Pirate's Grotto

Pirate's Grotto
First appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004)
Latest appearance	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)
Greater location	Keelhaul Key
Ruler	Cortez
Inhabitants	Bullet Bills, Bulky Bob-ombs, Embers, Parabuzzies, Lava Bubbles

Pirate's Grotto is the fourth major dungeon in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It is a long area which Mario and his team must go through to find the Pirate King Cortez and receive the Sapphire Star. Before Mario and his teammates can reach Cortez, they have to rescue a bunch of stranded Toads, along with Francesca and Frankie.

The Pirate's Grotto is a huge series of caverns and streams on the edge of Keelhaul Key. In some areas waves roll by, and debris from ships can be seen in the background. Every area shows sign that pirates have been there; bottles, wood planks, crates, barrels, etc. Cortez's ship, the Black Skull is docked here. The Boat Mode transformation is learned here.

Enemies

Main article: List of enemy formations in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door § Pirate's Grotto

Boat Mode.

• Bulky Bob-omb
• Bullet Bill
• Bill Blaster
• Buzzy Beetle
• Cortez (Chapter 5 Boss)
• Ember
• Lava Bubble
• Parabuzzy

Items

Item	Location
Black Key	In the leftmost screen in the south area; dropped by an Ember that appear after talking to the black chest.
Couple's Cake	In the storeroom in the left of the north area; dropped by Goom Goom when Mario takes on his trouble.
Defend Plus P (International and Switch) Damage Dodge P (Japanese GameCube)	In the big stair room in the right of the north area, there is a river to the north of the stairs. To the right of the river source is a chest box with this badge. Accessible using Boat Mode.
Gate Handle	In the leftmost screen of the entrance area; on top of a ship floating in the south.
Grotto Key	In the storeroom in the left of the north area; on top of the north ledge.
P-Down, D-Up	In the leftmost screen of the south area; in a chest in the sunken ship with the black curse box.
Ruin Powder	In the entrance scene; behind the southwest barrel.
Sapphire Star	On the Black Skull (Cortez's ship), it is given to Mario after he defeats Cortez.
Shine Sprite (×5)	In the spike room in the left of the first areas; on top of the far side of the ship floating in the left.
	In the storeroom in the left of the north area; on top of the barrels in the high place on the left.
	In the big stair room in the right of the north area; above the last few stairs. Accessible with a hidden block.
	In the room with boats and barrels in the middle of the south area; high in the northeast corner. Accessible with a hidden block below.
	In the room with spikes and waves in the right of the south area; to the right of the north entrance. Requires Koops.
Star Piece (×4)	In the spike room in the left of the first areas; on a small island in the south.
	In the storeroom in the left of the north area; inside a barrel in the high place on the left.
	In the waterfall room of the north area; under a panel near the door to the right of the waterfall source.
	In the Buzzy Beetle room in the right of the north area; under a panel at the center of the room.
Super Mushroom (×2)	In a chest inside the derelict ship housing the black chest.
	In a hidden block on the ground on the second lower stone platform near the Black Skull. Disappears after completing Chapter 5.

Hidden ? Blocks

Main article: List of hidden blocks in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Item	Description	Image	Image (block revealed)
1 Coin	In the area with the second Save Block, at the second step from the top, Mario must use Koops to hit the hidden ? Block underneath the Shine Sprite.
Coin Block	In the area just before the corridor with Bill Blasters, there's a Shine Sprite on the right side. There's a hidden ? Block underneath it that Mario can reveal by hitting it with his Hammer.

Nintendo Switch version-exclusive

Item	Description	Image	Image (block revealed)
1 Coin	In the area with the second Save Block, at the second step from the top, Mario must use hammer to hit the two hidden blocks that lead to the Shine Sprite, which can then be obtained by simply jumping.
Super Mushroom	In the second lower stone platform near the Black Skull on the ground. This hidden block disappears after completing Chapter 5 due to the Black Skull breaking the bridge leading it.

Characters found

• Shipwrecked Toads
• Francesca
• Frankie
• Goom Goom (appears in the storage room during his trouble)
• Cortez (on the Black Skull)
• A Black Chest Demon who gives Mario the boat ability.

Area Tattles

• "This is the entrance to Pirate's Grotto. There's gotta be something good in there. Considering how hard it is to get in, there sure as heck BETTER be!"
• "We're inside Pirate's Grotto. Looks like we can go down from here... Aside from jump pads, there's not much else here."
• "Yikes! Talk about unsteady footing! You could totally wipe out easily here. Oh, and watch out for those spikes that pop out, OK? They... would probably hurt. At least they pop out with predictable timing. We can figure out a way across."
• "There's a Bill Blaster (GCN) / couple of Bill Blasters (Switch) at the end of this corridor. Someone really wants to keep us out! You know what? Who cares! CAN'T STOP US, SUCKERS! Let's get going, Mario."
• "We're inside Pirate's Grotto. Pirates must have built the bridges and sluice gate here. There's also a waterfall flowing from above. Careful not to lose your footing."
• "It's totally weird to walk around down here... I mean, PIRATES lived here... The scourge of the seas... I wonder where their souls are wandering now..."
• "This is a storage area... Looks like the pirates left tons of stuff here. The switch in front there lifts and lowers cargo. Maybe Bobbery could alter the timing of when the switch gets activated."
• "We're inside Pirate's Grotto. Uh... You can probably tell, but this room looks empty."
• "Watch out for those spikes! Yeah, the thing about spikes is...they really hurt. Forget using an ally's power here... Trust yourself and let's roll! You know what I mean!"
• "Jumping around on barrels and sinking ship fragments... This is pretty gnarly. So let's take it easy and not get too careless, OK?"
• "We're inside Pirate's Grotto. This is a looooong corridor. There's a Bill Blaster (GCN) / There are two Bill Blasters (Switch) at the end of this corridor, too. They don't want us here!"
• "We're inside Pirate's Grotto. There's a sunken ship here. Something good inside? (GCN) / Maybe there's something good inside? (Switch) 'Cause that's how it always is in video games...right?"
• "We're inside one of the abandoned ships. There's a black chest here. Now that I mention it...why do we keep running into these black chests? Weird."
• "We're inside Pirate's Grotto. Lots of sunken ships floating around here, huh? Hey, by the way, Mario, you can cancel Boat Mode or Plane Mode by pressing B. I'm like, the tip MASTER! That's a super-convenient one, too, so don't forget!"
• "This is the deepest part of Pirate's Grotto. One part of this area's covered in fog. Seems like maybe all of the ships that capsized near here ended up in this cavern. I wonder if Cortez's ship was the first to end up down in these caverns..."
• "This is the inside of Cortez's ship. Cortez must be inside that next room, huh?"
• "This is Cortez's room, all right. I guess you'd call this the captain's cabin. Sure is a lot of treasure in here... You could live many lives of luxury with this... And I'll tell you, lots of this stuff has archaeological value, as well... You think maybe we could pocket a little bit without Cortez noticing?"

Click an area to open the relevant article.

In-game map description

• A cave where pirates once hid out. It's quite spacious inside, and even has sea-water flowing into it. It's filled with the ruined shells of wrecked ships and other flotsam.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	海賊のどうくつ Kaizoku no Dōkutsu	Pirate's Cave
Dutch	Piratenspelonk	Pirate Cave
French	Grotte Pirate	Pirate's Grotto
German	Piratenhöhle	Pirates Cave
Italian	Grotta dei Pirati	Pirate's Grotto
Korean	해적동굴 Haejeok Dong'gul	Pirate's Cave
Spanish (NOE)	Cueva de los Piratas (Nintendo GameCube) Cueva de los piratas (Nintendo Switch)	Pirates' cave