Hey, everyone. After some fallout from the previous chapters' developments, the gang's headed to another familiar world. By the end of the chapter, anyone familiar with the property will be able to guess that this will be a world with multiple visits.
I am still open to suggestions for worlds and their plots to use in the future. I won't give away just what worlds will appear, but that just makes coming up with ideas more fun.
Defender31415: I don't think that will be necessary. You can leave suggestions for any property you like, as long as it fits with my previously-set criteria. Of course, if you don't feel confident thinking of worlds and stories on your own, you can look at the cast of characters that have already appeared in the Villains of a Sort (that's what I am canonically calling them) to figure out which properties will appear.
J. Tom: Interesting choices, though I would like to see what you would like to happen in those worlds, whether or not the plot will adhere to the plot of the films. I won't say which worlds will or won't make an appearance, but I do like your picks. And yes, I mean any property owned by Disney or Square Enix, and it won't be restricted to Disney movies (Disney Animated Canon or Live-Action) or just the Final Fantasy games. I will even take suggestions for TV shows; I haven't seen most of the Disney Afternoon shows but I would be glad to leave some in-jokes like I did in the early Disney Castle chapters. As for your last question, well, there's nothing saying he wasn't...
Anyway, on with the story!
Chapter 62
The Black Pearl
"So, what you're saying is," Riku began after Mickey finished telling him, Sora and Kairi everything he knew about Master Xehanort and the χ-blade, "this Master Xehanort guy is the reason that Terra, Ventus and Aqua met such horrible fates, and you had no idea what happened to him after the dust settled?" Mickey nodded. "And you never bothered to follow up on it?"
Mickey sighed, ashamed of himself. "No, I…"
"You even met a guy named Xehanort, who was already experimenting with the darkness in people's hearts!" Sora added, not happy with this revelation. "That didn't even make you suspicious?"
"I was surprised when Ansem said the name," Mickey admitted, "but I figured it was just a coincidence when I saw a young man. Now I know that Master Xehanort and that Xehanort were one and the same. But I didn't know then. I couldn't have known where the name 'Xehanort' would have been a thing. I don't even know what world he was from originally."
"Ours," Riku said. All eyes turned to him in surprise. "There's this fifty-something-year-old story about a kid who wanted to go beyond the limits of the islands, and he found a way to leave for good. I didn't know that much when I first heard it, but after we returned to the islands, I decided to look it up. Turns out he was this silver-haired kid named Xehanort."
"Oh. I had no idea," Mickey said. "Master Yen Sid only mentioned him and Eraqus a few times. I never met either of them. I didn't even know what Xehanort looked like until I got to the Keyblade Graveyard while everyone was fighting."
"Again, why didn't you even try to find out what happened to Xehanort, or even Terra and Aqua for that matter?" Sora asked.
Mickey sighed. "I waited with Master Yen Sid until Aqua came back with Terra, but after a few days, Yen Sid read the stars and told me that neither Aqua nor Terra were anywhere to be found. And… I guess I wanted to believe that their sacrifice wasn't for nothing. I made myself believe that Xehanort was gone for good."
"But instead of honoring their sacrifice by making sure the job was done, you stayed ignorant and let Xehanort run rampant for a decade!" Riku lambasted him. "You could have stopped everything Xehanort's done before it even started. Countless worlds fell into darkness, thousands have lost their hearts and the Heartless have been allowed to run free because you let yourself be ignorant!"
Mickey's heart sank. He knew that every word he said was true, as were every word that he did not say but deserved to, but they stung all the same. "I know," he said weakly. "How could I be so blind?"
"I don't know," Sora answered. He was upset with Mickey, but he was not as bitter as Riku. In truth, he was not sure what to think. "But you're supposed to be leading us. You're supposed to be the wise king. We're supposed to trust you to make the right choices for the good of everyone." He looked Mickey dead in the eye, his gaze tinged with concern and disappointment. "How could you knowingly ignore something that could put everyone in danger, Mickey?"
Mickey gasped. Sora still had not gotten used to calling him by his given name, following Donald and Goofy's example of addressing him as "your Majesty". He had given Riku permission to be less formal with him, and he soon learned to call him by such familiarity. But hearing Sora just now drop the regal title, due to losing faith in his wisdom and leadership, just hurt.
Meanwhile, Donald, Kairi and Goofy flew the ship, listening regretfully but not interjecting. Not even Jiminy was sure how to best defuse the situation.
Kairi traced her finger on the copilot's display sadly. She had almost never heard Sora and Riku so upset. They trusted Mickey so much until now, and she had a feeling that unless something happened soon, the argument was only going to get worse.
"Radiant Garden was in ruins for a decade!" Riku continued, his voice rising to a yell. "Our islands were destroyed, and Xehanort manipulated me into helping him, then possessed my body! Ansem the Wise is dead! So much suffering happened because of Xehanort, and you could have stopped it!"
"We're here!" Kairi shouted abruptly, getting everyone's attention. She breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that she managed to halt the argument, at least for the moment.
This world was familiar to half of the party. It consisted of a number of islands on a sea dotted by large ships and barges. The image on the heads-up display showed the same thing, but superimposed the head-on view of a ship as well as a skull and crossbones.
Sora chuckled. "Port Royal," he identified. He began to hum a tune. Donald and Goofy bobbed their heads along.
"Okay, let me propose an idea," Kairi said. "I think we should split into two groups."
"Why's that?" Mickey asked.
"What we just discussed now, it's some heavy stuff," she explained. "We all need time to process it, give us time apart from the issue so we don't snap and kill each other."
"Okay. What do you suggest?" Riku asked.
"Hmm… How about you go with Donald and Goofy, take a deep breath and see what they think about all this, and Sora and I will go with the King. Deal?"
Her friends mulled over the setup, then nodded. "I think we can manage," Sora said.
"Okay, then. Eeny-meeny-miny-mo," Donald chanted in a sing-song tone, picking points to disembark. "Alright, then. Your Majesty, Sora, Kairi, you guys go first." He tapped on a green dot on a more civilized island and hit DISEMBARK. A white circle lit up behind them. Mickey, Sora and Kairi stepped on and vanished in a column of light. Donald pressed another green dot, this one sitting on an island that was more densely packed with trees, then hit DISEMBARK again. He, Riku and Goofy stepped into the circle of light and were beamed down.
Sora, Kairi and Mickey quickly noticed that they were on a dock. Dozens of sailors mulled about, almost all of them appearing to be pirates and roughly half of them stumbling around drunk.
"Yo ho, yo ho," Kairi muttered when an old man with a dirty beard and an eyepatch tripped and nearly stumbled into her.
Sora, however, was looking around with a huge smile on his face. He was going to sail the seas like a pirate again! He spun around, taking everything in, but stopped when he saw a familiar ship docked at the end of the pier he was standing on.
Were it not for the nearby lanterns and the fact that it was so close to them, the ship would have blended in with the night sky. It had a soot-colored hull. Its three masts were adorned with tattered black sails. Sora could count sixteen cannons: nine on the gun deck and seven on the upper deck. The figurehead was carved in the shape of a woman with angel wings holding up a dove in her left hand.
Sora laughed at the unforgettable sight of the Black Pearl. Kairi and Mickey followed his gaze and stared at it with intrigue.
"You know this ship, Sora?" Mickey asked.
"This ship belongs to Captain Jack Sparrow," Sora answered, "the greatest pirate who ever lived."
"So, this is the famous Black Pearl," Kairi mused. "A lot cooler than I imagined it." She turned to face Sora. "That means your pirate friend is here, right?"
Sora nodded. "Well, unless someone mutinied against him and took the ship like last time, but I don't think that's the case."
"Well, then let's head into town and see if we can find him," Kairi said.
They trekked along the pier, taking in the sights. They noticed that there were far more pirates roaming the streets than regular civilians. Some were rowdy and obnoxious, while others were just having a good time. A few got into fights. They passed an alleyway where a man with messy stubble was roughly pulling a woman along despite her protests. Kairi pointed her thumb in their direction and whispered "Gravity". A sign hanging above them broke off and fell on the man's head, knocking him out. The woman stared in confusion, then shrugged, lifted her dress, and marched off indignantly.
"So, where do you think we'll find him?" Mickey asked.
Before Sora could come up with an answer, he heard a panicked scream. "Monsters!" The trio immediately ran through the crowd in the direction of the shout. Some people were running away and pushed past them as they fled. A few of them were pirates. Other pirates remained and stood their ground, holding their swords and pistols up in defiance. It was then that they finally saw the monsters in question.
There were roughly eight of them. The Heartless emblem was visible on their chests. They each wore brown pants with patches of tan, matching pointed shoes, a black turtleneck shirt that left the chest opened, a red sash around the waist, bright yellow wristbands, skull-shaped pauldrons, a red bandana covering the entire top half of the head with an angular black spiral over the left eye, and a black eyepatch decorated with a white cross over the right eye. They carried swords with wide, curved blades, which lacked hilts but were bound to the handles with heavy-duty clips. The grips were covered in a bright red fabric, and the blades were etched with red cracks and angular yellow spirals, making it appear as though each blade had a frowning face.
"Sod off, scurvy fiends!" one of the defending pirates slurred. "Rotten beasts like ye have no place in Tortuga!"
Sora ran up so he stood beside him, raising his Keyblade. "We're with you!" he assured. Kairi and Mickey joined him, standing next to a man who brandished a shovel, who apparently decided to take the first "weapon" he could find.
"Aye!" the pirate snarled approvingly.
The Pirate Heartless in the middle was the first to strike. The pirate next to Sora parried its blow, and the fighting began. Some of the defenders were dizzy from being pulled out of what they presumed would be no more than a full night of drinking and social revelry, while a few others had simply taken up position in inconvenient spots, and they were quickly knocked down. The Heartless stepped over them and went for the defenders behind them. However, this also gave Sora, Kairi and Mickey the opening to enter the fighting as well.
Sora was quite used to parrying the Pirates' attacks and retaliating. The weight he puts into his Keyblade swings makes it difficult for the Heartless to power through and they quickly get knocked off guard. Mickey's small size meant that the Pirates had to strike low, which made things difficult when their weapons were large swords which they had to raise back up each time with one hand, and his fast movements meant that they could almost never hit him and he kept attacking them from behind. Kairi clicked and parried her Keyblade with her opponent's sword like something out of a swashbuckling adventure film. As soon as she swatted the Heartless' blade aside, she took the opening to stab right into its chest.
Sora allowed his second Heartless to push against him, seemingly forcing him back. The Pirate swung its sword down at him, and he blocked and made a show of putting all of his effort into holding the attack back. At the last second, he smirked, right before one of the pirates stabbed it in the back. The pirate pulled his cutlass back out of the Heartless' body and Sora cut right through it, causing it to dissipate.
"Ye ain't bad with a sword, kid," the pirate complimented.
Sora nodded respectfully. "Thanks. You're pretty good yourself," he replied. With that, he jumped over his head and brought his Keyblade down over a Pirate's sword right after it had made a failed attempt on Mickey's life. He pinned the sword down, then kicked the Pirate in the side, pushing it right into Mickey's Keyblade.
The pirate with the shovel brought his weapon down on the last Pirate's head, stunning it. Two other pirates sank their swords into it, and Kairi finished it off with a stab through the back.
Once all of the Heartless were vanquished, the pirates cheered and patted each other on the back. Some of them helped their fallen comrades to their feet. Others simply stumbled over them without thinking.
The pirate who had fought beside Sora turned to him, Kairi and Mickey. "I haven't seen any of you 'round here," he noted. "This your first time in Tortuga?"
Sora nodded. "Yeah. We were actually looking for a friend of ours. Captain Jack Sparrow."
The pirate's eyes widened with amusement. "Aye, you lookin' to join his crew?" he asked. "Well, he's down that way in the Twelve Daggers cantina, looking for blokes to join." He pointed toward a building that was lit up and seemed full of activity.
"Thanks," Sora said. He waved him off as he, Kairi and Mickey walked over to the tavern that had a sign depicting two crossed daggers with ten more blades surrounding them in a half-circle, all pointed toward the center. He pushed the doors open and stepped in.
The tavern was filled with pirates, though there were some other sailors and civilians. Most of them stood all over the place, talking amongst themselves and telling stories but otherwise disorganized. Many were drinking from bottles or mugs of rum, even though some of them clearly had more than their fill. Three musicians played together with a cuatro, a concertina, and a fiddle. The establishment seemed to exemplify the purpose and nature of the island of Tortuga, serving as a place for seadogs and scoundrels to eat, drink and have fun while taking a break from all of the sailing and pillaging.
Across the main room, the three newcomers saw some men lined up in front of a table, at which sat an older man with blue eyes as well as gray hair and white sideburns. The man wore a white dress shirt, a teal vest with silver buttons, and brown boots. Curious about what was going on, Sora led Kairi and Mickey over to the table.
"So, what makes you think you're worthy to crew the Black Pearl?" the man asked, drawing Sora's attention further. He studied the men in the line, who appeared to be enlisting for the crew Jack was gathering. Kairi looked at Sora in bewilderment, as the "sailors" did not appear very "ship-shape". Sora simply shrugged.
"Truth be told, I never sailed a day in me life," a thin, elderly man said. "I figure I should get out and see the world while I'm still young."
The man at the table simply gave him a smile. "You'll do. Make your mark. Next!"
Sora gave Kairi a bigger shrug. He had no idea why Jack was gathering and accepting such a pathetic crew. He looked past the line and, after the third man, one who was missing an arm, had been approved, saw a face he had been hoping to find.
The man had long brown hair tied into dreadlocks with beads. He had a moustache and a beard that was also tied into two smaller dreads. He wore a faded, loose white shirt that was opened by a few buttons, a black jacket, a tan belt and a tattered white piece of cloth tied around his waist, a faded red bandana with a small beaded ornament and a silver coin on his head, black pants, and brown boots. He wore a scabbard on his left hip, attached to a black strap that wrapped over his right shoulder, in which sat his cutlass, and he had a pistol holstered at his right hip.
"That's him," Sora told his friends, his gaze fixed on the legendary pirate.
Captain Jack Sparrow studied the compass in his hand. He flicked it in mild frustration. "I know what I want," he muttered irritably.
The fourth volunteer stepped up to the man at the table, whom Sora guessed was Jack's first mate. The volunteer had a dreamy look in his eyes and a wide grin.
"Ever since I was a little lad, I've always wanted to sail the seas. Forever," the wide-eyed man said.
"Sooner than you think," the first mate replied. "Sign the roster."
"Thanks very much." The wide-eyed man walked off.
"How we going?" Jack asked, flicking his gaze upward.
"Including those four? That gives us… four," the first mate answered. He looked to his right and saw Sora, Kairi and Mickey walking toward him. "Hmm, maybe make that seven."
Jack looked ahead and raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps those two; I'm not sure if he'll take the boy," he muttered. "But then again, with him here, we might not have to concern ourselves with that." The first mate looked back at him in confusion. The pirate captain stood up and put on a smile. "Sora, my boy! What can an old pirate do for you?"
"Good to see you, Captain," Sora greeted back. "What's going on here? I didn't expect you to be looking for a crew that was so..." he looked back at the four volunteers and lowered his voice to a whisper so that they couldn't hear him, "unequipped for the job."
Jack chuckled. "Well, you see, I'll need all the hands I can get for this game," he explained cryptically. He looked past Sora and noticed Kairi and Mickey. "And who might you be?" he asked.
"I'm Kairi."
"I'm Mickey."
"Well, it's a pleasure," Jack said with a light bow. "What of your funny-looking friends?"
"Our group split up as we arrived. Donald and Goofy went somewhere else with our other friend Riku," Sora explained. "So, why do you need all these people? What's happened now?"
Before Jack could explain, his gaze fell upon a man approaching his first mate's table and sitting in a chair in front of it. He wore a blue rum-soaked jacket and a hat that obscured his face. Under the hat, he wore what appeared to be a powdered wig, but it had become muddy and disheveled. His brown hair and beard grew long and unkempt. A pistol sat in a holster at his right hip while he held a bottle of rum in his left hand.
"So, what's your story?" the first mate asked enthusiastically.
"My story…? It's exactly the same as your story, just one chapter behind," the man began. Jack studied his shadowed face intently, finding some modicum of recognition in the stranger. His voice certainly sounded like someone he had previously met. "I chased a man across the Seven Seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life."
The first mate squinted his eyes, trying to find any semblance of the man he thought this figure was. "Commodore?"
"No, not anymore. Weren't you listening?" James Norrington, former commodore of Port Royal, shot back. He stood up abruptly. Jack tiptoed away, hoping not to be noticed. "I nearly had you all, off Agrabah. I would have, if not for… the hurricane."
The first mate's eyes widened. "The sunlight storm? Lord. You didn't try to sail through it?"
So do I make your crew, or not?" Norrington asked. "You haven't said where you're going. Somewhere nice?"
The band stopped playing and all of the tavern's somewhat coherent patrons turned their attention to the budding confrontation. Jack ripped a large palm branch from a potted plant and held it in front of him, hoping to sneak out unnoticed. However, Norrington noticed him.
"So, am I worthy to serve under Captain Jack Sparrow?" Norrington asked mockingly. He took his gun out and pointed it at Jack. Sora took a protective step forward. "Or should I just kill you now?"
Jack stopped. He dropped his branch and stared warily at Norrington. He ducked behind a column and peeked around the other side. Norrington moved his arm so that he was still pointing his gun at him. He tried to duck around the other side, but he was still looking down the barrel of the gun.
"You're hired," Jack said with a grin.
"Sorry. Old habits and all that," Norrington retorted. He drew the hammer back.
Sora jumped in and pushed his arm up. "Hold it!" he shouted as he sent the man's arm pointing straight up just as Norrington pulled the trigger. The bullet bounced off of the chandelier and found its way across the room, shattering a man's bottle. Already quite tipsy and looking for some form of retaliation, the man slugged the man in front of him.
This was enough to incite a full-on brawl. Pirates started punching each other, women engaged in cat fights, and bottles were thrown all over the place. The three-man band started playing again, adding upbeat music to the brawl. One man jumped off of a balcony and started swinging on a chandelier for some reason.
"Time to go," Jack said, nodding to his first mate. The two of them walked around the action and traipsed up the stairs to find an exit. Jack ducked as a bottle flew over his head. At a few points, they stopped as a group of brawlers passed in front of them as they duked it out.
One man punched Norrington, sending him reeling away from Sora. The boy ducked out of the way of another pirate taking a swing at him. Sora broke into a wide grin and stuck his elbow back into the man's gut.
Kairi and Mickey held their arms out to summon their Keyblades, but Sora grabbed them to stop them. "Don't," he said. "This isn't something where everyone's trying to kill you. This is just a free-for-all." He smirked. "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to everyone else if you brought them out."
Kairi felt someone grab her wrist and try to pull her back. She turned and saw a man leering at her. "Come along miss. This doesn't look like a place you should be," he said, still maintaining his cocky grin.
Kairi snorted, and ducked under his arm. She turned around, grabbing onto the man's own wrist as she did so, and stood up. She tugged, twisting his arm and causing him to wince in pain and loosen his grip. She smiled sweetly at him, then raised her left foot and kicked him in the gut, sending him tumbling backward over a chair.
An overweight drunkard picked Mickey up by the collar of his shirt and chuckled at him. Mickey punched him in the face, stunning him and causing him to let go before falling backward.
It soon came to the point where a number of patrons were surrounding Norrington. Norrington had lost his gun at some point and was waving his bottle around threateningly.
"Come on, men! Who wants some? Form an orderly line. I'll have you all one by one! Come on, who's first?!" he dared dizzily.
Sora saw someone whom he had not seen in the cantina yet, but his face seemed familiar. It took him a few seconds to realize for certain that the newcomer was a woman dressed in a white dress shirt, a brown jacket and brown pants to pass for a man, her dirty blonde hair tied into a bun and hidden under a black tricorn hat. It took a second longer of studying her pretty face for him to recognize her.
Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Port Royal's governor and a friend of Sora and Captain Jack Sparrow's, walked up behind Norrington, grabbed the bottle out of his hand, and smashed it on his head, knocking him out. The patrons looked at her, dumbfounded, as they were hoping to get a piece of the former naval officer themselves.
Elizabeth shrugged lightly. "I just wanted the pleasure of doing that myself!" she admitted, not bothering to disguise her feminine voice.
The crowd cheered and raised their mugs for a toast. Four men marched over to Norrington and grabbed him by the arms and legs. They carried him out through the doors and threw him into a muddy pig pen. Laughing amongst themselves, the majority of the crowd dispersed. Elizabeth remained, and walked over to Norrington. She rolled him onto his back and stared sadly into his face.
"James Norrington, what has the world done to you?" she asked sorrowfully.
Sora, Kairi and Mickey walked up behind her. "Elizabeth?" Sora called out.
The young woman gasped and looked over her shoulder to see who had recognized her. She let out a sigh of relief when she recognized the spiky-haired boy. "Oh. Sora. And are these your friends?"
Sora nodded. Kairi and Mickey introduced themselves. "So, what are you doing here, Elizabeth? How's Will?" Sora asked.
Elizabeth sighed. "Will and I were supposed to be married," she lamented. "But on the day when we were to have our wedding, we were arrested by Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company for helping Jack escape from the authorities."
"That's awful," Kairi gasped.
Elizabeth nodded in agreement. "Beckett cut a deal with Will," she continued. "If he found Jack and brought back his compass, our crimes would be forgiven."
Sora raised his eyebrow. "Well, I didn't see him in there with Jack," he said.
Elizabeth shook her head. "Regardless, I intend to find him. My father risked himself so I could escape, and I will reunite with Will."
Sora nodded. "Agreed. So, what's with that guy?" he asked, looking past Elizabeth and at Norrington.
Elizabeth turned to look back at the man sadly. "Commodore James Norrington was dedicated to putting an end to pirates, and made it his mission to arrest Captain Jack Sparrow," she explained. "He was also my fiancée."
"Arranged marriage?" Kairi asked. Elizabeth nodded. "I can see that didn't work out. So what happened?"
"Shortly after we worked to defeat the cursed pirates and those Nobody creatures, Jack was arrested and sentenced to hang. James was the arresting officer. But Will and I helped him escape. James set off to chase him down shortly thereafter. The next time I heard from him, I learned that he had resigned from his commission."
"And I guess we know why," Mickey added solemnly. "Poor guy. He did what he thought was right and it - it cost him everything."
Kairi frowned as she heard Mickey choke up for a moment, knowing full well what he was thinking.
"Urgh… Take that… you no-good… pirates…" Norrington grumbled groggily, starting to come to. He opened his eyes and saw the face of the woman he loved. "Elizabeth?"
"Come on. Let's help him up," Sora said. "Then we'll ask Jack about what happened to Will."
They found Jack near the Black Pearl, walking down the pier with his first mate as they saw the new crew members aboard. Elizabeth took a step ahead of Sora.
"Captain Sparrow!" she called.
"Come to join my crew, lad?" he asked. "Welcome aboard. And you three can climb on too." He wagged his fingers above his head as he addressed Sora, Kairi and Mickey without turning around.
"I'm here to find the man I love," Elizabeth corrected. Sora raised his eyebrow, surprised that he did not recognize Elizabeth's voice.
Jack stopped and shifted his gaze from side to side. This was unexpected. "I'm deeply flattered, son, but my first and only love is the sea."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, as did Sora. They heard Norrington vomiting over the side of the pier. "Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow," Elizabeth clarified.
Jack stopped and turned around. "Elizabeth?"
The first mate took note of Sora and traded uncertain and bewildered glances with Jack. "He the lad with the…" he whispered, making gestures with his hand to mimic using a key to unlock a door. Jack gave him a quick and slight nod. The first mate looked at Sora again, aghast, though he appeared reflective. Sora could only wonder what he was thinking.
"Jack, I know Will came to find you. Where is he?" Elizabeth insisted.
"Darling, I am truly unhappy to have to tell you this, but…" Jack began, "through an unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with me"― Sora rolled his eyes, figuring that everything that came out of the brigand's mouth was a blatant falsehood ―"poor William has been press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew."
"Davy Jones?" Elizabeth repeated, incredulous.
"Who's Davy Jones?" Sora asked.
Norrington spat in disbelief. "Oh, please. The captain of the Flying Dutchman?"
Jack turned his attention to Norrington. "You look bloody awful. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"You hired me," Norrington shot back. "I can't help it if your standards are lax."
"You smell funny," was apparently the best comeback Jack could come up with.
"Guys! Your BAC ratio is too great for barroom banter," Sora interjected. "And I'll ask again. Who is Davy Jones?"
Norrington rolled his eyes. "They say that Davy Jones sails the dark seas, delivering the souls of those who died at sea into the afterlife," he explained, a snide tone in his voice. "But when his girl left him, he abandoned his mission and started cutting bargains with doomed sailors to stay their ends and make them part of his monstrous crew. Not like that old wives' tale is any more than that."
"If you were a bit more wary at sea, you'd still have a crew," Jack spat.
"Well, that's twisted," Sora commented, disturbed.
"Jack. All I want is to find Will," Elizabeth pleaded.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain? Is that what you really want the most?" he asked her. Sora and Mickey could see the wheels turning in his head, though neither of them knew what he was thinking.
Elizabeth nodded. "'Course," she replied.
"Because I would think you would want to find a way to save Will the most," Jack suggested.
"And you have a way of doing that?"
"Well, there's a chest," Jack began.
Norrington groaned. Sora, Kairi and Mickey looked at him in confusion.
"A chest of unknown size and origin," Jack continued.
Two pirates, a fat, balding man with his shirt open and a tall, skinny man with dirty blond hair as well as a moustache and goatee, walked by carrying a crate of bottles. They overheard the conversation and stopped on their way to the Black Pearl's gangplank so they could pitch in. "What contains the still-beating heart of Davy Jones," the fat one, Pintel, said. His companion, Ragetti, vocally imitated the sound of a beating heart. Kairi leaned back, somewhat disturbed.
"He doesn't have his heart? So he's like a Nobody? Or is he a Heartless?" Sora asked.
The first mate shook his head. "It ain't like that, my boy. It's not like those kinds of hearts. It's his actual, living, beating heart. As in the vital organ," he explained. Sora and Kairi winced. Mickey gagged.
"And whoever possesses that chest possesses the leverage to command Jones to do whatever it is he or she wants," Jack continued, "including saving brave William from his grim fate."
"Okay, someone's going to have to explain this guy to me," Sora moaned.
Norrington scoffed. "You don't actually believe him, do you?" he asked mockingly.
"Seen weirder," Mickey retorted.
"How do we find it?" Elizabeth asked, actually believing him.
"With this." Jack held up his compass, which had been hanging from his belt by a length of twine. "You see, my compass is… unique."
"'Unique' here having the meaning of broken," Norrington retorted.
"I wouldn't count on that," Sora countered. "It certainly seemed special enough to react to my Keyblade." Norrington gave him a double take, having no idea what he was talking about.
"True enough," Jack conceded the point. He could not blame Norrington for his presumption. "This compass does not point north."
"Where does it point?" Elizabeth asked.
"It points to the thing you want most in this world," Jack answered.
"That sounds cool," Kairi said.
"Aye," Jack agreed. He turned his attention back to Elizabeth. "And what you want most in the world is to find the chest of Davy Jones, is it not?"
"To save Will," Elizabeth corrected.
"By finding the chest of Davy Jones," Jack clarified. He handed the compass to Elizabeth, then took a giant step back so that he would not influence it.
"Wait. Why can't you use it?" Mickey asked.
"And why do you want the chest, anyway?" Sora added.
Jack ignored their questions, keeping his gaze focused on the compass in Elizabeth's hands. The needle spun around. The first mate stepped up to Sora and leaned into his ear.
"Captain Sparrow made a deal with Davy Jones, to raise the Black Pearl from the bottom of the ocean and make him captain for thirteen years, after which Jack would join his crew on the Flying Dutchman," he explained.
"But Barbossa mutinied and threw him off a decade ago," Sora pointed out.
Don't matter to Jones. Now he's coming to collect, and Jack aims to get out of his end of the bargain." Sora nodded, understanding the situation. The first mate took a step back and then smiled jovially. "I don't believe we've met. Joshamee Gibbs, first mate of the Black Pearl." He stuck his hand out. Sora shook it.
"Sora," the boy returned.
Jack's eyes widened when the needle of the compass settled on a direction. He looked up at Gibbs. "Mr. Gibbs!" he called.
"Cap'n!" Gibbs returned.
"We have our heading!" Jack announced, excited.
Gibbs sighed in relief. "Finally. Cast off those lines, weigh anchor, and prow that canvas!" he barked orders around.
Jack beamed at Elizabeth, Sora, Kairi, Mickey, and Norrington, the latter of whom could hardly believe what was happening. "Welcome aboard, men!" He turned and sauntered up the gangplank, keeping pace with Gibbs.
"So, Cap'n," Gibbs whispered to Jack, "in the possibility that this endeavor goes south, though I would rather it not, how many souls do you suppose that boy would equal to in Jones' eye?"
"I'd give him a modest forty to fifty, though I'm not sure how Jones counts it. However petty he decides to be, he'd have to count"― Jack shrugged ―"at least four."
Gibbs frowned. "Well, we'd better find this chest."
While Sora, Kairi and Mickey were joining the crew of the Black Pearl, Riku, Donald and Goofy pushed their way through foliage of palm fronds.
"I smell fire," Riku said. "I think we'll be coming across some form of civilization in a second."
They pushed out of the line of trees and found themselves standing next to a hut made of wooden sticks. They walked further and found a couple dozen tribesmen standing and dancing around a fire pit. From what Riku could see, illuminated by the glow of the fire, they all had very dark skin and were covered in painted tattoos, and they were dressed in clothing made from leaves, feathers, and bones.
The tribesmen stopped chanting and turned around to identify the newcomers. Their gaze was intent and curious, though there was something else to it. Some of them picked up spears and knives, while others still held plates filled with leaves and nuts.
Goofy gulped, and Riku and Donald glanced past the closest natives to examine the fire. Mounted on a spit over the flames, they saw a large length of meat that did not look like it was pork or steak.
"Well, that's the last time Donald picks our coordinates," Riku muttered. Donald grumbled.