Looks to me like the hilt of a display sword rather than a fighting sword.
Why do you say that?
Agree, or a carving knife perhaps. Doesn’t look like anything that a self-respecting pirate would strap on as his primary sword. But then, Nat Geo has to sell magazines and TV shows.
A guy who braided his beard in pigtails, lit fuses in his hair, and wore 3 pistols on his chest alone - would wear a sword with a gilded hilt.