There was great excitement in Port Royal. The wedding of Rachel Swann and Stuart Clayton had fallen through. Miss Swann had simply disappeared and had been gone for several days. Elizabeth seemed to be so devastated, she hardly left her room at all. The commodore had his own idea of what must have happened to Rachel. He had thought of pirates, one in particular.

He stood before the governor and presented his concern.

"I'm sure it's Jack Sparrow," he said, and the moment he said it, an inner voice whispered a Captain!.

He squinted his eyes as if this thought caused pain.

Governor Flanagan was bored and angry. If it really were those cursed pirates who had kidnapped her, he wanted to see them all hanged! After all, he had let these men go himself and this was how they thanked him.

"What do you intend to do?" he asked.

"I will find her! Let me take my men and look for her." Stuart stood up, upset.

He had something personal against Sparrow. Because Clayton had been such good friends with James, and now especially because they both had to endure the shame of a failed marriage. With James, Sparrow had been indirectly partly responsible then, and he didn't doubt that was the case again now.

Clayton's hatred for the pirates had increased a hundredfold, as far as that was even possible. He would personally hang or shoot them all. Even if he did not approve of that. He preferred prisoners to dead men. But here he was determined to make an exception. They should pay.

"And where do you want to start this search?" his governor returned doubtfully.

"Tortuga."

"Jack! You're a dirty bastard!" Rachel shouted after the Black Pearl, who was slowly but steadily moving away from her.

Her dress had soaked up the water and became heavy. The fears she was experiencing changed her normal tone and choice of words.

Jack's eyes widened a little and he grinned. Rachel's light-coloured dress was figure-hugging tightly in the water. He liked this sight and wanted to remember it for a long time.

"Dearie, try to swim at least to some extent," he commented, still a little drunk.

Pintel and Ragetti were just busy with the sails.

"Shouldn't we help her?" asked Ragetti, who did not want to see the woman drown.

Pintel stared at him and then shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "You mean a sea goddess can drown? I don't. Let her stay where she is."

Then they only heard a loud splash and when they turned around, their captain had disappeared. Ragetti looked at Pintel in surprise, but he just shrugged his shoulders again and the pirate duo went about their business.

Jack swam to Rachel and held her by the shoulders and above water.

"Then I guess I'll have to play the saviour again," he murmured, "and this role is really not made for me."

Rachel gasped and splashed water in Jack's face.

"A saviour doesn't deliberately put anyone in danger," she hissed, trying to get back towards the Black Pearl on her own.

Jack dabbled beside her as she slowly made progress. Sometimes he had to hold her so she wouldn't sink. After a while, he let go of her again, and Rachel didn't even notice how she was now really swimming alone for the first time.

"Large cord … rope!" shouted Jack to his crew on board.

Mr. Cotton turned around and saw Pintel and Ragetti whispering together.

"We could also just leave them there. Then the Black Pearl would be ours!" whispered Pintel, addressing Ragetti.

Mr. Cotton gave the two ungrateful wretches a withering look and threw down a rope to his captain. Jack held on to it and so he was pulled out of the sea with Rachel.

"Well, I taught you something … that sounds weird. Let's hope it doesn't happen again," he teased his companion.

Rachel just glared at him, even though she was secretly glad to have kept her head above water – with his help. She rushed to the bow of the ship to dry herself and her dress in the sun.

Gibbs stepped onto the deck looking for Jack. First he saw Ms. Swann and then Jack, who was still looking at her, and Gibbs sighed.

"Jack, I can't stand to see you … because of her background, it could get us into a lot of trouble if you hurt her or even rudimentary put her in more danger," Gibbs said quietly, looking towards the bow where Ms. Swann was standing.

Jack laughed silently at his first mate and hurried towards his cabin.

"Where are we heading?" Gibbs called after Jack.

"Tortuga."

"You can't be serious. Let's take Ms. Swann to Port Royal and forget the whole thing."

Jack was suffering a little from impatience and whirled around to Gibbs in a huff. His arms gestured around in the air.

"You are aware that Barbossa is pursuing the witch's little daughter? He was probably going to hand her over to Tia Dalma. Don't you think it's better she's not in that backwater called Port Royal, guarded by incompetent sailors? What was that about Elizabeth again? Didn't Barbossa not – I mean, he didn't have a very big hurdle to overcome when he kidnapped her from Port Royal … when exactly was it … two years ago?"

"A little over three years," Gibbs corrected after a moment's thought.

"Irrelevant," Jack said immediately.

"Why Tortuga?"

"Stock up rum. Expand the crew. Barbossa won't be waiting for us there. That would be too easy. Because he thinks, I'm thinking that's the first place he'd look for us. Savvy?"

Jack had leaned over to Gibbs pompously and now straightened up again with a self-satisfied grin. He disappeared into his cabin.

Gibbs glowered up at the rain clouds gathering over his head.

Barbossa paced back and forth in the small card room. This cursed Tia Dalma. What was he supposed to do with her? He had put Temari back in a separate room. Leaving her with Tia Dalma was too dangerous for him. But he needed the other woman who was in Jack's company. That much he knew.

Well, he also had his suspicions about what all the fuss was about, but maybe Jack knew more after his conversation with Tia Dalma.

The Fortune also sailed peacefully towards Tortuga.

And so it happened that three ships were heading the same destination at the same time.