"Why do you think they'll tie?" Zoro asked with a frown.
It was a fair question, Cherry supposed. Ties were rare in fights to the death, especially between opponents of similar skill. After all, so long as they survived long enough to get proper medical attention, nothing short of a lethal wound would actually kill the winner, leading to a tie in death. Cherry imagined that Chopper would help Jack if he won, and might even help Barbossa if his doctor sensibilities got the better of him.
The only other way, of course, was for neither of them to die. In the myriad realms, that was so rare it might as well never happen. In this world, it happened all the fucking time.
"I feel like neither of their destinies are over just yet," Cherry said in a mysterious tone. It was even kind of true, though her ability to sense the destiny of others was hardly that accurate. Different destinies had different weights, so some could be more easily subverted.
Zoro scoffed, which led to another barking match between him and Sanji. Honestly, they bickered like an old couple that never should have gotten married half a century before, but kept with it because they'd never heard of the sunk cost fallacy.
Whilst Zoro and Sanji's fight was all bark, Jack and Barbossa's fight was all bite. Cherry was at least 60% sure that Jack's bet on himself was an attempt to psych Barbossa out, but Barbossa's own "bet" made it clear that it didn't work. Of course, neither of them were getting their wagers in the event that either won. Cherry stole Babossa's hoard fair and square, which meant he was wagering nothing in exchange for a whole lot of treasure; not happening. Jack on the other hand, Cherry was pretty sure that he didn't even have the ante that he put forward. The bottle she gave to him would have been confiscated when he was arrested.
"Um, Miss Harpin?" Will approached her.
"Yes?" Cherry didn't take her eyes off the duel.
"Where is Elizabeth?" Will asked.
"Oh!" Cherry finally made eye contact with him through his mask. "I almost forgot! She's a wily one, so I had to put her somewhere safe and inescapable."
"What? What if something happened to you? Would she be able to get out?" Will was clearly upset, but was reining himself in.
"Right here," Cherry reached into a pocket Will didn't see before and pulled out… Elizabeth, wearing some sort of device over her face.
"Welcome back," Cherry greeted, smoothing out Elizabeth's clothing; some sort of eastern style robe.
Elizabeth practically ripped the device off of her face and leveled a rather nasty glare at Cherry. "I would have stayed put, if you told me to!"
"I don't believe you," Cherry countered immediately. "You're a meddler if I've ever seen one."
Elizabeth opened her mouth to argue before she caught sight of Will. She stared for a few moments, taking in his silhouette. "Will?"
Will took off his mask, then suddenly found himself with an armful of fiancée. "I am happy to see you as well."
*shing* *bang*
Cherry turned her head and saw Jack stumbling back, pulling a sword free from his stomach as he slumped against the stone chest. Barbossa similarly backed off, clutching at his chest.
"Looks like this is the end of both of us, Jack," Barbossa wheezed. "It wouldn't have killed you to let go of your revenge. Now we're both dead men. A fool to the end, you are."
"You stole my ship," Jack huffed.
Barbossa barked a laugh as he fell onto his back, barely keeping himself propped up with one elbow as his other hand failed to stem the blood flow. "This was all for the ship, huh? She is a beauty, I'll grant you that. Too bad you lost your bet."
"I didn't lose," Jack said, a jangling of metal on metal bouncing off the walls of the cavern. Before Barbossa's eyes, the flesh on Jack's body melted away in the moonlight.
"Ha…" Barbossa took a deep breath. "Hahahahaha…! A fool to the end, like I said…"
Then he was gone, the light that was restored to his eyes only minutes before disappearing once again and forever more.
"See that, Mosshead? I won," Sanji smirked.
"You didn't win, Sanji," Cherry corrected. "Jack is going to drop dead the instant the curse ends. He's a dead man, so it's a tie."
"Heh! You lost, shitty cook," Zoro taunted.
"You lost too, dipshit!" Sanji looked about ready to strangle him.
"I think you should spend less energy arguing and more finding me a second monkey," Cherry reminded.
Zoro and Sanji looked at her, looked at each other, then looked at Luffy.
"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head in blessed incomprehension.
""There's a monkey right there,"" Zoro and Sanji smiled.
Luffy wisely chose that moment to run away, Zoro and Sanji chasing close behind.
"About my winnings…" Jack's flesh returned to him as he stepped out of direct moonlight.
"Uh-uh, you heard Cherry. You lost, plain and simple," Nami wagged a finger at him. "You don't look like you could have afforded the ante regardless, so you should count yourself lucky that I'm taking your bet as a joke and not breaking your kneecaps."
Jack tapped his foot a few times, his eyes wandering over the crew. "Right. Of course I was joking."
Nami smirked and nodded.
"Ah, Elizabeth!" Jack turned his attention to the young woman and blatantly changed the subject. "The commodore and I came to rescue you from the pirates."
Elizabeth blinked. "Norrington did?"
"I understand your skepticism, but it is true! He risked his career, associating with pirates, to save you," Jack smiled. "If you don't mind, shall we go back to his ship and show him that his efforts were not for naught? I'm sure he will be beside himself with relief!"
"Well," Elizabeth didn't really want to see Norrington right now, but he did go through a lot of trouble, apparently. That had to be worth something. "I suppose."
…
"I did not expect that," Jack said as he and Elizabeth stepped aboard Norrington's ship. Oh, and Will too.
They had arrived just in time to see Annamaria tell Norrington that he was the sexiest man alive, then dip the aforementioned man into a deep kiss. Jack must have missed something after Cherry collected him. Probably saved her by the skin of her teeth with a dashing sword move or something. Annamaria was a sap for things like that.
"Ahem," Elizabeth feigned a cough to get their attention.
It didn't work. Wow, they were really going for it, huh?
"Ahem," Elizabeth tried again, more forcibly.
Two pairs of eyes finally broke free from each other and landed on her. Norrington extracted his face instantly. "Elizabeth! This isn't what it looks like!"
"What?" Annamaria was understandably miffed by the cliché line and dropped Norrington with a thud. "Oh, it isn't, is it? Good luck with your princess, commodore."
With that, she stormed off. Gibbs grumbled about her not helping them swab up the blood on the deck and got a dirty look in return.
"It looked like you were smooching with a-" "Smuggler," Jack helpfully provided. "-smuggler. I'm sorry for interrupting," Elizabeth said, nonplussed. She didn't look like she actually cared to Jack's eyes, but she was probably annoyed that he was focused on another woman during her rescue mission. Women.
"Right," Norrington, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to go dig his own grave and take a long nap in it. "No excuses, I suppose. I was a bit surprised, but it was not an unwelcome advance from her."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Oh."
Jack's did too. "Huh."
He couldn't tell what Will's eyes did through the mask, but he said, "Congratulations?"
"Mr. Turner, is that you?" Norrington instantly recognized the young man's voice. Good going, stupid.
Will's shoulders slumped and he removed his mask. Another amateur move; you're supposed to deny it, dumbass! "I guess you've caught me."
"Ah, I see that I'm mistaken. Naturally, Mr. Turner, a mere blacksmith, would not have come traipsing across the sea instead of leaving this to the authorities," Norrington nodded. "Now, if you excuse me, I think I have a smuggler to apologize to."
Elizabeth and Will were bewildered, but Jack only shook his head. You could never trust an honest man to be predictable.