Maggie, Jack, Barbossa and the rest of the shore party were brought back aboard the Black Pearl by gunpoint. Maggie glanced over at the Chinese battle ship that stood anchored by the Black Pearl. The name Empress was painted across her haul.

Empress? Maggie thought to herself as she climbed up onto the Pearl. I've heard of that ship... but from where?

As Maggie reached the top of the deck, she saw the ship's captain and immediately knew, why she recognized his ship. It was Sao Feng! The Pirate Lord of Singapore and the South China Sea! He was in charge of representing piracy throughout most of China! Maggie had heard and read about Sao Feng, but she never met him before. Needless to say she was a little starstruck.

Maggie noticed her father hiding behind Barbossa. I guess Daddy's excited too! She thought.

"Sao Feng!" Barbossa said "You showing up here, it's truly a remarkable coincidence."

Sao Feng smirked. "Fortune smiles upon those prepared to meet it's gaze" he said.

"He's so wise" Maggie whispered to Jack.

"Shhh!" Jack hissed "I'm not here!"

"Jack Sparrow..." Sao Feng said, as Jack meekly stepped out from behind Barbossa.

"... You paid me great insult once" Sao Feng accused him.

"That doesn't sound like me" Jack denied.

Sao Feng punched him in the nose, Jack staggered backwards holding his slightly broken nose.

"Yikes!" Maggie hissed.

"So, we'll just call it square then?" Jack asked.

"Hardly" Sao Feng told him. His eyes landed on Maggie, Maggie felt a chill run down her spine as they did.

"Ah, your young offspring?" Sao Feng asked Jack.

"Uh... actually my name is Maggie" she corrected "but you can call me Offspring if you like?"

Sao Feng nodded "Just as cheeky and deceivingly innocent as your father was at your age."

"I try" Maggie shrugged.

Will walked up to Sao Feng and pointed to Elizabeth who was in chains with the rest of the crew.

"Release her!" Will commanded "She's not part of any bargain!"

"And what bargain, be that?" Barbossa asked, narrowing his eyes at Will.

Sao Feng nodded and turned to his crew. "You heard Captain Turner!" He told them "Release her!"

"Captain Turner?" Jack and Maggie raised an eyebrow.

"Aye, the perfidious rotter led a mutiny against us!" Mr. Gibbs said.

"I should of known" Maggie nodded "it's always the quiet one's."

"Why didn't you tell me you were planning this?" Elizabeth asked, eyeing Will warily.

"It was my burden to bare" Will said, his voice ice cold.

"The only way a pirate can make a profit these days is by betraying other pirates" Barbossa stated.

"I need the Black Pearl to free my father" Will told them "it's the only reason I came on this voyage."

"He needs the Pearl! Captain Turner needs the Pearl!" Jack glared at Will. Then he glanced at Elizabeth "And you felt guilty!" He then moved onto Barbossa "And you and your Brethren Court!"

"Did no one come to save me just because they missed me?" Jack asked the crew of the Black Pearl.

Everyone looked at one another, either trying to look conspicuous or shrugging nonchalantly.

Suddenly Marty's hand shot up followed by Pintel, Ragetti and- for whatever reason -Jack the Monkey.

Jack nodded, satisfied that at least a small portion of the crew missed him.

"Did anyone come to save because they missed me?" Maggie asked, looking around at everyone.

The whole Black Pearl's crew held up their hands, Barbossa, Gibbs, Will, Elizabeth, everyone seemed to have came for Maggie.

Jack looked at them all, his expression questioning and slightly hurt.

"She's more fun than you" Pintel told Jack.

Maggie grinned flattered, as Jack glared at them all.

Jack turned to go to the Captain's Quarters when Sao Feng grabbed him by the collar.

"I'm sorry, Jack" the Pirate Lord said "but there is an old friend who wants to see you first."

"I'm not sure I can survive any more visits from old friends" Jack said.

"Here is your chance to find out" Sao Feng told him.

As Captain Jack was roughly escorted back into the long boat, Maggie looked out to sea and noticed a large ship near the Empress. A British warship with the name H.M.S Endeavour neatly painted on it's haul.

Maggie didn't know what the ship was doing there nor who it's captain was. But she still couldn't fight the feeling of dread the ship brought.

And if her father was meeting with the captain of a British warship like that, chances are he's about to be captured. Maggie knew she couldn't let that happen...

☠💀☠

Captain Jack was brought aboard the H.M.S Endeavour and roughly shoved into the captain's cabin.

"Remarkable" said a calm, yet irritating voice. "The last I saw of that ship, she was on fire. A blackened hulk sinking beneath the waves."

Jack glared at Cutler Beckett's backside from were the despicable little shrimp stood looking out at the Black Pearl. Jack started searching the cabin for things to use to his advantage, namely Davy Jones heart.

"We had a deal, Jack" Beckett continued on down memory lane. "I contracted you to deliver cargo on my behalf. You chose to liberate it."

Captain Jack glanced down at the P that was branded on his forearm, remembering the day he got it and why he chose to solidify his life as a pirate.

"People aren't cargo, mate" Jack told Beckett.

"And you incurred a heavy debt to raise her back up again, didn't you?" Beckett asked him about the Black Pearl.

He finally turned to face Jack. "It's not here, Jack" he said.

"What?" Jack asked, innocently "What's not?"

"The heart of Davy Jones" Beckett answered "It's safely aboard the Flying Dutchman and so unavailable for use to satisfy your debt to the good captain."

"By my reckoning that account has been settled" Jack said, giving a small smile.

"By your death" Beckett stated "and yet here you are."

Jack grinned "Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream. That's how I get by."

"Your good deed cost me, Jack!" Beckett's voice became more stern.

"And you spared me any possibility of becoming anything other than what I am" Jack smirked, slightly "and for that I truly thank you."

Jack noticed some tiny model ships laying on a map and picked one up. "Will someone be in soon to draw you a bath?" He asked cheekily.

"It would be nice if all of us could be on holiday year round" Beckett seemed to be humoring Jack. "But someone must ensure that the world turns properly. People are what they love, Jack. And what they love is cargo. They love spices and linens, silks, plantains and as long as it arrives on time and in sufficient supply, they are content to be nothing more than figures on a ledger. You're a smart man, Jack. You know, I'm right."

"If you're offering me a seat on the board, I'm not depraved, nor drunk enough to accept" Jack told him.

"Then prehapes you'll consider a different arrangement" Beckett nodded, pouring both of them a glass of sherry. "One that requires nothing from you but information."

Jack's gaze fell on the pieces of eight lines on Beckett's desk.

"Regarding the Brethren Court, no doubt" he asked, taking both glasses from Beckett. "In exchange for fair compensation?" He gulped down one glass. "Square my debt with Jones..." he downed the other "...grantee my freedom?"

"Of course" Beckett said "it's just good business."

"Were I in a divulgatory mood, what might divulge?" Jack asked.

"Everything" Beckett said, pouring some more sherry. "Where are they meeting? Who are the Pirate Lords what is the purpose of the nine pieces of eight?"

"I think I'd prefer to maintain my monopoly on those answers" Jack told took one of the glasses. "It's just good business."

"You haven't changed" Beckett shook his head "Enjoy the gallows."

"I've been!" Jack said, taking Beckett's glass before he could drink it. "Once you've taken in the view there's not much else to it. Now, far be it for me to give advice to you, but if I were you and your were me and we each have the same lack of trust in each other. Imagine you are me, you would propose that rather than you telling me where the Brethren Court is meeting, you lead me there instead. Whereupon you would serve up to me nine Pirate Lords, the nine pieces of eight and the whole of the Brethren Court on a silver platter. And you being me, I would likely accept such an offer."

"On a silver platter?" Beckett mused, thinking it over.

Captain Jack nodded "With a frilly linen napkin and a spicy banana on the side!"

"And what would I get as collateral?" Beckett asked.

"You can keep Barbossa, the belligerent homunculus and his friend with the wooden eye and Turner... especially Turner" Jack offered "The rest go with me aboard the Pearl and I will lead you to Shipwreck Cove. A fair deal, don't you think?"

"And what becomes of Miss Swann?" Beckett asked, looking suspicious.

"What interest is she to you?' Jack asked.

Suddenly the two men heard a ruckus down out the hall, leading to the main deck.

"Get off me!" Came a small voice "Don't touch me there! And they tell me to get some manners?"

Just then two guards came in dragging Maggie into the captain's cabin. Maggie was so short, her feet couldn't even touch the ground as the guards dragged her in.

"Hi Daddy!" Maggie said to Jack "The good news is that I came to rescue you! Bad news is that I got caught by these two! I don't know their names so I'm just gonna call them Wingus and Dingus!"

"We found this one trying to crawl aboard the ship, Lord Beckett" explained one of the guards.

"No matter, I'll see to it" Beckett told them.

The guards then dropped Maggie onto the floor of the captain's cabin. She immediately rushed over to Jack.

"Daddy" Maggie said, glancing at Beckett. "Who's this? And does his Grandma know he's wearing her wig?"

"Miss Maggie Sparrow, I presume?" Cutler Beckett eyed Maggie curiously.

"You presumed right" Maggie glared at him "Now what'd you think your doing with my Daddy?"

Beckett smiled at Maggie, but it was a humorless smile. He stared at her as if she were a peice on his side of a chess board. A valuable piece of a game that he could use to his advantage, wither she wanted to help him or not. It made Maggie feel uneasy and slightly angered, that he had even the nerve to look at her like that.

"You see, young Sparrow" Beckett told her "your father and I were something of business partners back before you were born and your daddy made a mess and left me to clean it up for him, now we are discussing a way for him to make it right."

"If you really knew my father, you'd know he doesn't clean up his messes" Maggie smirked "that's the pirate side of him shining through. You only have so little time on this earth, why not make it fun? Why not indulge in what you love and what you want? And what a lot of people want is to be free. Pirates are just people who don't play by the rules because they get sick of it and that's why my Daddy's a pirate."

Beckett looked down his nose at the little girl. "You seem to know an awful lot about your father" he told Maggie. "But I don't believe you know all about him."

"I do" Maggie insisted "I tell my Daddy everything and he tells me everything."

"Really?" Beckett smiled smugly "Do you know what happened to your mother?"

"Yes" Maggie narrowed her eyes at Beckett. "She died of scarlet fever two days after I was born, if you must know."

"I do know" Beckett's grin grew "but do you know what your father did after you mother died?"

"There's no need to bring that up" Jack interrupted "Isn't playing with a child's emotions going a bit overboard?"

"She has a right to know, Jack" Beckett smirked "Like it or not, you're daughter is growing up, you can't keep lying to her as if she's a child."

"She is a child!" Jack told him, angrily "And you have no right to tell her about that! How do you even know about that!"

"I have my ways" Beckett said smugly.

"What are you two talking about?" Maggie asked them, her curiosity piqued.

"Miss Sparrow, when your mother died your father arranged to abandon you at an orphanage!" Beckett told Maggie.

Maggie's heart dropped into her stomach at Beckett's confession. She thought about it as those last few words rang in her head. Your father arranged to abandon you at an orphanage!

"That's not true!" Maggie shook her head. "You're a liar!"

"Am I?" Beckett asked "Then how is it that I was able to obtain these documents claiming that you will be put into the care of an orphanage in Barbados? See for yourself they are dated March 25th 1721, a week after your birthdate on March 18th and the documents are barring your father's signature."

"Maggie..." Jack said softly, going to hold her shoulder.

Maggie didn't let him, she walked towards Beckett and snatched the documents from him. She read through the documents with shock and sadness twisting in her features as she did.

The tears began to run down her cheeks when she saw her father's signature at the bottom of the documents. She didn't want to believe what she was seeing, but it was right there, staring her down:

"Dad..." Maggie turned to him.

Jack stood there, looking saddened and guilty while trying to avoid her gaze.

"...Did you not want me?" Maggie choked out through her tears.

Suddenly a cannonball came flying through the HMS Endeavour and straight into the captain's cabin.

Jack quickly scooped Maggie up and made for the door. But before leaving he turned to Beckett.

"It's a deal!" He shouted, before running onto the deck of the Endeavour.

Jack looked around at the battle, Sao Feng and the Empress were already long gone and the Black Pearl was now firing her guns at the Endeavour.

Jack held Maggie in his arms, shielding her from the cannon smoke. He searched around the helm for a way to get back over to the Pearl and at the same time avoid the crossfire of cannonball's and bullets.

Jack noticed a lonely cannon and a long coil of rope sitting beside it. He grinned as a non-existent lantern lit up over his head. (AN: Y'know... cause they didn't have light bulbs back then...?)

Jack set Maggie down between the cannon and himself and tied one end of the rope around Maggie and his own ankles. Then tossed the other end of the rope directly over the rigging above.

"Uh... whatcha tryin' to do?" Maggie watched him work with a raised eyebrow.

"Escape" Jack answered simply.

As the other end of the rope swung down from the rigging, he caught it and tied it to the back end of the cannon.

He then picked up Maggie in one arm and in his other hand he had a burning fuse lighter.

Maggie stared wide-eyed at her father as he blew on the fuse lighter.

"Uh... Dad?" Maggie nervously asked, now seeing his plan.

Beckett came up the stairway to the helm and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him. Was Captain Jack really strapping his daughter and  himself to a cannon to launch them both out to sea?

Beckett stared at Jack, completely bewildered. "You're mad!" He said.

"Thank goodness for that because if I wasn't, this'd probably never work" Jack told him, smirking.

"Hang on, Luv!" he told Maggie before lighting the fuse.

The cannon went off and Beckett dove out of the way to avoid a cannonball soaring over the helm of the Endeavour.

Maggie and Jack screamed and clung to each other as they were both launched into the air and soared high before plummeting to the starboard side of the Black Pearl.

The crew of the Black Pearl came rushing over to see if they were dead or had fallen overboard.

Then they all looked up and saw Jack  leaning on the aft railing with Maggie perched on the other end. Both were unharmed.

"And that was without even a single drop of rum!" Jack grinned.

Barbossa huffed and shook his head at Jack's ridiculous antics. Jack hopped down and glared at Will.

"Send this pesculient traitorous cow-hearted yeasty cod peice to the brig" he ordered as Pintel and Ragetti dragged Will below deck.

Jack then saw Maggie rush past him down the stairs.

"Where are you--"

"Don't talk to me ever again!" Maggie said, not even turning to look at me.

"Maggie!" Jack said following her "Luv, I know you're confused by what happened back there with Beckett. But--"

"Confused?" Maggie asked, turning to face him. "Is that what you think I feel like right now? Listen, I'm not going to tell or scream at you. Because after all the stuff we've been through, I'm sick of arguing and crying and forgiving you for not being honest with me."

"Maggie... I don't expect you to" Jack said "But the reason I didn't tell you is because--"

"All of that worthless talk about how much you love me? How I was the most precious thing in the world to you? I can't be that valuable to you if you were just going to leave me in an orphanage!" Maggie told him.

"Maggie..." Jack muttered, tears welling in his eyes.

"I've been in an orphanage before and when I was there all I wanted was at least one of my real parents to come back for me" admitted Maggie. "I wanted them to hold me and tell me how much they loved me. And when I found you again it was the best feeling in the world to know that my Dad was such an amazing guy! Because of you I felt like whole person again! Now I realize you were ready to leave me behind in a orphanage anyway! If you were so hell bent on getting rid of me, why didn't you just toss me overboard?"

"Maggie!" Jack cried, not even wanting to think of it himself. He took a deep breath. "Just let me explain" he said "Believe me, there's more to this story than what Beckett told you."

"Believe you?" Maggie asked, her voice cracking with sadness "Why should I believe you? Or anything anymore?"

She turned her back on him and went to her cabin, slamming the door shut and locking it.

Maggie sat down beside her bed and cried to her heart's content. First her friends are taking sides and going against each other and now she finds out her own father didn't even want her from the start. Maggie was done with all of it. She had tried to be strong for everyone else's sake, she had tried to hold everything and everyone together, but now she was so emotionally warned out, she didn't care about anything anymore.

If the world of piracy did collapse to ruins and everything she had loved and worked towards went up in smoke, so be it.

Maggie wiped away some of her tears and found herself staring down at her mother's black pearl promise ring. It was still there on her little finger, reminding Maggie of the forgotten memories of her mother. It seemed that was all Maggie had now... memories.

(I'll Try by Jonatha Brooke)

I'm not a child now,
I can take care of myself.
I mustn't let them down now,
I must not let them see me cry.
I'm fine, I'm fine...

I'm too tired to listen,
I'm too old to believe,
If there's any good in this life,
There is no such thing as truth...
Or freedom... Or family.

I try, but it's so hard to believe,
I try, but I can't see what you see.
I try, I try, I try!

My whole world is changing,
I don't know where to turn.
I can't leave you waiting...
But I can't stay and watch everyone burn,
Watch them burn...
'Cause I try, but it's so hard to believe,
I try, but I can't see what you see,
I try, I try, I try!

And I try to understand the distance in between,
The love I feel!
The things I fear!
And every single dream...

AN: Okay, that was some emotionally heavy stuff. But rest assure more is coming, in the next chapter we find out why Jack's signature was on those arranged adoption papers. We will also get to see Maggie's reaction to the Brethren Court! Also a Sparrow Family reunion is in store! ☆ and comment, mates!