Galileo's diary, Carina reached out and took the compass from Jack's palm. She slowly opened the lid, and saw it pointing northeast. She turned herself so that the needle was pointing North, but based on her sense of direction she knew it was actually pointing East from where she was standing. If the compass wasn't broken, then it was pointing her of the direction of where the missing star was. Carina looked up and saw where it was pointing towards, and supposed that's where they needed to go.
"We need to hurry," Carina said, walking back down from the bow towards the middle of the ship, "We have to get to the Trident to save Henry."
Jack was following close behind, and before he climbed down off the ship, he stopped by next to Gibbs and said, "Mister Gibbs, heave-to and make the ship ready for a speedy departure."
"Aye, Captain," Gibbs replied firmly, "Think you'll find what you're looking for down there?"
Jack exhaled, "I'm not so sure anymore, Joshamee."
"Well, whatever happens," Gibbs began, raising his fist, "Take what ya can."
Jack smiled, and then replied, "Give nothing back."
The two men bumped their fists together, and exchanged a brief chuckle.
"Good luck, Jack," Gibbs said.
"You as well," Jack said, and he walked away from his loyal first-mate. He stopped for a moment to check his inventory, and saw that he still had his sword and it was in good condition. He checked his remaining pistol and saw that it was empty, and then reached to see if he had any more shot.
He only had one ball left, and the gun he had was the same one that Barbossa had given him all those years ago to kill himself with.
Wasn't that just poetic?
After reloading, Jack followed Carina down off the ship, and Barbossa climbed down with them. After the three set foot onto the island, Carina opened the compass again, and began taking off where it was telling her to go. Jack and Barbossa followed behind her, the latter of which struggled to maintain his balance on the uneven terrain. They walked through the stars, observing the pristine shine of the rocks upon the ground as they neared their destination.
After several minutes of traversing the island, they came across what they sought. There was a raised, rocky pedestal with a blood-red crystalline piece atop, but unlike the rest of the stars on the island, it was a muted color.
Carina closed the compass and put it at her belt, and Jack and Barbossa stood on either side of her as she observed the pedestal.
"Why isn't it glowing?" Carina asked aloud, but neither pirate responded. She continued to observe the blood-red structure, and then she noticed there was a visible indent. Almost like there was a missing piece.
That's when she remembered the riddle that Galileo left.
"To carry out their will and fulfill the goal," Carina began reciting the verse, "Restore the piece that was part of the whole."
Carina reached into her pocket and pulled out the ruby that had adorned the diary. It was of the same color as the structure before her, and it looked like that it would fit.
Jack recognized the ruby immediately, and he knew that this was the same one he had first laid eyes on all those years ago.
"Of course!" Carina exclaimed, realizing that she held in her hands the last piece of the puzzle, "This must be the piece that Galileo talked about!"
"I'm curious," Barbossa began, "Why did Galileo take the piece from here in the first place?"
Both Jack and Carina were clueless to that knowledge. Not once in his writings did Galileo specify why he had taken the ruby from the island, nor why he left it for others to find.
"I suppose we'll find out, won't we?" Carina replied, looking down at the ruby in her hand. She had reached the end. Poseidon's Trident was within her grasp.
"Go on, Carina," Jack encouraged her, "Finish it."
Carina held the ruby up and gazed upon it one last time.
"This is for you, father," Carina spoke proudly. Jack found it hard to contain himself in that moment.
"Aye," Jack spoke in a low voice, "Do it for him."
Carina took a deep breath, and placed the ruby inside the slot.
Immediately, the blood-red crystalline structure began to glow, and there was an audible humming sound beneath. A beam of bright red light shot out, and Carina, Jack, and Barbossa saw it meet up with the glowing-red star nearest to them, and that glowed brighter as well. Afterwards, three separate beams of light came out of the star, and reflected back on the three remaining stars, forming the constellation of the Trident.
Soon after, the ground beneath them began to rumble, and they turned around and looked out towards the sea. There were still plenty of ships still fighting each other, and the Hydra was off fighting the Dutchman where they couldn't see, but that wasn't what mattered right now. They saw white foam out in the sea directly behind them, and saw that it was foaming up from the shoreline all the way out beyond the view of the naked eye, and looked to be contained within a straight line.
"What's happening?" Carina asked, and they all saw the ocean was starting to divide where it had foamed up. The water looked to be pulling itself back, opening up a deep, dark trench. The force of the water's separation dislodged the Pearl after it was stuck along the shoreline and it fell back onto the water. Meanwhile, Jack, Carina, and Barbossa saw the sea continuing to part itself, starting from out in the open water and working its way to shore. The shaking of the island became more and more intense, and the ground started to crack away. Suddenly the ground directly in front of them started cracking all over, and the ground eventually gave way, causing Jack and Carina to fall suddenly, and the both of them started screaming. Barbossa almost fell in himself, but he was able to back away at the last second.
"JACK!" Barbossa outstretched his arm, but it was too late. Jack and Carina began plunging into the dark abyss.
A/N: WHEW! That one took a long time to write. So, yeah, this is my longest chapter so far, and the reason for that was so much had to happen that it wouldn't be done justice if I split it up into any more chapters. Anyway, the big climactic ship-to-ship battle is over, and the final battle inside Poseidon's Tomb is about to begin, as our heroes and villains meet to finally face their destinies. I hope you all enjoyed, and once again feel free to review or PM me if you feel like discussing anything at all. Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all next time! Stay classy!
- Spent