Negotiating with Barbossa, Cersei's threat, and the Hat

Captain's quarter,

Black Pearl

As Jack Sparrow processed Kai's bewildering words, on the ghost ship, the sound of a fist banging on the table could be heard echoing off in the distance.

"My hat?!" Captain Barbossa fumed. "Lass, do you even know what you are askin', eh?"

A hat wasn't just a decorative item for a pirate. It was especially so when it came to a pirate like Barbossa. His hat symbolized his status as the Captain of the Black Pearl.

Asking for his hat was almost equivalent to asking for the captaincy of Black Pearl. The gall!

By now, Cersei had already told him how she had come to possess the gold medallion. According to her, she was but a maid in the Governor's mansion, courted by a local man. It was he who had gifted the coin to her, hoping to earn her affection. However, this man didn't know her real identity as a member of the White Serpent Pirates, inadvertently falling into a bigger scheme.

Cersei had added the identity and location of this man to her negotiations, along with the hat, of course.

Barbossa was a man of a hundred talents.

Confident and persuasive, ruthless and cunning, Hector Barbossa combined experience with almost reckless daring. At first sight, he seemed more of a gentleman than a pirate. Though his bearded face was lined and weathered, and the whites of his eyes were more yellow than white, he wore a fine feathered hat and long, black dress coat.

A gnarled, weathered man, Barbossa was grim and rough-edged, to say the least, but he had a knack for dry humor.

Yet, his love for hats was the most known among the Contestants.

Currently, Captain Barbossa was wearing a huge, navy blue hat, battered and ragged from extensive use. It was decorated with blue ostrich feathers as a show of vanity.

Barbossa had obtained this hat just after the mutiny of Black Pearl, after which he had become the Captain from the previously held post of the First Mate.

For the Contestants, and especially who were pirates, as well as Captains, this hat was just too grand an Item to pass upon. If given by Barbossa willingly, or traded with him by the member of a Contestant's crew, then it would definitely become a Common-grade Item in this Random World.

There were even chances of it turning out to be a Named Item.

Kai could not let go of this chance.

And the responsibility fell upon Cersei's shoulders.

"Humph!" Cersei snorted, biting her teeth into a green apple. "It's just a Hat. My Captain is offering you an opportunity to do away with the curse that troubles you and your crew so. You are just giving up on his sincerity when he admires and looks up to you? All he wants is a hat because we all know yours is the best among all the pirate Captains. Now, my Captain has a ship, sword, woman, and crew. He do lack a hat with some story behind it. Not that much of a big deal now, is it?"

Barbossa eyed the morsels of apples going down Cersei's throat as she licked her lips.

He gulped. The curse had eaten away everything of the Black Pearl's crew, including emotions and senses.

Lust Barbossa had known, but he desired touch and taste even more.

"Your flattery won't take you anywhere, missy," Captain Barbossa sneered, already well-versed in such pretenses. "My Hat is off the table!" [Image 1]

"Oh!" Cersei raised an eyebrow, looking like a ghostly fairy amid cursed pirates. "Off the table? Is it, now? I wonder, Captain Barbossa… I wonder what your crew will think if they get to know that you gave up on the chance to lift the curse… just for a hat."

Barbossa's eyes gave off a glint. In return, the Lioness of Casterly Rock smiled.

"You will regret this, lass," Barbossa warned, chuckling. "And your Captain… Blood Demon, eh? He will regret it all the more. According to the Code of the Brethren, a Pirate Captain's hat…"

"Code?" Cersei's voice cut in like a sharp knife. "My Captain says the Code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules."

"…" Captain Barbossa got stumped. And then he burst out with a thunderous laugh, finding humor in Cersei's words. "Is that so? You wouldn't mind if I were to overlook the definition of Parley from the Code, would you?"

Cersei shared Barbossa's humor. She took out the Gold Medallion, and flicked it up midair, making the Captain's eyes follow its trajectory. "I would not," she told him, putting it in her bosom. "But please tell me this, Captain. Do you think the medallion is real or not?"

Barbossa's laugh broke, his hands quivered, and he eyed Cersei with ruthless ferocity. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I know the medallion is real enough. I… I can feel it in my bones."

"Can you, now?" Cersei asked, and then giggled. "Have you not seen what my Captain is capable of?"

Barbossa went quiet once more.

Someone truly said — A well-planned first impression can lead to even greater and better opportunities later on.

Kai Stormborn knew what he was doing, to say the least.

The memory of a white serpent coming out of Cersei's mouth and the Jolly Roger of a skull, serpent, and sabers resurfaced in Barbossa's mind.

"Too long my fate has not been in me own hands... No longer," said Captain Barbossa after a long pause. "The hat for the medallion and the boy's name and location. Done."

"Not so fast," Cersei whispered, putting one leg over the other, and drinking wine. "What am I? Some spoiled wench? No, right? Then why do you treat me as one, Captain Barbossa? The hat I will naturally take away with me.

"Besides, you must swear on your blood that you or your crew or anyone upon your direct or indirect order will not harm or conspire to harm me or my captain once I disembarked the Black Pearl; and that you are giving your hat willingly, with no malice in your heart, and no desire to obtain it back by any means whatsoever. If you swear so, then we can come to an agreement."

Barbossa, even with his cunning and years, had never met such a beautiful yet vile lass.

Sweet Poison!

Yes, this was the only word that came to his mind.

Captain Barbossa scowled dejectedly, and said, "This Blood Demon knows how to choose his crew, eh? Aye! But no soul, alive or dead, will know of this after this moment. Or yer Captain better start countin' his days."

Cersei stood up and raised the cup of wine, "After this moment… May your anchor be tight, Your cork be loose, Your rum be spiced, and your Compass be true!"

"You know some old sayin', I will give you that," Barbossa said, raising an empty cup.

And then he took off his hat and slammed it at Cersei's feet as if he had discarded it. [Image 2]

Cersei didn't mind. She picked up the hat, dusted it off, and only then flicked the gold medallion toward Barbossa. Then she told him about William Turner and where they would find the young blacksmith.

"Prepare a pinnace for me," Cersei demanded, smiling, imagining the praises Kai would shower her with.

Captain Barbossa bit the gold, and then marched toward the chamber's doors, but gave no such order. He then looked over his shoulder and slyly said, "And why would I do that, Miss Lanny?"

"How dare…" Cersei was just about to rebuke when she suddenly realized that how she would go back wasn't a part of their agreement.

"Bwahahaha!" Captain Barbossa roared out a peal of laughter, running his hand through his wig. "To the harbor once more, you scurvy dogs! And you, missy. There's the sea, yeh see it? Wet that tongue o' yers, eh? Haha!"

Cersei dared not stay on the ship anymore.

Fuming, and throwing daggers through her eyes at Captain Barbossa, she ran and threw herself off the ship, striking the cold sea with a splash.

Over at Fort Charles, the two pirates, who had come to an agreement while cursing each other, were drinking and singing, their faces flushed red and pink.