Walking leisurely through the streets of Tortuga was Puss.
He strolled along, admiring the chaos that unfolded in the streets—which, even during the day, didn't seem any less active than at night in their chaotic endeavors.
Suddenly, he stopped as a man was thrown, landing right in front of him.
Puss looked down and saw the man with his eyes rolled back, unconscious at his feet, reeking of wine, sweat, and a lack of bathing. Looking to the side, he saw several other men like him fighting, breaking tables and chairs over each other, and understood where the flying man had come from.
Shrugging, he leapt over the man and resumed walking, his gaze full of interest and curiosity.
On the streets, there were also various prostitutes—ugly, pretty, tall, short, skinny, or plump—who waved, flirted, and teased him, beckoning with their index fingers wherever he passed.
Puss simply held the brim of his hat and waved politely to them, but didn't engage.
"Sorry, ladies, but this cat has promised not to get involved with women in your line of work again," Puss thought to himself as he continued walking.
Upon arriving at a tavern, the chaos only seemed to intensify in the enclosed space, but it also felt even more lively.
Music, laughter from prostitutes and rough men filled the place, somehow finding a strange balance with the lively music playing even amid the madness.
Puss walked to the counter and, with grace, leapt and landed on the stool.
Placing his elbow on the counter and leaning in a pose he thought charming, he tapped a claw on the counter, catching the bartender's attention, who looked at him curiously upon seeing a cat behave like that.
"A glass of leche," Puss said with a laid-back smile.
If it weren't for the chaos in the bar, his order probably would've made the entire place laugh, but the noise was so loud that only the bartender heard it.
"Sir Cat, this is a bar," the bartender said with a puzzled look.
"And this is a shilling." A coin suddenly appeared between Puss's fingers, and he slammed it on the counter.
Clink!
"Gulp!" The bartender swallowed, then, without hesitation, grabbed the coin and smiled. "Sir, we only have goat milk. I'll be right back." He quickly left to milk a goat.
With Barbossa's treasure and his men's, Puss managed to get some change, so he wouldn't have to keep using gold. And a shilling wasn't a small amount of money; it was worth much more than a glass of milk.
Puss smiled, satisfied, then turned around and leaned his back against the counter, resting both elbows behind him, relaxing, and returned to watching the chaotic scene of the bar.
As he watched—and was also being watched by a few curious onlookers at the sight of a cat wearing a hat and boots—the bartender soon returned with a mug and placed it on the counter.
Puss, without even looking or turning around, reached back, grabbed the mug, brought it forward, and took large gulps.
"Haah… I feel alive again." Puss lowered the mug, leaving a milk mustache on his face, and smiled in satisfaction.
Licking the milk mustache from his mouth, he couldn't help but look utterly content.
Ever since he became a cat, he loved milk—and during the long journey he took to the Caribbean, he hadn't had a single drop. The damned pirates he hitched a ride with didn't have a single goat aboard, so he had gone without.
'I almost felt like Popeye without spinach,' Puss thought, amused.
Enjoying his mug of milk, he filled his small stomach and finally left the bar, walking relaxed through the chaos.
That's when he heard a scream.
"Let me go! You're hurting me!" A beautiful woman, with all the right curves in all the right places, struggled against the tight grip of a man on the street.
"You whore! You thought you could get away from me?!" the man growled, gripping the woman's arm harshly.
Without thinking much, Puss ran toward them, jumped, and kicked the man in the face.
"Ahh!!" The man, suddenly kicked, screamed before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The woman, surprised by the situation, looked down to see her hero—who, after kicking the man in the face, had landed softly back on the ground—and a moist, relieved look appeared in her eyes.
"Thank you so much, my hero!" She quickly knelt down and hugged him tightly, pressing Puss's face into her abundant valleys.
Puss didn't resist one bit and fully enjoyed the softness.
"No need to… mumble… thank me…" With his face buried in comfort, Puss could barely squeeze out a few words against the great mounds of flesh.
After a few seconds, she let him go, her eyes full of relief.
"Thank you, hero." She stood up after releasing Puss.
"No need to thank me. I couldn't possibly let a beautiful lady like you stay in distress." Puss smiled, now able to speak properly, and tipped his hat with a nod.
"Haah… what a relief." She placed a hand between her two mountains in relief and walked over to the unconscious man to start checking him.
Puss's eye twitched as he watched that.
"This man is a real bastard. I just stole a pouch of coins from him, and ever since then—it's been three days—he's been chasing me nonstop, until he caught up with me today. If it weren't for you, I don't know what would've happened," the woman began to speak, glaring angrily at the man and smiling as she pulled a coin pouch from the man's jacket.
"Ahem!" Puss coughed into his paw and looked at the man with a bit of shame for having hit the victim just because of a pretty woman. "And do you know what this man's profession is?" Puss asked, feigning calm.
"This bastard?" The beautiful woman looked at him, confused. "He's a pirate. Why?" she asked, curious.
"Oh, no reason, just curious. Well, be careful with things like that. Don't risk your life for a few coins—it's worth more than that." Hearing the man was a pirate, Puss's guilt vanished immediately, and he smiled at the woman.
He also didn't forget to throw a grateful look at the man lying on the ground, who had earned him a reward in the form of a warm hug from a beautiful lady.
"Hehe, aren't you a sweetheart? But unfortunately, you're wrong. In this world, money is worth far more than a simple life." The woman laughed and looked at Puss with amusement, but shook her head.
Then she bent down and hugged him again, burying him in her noble hills.
"Even so, I really liked hearing that, my gallant knight," she said while hugging him a little longer.
She then let go of him and, smiling, walked away with long strides.
Puss raised his hand slightly, wanting to ask her name, but she was already too far gone, so he gave up.
The last thing he saw was her long black hair disappearing around the corner.
'Interesting woman,' Puss thought, amused. Then, shaking his head, he turned and left.
…
It was another sunny day in Port Royal, but the mood of the governor and Commodore Norrington couldn't have been worse.
"Still nothing?" the governor asked anxiously, his face dark and sorrowful.
He had no idea what might have happened to Elizabeth by now, and his heart ached for it.
Norrington wasn't doing much better, of course—nowhere near the sadness of a father—but even so, he had never been in such a foul mood.
"Last-minute news said a black ship with torn sails was spotted at the port of Tortuga, but by now they've likely already left. Even if they haven't, Tortuga is a chaotic territory, and it would be too risky to enter with our Royal Navy division," Norrington explained, standing before a map with his hands clasped behind his back.
The governor, though anguished over his daughter, wasn't irrational and knew it was a lost battle to act so recklessly.
Besides, that information had only just arrived—but the ship could have left there a long time ago.
A heavy silence fell over the room, as both were lost in thought, trying to plan ways to rescue Elizabeth.
Several other men were in the room, but in the face of the heavy silence from these two figures, none of them dared utter a sound.
It was at that moment that hurried footsteps came from outside, and bells began to ring throughout the city, alerting everyone present.
The door burst open with a bang.
"Commodore! Those cursed, damned pirates are back!" the man said, trembling and sweating in terror.
At that moment, a pin drop could have been heard in the room, such was the silence.
Everyone there began to sweat, and an unknown fear and terror invaded their hearts. They did not fear death. They feared dying without even managing to take down a single one of their enemies.
But then, through the open door, they heard the chaos and screams of civilians in the city, running to hide from the pirate attack. That echo of chaos snapped everyone in the room awake.
Gritting his teeth, Norrington remembered the cursed pirates, and with flames of fury burning in his eyes, he gave the order with determination:
"Let's go! Don't be cowards—we have a battle to fight!"