Jack sat casually in one of Tortuga's many pubs. So far he was pleased with the number of newly recruited pirates.

He himself thought the Black Pearl was argument enough to join his crew, but of course they all insisted on a contract regulating their share of the prize.

"I want to join your crew," the lad murmured.

"Mate, an unbelievable number of people would like that." Jack paused and looked at the boy with a disparaging sideways glance. Then he sighed. „What the heck, today is your day. Sign here. We'll set sail at dawn and bring your own rum," Jack replied, still rocking his chair, and held out the note to the lad.

He never pointed out the small print. Most of the men here couldn't read anyway. That's why the legs of the chair he had just been balancing over the floor fell down with a clatter as the boy read through the note.

"In case of injuries or possible death, the relatives will not receive compensation?" he read aloud.

"It's a common clause. Don't pay any attention to it," Jack said.

The lad smiled sadly and read on. "Why is it crossed out that women are not allowed on board?"

"Because … it doesn't hurt and there is, in fact, a woman on board," Jack said, annoyed. "Do you want to join, or maybe you'd rather take up the career of a legal representative?"

The man signed and was about to walk away without comment.

"Trivial? That's your name?" Jack asked him quickly.

"No, it's Tristan."

"You should write more neatly, mate," Jack grumbled, dismissing Tristan with a wave of his hand.

Loud voices and trampling entered the pub from outside. The door flew open and five men including Barbossa stormed the bar.

Jack quickly stood up and turned away. He strode towards the exit, but could not resist a quick glance at Barbossa and his ugly, much too large hat. Barbossa's annoyance was written all over his face, and Jack hurriedly left in the direction of the harbour.

A woman was standing on the terrace of the neighbouring pub and when she saw Jack she exclaimed, "Here he is! The one and only Jack Sparrow!"

Jack made a startled face. He knew the woman and the strength that lay in her small hands, slapping him.

"Charlotte! What was that for? Oi, I don't want to know, but it's still Captain Jack Sparrow – even for you!"

He ran as fast as he could in this dirty, crowded pirate town. Hector's mates were on his heels, he didn't have to turn around and lose precious time.

Barbossa had his pack spread out to cut off every possible escape route for Jack.

Jack slithered around a corner of a house waving his arms and almost knocked down an old man.

"Scuse me!" Jack shouted over his shoulder, and then he yelled, "The Black Pearl is about to sail! The hired crew must be on deck as soon as possible!"

He repeated this several times, and he also thought he saw drunken figures scurrying frantically towards the harbour from time to time out of the corner of his eye.

His pursuers were slower than he. He often had to race in his life to save himself from precarious situations. He was a master at that.

Gibbs, Marty and Rachel he had left on board the Black Pearl. To the other three, he had given time off until the next morning. The captain regretted that now.

As he swept around the next bend, this Tristan stood in his path.

"Get out of here!" shouted Jack as he passed.

Tristan looked back and around a corner Barbossa's men came running with a loud roar. He looked back to Jack and sprinted after the captain.

At the same time, Clayton's men had gathered at the harbour. The pirates, who had spotted the Royal Navy men first, did not give alarm. The sailors very wisely did not appear in their uniforms in the pirate town.

Stuart Clayton recognised Jack from a distance. The pirate ran – once again – straight towards the docks. Clayton came towards him and Jack conveniently ran into his arms.

"Where is she?" was the first thing Clayton asked, not without leaving a spray of spittle on the pirate's face.

Jack ran his white sleeve over his cheeks in disgust, then was knocked over by Tristan, who had followed him.

"Two birds with one stone." The commodore put on a smile.

Tristan and Jack took up their sabres, ready to fight their way to the Black Pearl.

But they had no longer considered Barbossa's men. They came running collectively and surrounded them and the commodore, who in their eyes was not a marine but just another buccaneer.

Now a heated battle flared up and Tristan managed to fight his way to the Pearl in the midst of the commotion. Jack looked after him and duelled with a man from Clayton's ranks. He kicked the man, who then flew off the jetty into the water.

Tristan had almost reached the Black Pearl, but he turned back to Jack. He was not behind him. Gibbs shouted to Tristan to come aboard quickly, and he followed this instruction with barely noticeable remorse towards his new captain.

Jack Sparrow, meanwhile, was involved in a duel with the commodore, and yet he liked to be a joker.

"I don't know what you're looking for, but I think it's really bloody-awful of you to show up here on Tortuga. I mean, fair enough … there are plenty of willing women here. Maybe even willing to get married."

He grinned cheekily and pranced light-footedly around his opponent. Pulling on an opponent's nerves was never wrong and Jack, thanks to Rachel, could well imagine what enraged the commodore. Jack was a specialist in cutting wounds into other people's prudence and then piercing them even deeper.

"You need not be embarrassed about that. Even Admiral Norrington – no, he didn't have rank in the Navy at the time – even James had once taken refuge in the distractions Tortuga knows to offer."

Clayton clenched his teeth, and his attempt to slash Jack's chest with the tip of his sword was also proof of how much Jack had hit him.

Jack stumblingly dodged, and Clayton did not immediately follow up with another attack.

"I know you have Rachel Swann, Sparrow, and I'm going to …" Clayton got no further, for Barbossa himself had appeared on the scene and was raging through the crowd like a hurricane.

The rum bottle Barbossa kept sipping from broke on the commodore's head and he hit the wooden planks unconscious.

Barbossa froze abruptly when he noticed Jack.

The latter had seized the opportunity and ran to the end of the jetty to his Black Pearl.

Gibbs threw him a rope just then, as the ship had already left, and Jack thought about what he could say appropriately if he were on board. This is the day that you will always remember as the day … – it flashed through his mind, but at the same time a bang sounded and a fraction of a second later a bullet hit his shoulder.

He lost his balance and fell.

Barbossa's crew had pushed back the Royal Navy men with the help of other pirates. The marines who were still able fled back to their ship and quickly set sail.

Clayton was pulled aboard, unconscious, by his burliest comrades.

Jack had remained motionless on the jetty. Rachel called out to him, but he didn't care in his current situation.

He turned from his stomach to his side and looked into the face of his then first mate. Barbossa showed his discoloured teeth.

"Jack, ye can't always get away."

He was pulled to his feet, and they took him to the Fortune, a hulking ship, to the Black Pearl captain's mind.

"After the Pearl!" shouted Barbossa in a gruff tone to his crew.

Then he personally led Jack downstairs and pushed him into a small cell where the woman was sitting on the floor who had almost fled with them from Barbossa.

She jumped up and wanted to rush towards Barbossa, but he immediately locked the door again.

"At least I'll make sure ye have company, Jack," Barbossa said, as if Jack were a guest and not a prisoner.

"Too gracious of ye, Hector." Jack clasped the barred door with his hands.

"May I introduce: Temari. Unfortunately, she doesn't know how to behave like a lady. The gentleman goes by the name of Jack Sparrow," Barbossa introduced the two.

"Only when preceded by a captain," Jack said.

When Barbossa was gone, Temari whispered, "I know you. You were with that witch and escaped from the island."

Jack sighed and lowered himself to the floor, facing Temari. He looked at her closely. Dirty and simple were her skirt and blouse. Some maid or peasant woman – Jack concluded.

The darker complexion of her skin accentuated her beautifully defined arms. Jack's fingers drummed over the dusty floor. They wanted to know what this skin would feel like underneath them.

"Yeah, that escape had a happier outcome."

"This witch, Tia Dalma, she is here on board," Temari continued to speak in a hushed voice.

"Tia Dalma is on the ship? Hector, what a mangy fool you are," Jack said, shaking his head gently and the beads in his hair clinked.