The Black Pearl
Jack is plotting a course on a map, the "P" brand mark on his right arm visible as he taps the Compass. Jack looks in his bottle, turns it upside-down and is dismayed when only a few drops spill out.
"Why is the rum always gone?" Jack asks himself and rises to his feet, as he does he staggers slightly. "Oh! That's why." Jack walks out of his quarters and past the crew sleeping on hammocks, some of the crew are snoring. "As you were, gents." Jack goes downstairs to the hold and unlocks the door to the storage room. Inside he examines the rack where they store the alcohol.
Some what suspiciously he sees dripping wet clams attached to a beam of wood. Jack shakes his head as if to clear it and spots a rack of full bottles.
"Ah!" Jack pulls a sideways bottle from the rack and looks on in horror as sand and not rum pours out of the bottle.
"Time's run out, Jack" Comes a deep voice from the shadows. Jack drops bottle of rum in fright and it breaks on the floor, he carefully walks over to see who spoke.
In the shadows he sees a man with dripping hair sitting in profile. "Bootstrap. Bill Turner?" Jack questions in disbelief.
Bootstrap looks up from where he's sitting on a barrel, crabs scuttle across his face and as he opens his mouth sea water pours out. "you look good Jack."
"Is this a dream?" Jack asks.
Bootstrap looks confused a moment but answers, "No."
Jack nods "I thought not. If it were, there'd be rum." Bootstrap immediately hands Jack a bottle of rum that Jack pries from Bootstrap's hand with a crackling sound.
"You got The Pearl back I see." Bootstrap observes.
"I had some help retrieving the Pearl, by the way." Jack tings the lip of the bottle with his fingers, then blows across the top of it, "your son." Jack takes a drink from the bottle.
"William?" Bootstrap asks, looking both hopeful and disappointed at the same time. "He ended up a pirate after all?"
"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your carbuncle?" Jack inquires.
"He sent me," Bootstrap replies, "Davey Jones."
Jack looks scared for a moment but nods to cover his panic. "Ah. So, it's you then. He shanghaied you into service, eh?"
"I chose it. I'm sorry for the part I played in the mutiny against you, I stood up for you, everything went wrong after that." A small hermit crab scuttles by Bootstrap on top of the barrel where he sits. He grabs the hermit crab, pops it into his mouth, and crunches on it. Jack moves his mouth, jaw, and tongue around in revulsion while watching. "They strapped me to a cannon, I ended up on the bottom of the ocean. Weight of the water crushing down on me. Unable to move, Unable to die Jack."
Jack takes another drink of rum and hands the bottle of rum back to Bootstrap. "I thought that if even the tiniest hope of escaping this fate came I would take it, I would trade anything for it."
Jack nods and while Bootstraps is distracted taking a drink of rum he comments. "It's funny what a man will do to forestall his final judgment." Jack starts to walk off, but Bootstrap stands up at the same time and intercepts Jack, blocking him from leaving.
"You made a deal with him Jack, he raised The Pearl from the depths for ya. 13 years ya been captain."
"Technic..." Jack starts to argue but Bootstrap interrupts.
"ya won't be able to talk yerself outta this Jack, the terms what applied to me applies to ya. 100 years before the mast."
"Yes, but the Flying Dutchman already has a captain, so there's re..."
"Well then it's the locker for you! Joneses terrible leviathan will find you. Will drag The Pearl back to the depths and you with her." With each word Bootstrap leans closer to Jack until they are nose to nose.
"Any idea when Jones might release said terrible beastie?" Jack asks innocently.
"I done told you Jack, Times up." Bootstrap grabs Jacks hand and presses the center of his palm. "It comes now, drawn with ravenous hunger, to the man what my bears the black spot."
Jack looks at the palm of his left hand, where a black spot boils into view. Jack looks up, but Bootstrap has disappeared!
Jack turns and runs across the wooden deck of The Pearl. "On deck all hands! Make fast the bunt gasket! On deck! Scurry! Scurry-on, Marty! I want movement! I want movement!"
Gibbs rolls out of his hammock and hits the deck of the ship.
"All on deck! Run! And keep running! Run as if the devil himself and itself is upon us!" Jack shouts.
"Do we have a heading?" Gibbs asks and peers around the main mast where Jack is hiding.
"Ah! Ooh! Run! Land." Jack replies and rises from where he was ducked behind the base of the mast, to rush to the other side only to be confronted by Gibbs again. "Oh! Euh!"
"Which port?"
"Didn't say port. I said land! Any land!" Jack insists. The monkey swings down and grabs Jack's hat and climbs the rigging to hiss at Jack, Jack hisses back and the monkey throws Jack's hat overboard.
"Jack's hat! Bring 'er about!" Gibbs calls out.
"No, no! Leave it! Run!" Jack rushes away and the crew are left confused and shocked until Gibbs hurries them to their duties.
Port Royal Prison
Will and The Governor rapidly descend stone steps into the prison and the guard at the bottom of the steps holds a long gun with a bayonet on the end. "Here now. He can't be here." The guard objects but Will pays him no mind and rushes to the cell to tell Elizabeth and Charlotte what his plan is.
"I think you will find he can." Governor Swann insists.
"Mister Swann...," The guard begins
"Governor Swann still! You think I wear this wig to keep my head warm!"
"Jack's Compass. What does Beckett want with that?" Elizabeth asks.
"Does it matter?" Will responds, "I'm to find Jack and convince him to return to Port Royal. In exchange the charges against us will be dropped."
"No" Governor Swann insists. "We must find our own avenue to secure your freedom."
"Is that lack of faith in Jack, or in Will?" Charlotte ask her father and all three of them look at the Governor with challenge in their eyes.
Weatherby Swann is dismayed to see the disappointment in his daughter's eyes but he stands his ground. He will not risk his children's lives and futures to a blacksmith and a pirate. "That you would all risk your lives to save Sparrow's does not mean he would do the same for anyone else. Now, where is that dog with the keys?" He moves away with a whistle.
"We have faith in you. Both of you." Charlotte tells her best friend.
Elizabeth agrees with a nod. "Where will you find him?" She asks her fiancé.
"Tortuga. I'll start there, and I won't stop searching 'til I find him." Will answers and then motions with his eyes towards the Governor at Charlotte. She takes the hint and moves towards her father to distract him and give the couple a moment to say their goodbyes.
"Do you truly have so little faith in Jack or Will?" She asks her father.
Governor Swann sighs, "I know you developed... feeling... for Sparrow dearest, but the fact is he is a pirate. He is hardly a proper match and certainly not someone we may rely upon!" Governor Swann turns away, the matter settled in his mind now that he has laid down the law. He does not see the furious expression in Charlottes eyes!!!
"Keep a weather eye on the horizon." She hears Will tell Elizabeth, he nods to Charlotte and walks back up the prison steps.
Cannibal Island
Will's searching has led him to an island where he can see The Pearl stranded on a beach she is tied with ropes to stakes in the sand and as Will wades ashore he yells out.
"Jack! Jack Sparrow... Marty! Cotton! Anybody?" Will wanders into the jungle bordering the beach to see Cotton's Macaw flutter up and lands atop a palm stump. "Ah! A familiar face!"
"Rawk! Don't eat me!" The bird calls out!
Will looks at the bird in confusion. "I'm not gonna eat you. Will wanders into the jungle and finds Gibbs' canteen hanging on a plant, trailing a long string. "Gibbs?!" Will calls out. He follows the string attached to the canteen, over toward a large tree. Suddenly human eyes open in the background from a man camouflaged against a nearby tree. The camouflaged native shouts and jumps out from the tree at Will who stumbles and is yanked back by a snare, and dangles upside-down from a rope. More natives charge out of the bushes from all directions.
Will manages to free his sword and keeps them at bay with it. "Euh! Unh! Ya! Come on! Let's go! Euh! Ya! Come on! Who wants it? Unh! I could do this all day! Euh! Hah!" He yells. One of the native's steps forward and uses a blowgun to shoot a dart into Will's neck knocking him unconscious...
...Will awakes tied to a pole and being carried across a bridge at the top of the island's mountain. Human skulls line the path along which Will is taken and one cannibal is wearing an white wig and using a Western style fan. He is brought before a throne, where none other than Jack Sparrow sits with a elaborate crown of feathers atop his head. Jack pops his eyes open, revealing that his closed eyelids were painted to look like open eyes.
"Jack? Jack Sparrow! I can honestly say I'm glad to see you!" Will cries.
Jack says nothing but arises from his throne and walks over to Will. Jack pushes one finger into Will's shoulder, as if testing how much meat Will has on him. "Jack! It's me! Will Turner!"
"Wa-say kohn. ? Een dah-lah. Eeseepi." Jack address the natives in their language. "Kay-lay lam. Lam piki-piki. Lam eensy weensy. Lam say-say... eunuchy. Snip-snip."
The crowd nods and Jack begins to walk away, as if disinterested, his Compass hangs from his waist catching Will's notice.
"Jack! The Compass! That's all I need, Charlotte and Elizabeth are in danger. We were arrested for trying to help you. They face the gallows!" Jack halts, pauses, turns around and casually walks back.
"Say-say lam shoop-shoop sha smalay-lama shoo-koo! Savvy? Ball licky-licky. Ball licky-licky!" Jack announces and the crowd responds. "Ball licky-licky!" the natives begin to chant, "Boom-shoo-boom, boom-shoo-boom, boom-shoo-boom.."
Jack leans down to whisper to Will. "Save me!"
"Jack, what did you tell them? No! What about Elizabeth? What about Charlotte?!"
Port Royal Prison
Elizabeth and Charlotte sit in their prison cell ignoring the male prisoners in the next cell as they whistle and beckon to them.
"..we don't bite...Come on lovelies..." "Where you goin'...?" Both girls rush to the bars when they see their father come down the steps.
A guard opens the cell door and he tells them. "Come quickly."
"Why don't you tell us what's happening?" Elizabeth insists as the trail after him.
"My name still holds some standing with the King, I've arranged transport back to England, the captain is a friend of mine." Charlotte stops in complete shock at the betrayal even as Elizabeth tries to argue.
"No! Will has gone to find Jack!" Lizzy insists.
"We can not count on William Turner! Come!" The Governor dismisses her protests and grabs both girl's arms to drag them along.
"He's a better man than you give him credit for." Elizabeth rants.
"Oh please, this is no time for innocence. Beckett has promised one pardon and only one and it is promised to Jack Sparrow. Even if Will succeeds, do not ask me to endure the sight of my daughters walking to the gallows."
A horse and carriage are waiting and the governor opens the door to the carriage for Elizabeth and Charlotte.
"Perhaps I can ensure a fair trial for William if he returns."
"A fair trial for Will ends in a hanging." Charlotte growls.
"There is nothing left for you girls here." The Governor insists and closes the carriage.
Inside the two Swann sisters look to each other. Their eyes are determined, if they wish to save the men they love obviously they must take matters into their own hands...
Port Royal, EITC headquarters
Inside the darkened room Beckett walks in from the balcony, carrying a lantern. He walks to his desk to see the opened wooden box and finds the Letters of Marque missing.
Lord Beckett seems to speak to the empty room. "No doubt you've discovered that loyalty is no longer the currency of the realm, as your father believes." The girls slip into the dark room from an interior door, Elizabeth's hands held behind her and Charlotte is holding the letters.
"Then what is?" Elizabeth asks.
"I'm afraid that currency is the currency of the realm." Beckett smirks.
Charlotte walks closer until she is standing right in front of Beckett. "I expect then that we can come to some sort of understanding then. We are here to negotiate."
"I'm listening." Elizabeth pulls a pistol and points it at Beckett's head just as Charlotte presses one of her small silver daggers to his neck. He swallows. "I'm listening intently."
"These Letters of Marque, they are signed by the King?" Charlotte queries.
"Yes, and they're not valid until they bear my signature and my seal."
Elizabeth "Or else we would not still be here. You sent Will to get you the compass owned by Jack Sparrow. It will do you no good."
"Do explain." Lord Beckett smirks.
"I have been to Isla de Muerta, I have seen the treasure myself. There is something you need to know."
Charlotte shakes her head at her sister even as she never takes her blade from Becketts throat. "No Lizzy, the compass doesn't only point to the Isla de Muerta, It points towards what ever you want most in the world." She narrows her eyes at Beckett, "I wonder what it is you truly want Lord Beckett?"
Becketts eyes never leave Charlotte and the calculating and hungry look in them makes Charlottes skin crawl. "Quite the clever little thing, aren't you? I wonder if that is what Jack Sparrow sees in you, beyond the obvious of course."
He turns his gaze to Elizabeth, "Your sister is quite right, I care not for cursed Aztec gold. My desires are not so provincial. There's more than one chest of value in these waters. So perhaps you may wish to, enhance your offer." His eyes return to Charlotte and Elizabeth cocks her pistol in warning.
"Consider into your calculations that you robbed me of my wedding night." She reminds him angrily.
"So, I did." Beckett reaches for sealing wax and a quill, as he does Elizabeth motions Charlotte towards the doors to make sure their escape route is clear.
"A marriage interrupted. Or fate intervenes." Beckett quips. "You make great efforts to ensure Jack Sparrow's freedom."
"These aren't going to Jack." Elizabeth responds and snatches the papers from Beckett.
Beckett looks intrigued, "Oh really. To ensure Mister Turner's freedom, then? Does your sister know that?" Elizabeth looks guiltily out the balcony door Charlotte disappeared out of. "I'll still want that Compass. Consider that in your calculations."
Cannibal Island
Two spherical cages hold six Black Pearl crewmen apiece and hang from ropes over a deep chasm. Will is in the same cage with Gibbs, Cotton, Marty, and two others.
"Why would he do this to us? If Jack is their chief." Will asks.
Gibbs explains to him. "Aye, the Pelegostos made Jack their chief. But he only remains chief as long as he acts like a chief."
"So he had no choice. He's a captive then as much as the rest of us." Will realizes.
"Worse... as it turns out." Gibbs relates. "See, the Pelegostos believe that Jack is a god in human form, and they intend to do him the honor of releasing him from his fleshy prison. They'll roast him and eat him."
"Where's the rest of the crew?" Will asks.
"These cages we're in... weren't built 'til after we got here." Will had been gripping the bars made of human bones, but quickly pulls his hand away in disgust. Gibbs listens to the drums in the distance. "The feast is about to begin. Jack's life will end... when the drums stop."
"Well, we can't just sit here and wait then, can we?" Will asks...
...Jack is watching the cannibals build a fire and jumps up from his throne. "No no! Oy! Wait! No no! More wood! Big fire! 'Big' fire! I am chief! Want big fire! Come on!" Jack gestures to the guard behind his throne to help and calls out. "Oy! Boy! Maboogie snickel-snickel. Tout de suite! Come on! More wood!" The cannibals throw more wood on the pyre and turn back to the throne to realize, Jack is nowhere to be found...
...Jack is in fact running across a foot bridge and runs up to a cliff edge where he totters at the edge, looking down. Jack looks around and examines a length of bamboo pole he finds lying there, he goes into a hut, sees various supplies and picks up a rope. He starts to exit, halts, looks down to notice a can of paprika with the EITC logo on the bottom. Jack is looking at the can as he walks outside the hut and finds the entire tribe is waiting silently outside, staring at him. "Oh bugger." Jack drops his coil of rope, sprinkles paprika on his armpits in an attempt to cover his escape. "Little seasoning. Eh?"...
...In the cages the men begin swinging the cages with increasingly wide arcs until both cages finally come within reach of the cliff, they grab vines and hang on to the cliff.
"Put your legs through, start to climb! Agh!
"Come on men! It'll take all of us to crew the Black Pearl!
"Actually, you won't need everyone." Leech calls out. "Bout six would do... Ohhh... dear."
Gibbs nods in agreement.
"Hurry!" Will yells and each cage group begins racing against each other up the cliff. "Come on! Go! Go! Go! Come on! Give it all you got!" Will notices a young cannibal boy crossing the rope bridge.
"Hey! Hey" Will hisses. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Shhh! Shhh!" He motions to the boy. The pirates in Leeches cage decide to take the risk of climbing, despite the nearby cannibal and keep moving slowly until one of the men in the climbing cage grabs a coral snake from the cliff instead of a vine. The man falls and the shifting weight causes their cage fall, the rope breaks, and their cage falls to the bottom. The cannibal boy notices.
"Move!" Will yells...
At the throne the drums are pounding, a cannibal crosses a bridge to the bonfire area and is preparing to light the wood under Jack when the boy from the bridge runs up. "Da latazo! Da litozo! Hay la paka say-say." The crowd stands silently, not knowing whether to stay or to chase the escapees, they turn to Jack, after all, he is still the chief.
"Well, go on! Go get them! Hay ala!" Jack instructs and the crowd runs off to chase after men who escaped from cages. But in their haste one cannibal drops a lighted torch near the pile of wood under Jack. "No! No no! Oy! No no!" Jack yells as the edges of the wood begin to catch fire. "Not good." Jack blows at the igniting wood in panic!...
...the remaining cage reaches the top of the cliff and Will yells for everyone to find something to cut the rope with. Will manages to sever the cage's cable by hammering it with a rock just as the cannibals arrive.
"Roll the cage!" Will tells them and they roll down the hill the cage eventually falling over the edge of a ledge into a small chasm holding a river and breaking. The crew hides in the shadows as cannibals throw spears and shoot arrows at the men in the water. The men swim underwater to escape...
Jack has managed to bounce himself free of the fire and is running off with the bamboo pole tied to his back. He almost runs over the cannibal boy, standing silently with a fork and a knife, one in each hand and grabs the knife from the boy to cut his rope off. Two cannibal women appear and Jack charges them but the bamboo pole on his back spears a coconut in a pile near the cliff edge. Jack flings the coconut off the end of the pole into a cannibal's face but she catches it and now she looks angry.
The two cannibal women throw numerous fruits at Jack while the pole is still on his back and several of the fruits become impaled along the pole, making Jack look like a giant shish-ka-bob. Jack tries to escape by pole vaulting across the chasm and barely lands on the other edge safely but the fruit slides down to the end of his pole, putting weight on the end and causing him to fall over the chasm. The two cannibal women watch Jack fall and then walk off, disinterested. Jack falls through several rope bridges to land on his back on grass the bamboo pole comes down and almost spears his head raining fruit all around.
On the beach the unlikely pair of Pintel and Ragetti are with Cotton's parrot aboard the Black Pearl trying to get her ready to sail. Ragetti is chasing the cursed monkey who has stolen his eye while Pintel yells from the beach.
"He's got me eye! He won't give it back!"
"Well, how'd you get it back last time?"
Out of nowhere the crew runs up! "Excellent job! Work's half done!" Gibbs exclaims. "Make ready to sail! cast-off!"
Will objects, "What about Jack? I won't leave without him." Just then he spots Jack running around a near by cliff. Followed by a giant crowd of Cannibals. "Time to go." He whispers!
Jack runs in to the water and up to The Pearl and grabs ahold of rigging on the side of the departing ship. "Alas, my children!" He yells back to the cannibals, "This is the day you shall always remember as the day that you almost" A wave crashes over him from behind! "...Captain Jack... Sparrow."
On the deck of the Black Pearl Jack climbs to the deck and Pintel and Ragetti drape Jacks coat over his shoulders and Gibbs speaks up. "Let's put some distance between us and this island, and head out to open sea."
"Yes to the first, yes to the second, but only insofar as we keep to the shallows as much as possible." Jack instructs.
Gibbs looks confused. "Uh, that seems a bit contradictory, Captain."
"I have every faith in your reconciliatory navigational skills, Master Gibbs, now where is that monkey? I want to shoot something."
"Jack." Will yells! "Elizabeth is in danger."
"Have you considered keeping a more watchful eye on 'er? Maybe just lock her up somewhere." Jack suggests.
"She is locked up, in a prison, bound to hang for helping you!" Will informs him.
"There comes a time when one must take responsibility for one's mistakes." Jack begins but Will pulls a sword from the waistband of a pirate who is turned around and points it at Jack.
"I need that Compass of yours, Jack. I must trade it for her freedom." He pauses and plays his trump card. "Hers and Charlottes.
Jack get a strange look on his face, you can almost see him fighting with himself as he weighs his wants and his desire to protect Charlotte. In some very small part of his head Jack admits to himself that Charlotte still haunts his dreams and thoughts almost constantly. He pushes Will's sword aside. "Mister Gibbs, We have a need to travel upriver."
Gibbs looks scared and tries to persuade him. "By need, d'you mean a... trifling need, uh a... fleeting, as in say in a passing fancy?"
"No, a... resolute and unyielding need." Jack insists.
"What we need to do is make sail for Port Royal with all haste." Will insists.
"William... I shall trade you the Compass, if you will help me... to find this." Jack presents the drawing of the key.
"You want me to find this?" Will asks.
"No. You want you to find this. Because the finding this finds you incapacitorially finding and or locating and your discovering the detecting of a way to save your dolly belle ol'... what's-her-face and her imminently more beautiful, desirous and clever younger sister. Savvy?"
"This... is going to save Elizabeth and Charlotte?" Will asks doubtfully.
"How much do you know about Davy Jones?" Jack inquires.
"Not much." Will admits.
"Yeah, it's gonna save Elizabeth and Charlotte."