"Skulduggery didn't say it was viscous, though- fuck, could you imagine? Planting the seeds of his own destruction," she rattles the whistle to indicate to it.

"He must have, the Captain was at a pirate meet and greet that Stede put on and he didn't get chased out. Don't know how it would have gone, though. Apparently not too badly."

She's presuming that inviting the Captain along was a cunning strategy to get him out in the open, and that Stede also actually knows who the Captain is. It's not a great assumption, and one born of loyalty more than an accurate gauge of Stede's ability.