Personally I stopped trying to find the stupid sword. I'm back to standard leveling. That leaves me more prone to the treasure hunters though, those people who assume we are all just treasure hunting.
I've found lately that the best way to handle rude rep stealing pirates is actually to be polite in the extreme. Earlier today I was with a guildmate at Tim, and a random guy just came and started swinging. My response was, "Um, hello?" The guy says back simply "What?" "It's a standard North American greeting where a pirate offers hello to another pirate as a sign you see them." Says I. The guy responded, "I'm glitching." And off he went.
I have to say that was pretty funny. Why get all worked up and angry if you can laugh instead? Next time someone starts bashing your Darkhart or whoever try politing them to death. Not only does it confuse the living daylights out of people, but it seems to have them either behave politer to you or to leave rather than deal with you.
Best part? You can't get reported for returning rude behavior or insults. What are they gonna do report you for being nice?