☠Salazar, Matóna & Young Jack☠

Night had fallen over the Dying Gull as she continued to sail towards the Trident, under the guidance of Carina.

Henry pulled out his spyglass and looked out to sea. Behind them, black clouds roiled in the sky and angry lighting. They were too patterned to be made naturally. Which meant Salazar was still out there and still after them.

Henry walked along the deck of the helm and found Captain Jack sleeping with a bottle of rum in his hands.

Henry sighed and nudged him.

"Spaghetti wolves!" Jack cried as he sprung awake.

"Why did I even bother coming to you?" Henry told him. "The dead are hunting us down and you do nothing!"

"Nothing?" Jack asked. "You call this nothing?"

"You're drunk! And sleeping!" Henry pointed out.

"Exactly! I am doing two things at once" Jack nodded proudly. "You can't save the unsavable, mate."

This pirate was getting on Henry's nerves. He needed to get through to Jack somehow and since words weren't working, he grabbed a nearby sword and pointed it at Jack.

"Like it or not, Jack, you're going to help me!" Henry told him. "I will break my father's curse!"

Expecting some pithy remark, Henry was surprised when Jack began to give him pointers on his sword handling.

"Lighten your grip, mate" Jack advised him. "Square the pommel, front leg bent..." Henry did as he said. "Now..." Jack pointed Henry's sword at his own chest. "...Run me through."

"What?" Henry asked in shock.

"Your first murder, happy to be apart of it!" Captain Jack said "Just don't mind all the blood and the bulging eyeballs and such."

"Maybe I'm not a pirate" Henry told him. "But you're wrong if you think I wouldn't do it!"

"And you are wrong if you think I'll let you" Jack cocked the trigger of his pistol. "Next time you raise a sword, boy... be the last to die."

Henry sighed, putting the sword away. He stood at the helm but his eyes trailed over to Carina as she sat across the deck scribbling in her diary.

"Oh" Jack took notice. "Might I suggest you entice her with a bit of flattery?"

"I'm here for my father, nothing more" Henry told him while taking the helm.

"Ha-ha! I knew it! Absolutely smitten with her!" Captain Jack laughed. "Now a bit of discretion when courting a brunette. Never pursue her sister! Although if you cannot avoid the charm of the sister, kill the brother. And if she gives you a peice of salted meat, assume it's poisoned. Unless she's a twin, in which case still murder the brother. Savvy?"

Henry's eyes widened. "No!" He said. "I do not savvy!"

"Who hurt you?" Jack asked the boy. "By the way, that little sliver of knowledge will cost you five peices."

"I'm not paying you for that" Henry told him.

"Never say that to a woman" Jack advised. "They get very upset."

He then walked back to his original place on deck, took a long swig of rum and fell back asleep.

Henry shook his head and sighed. He was starting to see why his father had warned him to stay away from Jack. Then Henry turned and yelped as he discovered Maggie was right there behind him.

"You're sure you're not a girl?" Maggie asked him. "You sure squeal like one!"

"That wasn't a squeal!" Henry snapped.

"Alright, no need to get your knickers in a knot" Maggie put her hands up in defense.

Henry sighed. "I'm sorry" he apologized to the young girl. "I'm just frustrated, that's all."

"Aw, don't worry" Maggie patted his shoulder. "A lotta girls are late bloomers. But you'll get your boobs eventually. Just be patient."

"Still a boy" Henry told her.

"Still not passing judgement" Maggie told him.

"The real reason I'm frustrated is because of my father... or rather your father" Henry explained. "I was hoping Jack would be of more help in finding the Trident. But I think I'm starting to see why my father advised me to stay away from him."

Maggie noticed the look on Henry's face. A long somber look of longing for the comfort of someone. A look Maggie knew all to well.

"You miss him, don't you?" She asked Henry. "Your father?"

"I do" Henry nodded. "I understand he's cursed to the Dutchman, bound to it without a choice. But as a boy I wanted nothing more but for him to come home. Only seeing him once every decade, it's not enough. My mother did her best to raise me and I love her, but there are times when a boy just needs his Dad."

"I know" Maggie nodded.

"No, you don't" Henry shook his head lightly.

"I do" Maggie told him. "I was in an orphanage in Port Royal for the first few years of my life with amnesia. I remember walking the streets of Port Royal and seeing other kids go home to their parents at night and feeling lost and sad. I couldn't remember my father's face, but I could remember how it felt when he held me and when he comforted me. When I found him again, my memory was finally restored and I felt complete again. I knew who I was and why I was who I was."

"My mother told me your story" Henry smiled at her. "She didn't talk about Jack much, but she spoke often about you."

"What did she say?" Maggie grinned.

"She said you were the craziest kid she'd ever met and she couldn't for the life of her, understand how you could survive with Captain Jack Sparrow as a father" Henry quoted his mother. "She also said she looked at you like a younger sister and she missed you dearly."

Maggie smiled, thinking back to all the moments and adventures she spent with Elizabeth and Will.

"Wait, something just occurred to me" Henry furrowed his brow. "You were there! You were there when my mother and father met, before I was born!"

"Yep-yep-yep!" Maggie nodded. "What about it?"

"But you're like... Six? Seven years old?" Henry guessed looking at her.

"Eight and the only reason I still look it is because of immortality" Maggie explained.

"You're immortal?" Henry asked.

Maggie then explained to him about her mother and the magic in the Black Pearl ring she left to Maggie. She also brought Henry up to speed on some of their adventures since Will and Elizabeth left.

"So... and don't take this the wrong way..." Henry said. "How are you not dead? Or suffering from childhood trauma?"

Maggie giggled. "I guess since I've been raised around pirates and cutthroats and supernatural happenings, I've just gotten used to it."

"But clearly you're not used to going to bed on time" came a voice from behind.

Maggie and Henry turned around to find Captain Jack had woken up.

"I was just going to bed" Maggie told her father.

"When? At midnight, Cinderella?" Captain Jack quipped.

"No, but is now a good time to discuss extending my bedtime to midnight?" Maggie grinned widely.

"Considering you should've been in bed two hours ago..." Jack mimicked her grin. "...No."

"Fine" Maggie sighed, annoyed. "Goodnight Henrietta!"

"G'night, Maggie!" Henry said. "And once again, I'm a boy!"

"Whatever you say, sailor!" Maggie gave him a half salute.

☠💀☠

Despite Captain Jack's attempts to keep Salazar's connection to him under wraps, Maggie still couldn't help but ask about it.

"So what's this Salad-bar guy's deal anyway?" Maggie asked.

"He's just an old enemy of mine and he's bad news" Jack told her, tucking her in. "That's all you need to know."

"Well whatcha do to him to make him hate you so bad?" Maggie asked.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Jack narrowed his eyes at her.

"Maybe a bedtime story would help me?" Maggie suggested. "Tell me about what went down with you and Sala-ca-bar... or whatever."

Captain Jack sighed. "Wouldn't you perfer a story about... I don't know... a princess or something?"

"Nope" Maggie shook her head.

"Well... the thing is I haven't really thought about what happened between me and Salazar in so long" Captain Jack's mood suddenly turned uncharacteristically serious.

Maggie took notice of his shift in tone. "Maybe it'll do you good to get this off your chest" she said. "You know we're family? You can tell me anything."

"I know" Jack smiled, kissing her cheek. "Alright, scoot over."

Maggie shuffled to one end of the bed and let her father lay beside her. She placed her head on a pillow in between the crook of his arm.

"Now to begin the tale of how I met Salazar, we have to begin a long time ago before you were born. Before I had the Black Pearl, before I was even a Captain. I was just a young man of nineteen years..." Captain Jack began.

"What a tragedy" Maggie shook her head.

"I didn't even get to the tragic part yet" Jack told her.

"Yeah, but you said you were nineteen years old" Maggie reminded him.

"And?" He asked.

"Well, take a gander at yourself now" Maggie told him. "You don't call that a tragedy?"

Captain Jack jaw dropped as Maggie giggled. He poked her in the tummy, causing her to squeak.

"Anyway!" he continued. "It was back in 1712, I was stationed on a ship called the Wicked Wench, which was yet to become the Black Pearl. At that point the ship was Captained by a man called Morgan. I was merely a cabin boy trying to find his place in piracy."

"So how does Salazar fit into all of this?" Maggie asked.

"Well, at the time Armando Salazar had made a name for himself in the Spanish Royal Navy" Jack explained. "He was a pirate hunter who patrolled the seas aboard his ship, The Silent Mary. He took down dozens and dozens of ship's, hundreds of men lost their lives trying to defend themselves against him. He was a merciless assassin with a deep hatred for all things piracy."

Maggie swallowed hard. "He attacked your ship?" She asked.

Captain Jack nodded. "The Wicked Wench joined a whole armada of pirate ships who banded together to try and take down the Silent Mary" he explained. "But midway through the battle, every other ship was sunk and their crewmen dead. It seemed like Salazar was an unstoppable killing force."

"So how'd you escape him?" Maggie asked him.

"Well, the situation was looking bleak" Jack told her. "With the rest of the armada burning and sunk, we had no backup. Our artillery was running low, so I ran to the helm to alert Captain Morgan. But he had been hit in the last round of crossfire. As he layed there on the deck, breathing his last breaths, he placed something in my hands..."

"What was it?" Maggie inquired, fully immersed in the story.

"My compass" Captain Jack answered. "He told me that it was up to me now to save the crew and the ship. And that the compass will point me to what I want most. And he warned me to never betray it." He stared off into space, remembering it all.

"Go on..." Maggie urged him.

Jack took a deep breath before continuing. "I opened the compass for the first time and it pointed toward a dark, rocky cavern... the Devil's Triangle. I had read about it, a cursed area of the sea. It's said that any ship that sails into it will never be seen again. I knew we couldn't sail away with Salazar running us down, so I climbed up to the crow's nest and began shouting to him. I gave Salazar the chance he refused to give the pirates he slaughtered. I gave him the chance to surrender, but his pride got in the way and he still decided to run me and the Wicked Wench down."

"What did you do?" Maggie asked, excited.

"I took the helm of the ship and began to sail us towards the entrance of the Triangle." Captain Jack explained "And as we got close I ordered the crew to prepare a bootleg line on the portside. I looked behind us and saw the Silent Mary gaining on our stern, so I gave the order to throw the bootleg line onto some near by rocks just outside the entrance of the Triangle."

"You turned the ship around at the last minute?" Maggie clarified.

"That's right" Jack nodded. "As the line grew taunt on the rocks, I let go of the helm and the whole ship started to bank quick and sharply. It was a maneuver that would've been impossible by any other means. By the time Salazar realized what we were doing, he couldn't stop the Silent Mary's trajectory or turn her in time. As the Wicked Wench hauled about quickly, Salazar and the Silent Mary were both trapped."

"They couldn't turn in time and had to go into the Triangle..." Maggie said picturing it in her head.

"Exactly" Captain Jack nodded. "I met his eyes one last time. Right before the Silent Mary rammed into the shallow rocks of the Triangle. Which caused the haul to rip open, the heavily packed powder kegs ignited from below and the whole ship exploded. I watched it sail into oblivion and they all died."

"You had no choice if they were trying to kill you" Maggie reminded him. "It was a kill-or-be-killed situation."

"You're right" Jack nodded. "I'd be lying if I wasn't proud of myself in that moment. Not because I killed someone, but because I took control of the ship and I planned our survival tactic and it worked. I wasn't even sure it would work, but it did. I did it, I had become a Captain."

"So a pirate's life began when another life ended" Maggie understood.

Captain Jack smirked putting an arm around his daughter. "And I remember each crewmember payed me tribute afterwards" he said. "A red and white sash, the shin bone of a reindeer, a chain of beads and a leather tricorn hat."

"And you're still wearing all of them on you today!" Maggie noticed, smiling.

"That's right" Jack nodded. "All of them are a suvonier of the day I became the captain I am today. Or the captain I was..." he trailed off sadly.

"You're still a captain, Daddy" Maggie told him.

"I'm not so sure I'm as good at it as I once was" Jack's shoulders slumped sadly. "I'm a terrible Captain."

"But you're still a good Daddy" Maggie told him, laying her head on his shoulder.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better" Jack told her.

"No, that's what I say when I want money" Maggie admitted. "And since you're broke, you can tell I definitely mean it."

"Aww... and you're a good daughter" Captain Jack kissed her forehead.

"It's not as if you got another one. Do ye?" Maggie asked.

"Aw Luv, bless you for thinking I still could!" He chuckled as he stood up and tucked her in. "Now go to sleep."

"Just a little longer?" Maggie moaned, sitting up in bed.

"Goodnight, Maggie" Jack shot her a palyfully stern look.

"Alright!" Maggie huffed, flopping back down on the pillow.

Captain Jack smiled before turning down the kerosene lamp at her bedside and walking to the door.

"Daddy?" Maggie said.

Jack froze in the door way before turning back to look at her.

"I think you're a good daddy and the best captain" she told him. "And even if only one person believes that, it still counts, right?"

"I'd say so" Captain Jack grinned.

"G'night, Daddy" Maggie said.

"G'night, my angel" Jack replied.

As Maggie drifted off to sleep and Captain Jack returned to the helm of the Dying Gull, neither one of them had noticed the barrel of water outside the port hole of Maggie's room. The water within it rippled on it's own as if it was eavesdropping on their conversation.

☠💀☠

Meanwhile elsewhere at sea, a set of dark glaring eyes stared into a cracked mirror that rippled simultaneously to the water.

"A good Daddy and the best captain?" A gravely female voice quoted Maggie and sneered. "She's a good idiot and the best ass kisser! Can't blame her for the idiocy though... it must be hereditary." The voice sighed. "No matter, they're not going to be a problem for much longer. It's been over thirty years coming, but Sparrow's finally going to pay at the hands of my father... and that ignorant little spawn of his will die in mine."