"Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me…"Captain Jack Sparrow sang drunkenly as he sipped on a bottle of rum, as Tobias kept rowing the boat.

"Don't you think it's time you took your turn rowing the boat, Jack?" Tobias asked tiredly, his arms aching from doing all the rowing.

"That's Captain Jack Sparrow, mate. And it's that reason being captain that I am steering at the rudder and not rowing the boat. My boat, my orders. Saavy?"

"At least let me have a bit of your rum." Tobias asked thirstily.

"Sorry mate, this is me last bottle. Captain gets the last bottle. Captain's orders."

"And I suppose it's Captain's orders too not to share any food with me, not let me stop rowing until we get to Port Royal AND to throw all those seagull's bones at me when I'm not looking?"

"Oy, who told you that?" Jack said in surprise.

"Aye," Tobias sighed, his arms feeling sore, his tongue feeling dry. "So what happened to your actual ship, Captain? The one you're trying to get back?"

"If yer really want to know, me old first mate Barbossa stole me ship when I was in Port Royal. That's why we're going back there."

"And how do you plan on getting your ship back?"

"That's where the map comes in. Barbossa wants exactly the same thing I do – to get to wherever that map leads. And if I can organize parley with him, I'll make a deal to swap over the Pearl for the map."

"So that's it? You just want your ship back? Don't you realize where the map leads?"

"Aye, mate. But there's no point in getting to said destination on the map without a ship."

"According to the map, there's no way of getting there without the map, either."

"Erm, I have my ways." Jack said quite oddly. Tobias stared at him strangely, so Jack changed the subject. "So since you're gonna help me take back me ship, are you after the map for the destination as well?"

"The Fountain of Youth? Yes." Tobias said simply. "I want to be immortal. Sail the seas forever. Have freedom and follow wherever the wind takes me. Wouldn't any pirate?"

"Fair enough mate, exactly what I was thinkin'." Jack said. "Too bad I'm giving Barbossa the map. You'll have to sort it out with him if yer want it back."

"You can't give it to Barbossa!" Tobias said defiantly. It had taken him forever to get that map. "If you don't give him the map, I'll tell you how to navigate the Land of Darkness to get to it."

"Eh?" Jack asked a little drunkenly, a little of the rum setting into his brain.

"You've never heard of the Land of Darkness?" Tobias said. "It's what makes the Fountain of Youth so hard to find. Legend has it that it's said to be full of nightmarish creatures, cursed land and the bodies of the dead who have failed to heed the warnings of the clues on the map."

"Eh, I can live without it." Jack said weirdly again, waving away Tobias's concerns with his bandaged hand. "Sorry mate, but you forget I'm the one with the pistol. Barbossa's gettin' the map, and I'm gettin' the Pearl, and if you have a problem with that, I'll dump yer bullet-ridden body over the side of the ship. Saavy?"

Tobias didn't say anything, and kept rowing, scowling at Jack. After a moment's silence, he said, "You know something, don't you? Is that why you're so willing to part with the map? You memorized it?"

Jack bit his lip. "No I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

Jack pulled out his pistol. "Me pistol says I didn't."

Tobias went quiet again and looked deep in thought at Jack. Jack smiled to himself, finished off the rum bottle and stroked the pistol in his hands. "Good pistol, there's a good boy. Oh yes you are! Yes you are!" he grinned, making cute faces to the pistol. Tobias couldn't help but chuckle under his breath at the deranged Captain, who seemed threatening but funny at the same time. Suddenly he jumped up, making Tobias jump as well. "Aye, we're here mate. Port Royal."

Tobias looked over his shoulder, and he could see they had pulled into the harbor. Jack pulled out a large telescope from his jacket and looked into the distance with it. "There she is. My beauty. The Black Pearl."

Tobias looked over in the direction Captain Jack was looking, and saw a large ship docked along the quay. "That's your ship?" Tobias said.

"Aye. The fastest ship there is. I knew Barbossa would come looking fer me." As the ship pulled up into the docks, Captain Jack stepped up onto dry land, and Tobias tied up the ship and unloaded their few belongings. As he stepped off the boat, Captain Jack whirled around and lifted out his open palm.

"Now mate, the map. We had a deal. Your safe passage for the map. And don't you dare try damaging it." He held up his pistol just to make sure.

"Aye." Tobias grunted, and gave Jack the map.

"This is where we part ways, mate." Jack said, sliding the map into his coat. "Can't say I enjoyed the trip, I'd rather it was a beautiful lass than you."

"My thoughts exactly." Tobias smirked. "But Captain, let me offer you one last deal. You're going onto your ship to try and swap it back, right? Barbossa stole it from you, so that means his crew will favor him over you, right? Here's the deal; let me join yer crew, come with you to the Pearl and watch your back. And I'll tell you the secrets of the map."

"Oh really?" Jack said, intrigued. "And what are you asking for in return? Sorry, mate. You can't have the map..."

"I don't want the map." Tobias interrupted. "I want you to take me to the Fountain of Youth. I have a share in the reward."

Jack was about to answer when two soldiers walked up to their position. "Welcome to Port Royal. State your names, please."

"Now, there be no need of names." Jack said, producing a bag of coins. "How about I give you this and you be on your merry way, eh?"

Tobias knew currency was currency of the realm, especially during his time as a solider. He produced a bag of coins as well and dropped it into the other soldier's hand as Jack did. "Yeah fellas, how about you decide a name for us? We'll give some for you; how about galleons and pounds?" he followed Jack's lead.

"Welcome to Port Royal." The soldiers said greedily, and walked off.

"Jack, what about it? Do we have a deal?" Tobias asked. "You can't translate the map without me."

"That's Captain Jack. And I think I can do it on me own, mate." Jack said, as he kept on walking down the pier.

"Are you willing to take that risk, Captain?" Tobias said, walking after him. "Are you gonna, in the Land of Darkness, knowing death is only a few steps away from stopping that could-be immortal heart of yours?"

"Aye mate. Honestly, I don't like yer. And if I'm gonna live forever, I don't want it to have to be with you as well. See yer in yer next life, mate."

Tobias stopped in his steps and watched Jack walk away. Then he said, "What about if no-one in Barbossa's crew remains loyal to you? There's no-one else in Port Royal to help you steer the ship, is there?"

Jack stopped and turned around, in thought. "You may have a point there, mate. Alright then, hurry up, before I change me mind."

"JACK! JACK!" came a loud voice, and Jack turned to look up the pier to see a short, rounded man walk quickly his way. He had a short, trimmed grey beard with receding hair, and bright eyes.

"Gibbs! There ye are! Right where I left ye!" Jack said. "What's the word?"

"Yer shouldn't have come back, Jack. She's – "

But before Gibbs could say anything, a woman came quickly around from behind him and stepped up in front of him, slapping him across the face. Jack's head turned to the side following the impact of the slap, rubbing his cheek. "Not sure if I deserved that."

The woman was wearing a tri-corner hat, a slim coat and was wearing pirate clothing. She had dark black hair and brown eyes. "Jack Sparrow, you coward! Trading me in to those pirates! You tricked me!"

"Ana-Maria, sweet heart, I only gave you away to them to get the location of the picture of that key… which we found, by the way. It's not my fault that you wanted their ship, and they wanted a woman. I thought it was quite a nice match, actually…"

Ana-Maria slapped Jack again, the other way this time. "Okay, maybe I deserved that one…" he said sorely, feeling his cheek again.

"So how did you escape then?" asked Tobias.

Ana-Maria glared daggers into him. "And who the hell are you?"

"Tobias. Tobias Wolfe." He introduced himself. "Me and Jack are… acquaintances. So, how did you escape the pirates after Jack handed you over to them?" he asked his question again, curious.

"I seduced the captain… then I killed him. His ship is now mine." Ana-Maria smirked. "No thanks to you, Jack."

"You're welcome, lass." Jack chuckled half-heartedly. "Now, Gibbs. What news on Barbossa?"

"Haven't seen him." Gibbs confessed. "The Pearl's docked, but I haven't seen him on her. He must have gone into town."

"Then let's go find him, eh? We need to talk." Jack said, looking at Ana-Maria. "Nice to have seen you again, Ana." He stepped away and walked down the pier into town, Tobias and Gibbs following him.

"That's Captain Ana-Maria, Captain Jack." Ana said crossly as she followed him. "What are you up to now, Jack? What's your business with Barbossa?"

"OI!" yelled a loud voice, and their heads turned to see a group of soldiers heading quickly in their direction. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Someone must have tipped them off you were here, Captain!" Gibbs said.

"Couldn't have possibly been you Gibbs, yelling my name at the top of your head, eh?" Jack said sarcastically, breaking into a run. "RUN FOR IT!"

The pirates quickly began to move, crossing the bridge across the river that led into the town of Port Royal. "HALT!" yelled another group ahead of them, and Jack and his group ducked into an alleyway and kept going. Tobias could feel the soldiers on their heels, and crossed through the marketplace amongst the townspeople, trying to loose the soldiers amongst the crowd. Tobias heard Jack yell, "Sorry luv!" as he pushed aside an old woman carrying a load of fruit, sending it flying into the air. Tobias pushed over a cart and sent the cages full of chickens sitting on top of it crashing to the ground. He looked behind them, seeing the soldiers, but couldn't see Gibbs anywhere. He kept his eyes on Jack and Ana-Maria ahead of him, and followed him through the winding alleyways between the old buildings into a small, deserted side street.

"Look, a blacksmith's. Let's hide in there." He suggested to Jack and Ana.

"Not bloody likely again, mate!" Jack said back to him, ignoring the confused look on Ana's and Tobias's faces. Then the door of the building opened in front of them.

"Hey, over here!" came a hushed voice. A pirate woman was standing in the doorway of the blacksmith's shop, her face hidden in the shadow of the awning above her. "In here, quickly!"

Ana, Jack and Tobias ducked into the door, and the woman shut it behind them, with the sign nailed onto the outside of the door: ABANDONED.

"Thanks luv." Captain Jack said to the mysterious pirate woman with a sly smirk as she locked the door.

The woman crossed her arms and looked at Jack angrily; addressing Jack for what sounded like wasn't the first time. She looked like she wanted to slap him, but to Tobias's surprise did not. "You shouldn't have left me behind, Jack. You should have told me."

"It's Captain Jack, luv, remember?" Jack said strangely, not looking her in the eye as he recognized her and looked down at the floor instead. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell ye where I was going. As you know, Barbossa stole me ship. Thought ye wanted me to leave without yeh… how did yer think I shoulda left?"

"Oh, I dunno, what do you think? You tell me." she asked him, staring at him as if she expected Jack to read her mind.

"That doesn't mean you can't think up of a way I could have done it, luv. There was no other way. Couldn't help it." Jack said, a little regret in his voice.

The woman sighed. "Sorry. I guess I can't help it either, what with this situation we're in. We'll talk later about us, Jack, but… she's here to see you." the woman said. She looked at Tobias and with a small smile, and winked at him secretively.

"Eh?" Jack asked, looking confused. Tobias felt the same.

Then stepping out from the darkness of the blacksmith's shop around them, came another woman who stepped into the sunlight. She had blonde hair, brown eyes and wore different pirate clothing to the mysterious woman, which sort-of looked Chinese. She wore a tri-corner hat with a pointed tip at the top of the head, with her golden hair tied up beneath it. Her Chinese coat was colored black and gold with an Oriental design, tightly clasped around her body and secured with a large, wide belt around her waist. From her belt leather flaps covered in a sort of scale-like armor covered her hips on both side, on her left side the hilt of a cutlass could be seen. Underneath her coat could only be seen brown long pants on her legs and knee-high boots.

"Welcome back, Jack." She smiled.

Jack grinned. "And you said it would never work out between us, luv. And yet, here we are again."

She smirked at him for a moment, regarding him, then looked at Tobias. "What's your name?" she asked Tobias.

"The name's Tobias. Tobias Wolfe." Tobias said, a little uncertainly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Elizabeth Swann." The woman smiled, "And I'm the King of the Pirates."