Since Cherry had elected not to immediately return Elizabeth to safety, she figured the least she could do was keep the young woman company.
As curious as she was about the crew of the Black Pearl, experimenting on them could wait until a later point in time. She would probably learn more from whatever cursed artifact had affected them in any case.
"There's an entire world right beneath ours?" Elizabeth asked, gobsmacked by the claim.
"It'd be more accurate to say that what you consider 'the world' is only a small sea floating in the sky on the actual world," Cherry corrected. "I've actually been to another floating sea like this one, only it was made entirely out of clouds, rather than blue waters."
"How come I haven't heard of anything like this before?" Elizabeth wondered aloud. "Surely there must have been visitors like yourself before now? They would have no reason to keep quiet about it."
"My crew and I floated up on large spheres of sea water, then we were shoved right up into the bottom of your Cheribbean Sea. Most would not survive the process, given that it is effectively skipping the sinking part of becoming a sunken ship," Cherry explained. "We had preparations in place for such an event, since the Grand Line is so chaotic and unpredictable. Never know when the sea might open up and swallow you whole."
"I can't imagine why anyone would sail such a sea, if it is so dangerous," Elizabeth sighed.
"I imagine it was not always so dangerous. The Grand Line was considered to be a mysterious and unexplored sea until fairly recently, but there are also nations there that have existed as long as a millennia ago. Clearly the people got there somehow," Cherry mused.
"I think I would like to see it some day," Elizabeth said, leaning on her hand with a dreamy look.
"You'll be hard pressed to manage it. Our ship can survive the fall, but our ship is made of sterner stuff than most. That's not to even mention the crew's survival," Cherry shook her head.
Elizabeth considered something for a moment before opening her mouth to ask, but Cherry quickly shushed her. Cherry then stood up just as abruptly, walked over to one of the walls and promptly walked through it. Only, she left no trace of her path behind her, as if she had simply sunk into the wood and vanished.
Elizabeth was trying to make sense of what she just witnessed, and perhaps questioning her own sanity just a little bit, when she heard the door being unbarred and thrown open in dramatic fashion.
The two pirates who had attacked the manor ushered themselves inside; Pintel and Ragetti if she recalled correctly. The bald one was holding a dress, notably not one of her own. Just how obsessed are these two with women's clothing? You'd think they had an interest in wearing them themselves.
"The captain wants to have a meal with you. You'll put this on," Pintel declared, as if her acceptance was already decided. "Endeavor to make yourself presentable."
"And if I don't?" Elizabeth asked, mostly a token defiance. As Cherry told her, it was best she didn't seem too at ease with her kidnapping.
"He said it's either the dress," Ragetti began, then paused. Elizabeth got the impression that he was actually uncomfortable with what he was saying, in spite of the smile on his face. "Or you go naked…"
Elizabeth snatched the dress and chased the two of them out.
The dress wasn't too bad, thankfully. It was a darker color than she wore normally, but not exactly unpleasant. Modest enough, too, given the demand for her to wear it by an uncouth pirate captain.
If she had a complaint, it was that it was a bit out of fashion, and not very well kept since the time that it was in fashion.
"What a creep," Cherry said, making her nearly jump out of her skin.
"Could you not sneak up on me like that?!" Elizabeth hissed. "I nearly screamed, and that would do neither of any good!"
"Point taken," Cherry admitted, looking somewhat chastised. "Don't worry about the dinner. If Barbossa tries anything funny, I'll put him in his place."
Elizabeth did feel a bit better since she said that. Then a dark thought popped into her head. "What if the food is poisoned?"
"They don't have any poison on this ship, believe it or not," Cherry said. "I checked all over, and not so much as a drop can be found. I'm surprised they even have any food aboard, because they certainly don't have enough for them all to eat."
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked. "Then, how do they…?"
"I don't think they need to," Cherry conjectured. "Or perhaps they can't. Maybe you can ask about it during dinner."
Elizabeth wanted to say more, but Cherry vanished into the floorboards. Even having seen it once before, it made her mind twinge in an odd way to watch.
After checking to make sure nobody else was intruding this time, Elizabeth concluded that Cherry was simply giving her privacy to change, so she did so as quickly as she could. Cherry would probably defend her honor if any of the pirates tried to peek, but she was completely certain of that.
…
Cherry thought that Brook ought to have a look at these guys.
After leaving Port Royal, there were moments that the moonlight peaked out from behind the clouds. When this happened, the truth of the pirate crew of the Black Pearl was revealed.
They were walking bones held together with desiccated flesh, shrouded in tattered clothes. The only part of them that was free of death was their eyes, which were pitifully human.
In comparison, Cherry thought Brook was pretty lucky. She thought Brook would agree. For all that her skeletal friend lacked in flesh, he was still able to partake in pleasures that made life worth living. Her brief observations of this crew led her to believe that they could not.
She concluded that they must mean to break whatever curse lay upon them; and indeed, there were a few whispered conversations confirming just that.
"Do you think Bootstrap's brat will be good enough?" one of them said.
"She'll have to be," another spoke grimly. "We spilled all our blood already, so he's all that's left. If his brat's blood doesn't work, we can't very well get it from Bootstrap, can we?"
So them not having blood wasn't normal, then? They were probably fumbling in the dark here, trying anything they could to bring an end to their torment. Being some kind of undead thing, it made sense that they wouldn't restore any blood they lost.
She caught sight of Barbossa making his way to the captain's quarters where Elizabeth was imprisoned, another pirate pushing a cart along behind him.
Cherry realized that Elizabeth was in more danger than she previously estimated. If a little of her blood didn't do the trick, these pirates were just desperate enough to spill all of it.
Cherry moved into position to eavesdrop on the dinner, and to intervene if violence was necessary.