Mr. Cotton was at the helm of the mighty Black Pearl, looking down upon the main deck, keeping a sharp eye on all of the crewmembers that were working below him. Things were very quiet on the Pearl, these days, as they had been, in his opinion, kidnapped... taken, along with the ship, itself, against their will. Hector Barbossa had traveled to World's End with them, and had, indeed, saved Jack Sparrow from the Other Side, but he'd had his own plans for Jack. Cotton could not fault him for wanting Jack back safely, due to the fact that Jack was the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, and the Court of the Brethren had been called, but Cotton could fault him for greedily helping himself to the Black Pearl and her crew once they had made their way back to Tortuga. It did not sit well with Cotton, nor did it sit well with the rest of the crew that had sailed to save Jack only to have him left behind, along with the ship's first mate and quartermaster, Joshamee Gibbs.
Cotton had glad that he no longer had the power of speech, as he would be quite tempted to give Barbossa a firm piece of his mind, and if he were run through for it, so be it. Captain Sparrow, for all of his eccentricities, had always been good to him, as he was to all of the crew, and was extremely likeable; Jack had even found himself becoming tolerant of Hector, and that was certainly an interesting turn. It was legend that Jack and Hector hated each other; they had become tolerant of each other, but that was the extent of it, and even though they had both proven themselves in battle for a common cause at World's End, no one would ever be able to convince either one of them that they agreed even on that point.
Little did Captain Sparrow expect that, once the ship reached Tortuga City, Barbossa would simply sneak back to the ship whilst Jack and Gibbs were partaking in a large amount of good Caribbean rum and simply cast her off, while the bulk of the crew was still on board, and had not even had shore leave, yet! This did not sit well with them, as it had been a very long, hard voyage, a voyage that had not been made any easier by the constant bickering between the two that claimed the Pearl as their own... the Pearl was rightfully Jack's, and it was Cotton's opinion that Barbossa had coveted the Pearl, not because of her beauty and soul, but because she was the fasted ship in the Caribbean, and simply because... she was Jack's.
Jack, much to his stealthy credit, had found Hector's charts and had helped himself to a very important part of one that Hector was particularly interested in... a chart that supposedly led to the storied Fountain of Youth, allegedly discovered by Ponce de Leon. Jack had desired immortality in the form of stabbing the heart of Davy Jones, but had heroically and unselfishly given up that desire to save William's ebbing life. Jack later thought hard upon that one, while drinking and talking to Cotton one night during night watch...
"... do ye think I did th' right thing, Mr. Cotton? ... I mean, even though William was spared 'is life, d'ye think it is a life worth livin' wifout his bonnie lass?" Jack worried, his hands drawing random circles in the air between them. He looked at Cotton's wise, wrinkled face and said, "Here you are, wifout th' ability t' speak, an' yet ye gets along in life missing tha' part o' ye. Do ye think tha' I did th' right thing... th' whelp will be wifout his heart... in more than one way...?" he said, quietly. He sipped at the bottle in his hand and waited for the old pirate's response.
Mr. Cotton thought hard as his captain studied him, then he did something that he rarely did. He very slowly mouthed, almost audibly, "Aye." The parrot, perched on Cotton's shoulder mimicked, "Aye, Cap'n." Jack's eyes widened, and he twiddled a dreadlock around a finger, thoughtfully.
"I heard tha' th' curse is not necessarily eternal. I don't remember where I heard it, but d'ye suppose there migh' be any merit to it?" Jack was now being sly, as he knew that Mr. Cotton had very sharp ears when he was not on the ship, and naturally was not inclined to spill any secrets with any haste. Mr. Cotton was also a master at keeping a completely expressionless face, when need be, and even Jack was not always adept at reading his thoughts... of course, these days, Jack had a hard time keeping track of many of his own thoughts.
Cotton had looked out over the wide expanse of sea before he looked at his captain out of the corner of his eyes, and smiled. "Ahhhhh.." the captain's hands spread out before him, gracefully, "... so ye have heard somethin' o' that ilk, eh? It wasn't just me little shoulder pirates whisperin' sweet nothin's in me listenin' ears!"
Jack smiled, tilting his head to one side and looking sideways at Cotton, his dark eyes dancing. "... might it have somethin' t' do wif goin' beyond th' responsibilities o' merely bein' th' Captain o' th' Dutchman an' ferryin' souls, eh? Might ye have heard tha' there may be a way out if one, p'raps, displays more than a healthy dollop o' th' virtues tha' William has comin' out o' his ears?" Jack's eyes grew wide.
Mr. Cotton grinned, and ever so slightly nodded...
Jack nodded himself, and leaned in closer to Cotton, conspiratorially, "I plan t' peruse upon this one, mate... I plan t' help William t' find a way out o' his fix. I know tha' there ain't no profit in it fer me... but sometimes a man simply has t' help 'is mate...William 'n' me have a long history o' gettin' mixed up in each other's problems, one way or t'other..." Of course, Jack had not anticipated losing his beautiful ship again, and Cotton had no idea if Jack had much of a chance for perusal. The old pirate still had a terrible feeling of guilt for leaving his captain behind, and hoped that he and Mr. Gibbs were alright.
Cotton was interrupted in his thoughts by the bawling voice of Hector Barbossa, who was doing a fine job of berating Mr. Murtogg mercilessly for his mending of some rigging. He was scaring the poor man half to death, as he and Mr. Mullroy had signed on to sail with Jack Sparrow, and they had no experience in many of the hands on tasks of sailing. Barbossa had been bullying them terribly, and the rest of the crew was starting to grumble about it. Cotton frowned down upon all of them, darkly. Yes, he certainly wished, as did the rest of the crew, that Captain Jack Sparrow was here.
Absently, he even wondered where Mr. Will was... he would have never put up with this. Mr. Will... now what put that thought into his head, he wondered. Mr. Cotton looked at his parrot, who looked back at him, and decided that something needed to be done. He was glad that he had learned the skill of writing in his days before pirating took up all of his time. He decided that he would take a moment of his free time, once his duty at the wheel for this day was over with, and write a letter. The parrot looked at him wisely, and squawked, "Dead man's chest... dead man's chest..." Cotton took that to mean, "We need to find Mr. Will, somehow... Mr. Will, and Captain Jack..."
Bootstrap Bill had left the Dutchman while Jack and William were in Tortuga City. Unbeknownst to Jack, he had a mission of his own to take on, a mission that William had requested after a long conversation with Jack over rum... a conversation about the Court of the Brethren and what had been discussed there. He was on his way to meet with someone that might have something over on Hector Barbossa, and might add to the leverage that Jack and William had already procured... the pieces were starting to fall into place... and hopefully a special dispensation would be allowed for a request from a pirate captain... the captain of the Flying Dutchman and the husband of the Pirate King...even if that request did not come from a Pirate Lord. Yes, indeed, the pieces were starting to fall into place...