Though a skilled swordsman, Sparrow prefers to use his superior intelligence during combat, exploiting his environment to turn the tables on his foes, reasoning "Why fight when you can negotiate?" He uses strategies of non-violent negotiation and turning his enemies against each other. He invokes parleys and tempts his enemies away from their murderous intentions, encouraging them to see the bigger picture, as he does when he persuades Barbossa to delay returning to mortal form so he can battle the Royal Navy. He often uses complex wordplay and vocabulary to confound his enemies, and it is suggested that his pacifism may be one reason Barbossa and the crew of the "Black Pearl" mutinied.