It was Barbossa who reacted first, getting to his feet and staring at Ragetti as if he was seeing a ghost.
"'ello, cap'n." Ragetti said with a smile, tilting his head to one side to make the wooden eye roll back into place. "'ow was et bein' dead?"
"I knew it!" Laughing, Barbossa ran over to Ragetti and hugged him tightly.
"Can' breathe…"
"Ye bloody bastard! I knew ye weren't dead!" Barbossa laughed, thumping him hard on the back to make the wooden eye pop out into his open hand. "And ye kept the eye all this time! I knew I wasn't daft in trusting ye with me eye!"
"Suppose no'." Ragetti shrugged, signaling for Murtogg and Mullroy to stand behind the chair decorated with symbols of waves rolling by.
"How did you get here?" Jack asked, looking anxious as his hands seemed to move with a mind of their own.
Ragetti looked at him in silence for a moment and the strange Pirate Lord actually flinched.
"Wot's the matta?" Ragetti asked, drawing his sword and heading for the globe with a steady step.
"Nothing!" Jack lied and he mentally prayed that Ragetti would not reveal that he had made a deal with Beckett before the insane short man had gone out to sea.
Ragetti said nothing and he just inserted his sword where the South China Sea was marked.
"And what do you think you are doing?" Chevalle the Frenchman demanded. "That is for Lords only! Not Piece Bearers!"
Opening his mouth to answer, Ragetti was interrupted when Mistress Ching and her guards suddenly entered the room and he smiled and promptly went to the last empty chair that was painted with scenes of storms at sea.
Mistress Ching tilted her head towards her chair when she heard it being pulled back and a smile crossed her usually stern face.
"There is only one man who ever pulled the chair out for me!" she said, reaching up to touch Ragetti's face.
"'ello, marm." Ragetti said with a smile and once more the wind was squeezed out of him as she hugged him tightly.
"Mackenzie!" Mistress Ching laughed. "It has been too long! How have you been?"
"No' very well actually…" he admitted.
Frowning slightly, Mistress Ching turned her head from one side to the other, as if her dead eyes could see anything.
"But…where is your matelot? The little man with the short temper?"
"Dead. Beckett 'ad 'im killed ta git ta me." Ragetti explained to her and the rest of the Court.
When he was met with surprised looks, he glanced over at Jack and found him slowly trying to head for the exit.
"Beckett is a danger ta all o' pirate kind!" he said seriously and he then held up Sao Feng's Piece of Eight.
"How..?" Chevalle started, but Ragetti shook his head and silenced him with a glare.
"Sao Feng was killed by Beckett afta 'e ga' me 'is Piece o' Eigh'! I am naow the Lord o' the South Chinese Sea an' I say tha' this meetin' o' the Lords is naow complete an' ready ta take place! Barbossa o' the Caspian Sea, ye were the 'un who called fer this meetin' an' ye may naow say wot needs ta be said!"
Chevalle opened his mouth as if to protest about this arrangement but a sudden melody played upon a guitar silenced him as he glanced over to the end of the table; where the Keeper of the Code always sat during the Brethren Court's meetings.
Teague eyed the Frenchman dangerously and he promptly sat down and was silent once more as Barbossa made his case for not only starting a war with Beckett, but to also release Calypso from her human bonds.
This of course was met by laughter from all of the members of the Court except for Teague and Ragetti.
"This place is a fortress!" Mistress Ching pointed out. "We can easily hold out in here!"
"Agreed." Jocard nodded. "We don't need to waste a single bullet on that scum."
"And to suggest releasing the sea goddess!" Ammand huffed. "We should cut off your tongue!"
"Agreed!" Jack piped in.
Sri Sumbhajee whispered to his speaker and the man slowly stood up.
"My Lord suggests shooting Barbossa!"
"Ooh!" Jack said happily, clapping his hands together. "Or we could cut off his tongue and shoot it!"
A string on Teague's guitar snapped loudly and silence once more fell as Jack flinched and gave his father a weak smile and shrug.
"Got caught up in the moment…" he muttered.
Teague only glared at him before glancing over at Ragetti.
"What does Master Ragetti of the South Chinese Sea have to say about this proposal?"
All eyes turned on him and for a moment, Ragetti wished that things were back to the way they had been before Jack had made that deal with Davy Jones. The man had traded Ragetti's life for an additional few years on their contract and mixed with the hidden map for gold, had caused the crew to mutiny against him.
Ragetti was never one for being a leader and giving out orders; that was why he was in fact glad when his father chose Barbossa instead of himself as the next Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. He knew that he would never be able to do this right.
And now he himself was a Pirate Lord and everyone was looking at him intently, wondering what he could have to say about all of this.
I wish Pinters was here… He thought to himself sadly.
Come on, ye bloody stoopid one-eyed bastar'! Pick yer 'ead up an' say wot ye go' ta say!
"Master Ragetti?"
Slowly, Ragetti picked his head up as he slowly moved to stand beside Barbossa.
"Le' me tell ye wot's 'appened ta me fer the las' 'alf a bloody year!" he said. "An' then le's take a vote abou' a war! As fer releasin' Calypso…" He glared at Barbossa angrily.
"Tha' would be dangerous an' stoopid!" he snapped at him. "Bu' anyway…"