Elizabeth watches in shock as Jack places the ship in a bottle on the wet sand, cracks the glass with a dagger produced from the depths of his coat pockets, and tosses it in the ocean. It bobs for a second, then water overtakes it. The Black Pearl disappears beneath the waves.

"Wha—why'd you do that?" she bursts out. Elizabeth gestures uselessly at the water, waves barely touching the shore before being pulled away. Jack stands, looking way too confident for the fact that he just threw his beloved ship away!

"Just watch," he says, eyes trained on the water. Bubbles rise quickly to the surface, then stop. A second or two passes, before the waves erupt.

The Black Pearl shoots to the surface, growing faster than her eyes can track. Soon it's three times, four times the size it was in that tiny bottle.

Elizabeth stares at the suddenly full-sized black ship with wide eyes. Gibbs is ribbing Jack about how long it'd taken for them to figure out it was as easy as that the first time around, but Will and James seem to be of the same opinion of her.

The opinion being, of course, that the ship is crazy, Jack is crazy, and oh god, she's probably crazy too.

How is this her life?

Jack grabs the net on the side, and confidently climbs to the top. Gibbs follows him quickly, and the pair begin doing check-ups on the long-lost ship. Will gives her an awkward smile, and clambers after them.

With a glance to the lightning beginning to flash between funneled clouds, Elizabeth takes a deep breath and starts to struggle her way up the side of the Black Pearl.

Dropping over the railing, she turns after moving away from James to see lightning strike directly down the center of the storm into the whirlpool below. The wind whips at her clothes, and she hugs herself.

Jack and his newfound First Mate finish tying everything down, and the captain moves to the wheel. Pulling his familiar tri-corner hat, piece of eight and all, out of nowhere and placing it atop his head. He caresses the wheel, smoothing his hands around the ancient wood, before snapping his fingers.

The sails, tightly rolled previously, neatly unroll down the masts. Wind instantly fills them, and the ship starts moving toward the storm. Jack doesn't need to steer; the heavy gusts from the maelstrom would render it useless anyway. Elizabeth almost falls over, catching herself on the railing.

Will comes to stand next to her.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK IS IN THE CENTER?" he shouts after a moment, voice barely carrying over despite the close proximity.

"I DON'T KNOW," she yells back. "I GUESS WE'LL FIND OUT!"

A spray of water bursts over the bow of the ship, thoroughly dousing James. He yelps and shakes his head like a dog, water droplets flying off his ponytail.

"SORRY!" Jack yells from the helm. He says something else but it's lost to the wind. Trinkets in the captain's dreadlocks chime loudly, his faded red bandana doing little to stop the movement.

Halfway there, Elizabeth notices something down in the center of the maelstrom. It's stick-like, not very interesting, but it grows bigger and she realizes it's a mast. A mast to another ship.

The mast follows the curves of the whirlpool, slowly moving up until she recognizes the ragged sails. Those could only be from-

"The Flying Dutchman?!" Will asks. She can barely hear him, working more off of his lips moving than the sound to figure out what he's saying.

It's nearly the same scene as three centuries ago; the Black Pearl, The Flying Dutchman, and a deadly storm fabricated by the goddess of the sea. This time, they have significantly less crew, but with the addition of James. He'd sacrificed his life so Elizabeth could escape, and this time he would be right alongside her.

As they approach, the barnacle encrusted ship rises to loosely circle the waves. Teams of infected crewmates swarm menacing cannons, and she can hear their cackles over the water. They wait for the Black Pearl to be in range.

Elizabeth turns away from the sight, searching for a sword or rifle or any kind of weapon. She finds a silver blade in the chest, busying herself with tying a simple hilt around her waist. Will and James join her, searching for their own.

It's not long before they enter the maelstrom, circling The Flying Dutchman. The ship remains upright, but it won't be for long. Rain comes down hard, soaking the wood and the people scattered across it. Vibrant lightning flashes down the direct center, blinding her.

She blinks the afterimages away in time to see a cannon fire, and the water right before the port side splashes over the side when it misses. Elizabeth exchanges a nervous look with Will, and he reaches out to squeeze her hand before letting go.

To think that only this morning she was sound asleep in her canopy bed in California.

Jack and Gibbs join them, both with their own weapons at the ready. With all the rain coming down, and his dark attire, the captain of the ship truly looked like a wet rat.

"First, I'm gonna talk to him! And then if we start fightin' that's your cue to go after the rest of em'!" Elizabeth moves a step back from the sword Jack was gesturing with as he shouted. James turns away from the chest, sword sheath lain across his hands.

"Talk to him? Are you mad?!" he exclaims. With his neat hair messy, dripping wet and plastered across his face, he seems like a different person. James quickly belts the leather sheath across his waist, not looking away from the exuberant captain as he continues.

"That's the man who killed me, remember!? I don't think he'll be convinced to stop!" She grimaces at the reminder of her best friend's death.

"That's true," Elizabeth mutters to herself. As much as she wants to trust Jack, last time they had to stab his heart, therefore killing him, to get him to stop. Although… she doesn't know what the tentacled captain of The Flying Dutchman wants this time around. Surely Jack hadn't made another deal to sell away his soul?

"Everything'll be fine! That was a warning shot," he insists. Lightning flashes behind him, outlining him in bright white. Jack grins.

"And who better qualified than I to negotiate 'tween a vengeful sea goddess and her squid-faced ex?"