𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊, 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 climbed into a longboat and approached the cave.

bella stood by the rail, watching the longboat float steadily down across the water. she sighed and turned around to go find her own longboat, but gillette was standing in her way.

"commodore's ordered you stay on the ship," he informed her, smiling maliciously.

"spectacular," she responded, trying to get around him. he blocked her exit. "i wasn't planning on going anywhere."

"you think i believe that?" he asked.

"well, now that you mention it, i was hoping to prepare a longboat..." she mumbled, realizing he knew her plan. with a snicker, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the cabin, where another marine was shoving elizabeth.

"sorry, but it's for your own safety!" he shouted as bella kicked and hit against him.

"i don't care what the commodore ordered! i have to tell him – the pirates, they're cursed! they can't be killed!" elizabeth screamed.

"don't worry miss, he's already informed of that. a little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story!"

distracted by his own lame joke, bella wriggled free of his grip just enough to pull out a pistol which she had stolen from one of the crew members earlier that day.

"i didn't want to have to do this," she said, pointing the gun to gilette's head. "but you leave me no choice."

"you wouldn't shoot!" he laughed nervously.

she cocked the pistol and it let out a menacing click. "oh yeah? try me."

gillette looked up at her, realizing she was serious.

"get me a longboat. now," she hissed, glaring at him.

he sprinted over to get her a longboat, and bella heard the other marines lock elizabeth inside the cabin.

"this is jack sparrow's doing!" she cried.

bella smirked to herself. indeed, it was.

within minutes, her longboat was ready. bella made sure to grab a sword before he left. she held her gun to gillette until she was positive she could escape. hurriedly, she jumped into the boat and grabbed the oars.

gillette glowered at her from the main deck as she rowed away towards the cave. bella gave him a bright smile and a salute before uncocking her pistol.

she made excellent time and arrived at the cave just as jack was tying up his own longboat. he looked at her in surprise as she docked her boat and tied it to a rock.

"i see you persuaded norrington to lock me up," she declared with a grin.

"in fact, i only suggested that he lock up miss swann," he informed her. "but you seem to have had no trouble evading that sentence."

"gillette's still quite scared of me after our duel," bella told him. "besides, i had some help." she held up the pistol.

"how uncanny," he commended her. "just as i would've done it."

"really?" she asked, slightly proud of herself.

"i am under the impression that your soul and my soul are very old friends," jack answered. he offered her his hand and she took it willingly. leading her into the cave, jack held on tightly and he began to push through some pirates.

"excuse me, pardon me. beg pardon," jack muttered, leading her to the chest at the front of the cave.

"begun by blood. . . by blood un. . ." barbossa trailed off when he saw them emerge from the crowd of pirates.

"jack! bella!" will exclaimed. bella gave him a small wave.

"it's not possible," barbossa uttered.

"not probable," jack corrected smugly.

"where's elizabeth?!" will cried worriedly.

"she's safe, just like i promised. she's all set to marry norrington, just like she promised," he smiled brightly. "and you get to die for her, just like you promised. so we're all men of our word really. . ."

". . . except for elizabeth, who is a woman," finished bella, looking up at barbossa and will with a self-assured look.

"shut up! you're next!" shouted barbossa, pointing his knife at her.

"goodness!" she whispered to jack, who chuckled.

he returned the knife to will's throat, bringing their attention back to him.

"you don't want to be doing that, mate," jack remarked.

barbossa glanced back at him. "no, i really think i do," he replied.

"your funeral," shrugged jack.

barbossa pressed the blade to will's throat, then whirled back around to jack.

"why don't i want to do it?" he finally gave in.

"well, because. . ." jack began, moving forward. however, bella's shoulder was grabbed by a pirate to hold her back. she slapped the pirate's hand off and stepped up to join jack.

"because the h.m.s. dauntless, pride of the royal navy, is floating just offshore, waiting for you," jack announced.

barbossa hesitated. the pirates all reacted, shouting angrily.

"just hear me out, mate. you order your men to row out to the dauntless, they do what they do best," jack began his proposal, and the pirates all laughed. "there you are with two ships. the makings of your very own fleet. of course, you'll take the grandest as your flagship, and who's to argue? but what of the pearl?

jack smiled, strolling toward will and the chest. bella followed him.

"name me captain. i'll sail under your colors, i'll give you ten percent of me plunder, and you get to introduce yourself as 'commodore barbossa.' savvy?"

bella had to admit, this was a pretty good plan. however, she knew jack better than that. she understood that he still wanted revenge on barbossa, and doubted he would settle for anything less.

"and i suppose in exchange, you want me not to kill the whelp?" barbossa snarled in the direction of will.

"no, no no, not at all. by all means, kill the whelp. just not yet. wait to lift the curse... until the opportune moment," jack glanced at will, then looked over at bella. she frowned at him. did will really have to die?

"for instance," jack scooped up some of the aztec coins. "after you've killed norrington's men... every... last... one."

bella stared at jack's hand for a second, and swore she saw the glimmer of a gold coin make its way into his sleeve.

"you've been planning this from the beginning. ever since you learned my name," will observed angrily.

jack looked at him unapologetically. "yeah." bella glanced over at him, and had to respect his authenticity.

"i want fifty percent of your plunder," barbossa announced after some thought.

"fifteen," bartered jack.

"forty," barbossa negotiated.

"twenty-five, and i'll buy you the hat," suggested jack. "a really big one, commodore."

barbossa smiled. "we have an accord." he and jack approached each other and shook hands firmly.

then jack spun around. "all hands to boats!" he pronounced grandly.

barbossa shot him a glare.

"apologies, you give the orders," jack said.

"gents. . . take a walk!" barbossa shouted eagerly.

"not to the boats????" jack asked confusedly.

barbossa grinned as the pirates left the cave. 

a/n

hi everyone! just wanted to say a couple things. first, thank you sosososo much for 1K reads! it feels like a fantasy. second, i'm going to be away from home next week, so there won't be an update on tuesday or friday. but don't worry, the next chapters are pretty good :)

thank you for reading !!!

love, sarah