The Hobbit and Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl/Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next day on the decks

"Feast your eyes, Captain. All of them, faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot," Gibbs said. Both Thorin and Will looked at each other, with weird looks on their faces and then they looked at Jack.

"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked Mr. Gibbs.

Jack came to the next man.

"You, sailor!" Jack shouted.

"Cotton, sir." Gibbs answered.

"Mr. Cotton … do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" He waited for Mr. Cotton to answer, but it never came. "Mr. Cotton ! Answer, man!"

"Where you all drunk when you found this crew?" Thorin asked, looking at Gibbs. He usually said those kinds of things when something was absurd.

"He's a mute, sirs," Gibbs said. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."

Thorin grimaced a little bit at the sight of Mr. Cotton's stump tongue. Jack awkwardly talked to the parrot.

"Mr. Cotton 's... parrot. Same question." Jack asked it.

"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" the Parrots answered

"Mostly, we figure, that means 'yes.'," Mr. Gibbs answered.

"O'course it does," Jack said. He looked at Will. "Satisfied?"

"Well, you've proved they're mad." Will answered.

"And what's the benefit for us?" said a male voice. Jack, Will and Thorin went towards the man who spoke, but she took off her hat, revealing a young woman.

"Anamaria," Jack said. She then slapped him. Thorin went to make sure he was alright.

"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either," Will asked.

"No, that one I deserved." Jack answered, rubbing his face. .

"You stole my boat!" Anamaria spat in his eye.

"Actually -" He explained, but Anamaria slapped him. "borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."

"But you didn't!" Anamaria said.

"You'll get another one in return, Miss Anamaria," said Thorin. Her eyes looked at him, but he turned away.

"Yes, what my companion said," Jack said rather reluctantly.

"A better one." Will added.

"A better one!" Jack repeated.

"That one," Will said, pointing at the  Interceptor.

"What one?" He looked at saw what Will was talking about now. THen he looked panic. "That one?!" Thorin gave him a warning look. "Aye, that one. What say you?"

"Aye," she answered, as did the others.

"No, no, no, no, no," Gibbs muttered to Jack, who looked at him confused at first. "It's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir."

"It'd be far worse not to have her." Jack answered and turned away.

Three days into rescuing Bilbo, a wind broke loose and then a storm. Thorin realized this was going to be a problem now. How were they to find Elizabeth or Bilbo in a storm like this? He had to think positive now. They would find them both, and then Thorin agreed that if Bilbo would be relieved to see him alive, he would explain how it was possible he came back from the dead.

"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?" Will asked Mr. Gibbs, who had the answer to everything.

"Aye, the compass doesn't point north" Gibbs answered (and Thorin already knew that), "but we're not trying to find north, are we?" He looked at Jack, and shouted, "We should drop canvas, sir."

"She can hold a bit longer." Jack responded.

"What's in your head that's put you in such a fine mood, Captain?" Gibbs asked him.

"We're catching up," Jack said confidentially.

By the last day of captive, they were on the Black Pearl. Bilbo was scared. What were these pirates planning on doing with them because of the curse they had? Killing them? Sending them to another dimension to appease the gods? Who knows what they would do...

"Elizabeth," Bilbo finally said. Elizabeth looked at him, where he grew a scared expression. "I'm scared, we don't know what they will do to us."

"It's okay, Bilbo, it'll be alright," Elizabeth said. They were hugging when Pintel and his nephew, Ragetti were entering the room.

"Time to go, Poppet and shorty," Pintel said.

"Shortie? Bilbo said offended. They were both grabbed on and chained into something. Or rather, Elizabeth had the manacles on her wrists while Bilbo's hands were stuck in rope and a medallion placed around Elizabeth's neck. No matter how hard he tried getting it off, Bilbo would not be able to break the bonds as both he and Elizabeth were shoved into another boat. How will this nightmare ever end?

"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Gibbs said. He and Thorin both were together when Will watched Jack, looking at his compass.

"How is it that Jack came by that compass?" Will asked.

"Well..." Thorin was going to explain, but stopped when Gibbs talked to them.

"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta," Gibbs explained. "That was before I met him, back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."

"What? He failed to mention that." Will said. "Why didn't you tell me, Thorin?"

"You never asked," Thorin answered.

"Well, he plays things closer to the vest now." Gibbs continued explaining. "And a hard-learned lesson it was. See three days out on the venture the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure, too, so Jack gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."

"Ah. So that's the reason for all the…" Thorin said and exaggerated as if acting like Jack.

"Reason's got nothing to do with it," Gibbs said. "Now Thorin, Will, when a man is marooned he is a given a pistol with a single shot – one shot. Well it won't do much good hunting or to be rescued. But after three weeks of a starvin' belly and thirst, that pistol will start to look real friendly. But Jack – he escaped the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it, though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."

"Barbossa." Will asked.

"Aye." Gibbs answered.

"How did Jack get off the island?"

"Well, I'll tell ye. He waded out into the shallows and there he waited three days and three nights till all manner of sea creature 'came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, lashed 'em together and made a raft. "

"He roped a couple of sea turtles?"

"Aye, sea turtles."

"What did he use for rope?" Will asked.

"Human hair…" Jack answered. "From my back. Let go of the anchor!"

"Young Mr. Turner, Oakenshield and I are to go ashore," Jack said.

"Captain! What if the worst should happen?" Gibbs asked. Thorin knew he was going to ask something like that.

"Keep to the code."

"Aye, the code."

later...

Jack, Will and Thorin took the rowboat and made their way to the island.

"What Code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?" Will asked.

"Pirate's Code. Any man that falls behind…is left behind." Jack Sparrow explained.

"No heroes amongst thieves, eh?" Will said.

"I have had about enoug h information about thieves, Will Turner," Thorin said, remembering Bilbo.

"You know, for having such a bleak outlook on pirates you're well on your way to becoming one," he said. "Sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the Fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga …and you're completely obsessed with treasure."

"That's not true. I am not obsessed with treasure."

Thorin remembered the gold sickness, but said nothing about it.

"Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate," Thorin answered. "Trust me. I once had a desire for gold, a desire that was given to me by my fathera nd grandfather. And I regret it, because I hurt my friends and my family that way."

"What happened to these friends and families you speak of?" Will asked. He looked at Thorin, and both knew this wasn't going to be easy for either of them. Thorin remembered the way he told Bilbo that he trusted no one but someone he believed to be his only, true friend, and then Fili and Kili's death struck him.

"I lost them," Thorin answered

A/N: Funny thing is, on Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki, it is said that Pintel is Ragetti's (implied) uncle. I never knew that, just like I never knew Fili and Kili were Thorin's nephews and that their mother was Thorin's sister. I didn't even know that until I looked it up and that Thorin also had a little brother died in battle. Funny how things workout...:-).