Whew! A bit of a marathon session on this today. I really want to complete it soon; not because it isn’t any good, far from it, but because I have stacks of other games to play and I’m trying not to have too many “on the go” at once.
I got the “turn into a boat” ability, as suspected, and then went off and defeated Cortez at the end of the Pirate’s cave. He was actually pretty hard, with his four swords and stuff, and the fact he can heal himself by eating the audience! That done, I had another boss battle before finally completing the chapter properly, and did the usual Peach and Bowser bits. I’m slightly alarmed at the amount of time Peach spends undressed in this game too.
Back at Rogueport, I had a few subquests to go on (one of which allowed me to put my partners up another level), and had to return to the island to fetch some Piantas. I’m now into Chapter 6, which is some kind of Murder on the Orient Express skit. Bizarre.