Scarcely a week had passed since Shanks had begun his stay in Valgus’ alley, and he was already inseparably attached to the old man.
“Okay kid!” Valgus said cheerily looking down at Shanks who was seated on a rock with his back to the wall. “It’s time to teach you how to catch rats!”
“O…kay.” The redhead replied standing up. He hadn’t been far from this man during the full twenty-four hours of every day for a week, but still couldn’t get over how happy Valgus always was.
“Now the key to catching rats is…” And Valgus began his lesson.

About two hours later, Shanks had gotten the basic hang of rat catching, and had succeeded in capturing a lame, already half dead rat.
“Ah, you’ll get better!” Valgus chuckled, slapping Shanks on the shoulder.
“Captain Valgus?” Shanks had finally gotten up the gumption to ask.
“Yeah?”
“Why are you always grinning? I mean, you’re ALWAYS happy.”
“’Cause even though I’m not on the sea, I still live like a pirate. If you aren’t afraid of death, and live like every moment’s your last, you’ll never have anything to worry about!” The gray haired man replied, gesturing random things with his hands.
“Why did you stop being a pirate? And why did you come here when you left?” Shanks continued eagerly.
“Heh, sorry, that’s another story for another day.”
“Aww…”
“Say!” Valgus exclaimed, the light bulb in his head shining brightly. “Kids like you need more than ex-pirates for company! You need some friends!”
Silence.
“You don’t have any do you?” The old man continued more as a statement than a question, due to Shanks’ odd, to Valgus at least, lack of speaking.
Shanks shook his head.
“Well then…” Valgus pondered, scratching the back of his head. “You can be friends with the gypsy girl then! She’s about your age… I think…”
Shanks took this time to speak up. “What? Huh? Gypsy girl? What do you mean?”
“Murassilla. She’s an orphan living with the random gypsy group down the way. I’ve helped her out a couple of times. She mostly tells fortunes, or tries to at least. Also, from what I’ve seen her do to some guys picking on another kid, she’s got a wicked right hook.” Valgus explained in an almost matter-of-fact way, as if talking about 10 or so year old female gypsies socking other kids in the face was something normal.
Shanks’ response was nothing but a blink. But on the inside… Do I really want to meet this girl?
“Lets go get you two acquainted then, shall we?” The gray haired man said happily as he proceeded to drag Shanks out of the alley and in the direction of the gypsy camp in true Maes Hughes ‘kidnapper’ style.

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Sorry about the super long wait, AND the super short chapter! But, as soon as I finished the first chapter, I kind of, well, went brain dead, and couldn’t think of anything to write... I’M SORRY!
By the way, there’s an almost 100 chance that it’s spelled wrong, but ‘Murassilla’ means missionary in one language of another. No reason why though, I just like the way it sounds.
And for those of y’all who don’t read or watch Full Metal Alchemist, Maes Hughes is just one of the characters. He’s got this thing for dragging people out of rooms, and looking like a kidnapper while doing so. Sorry, I’ve been on a FMA binge fest lately… ’