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Lord Cutler Beckett begins executing anyone associated with piracy and commands Davy Jones to destroy all pirate ships, as he now has power over Jones because he possesses his heart. To confront Beckett’s assault the sentenced pirates sing a song which summons the nine pirate lords making up the (fourth) Brethren Court to convene at Shipwreck Cove. However, Captain Jack Sparrow, pirate lord of the Caribbean, never appointed his successor, and therefore must be present. Captain Barbossa leads Will, Elizabeth, Tia Dalma and some of the original crew from the Black Pearl to rescue Jack. Sao Feng, pirate lord of Singapore, possesses a map to World's End, the gateway to Davy Jones' Locker. Elizabeth and Barbossa attempt to bargain with Feng for the map and a ship, but Feng is furious that Will had already attempted to steal it. The British Royal Navy, led by Mercer, acting under orders from Beckett, suddenly attack Feng's bathhouse. During the ensuing chaos, Will strikes a bargain with Feng for the Black Pearl in exchange for Sparrow, whom Feng wants to turn over to Beckett, presumably in exchange for immunity from Davy Jones' attacks on pirates. Will wants the Black Pearl to kill Jones and rescue his father from the Flying Dutchman.
The crew journey through a frozen sea and sail over an enormous waterfall into the Locker. On board Gibbs begins to explain the mysterious "flash of green light during the last glimpse of sunset", whereupon Pintel interjects, and completes the tale; it means that a person is returning from the land of the dead. Aboard the Pearl, Sparrow is suffering hallucinations about an entire crew comprising himself, each representing a different facet of his character. The Pearl is dragged to an ocean shore by crab-like creatures (assumed to be sent by Tia Dalma), and Jack is reunited with his old shipmates, though he is initially reluctant to rejoin a crew who, among them, include four people who had attempted to kill him in the past. As the Black Pearl crew seek an escape route, they see dead souls floating under the water. Tia Dalma reveals that Davy Jones was appointed by Calypso, Goddess of the Sea and his lover, to ferry the dead to the next world. In return, Jones was allowed to step upon land for one day every ten years to be with his love, but when she failed to meet him, the scorned captain abandoned his duty and transformed into a monster. Elizabeth sees her father, Governor Weatherby Swann's soul pass by in a boat; Beckett murdered him when he tried to stab the heart. He also reveals that, if Will stabs the heart, he will have to captain the Flying Dutchman. A distraught Elizabeth vows revenge.
The Black Pearl remains trapped in the Locker until Sparrow deciphers the map, realizing the ship must be capsized to return to the living world. They overturn the ship at sunset, upturn back into the living world as the sun is rising, and witness a flash of green light, marking Jack's return to the living. Upon finding a small island, Sao Feng attacks, revealing his agreement with Will. However, he betrays Will, having made a deal with Cutler Beckett to hand over the crew and keep the Black Pearl. Aboard the Endeavor, Sparrow refuses to divulge to Beckett where the Brethren Court will convene. Beckett double-crosses Feng by keeping the Black Pearl for his armada, and in turn, Feng gives Sparrow the ship back, while taking Elizabeth, whom he believes is Calypso, entrapped in human form. He creates a diversion by attacking the Endeavor and allows Jack to escape. Aboard his warship, the Empress, Feng tells Elizabeth that it was the first Brethren Court who trapped Calypso into human form so they could control the seas. Feng is mortally wounded by a splinter that hit when a cannonball was shot by Davy Jones, who was attacking the ship. Before dying, he appoints Elizabeth the new captain and the pirate lord of Singapore. She and the crew are imprisoned in Flying Dutchman's brig. Also aboard is Admiral James Norrington, who betrays Beckett and frees Elizabeth and her crew, realising the consequences of his prior actions. They escape back to their ship, although Norrington is killed when Bootstrap Bill discovers him.
Will leaves a trail of corpses for Beckett's ship to follow. Jack catches him and tosses him overboard, but he gives Will his magical compass, because he wants Beckett to find them. Will is picked up by Beckett's ship, and it is revealed that it was Davy Jones who masterminded Calypso's imprisonment by the pirate lords. At Shipwreck Island, the nine pirate lords disagree over freeing Calypso. Barbossa calls upon Captain Teague Sparrow, Keeper of the Pirate Codex and Jack's father, to reveal that a Pirate King is needed to declare war. Elizabeth, newly ordained Pirate lord of Singapore, is elected "Pirate King" after Sparrow’s vote breaks a stalemate (each of the other pirate lords voted for themselves). She orders the pirates to fight Beckett. During a preceding parlay with Beckett and Jones, Elizabeth and Barbossa swap Sparrow for Will.
Barbossa tricks the other pirate lords into giving him their pieces of eight, which he needs to free Calypso, who is bound in human form as Tia Dalma. When Barbossa releases her in a ritual, Will reveals to her that it was Davy Jones, her lover, who betrayed her to the Brethren Court and told them how to bind her. Her fury over Jones' betrayal unleashes a violent maelstrom just as the Navy's massive fleet appears on the horizon. During the battle, Sparrow escapes the brig of the Flying Dutchman and steals the Dead Man's Chest. Meanwhile, Davy Jones kills Mercer and obtains the key to the chest, which Jack then steals back from Jones. As the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman face off near the center of a massive maelstrom, Barbossa marries Will and Elizabeth (being Captain of the Black Pearl): they exchange vows and kiss in the midst of battle. Will then boards the Flying Dutchman to retrieve the chest. When Davy Jones mortally wounds Will aboard his ship, Bootstrap Bill attacks Jones. Sparrow, who wanted the heart for his own immortality, places his broken sword in Will's hand and makes him stab Jones' heart, killing Jones. After Jack tears Elizabeth away from the dead body of her husband, they escape the Flying Dutchman. The crew of the Dutchman cut out Will's heart and place it into the Dead Man's Chest. Jack and Elizabeth escape the Dutchman just as it disappears into the whirlpool. It is revealed that Beckett never planned to go along with the deal that he and Jack made, and almost attacks the Black Pearl. The Dutchman suddenly emerges from the depths, with Will as the captain, and their crewmen now human. Will and Sparrow captain the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl respectively to destroy Beckett's ship, the Endeavour, killing Beckett in the process and forcing the enemy fleet to retreat.
Although Will has been saved and the Dutchman crew has regained their humanity, he must now spend the next ten years at sea. He and Elizabeth have one day together and consummate their marriage on an island before Will must leave for his new life. Will gives Elizabeth the Dead Man's Chest for safekeeping. Shortly after, Barbossa again commandeers the Black Pearl, stranding Jack and Gibbs in Tortuga. Having anticipated Barbossa's deception, however, Sparrow has already removed the map's middle that leads to the Fountain of Youth. In a post-credits scene set ten years later, Elizabeth is standing on top of a cliff with her and Will's nine-year old son near sunset, when a flash of green light is seen in the sky. Out in the bay, Will appears aboard the Flying Dutchman, sailing towards his family. The screenwriters have said that because Elizabeth stayed true to Will for the interim 10 years and he continued to ferry souls to the next world, the curse was lifted and he becomes free of the Flying Dutchman.[1] This is contradicted by the "Pirates Secrets Revealed" leaflet insert in the DVD release, which states that Will is bound to the Flying Dutchman forever and may only step onto land once every ten years.
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