Jack sat there on the Barnacle's deck for what felt like a long while, but in truth it was at most a few short minutes. He sat there thinking about his options. The navy wasn't really after him, were they? Fitzwilliam had said it himself. They just wanted to use Jack in order to find Teague. It was the Keeper of the Code they wanted, not Jack. So why was Jack so worried?
He was worried because, despite running away from home, assembling a crew, and experiencing adventures upon the high seas, there was still one thing that mattered to him above all else. That was Teague. Jack and Teague may not have always seen eye-to-eye, but that didn't change the fact that they had a very close bond-they were family.
Because of this, Jack could not let himself sit idle while Teague battled, or tried to escape, the navy. He needed to take some sort of action. But he knew that Teague might not be very receptive. After all, Jack had left home in the middle of the night and stowed away on a merchant ship bound for the pirate town of Tortuga. No parent or guardian or person-who-might-be-your parent would accept that. Unless he was a pirate.
"Jackie," Teague called out from aboard his ship. The huge reddish boat dwarfed the Barnacle. A figurehead of a woman with a tail for legs decorated its bow, and along the ship's side was the name Misty Lady. Jack looked up. "What?"
"Maybe you've forgotten, but the navy is bringing up the rear. Mighty quick, too." "What on earth does that have to do with me?" Jack asked, wishing his face was still buried in his knees.
Teague raised an eyebrow and gave Jack a knowing glance. Jack knew exactly what that look meant. No matter where Jack tried to run to, no matter how hard he attempted to escape, he would be inextricably linked to Teague and his pirating ways forever.
"I'm not a pirate," Jack said evenly. "It won't matter much what you are if you're blown to bits by a cannon blast, will it?" Teague replied. His men were scurrying across the deck, readying their ship for battle. Jack stood up. The navy was merely a league or so away now. Jack had two options: he could sit in his boat and most likely be barreled over or blown apart by the navy, or he could hop aboard Teague's ship and only less likely be blown apart.
"What makes you think I'm not a match for the navy and their friends?" Jack asked.
Teague laughed quietly. Then he grabbed one of the pirates who was scurrying aboard his ship. The pirate wore a vest but no shirt, and Jack noticed that some of the many tattoos on his arms looked familiar. One of them was the same icon that adorned Teague's Jolly Roger-a skeleton holding a speared heart. The pirate ran his fingers through his spiky black hair as Teague whis pered something to him. Then he saluted Teague and rejoined the rest of the crew.
"Remember all those times I needed to step in and come to your rescue?" Teague asked.
"You speak as if you'd let me forget," Jack said.
"Well, this is another one of those times," Teague said.
This gives me the feeling that he's both being controlling/saying "You can't survive without me" but also a bit of love for Jack.
He wants Jack alive and does seem to care about him. He's just not doing it in the best way. Which, granted, he has a point here and were there not other behavior, I'd probably say he's not being manipulative. But I can't disregard other instances of manipulation and abuse.
Jack is linked to him and while technically not sailing under a pirate flag anymore, he'd still probably be killed either due to a stray shot, association with pirates, or even in the eyes of the law, being no better than a pirate/considered one anyway.
And bringing up other instances would be a way to say "You aren't as good as you think you are. Let me protect you so I can keep you alive."
However, he's used this in the past and most likely not in nearly as understandable circumstances. Which is why it at the very least, is probably a double meaning in "You are not capable/Need me. You have to listen" and "I care about you, you are overestimating what you can do, and most likely they aren't going to care anyway"