Hearing Hugo's challenge, the drunken haze in Jack Sparrow's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a sharp, manic spirit. He leaped up from his rum barrel at the stern with a flamboyant flourish, as if the decadent vagrant who had been sulking just moments ago had never existed.
He sauntered toward Hugo, his hands, adorned with a dozen stolen rings waving through the air with theatrical grace. With his pinky finger held high, he began to outline his "grand" strategy in a voice that sounded like a Shakespearean actor who had spent too much time in a tavern.
"Port Royal? Oh, my dear Hugo, you've certainly asked the right man!" Jack declared, spinning around so quickly he nearly slipped on the damp deck. "I know that place like the back of my hand, or at least like the chicken feather on my bedraggled tricorn hat! It couldn't be more familiar."
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial trill. "First, we need the perfect disguise. We shall pretend to be a group of fig merchants from Portugal! You know the type, they always wear those ridiculous tight breeches and spray themselves with perfume that could suffocate a deck of rats." He pinched his nose, making a face of pure disgust.
"Then, we need an inside man. I know the stable boy of the lover of the port tax collector's sister-in-law. Give him two gold coins, and he'll lead us through Port Royal's most hidden sewers without a single redcoat knowing we're there!"
Jack puffed out his chest, his eyes gleaming with pride. "Next, we split into two groups. Gibbs, my dear Josamee..." He slapped Gibbs's shoulder. "You take half the men and cause a ruckus! The bigger, the better! Preferably, find a way to set Commodore Norrington's wig on fire! While the Navy is busy with their hair, I shall glide into the Governor's Mansion like a breeze, use my unparalleled charm, and make the lady hand over her most precious possession willingly."
He pointed a finger at Hugo. "As for you, Hugo... you just wait on the ship, prepare the celebratory rum, and wait for my signal. Understand?"
The plan was so wild, so flawed, and so uniquely Jack that the crew of The Explorer stood in stunned silence. Billy's eyes, however, lit up with excitement. He loved the idea of setting things on fire.
"Captain! I think it's brilliant!" Billy shouted. "Especially the part about the wig!"
Gibbs, however, was nearly vibrating with anxiety. He tugged at Hugo's sleeve, whispering urgently, "Captain, don't listen to a word he says! His plans are like his compass they never point where you expect! Last time we followed his 'inside man' in Tortuga, we ended up trapped in a communal latrine for three hours!"
Hugo listened to the chaos, watching Jack's smug "praise me" expression, and fought the urge to laugh. Fig merchants? The sister-in-law of a tax collector's lover? "An interesting plan, Jack," Hugo said, his voice flat. "Very... creative. But it has a few tiny, microscopic flaws."
Jack's chin tilted up. "Flaws? Impossible."
"First," Hugo began, "we are on a black-hulled warship with eight twelve-pounder British cannons. Do you think the harbor guards will look at this predator and think, 'Ah, yes, fruit'?"
Jack's smile stiffened. "Well... we can hide the guns... and change the flag..."
"To the Portuguese flag?" Hugo pressed. "Among these thirty-odd brothers on board, how many speak a word of Portuguese? Can Billy here explain the quality of his figs in a foreign tongue?"
Silence fell over the deck. Billy looked at his hands, confused.
"And as for your stable boy," Hugo continued, "how do we know he won't sell a legendary Pirate King to the Navy for three gold coins? You're worth quite a bounty, Jack."
"Among pirates, it's about... it's about trust!" Jack blustered, his neck turning a faint shade of pink.
"I prefer to trust the math," Hugo said. He reached into his coat and pulled out a map. It wasn't a standard chart; it was a high-resolution topographical map of Port Royal, rendered with the System's absolute precision.
"Look here," Hugo said, pointing to the southwest corner of the fortress. "There is an abandoned dock, obscured by the limestone cliffs. The Navy considers it unreachable because of the reefs, but they don't know about the 'Midnight Channel.' It's a natural undercurrent that only opens thirty minutes before high tide. It will carry The Explorer directly into the blind spot of Fort Charles."
The pirates crowded around the map. Even Jack stood frozen, staring at the detail, the depth markers, the sewer exits, and the guard rotation schedules that Hugo had extrapolated from the System's historical data.
"From that dock," Hugo continued, "the Governor's Mansion back garden is exactly nine hundred meters. No fig merchants. No stable boys. Just a straight line through the shadow."
The deck was so silent you could hear the salt-spray hitting the hull. Gibbs looked at the map with a mixture of awe and terror. Hanson and the veterans realized for the hundredth time that their new Commodore was a monster of intellect.
Jack Sparrow looked as if he had been slapped. He knew Port Royal better than anyone, yet he had never heard of this "Midnight Channel." He felt like a child who had been shown a secret by a god.
"So, 'Chief Advisor'?" Hugo asked, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Do we use the figs, or do we use the tide?"
Jack opened his mouth, but no words came out. He took a massive swig of rum to hide his embarrassment. "Alright... Hugo. You win this round. But the infiltration... that has to be me. These burly guys of yours make too much noise."
"Agreed," Hugo said. "You find Elizabeth and confirm the coin. Create a distraction, just enough to draw the guards to the front gates. Then, I will personally lead a team in to 'invite' the young lady and her necklace aboard."
"A distraction?" Jack perked up. "I can do that. I'm a master of the 'not-quite-planned' explosion."
"Elizabeth Swann," Hugo repeated. "The Governor's daughter. Don't fail me, Jack."
Hugo looked up, gazing into the distance. Where the sea met the sky, a faint line of lights, like a string of fallen stars, had appeared.
Port Royal. They had arrived.