On the Dauntless, Norrington was in a complicated situation.
Half of the two ships had been taken by immortal pirates, while the other half was held by him and his exhausted, wounded men.
But although they were no longer fighting and were waiting for the situation on the beach to become clear, the worst part of it all was that he couldn't command the ship to return to the beach and take more proactive action.
Unless he sacrificed most of his men trying to expel the skeletons—who returned even when driven off—and tried to steer the ship while his soldiers were killed just attempting to adjust a few sails, there was nothing he could do. And abandoning the ship was impossible—it would only place more power in the pirates' hands and leave less in theirs.
He chose not to be reckless and to wait and see how things played out onshore, but inside, he was swearing to himself that he would not rest until he had eliminated every last one of those cursed pirates.
"Captain, the pirate ship is coming this way!" Lieutenant Gillette shouted, snapping Norrington out of his thoughts and making him immediately look up with seriousness.
The commodore quickly walked over to the lieutenant and took the spyglass from his hand to look through it.
And what he saw couldn't help but tighten his chest.
At the prow of the pirate ship, two pirates were holding a beautiful woman with a knife to her throat.
"Elizabeth…" Norrington murmured, his gaze worried and dark.
"Sir, what should we do?" Gillette asked, confused.
But Norrington remained silent. He didn't know what to do either.
The pirate ship slowly approached and aligned with the Dauntless.
Barbossa stepped up to the rail and looked at the enemy ship with a grin.
With a valuable hostage, the shore cannons not firing, and both of the enemy's main ships half taken, that battle held no suspense for him. Especially when he saw the apparent leader of the ship staring intensely and worriedly at the hostage aboard his ship.
"Men!" Barbossa smiled wickedly and commanded loudly.
Cannons were turned by grinning pirates and aimed at the great ship of the English navy.
"Sir!!" Gillette and the other soldiers shouted anxiously, looking at Norrington, but the latter simply stayed silent and watched coldly.
Then came the blasts, and the soldiers could only shut their eyes in regret.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
KRAK-KRAK!
CREEEEAK!
The soldiers, despite feeling the impact of the ship shaking, felt no pain and immediately opened their eyes—just in time to see the three masts of the ship break and topple.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
"Haha, men, fall back!" Barbossa laughed and turned to return to his cabin. His men knew what to do next.
"Hahaha!!" The pirates on the Dauntless laughed like animals and fled, jumping into the sea—since the ship's ropes had snapped with the masts' collapse—before swimming back to the Pearl.
The process was then repeated, under the dark eyes of Norrington and his men aboard the Interceptor.
But while he stared coldly at the departing pirate ship, he suddenly heard something unexpected.
"The cat!" Gillette shouted, looking through his spyglass.
With practiced ease, Norrington quickly took Gillette's spyglass, leaving the latter speechless as the commodore seemed to have a fascination with stealing it.
Looking through it, at first Norrington didn't see what Gillette was reacting to, but then he saw it.
Hanging behind the prow, an orange cat with a hat and cape was clinging to the back. As if sensing the gaze, the cat turned, smiled at him, placed his index and middle fingers straight on his forehead, and then moved them outward in a salute. He winked slyly at him, then resumed climbing.
Then, like a shadow, the Black Pearl slowly left the waters of a Port Royal marked by defeat, vanishing into the dark fog of the night… with an unexpected stowaway.
…
Knock! Knock!
The captain's cabin door on the Pearl was knocked on, interrupting Captain Barbossa from his deep meditation as he stared at a green apple.
"What unfortunate incompetent dares bother me? Enter at once or leave quickly—and spare me your idiocy!" he called out loudly, his voice laced with disinterest.
A crack of the door opened, and a bald pirate with few teeth, hunched over, poked his head in.
"Captain, what should we do with the prisoners?" he asked, a little afraid.
Barbossa closed his eyes slightly and took a deep breath, seeking inner peace—or else he would have to send another idiot to the depths.
"What is usually done with a prisoner?" he asked, putting a fake, cheerful smile on his face.
"Errr… we put them in the cells until the captain gives other orders?" the sailor replied uncertainly.
"Yes, we put them in the cells until the captain gives other orders. And what does the captain do when idiots come to him with obvious questions?" he asked, still smiling.
At that moment, the sailor began to sweat heavily, realizing he needed to justify himself quickly.
"B-But Captain, the situation is different. There's a horse now." the sailor quickly explained, not answering the question—after all, he didn't want to be punished.
"Horse?" Barbossa, who had been about to teach his subordinate a lesson, froze, his smile vanishing. "Why did you fools bring a damn horse?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"C-Captain, he was with Sparrow and Bootstrap's boy. And he was very fierce and strong, so we brought him without thinking too much!" he replied, sweating heavily.
Barbossa's eye twitched, but at last, wordlessly, he gave the order.
"Try to put it in an empty cell for now. If it doesn't fit or won't obey, just feed it to the sea's fish." Barbossa commanded and returned to staring at his apple.
"Yes, Captain!" the sailor quickly saluted and slowly closed the door.
…
Taking advantage of the darkness, a figure slowly slid across the deck, moving through spots where no pirates were present.
He had to double his focus, because apparently, these immortal pirates neither needed sleep nor felt sleepy, so their awareness hadn't dulled after the battle or the late hour of the night.
But Puss did not fear—years of experience sneaking into places and honing his stealth had not been in vain.
Crossing the open-air deck, hiding behind chests and using his small stature to his advantage, he quickly and stealthily reached the stairs to the lower deck.
As he descended, he saw many pirates below, playing cards or simply chatting absentmindedly.
Footsteps approached the stairs, and Puss, with agile finesse, silently kicked one of the staircase beams, launched himself to another, and repeated the process. By the third step, he was already clinging to the ceiling.
And at that exact moment, a pirate passed beneath him.
Puss, still on the ceiling, hanging by his claws, released them and dropped gently to the floor, continuing his descent to the lowest level.
He arrived just in time to see Tornado resisting, surrounded by pirates with swords, ordering him into the cell.
Tornado was about to fight, but when he saw his master descending the stairs, his nostrils flared and he felt relieved. Then he was about to fight even harder, for with his master there, he had no fear of these few pirates.
But it was at that moment that he saw his master place a finger to his lips, signaling for silence, and wink at him. As a smart horse, he understood what his master wanted and that he had a plan.
"Snort!" Snorting proudly, the mighty black horse stepped into the small cell.
At least his body fit in there, but he couldn't move around much.
The pirates, though confused and scratching their heads at the horse's sudden obedience, didn't think too much and simply assumed the horse had chickened out.
So, laughing and mocking, they left the prisoners there and went back up the stairs.
With the cell area now empty, aside from the prisoners, of course, Puss emerged from the shadows where he had been hiding and approached the cells.
"Puss!" Jack whispered excitedly upon seeing his comrade, his eyes lighting up.
Elizabeth, who had been sitting with her knees hugged to her chest and a melancholic expression, also looked up in surprise.
"It's you!" she said, surprised, but still remembered to keep her voice low.
"Hum…" Puss nodded to them and approached Tornado's cell, where the horse had lowered his muzzle to the bars to be closer to him.
He reached through the bars and stroked the horse's muzzle with an apologetic look.
"Forgive me, mi amigo. I didn't intend for you to get involved in this, but now I'll have to ask you to hang in there," Puss said helplessly.
"Snort!" Tornado snorted again in agreement, showing a brave look, unfazed by such a minor hardship.
"You want to wait until they break the curse, don't you?" Jack asked, his eyes shining.
"Yes, there's no point in fighting to exhaustion against enemies who can't die. Even though I had other plans before, you two getting caught forced me to change them. But I think it's not so bad in the end." Puss said, shrugging.
"Then free us! Let's solve this together," Elizabeth stood up and grabbed the bars, her face determined and ready for a fight.
But Puss didn't move and shook his head.
"It wouldn't make sense. Releasing you now would only start an unnecessary battle. Be patient. I'll stay hidden in the shadows, and I won't let any harm come to any of you," Puss said with a confident smile. Then he jumped up to the bars and took Elizabeth's hand, finishing with a charming look, "Especially not to you, mi bella dama."
Elizabeth blushed slightly.
Meanwhile, Jack looked at the scene in disbelief.
'What a traitor! I thought I was the main concern when it came to protecting someone from harm! And why are you blushing, woman?! He's a damn cat!'