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Chapter 40 - Abandon Ship!
🕑 Added 2025-05-04 17:07:03 +0000 UTC"Two paces... march!" A loud shout rang out from the top of Port Royal's military fortress.
Hundreds of soldiers were evenly spread across the plaza, creating a strong military atmosphere.
In the middle, two rows of soldiers dressed in red stood back-to-back, swords held upright in front of their chests. At a command, they each took two steps forward, parting from one another and opening a clear path between them.
At the start of this path stood the entrance gate, where two more guards stood watch. From it emerged the imposing and serious James Norrington, who was about to become commodore.
"Right about... face!" the commanding voice shouted again.
The soldiers took a half-step back and then turned their bodies, so that the two rows were now facing each other.
"Present... arms!" With the final command, the soldiers raised their blades—previously held in front of their chests—high into the air, forming a veil of steel with the swords held perpendicular to the ground, creating a passage for Norrington.
Without hesitation, Norrington walked beneath the blades with his hands clasped behind his back.
At the end of the sword-lined path stood Governor Swann, watching his future son-in-law with satisfaction.
And in the crowd was Elizabeth, fanning herself rapidly, her face pale and dizzy from the lack of air caused by the corset squeezing her tightly.
The presentation continued. Norrington was named commodore and received a fine sword from Governor Swann—the same one forged by Will Turner.
After the ceremony, a small gala was held to celebrate the promotion.
After receiving congratulations from several guests, Norrington approached the slightly unfocused Elizabeth, who was still fanning herself nonstop, weak and inattentive to everything happening around her.
"May I have a moment?" he asked, rousing Elizabeth slightly from her daze, and she simply nodded and took the offered arm.
They walked away from the event, toward a parapet directly above the sea.
Norrington, slightly nervous about what he was about to say, paid little attention to Elizabeth, who, upon arrival, leaned weakly and breathless against the bell tower at the fortress wall and fanned herself even more frantically.
"You look lovely, Elizabeth." He praised sincerely.
Elizabeth looked at him, forced a smile, and nodded, not even understanding what he had said, while gasping slightly for air.
Although it didn't show on the outside, he was extremely nervous inside and ended up ignoring Elizabeth's clearly unusual state, assuming she might be nervous just like he was. He imagined that a woman might outwardly show more of her inner feelings than he, a man, would.
With that thought, he turned toward the sea to calm himself and speak his mind.
"I apologize if I seem forward – but I must speak my mind. T-This promotion throws into sharp relief that which I have not yet achieved… a marriage to a fine woman."
He spoke, masking his nervousness, and after gathering his courage, he turned to her.
"You have become a fine woman, Elizabeth." he said more softly and sincerely, looking into her eyes.
But at that moment, Elizabeth had reached her limit. Her hand clutched her chest, and with an extremely short breath, she exclaimed:
"I can't breathe."
Norrington smiled in relief, believing his proposal was about to be accepted by the overwhelmed lady.
"Yes, I'm a bit nervous myself." He smiled and turned his gaze toward the horizon.
But that look made him freeze.
Not far away, on the sea, a modest ship began shamelessly raising a jolly roger.
"Pirates!" Norrington narrowed his eyes.
"PIRATES!!" A loud shout echoed through the fortress, and bells rang without pause across the entire place.
Due to the celebrations, the guards had been quite relaxed, and only now did they detect that the approaching ship was a pirate vessel.
Norrington turned to look at his future bride but froze when he couldn't find her.
"Elizabeth?" Looking around and not seeing her, he instinctively glanced down at the sea, where churning waves indicated something had fallen in.
His eyes widened as he understood what had happened. He rushed to the edge and shouted:
"ELIZABETH!!"
His scream rose above the bells warning of the city's attack.
The newly promoted commodore quickly began removing his heavy clothes to jump in, but a few soldiers who heard his cry rushed over and stopped him.
"The rocks, sir! It's a miracle she missed them!" the lieutenant who had grabbed his arm advised him not to jump.
Norrington knew he was right, and without hesitating for a second, he ran off, looking for a way to save Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, squads of soldiers on the coast prepared to intercept the pirate ship.
But just as the ship entered cannon range, its anchor suddenly dropped, forcing the vessel to a stop.
"What are they doing?" one of the captains in the company of soldiers stared in confusion at the halted ship.
He pulled out a spyglass and looked at the vessel, but what he saw surprised him.
Across the deck, bound pirates were trying to bite through the ropes and free themselves.
"What the hell is going on?" the man couldn't help but exclaim.
That's when he saw a dark figure being thrown from the ship. But when his spyglass looked more carefully, he saw only a rope swinging alone there.
"Captain, look!" a soldier beside him called out. He lowered his spyglass with irritation at being interrupted, but when he looked where the soldier pointed, he only saw a dark shape being launched toward the fortress before falling into the water.
"Can someone tell me what that was?!" he asked, mouth agape.
…
After raising the pirate flag, Puss, who was about to run to drop the anchor, looked toward the island that wasn't far off. But when he did, he saw a figure falling from the top of a tower.
With his sharp vision, he saw it was a girl who was falling.
Eyes wide, he remembered a scene from a movie he'd seen in his past life.
"No way! How could our timing be so coincidental? Is that you, Lucky Cat, playing games again?" Without time to think further, he cut the rope tying the anchor to the ship's rail and let it fall without concern.
The ex-captain of the pirate ship, seeing Puss drop the anchor and about to flee, stopped trying to bite through the rope and clenched his teeth at him.
"I curse you, Puss in Boots! I'll see you in hell!" he shouted in fury, his eyes burning red.
Puss paused and looked at him, wearing a smile the captain couldn't see under the hood.
"The wailing of the wicked is music to my ears." he said playfully.
Without giving the man—whose neck veins looked ready to burst with rage—another glance, he sprinted across the ship to the side opposite the fortress.
Leaping, he slashed a rope from the ship with his claw and grabbed it. Using his powerful momentum and the stretched rope, he swung high to the right, then shifted his body and thrust, flying left at incredible speed.
Reaching the rope's limit, he let go, launching himself like a cannonball toward where he had seen the girl fall.
The wind whipped through his black cloak, which covered his body.
Beneath the hood, the only thing visible was his green feline eye, locked on his target.
'Jack and Tornado haven't reached the shore yet. There's no way Jack can save Elizabeth. We can't let one of the protagonists die, right?' he thought with a serious look.
But while thinking, a pulse seemed to stir in the sea, originating from where Elizabeth had fallen.
'Cursed Aztec gold. It's calling to its cursed ones. This is getting interesting.' That was the last thing he thought before plunging into the sea.
Splash!
