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Chapter 5 - The Key to Pirates Walkthrough
Mario's brought a boisterous boatsman out of retirement and now it's time to set sail! A fantastic nautical adventure awaits full of ghosts, statues with mustaches, and terrible disguises. Avast!
This page acts as a comprehensive walkthrough of Chapter 5 within Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
The ship sails for a few days until it is attacked by the pirate ghosts. The ship is destroyed and some of the crew members, including Admiral Bobbery, are taken hostage. The remaining crew washes ashore on Keelhaul Key. The chapter begins with Mario looking out to sea on a rocky coast.
Walk all the way to the left and you will meet a Whack-a-Mole. Hit him with your hammer to obtain a Whacka Bump which replenishes 25 HP and 25 FP. Ground pound above the rock near the right hand exit for a star piece.
Walk to the right to enter the camp. After the argument between Flavio and Pa-Patch the camp is attacked by a trio of Embers. These blue flames have 8 HP and are invulnerable to jump attacks, but susceptible to explosions and freeze attacks. They will also light Mario and his allies on fire, causing them continuous damage. Take care of these guys and Mario will agree to explore the rest of the island.
Search the water in front of Pa-Patch to find a?star piece. Search behind the rock on the right side exit to find another star piece. There is also an item shop and an Inn in the background.
Exit the camp to the right and search the first clump of leaves in the next area to find a star piece. Hit the question mark box to the right to find a head rattle badge. In front of this box there is a box on the ground that Mario can hit with his hammer to get a?courage shell.
Enter the next area to the right and search the second bush to find a mini-mr. mini. Jump up on the block between the two platforms to reveal a coin box, then walk to the right and look behind the vine branch to find a star piece. Head upward to the left through the cave while jumping over the gaps. Use Yoshi to jump on top of the coin box and on to the other side. Continue to the left and use Yoshi again to reach a box off the edge and get the shine sprite. Jump back to the right and hit the question mark box to get a thunder rage.?In the remake, there is a blue box up here you can hit to make a spring appear below, which will make backtracking much easier.
In the next area there is a wooden bridge where the missing crew members are being attacked. Admiral Bobbery fends off the Embers while the others escape. Search the bush before the bridge to find an Inn Ticket. Walk towards the foreground before the bridge to walk down some steps under the bridge. Jump across the gaps using Yoshi to find a warp pipe that leads to the background. Hit the tree in the background to find two coconuts. Return to the foreground and cross the bridge. At the right side of the bridge, turn sideways to fall in between the logs and grab the?Ice Power Badge. Also, hit get the shine sprite hidden under the tree before entering the next area.
Continue on to find some Embers swirling around a tree. Dispose of them in battle and hit the tree with your hammer to knock down Admiral Bobbery. He's reached the end of his rope, so to speak, but has one last request. Mario must find his bottle of Chuckola Cola that he lost when the ship was sunk. Return back to the camp and speak to Flavio. He has the Chuckola Cola, but wants to keep it as "supplies". He requests a suitable replacement for the Cola. If you have already grabbed the coconuts, give him one of these and he will make the trade.? Return to the Admiral and give him the cola. He says he is ready join his deceased wife, but instead just takes a snooze. Whack him with Mario's hammer to wake him and Bobbery will join the team. Search the?mysterious rocks just to the right of where Bobbery joins the team and head back to camp.
Speak to Flavio about the mysterious rock and he will join the team for a short time. You can also walk back to the left of the camp and hit the Wacka-Mole for another wackca nut. Return to the skull rock with Flavio and ask him to lend you the?skull gem he carries. Place the gem into the skull's eye and then listen to Flavio's song to solve the riddle of rocks. Butt stomp the rock with the red mustache three times and whack the blue rock with Mario's hammer 4 times. This will create an opening above the skull, throw Bobbery into the hole to blow open an entrance. Search the foreground of the pool area for another star piece. Flavio returns to camp, and Mario enters the cave.
When first entering the cave search behind the barrels in the foreground to find some ruin powder. Use the save point and continue into the next room. Drop down the holes and enter the depths of the cave. Mario will have to battle some lava bubbles that are the same as embers but slightly more powerful. On the half sunk ship, walk to the point that is highest out of the water and jump up to get a shine sprite. Then walk to the foreground of the next area and jump to get the star piece. Hop on Yoshi for some extra speed and cross the timed spikes in the background to enter the next room.
Mario will reach a bridge that has missiles flying across it. Each one of these enemies only has 2 hit points, so if Mario can attack first and use excellent action commands he can take out both enemies before they get to make a move. At the end of the bridge are two cannons which require some heavier attacks. Bonk these guys into oblivion and walk into the next section of cavern. Here there is a sluice gate in front of a waterfall. Use Yoshi to cross the gap and battle a bulky Ba-Bomb.?Continue to the right to find a cavern with a locked door and a save box. Walk up the steps in the background to reach the second level. The shine sprite can be obtained by getting to the top step and sending Koops towards it, which will reveal a hidden coin box. Step up on this coin box to get the sprte.
Then throw Bobbery at the blue switch on the ledge in the background to open a gate to the left. In the next room there is a bulky Bob-omb which you may want to use the art attack on. Beside where the bulky Bob-omb was, near the entrance, butt stomp and flip a tile for another star piece.
Cross the waterfall and enter the room to the left. Here there is a red switch in the middle of the room which raises a platform in the back to a gold key. Use Koops's delayed shell attack to flip the switch while Mario is standing on the elevator. Grab the key and hop across to the wooden box that acted as the counter weight to the platform. Ride this to the top of the barrel rack to find a shine sprite. Also, fall into the barrel closest to the screen to find a star piece.
Walk two rooms to the right and use the grotto key on the locked door next to the save point. In the next room there are three buzzy beetles which are easily avoided or make for some decent experience. Do a ground pound here for a star piece. Walk towards the screen to enter the grotto. Immediately to the right of the doorway there is a shine sprite that Koops can grab with his shell attack. To the left there is a seemingly impassable walkway with timed spiked coming out of the wall. Roll into a tube to avoid being spiked or use Vivian to duck into the shadows whenever Mario is about to get poked.
In the next room there is a shine sprite that can be reached by revealing the hidden coin box underneath it. Cross the water and blow open the cave entrance to the left using Bobbery. In the next room be prepared to dodge some bullets. Take out the cannons and walk through the next room into the hole in the wooden ship - you'll need Yoshi to help cross the gap. Mario has found another black chest, look behind this chest to find the P-down D-up Badge. Search the chest to speak to another demon waiting for someone to curse. Mario will have to battle an ember and the black key will drop from the sky. Open the chest to learn the useful paper boat technique. Use this new move in the previous room to start backtracking through the cave. When you get back through the area with the cannons, you'll get ambushed by a couple of embers and a bulky Bomb.
When Mario reaches the room with the save point, climb back up to the second level and go through the door on the left. Turn Mario into a paper boat and first travel to the right side of the screen through the small opening leading to the room with the save point and the waterfall. Go through the waterfall and to the right to find a hidden room with the?Defend Plus P Badge.
Return to the room with the boat icon and take Mario over the waterfall in the foreground. Then, in the room below, travel to the left through two rooms until Mario reaches another boat icon. Now he is able to reach the crank and use it two rooms to his right. You'll have to leap from the point you got the crank to the left and go through the spikes again to get back to the room where you need the crank. Repeat the steps of falling over the waterfall except this time take the path that was opened after using the crank. Travel through the opening on the right to head out to sea. Avoid the waves as they will send Mario all the way back to the left side of the screen.
Enter the cave on the right side of the screen to find a pile of stranded mushroom people. Sail to the boat icon and enter the warp pipe bringing Mario to the background. Bring Mario to the left side of the background to find another warp pipe that allows Mario to reach an airplane square. Fly to the two previously unreachable warp pipes in the water to hit switches in the background that raise barrels allowing the mushroom guys to escape.
Take the airplane all the way to the place where the shipwreck victims were standing and hop on the barrels reach the right side of the screen. It turns out that Don Pianta's daughter and her fiancé were also stranded by Cortez and his ghosts. In the next room there is a save point and a replenishing heart box. Mario must board Cotez's ship
Fighting Cortez
- Max HP: 20 Attack: 4 Defense: 1
Get ready for a grueling battle. Cortez only has 20 HP but when he dies, he will return in another form. This happens three times and the third version is the most dangerous. Cortez will have his four weapons floating in the air around him. Each one does significant amounts of damage, but they can be knocked out of commission for a couple of turns if you take away their four hit points.
When Cortez runs low on HP in the third form he will suck up half of the audience and regain full strength. Use area attacks like ground tremor to take out all of his weapons and deal him damage at the same time.
After Mario wins Cortez disappears in a puff of smoke, the reappears seconds later and gives Mario the fifth crystal star. Mario now learns the move sweet feast and the chapter ends. However, Mario still has to escape the island, so remember to save the game and return to the Pianta newlyweds. It seems the battle has opened cracks in the wall behind the crowd of mushrooms. Bust open an exit with Bobbery and leave the underground caverns.
Mario and his party meet on the beach just in time to be ambushed by their old friend (and spy) four eyes. Flavio comes up with the brilliant idea of borrowing the ghost ship. Travel back to Cortez and Flavio will trade his skull gem for a ride on the pirate's craft.
The two pirate ships clash and Mario will have to duel Lord Crump. He has 30 HP his attack is 3, and defense is 0. Take out the X-Nuats in front of Crump first and then focus on him. The first time he loses all of his HP Crump will be restored by his minions and an even larger force will join him. Each time his army is defeated they will return in full force two moves later so focus your heavy attacks on Crump. The X-Naut is disgraced again and the game switches its focus back to Princess Peach.
The princess has to sneak into Lord Grodus' room but first TEC helps her make a potion to turn her invisible. This is accomplished by putting potions into a machine in this order from left to right: red, blue, orange, green. Then follow TEC's instructions and concoct the invisibility potion. Then leave the lab and walk to the right to enter Grodus' laboratory. The data disk is on the bookshelf in the corner, put it into the computer and the task is completed.
Meanwhile, Bowser and Crump face off in Twilight town and end up blowing each other to smithereens. Back at Rogueport, Mario returns to town with is new boat ability. Use this at the bottom of the steps at the dock and sail to the left of the pipe pouring water out to sea. Here there is a secret area which hides a star piece and a chest containing the HP drain badge.
Walk through the alley way in between the help center and Bobbery's house to find a sailboat icon. Turn into a boat and travel down the cannel to find a chest in front the help center which contains the double dip badge. Also, notice that the wizard is standing in front of his house. Speak to him and he will give Mario a clue that leads him back to the cursed chest in Hooktail castle. Return to Hooktail castle and enter the room which the Gray chest which is all the way to the right of the castle. The room to the right of the chest has a crack in the wall which can be blown into a hole using Bobbery's explosion technique. This reveals a chest containing an up arrow.
Return to Rogueport via the warp pipe to the left of the castle. To the left of the pipe back to the surface there is a cracked wall that can be blown up using Bobbery. This leads to another pipe into the background where Mario can find Chet Rippo's Adjustment house. Basically this is a place where Mario can upgrade his allies without finding shine sprites. You can also exchange Mario's abilities. For example you can give Mario more HP by dropping his FP. Return to the Wizard's house in Rogueport and give him the up arrow and he will be able to power up your teammates another level.
Return to the Thousand-Year Door and Mario will learn the location of the next crystal star. Notice that the enemies in the rooms near the door are now much more difficult. Mario checks in with the professor to learn that the next star is in Poshley Heights which can be reached by the train across from the blimp in west Rogueport. Only rich and famous people are allowed on the train, so Mario is going to have to seek the help of Don Pianta once again. Walk to West Rogue port and check the wall to the left of the item shop. Use Bobbery to blow a hole here and grab another shine sprite.
Go through the item store and walk into Don Pianta's office to find him sick in bed. It seems that the boss misses his daughter dearly and can only be made well again by seeing her. Travel to the dock and ask Cortez to take Mario back to Keehaul Key. Then walk through the town and enter the jungle to find Frankie and his bride searching for their lost wedding ring. Mario has to go find the ring which is near the large palm tree in the area with the skull shaped rock.
Return the ring to the newlyweds and they will board the boat for Rogueport. Return to town and visit Don Pianta, he will return to normal health and give control of the syndicate to Frankie. He also gives Mario a ticket to ride the train to Poshley Heights. Head to the train and the next chapter begins.