"Danger! Danger!"

The mass of villagers all turned their heads to see a tall baby-faced boy running towards them while yelling. Some showed discontent while others simply brushed him off.

"Kid, what do you think you are doing?" Asked a large villager roughly around the same height as Viktor. The man instantly showed some hostility as a sense of inferiority dwelled in his heart.

'This kid is as tall as me!'

"Sir! There are pirates at the dock! Pirates at the dock!!" He restated twice to show the utmost urgency.

"Ai kid, shut your trap will ya? I've been livin' here fer as long as I can remember and I haven't even seen a single sign of a pirate, not ter mention an invasion. Stop bothering the villagers will ya?!" One old accented man with swarthy skin spoke with a strong demeanor.

"I-I'm not lying! Really really really! Ple-please believe me! Why won't anyone take me seriously!" Viktor started tearing up as he emplored the people.

There was a hint of doubt in everyone's eyes as they gazed at his emotional demeanor, one simply couldn't ignore such powerful feeling from a kid. Even if it turned out to be true, the child still seemed to be thinking that he told the truth, and there must be a reason for that.

"Who told you this?" The large Viktor that initially confronted Viktor asked with a serious tone, of course with a hint of skepticism.

Viktor shook his head.

"No one sir! I saw the ship myself, over there at the docks!" Yelled the young boy.

"Alright," the man nodded, "lead the way."

They made their way onwards through the town and reached the docks, Viktor spotted the pirate ship and before he could point to it he heard a thud behind him. Turning around, Viktor found the man from before, who showed confidence, was quivering in his boots, sitting on the floor. His hand was stretched outwards, pointing at the pirate ship.

"P-P-PIRATES!" He yelled at the top of his lungs while running through the town occasionally tripping over his own feet.

Viktor gave a grave look at the pirate ship. He steeled his resolve and this time made his way to the ship instead of running away from it. He was shivering, he was scared. Yet the look on his face was the most heroic one capable of being made by any child his age.

'To protect Sarah!'

He quickly imagined the outcome. And although he still hadn't been taught what sex was, he knew the men would do bad things to the women by listening to the occasional crazed homeless men on the street. He found out that they surprisingly had a lot of knowledge which contrasted to their outward look. Anyways, back on topic.

He made his way towards the ship, step by step. And although he was slow, every step he took was sure and steady, he couldn't back down and he wouldn't! He reached the docks and looked up at the ship. Gulping, he reached for the ladder and vaulted himself upwards, climbing to the top and throwing himself over. He slowly got up and brushed himself off.

"Wow!" Viktor had never seen a ship this big, the biggest he had seen were probably trading ships that stopped by here for a bit. Yet this one really takes the cake. He slowly crept around, looking for any sign of the pirates that sailed here.

"Hmm? No one's here. Why is that?" Viktor whispered to himself skeptically.

He carefully went around to the cabin area and checked the bedrooms, only to be greeted by dirty underwears and messy sheets along with a putrid smell coming from the room.

"Pirates all right, just like in the books." Viktor nodded to himself, reminiscing about a storybook he had read when he was many years younger.

"Seems like no ones here. I wonder where they could have g-!" He was cut off from his thought process as he heard a female's high-pitched scream.

"!!" Viktor's eyes widened as he looked towards the source which was around 20-30 meters away. He hurriedly climbed down the ship and ran through the docks, making his way to the town area where he heard the scream. When he neared the source of the initial sound, he looked around to ascertain which building it came from. Thankfully the continuous sounds coming from the female helped him locate the presence to a tavern. 

Viktor slowly walked to the door of the tavern as he pushed it open and looked inside, only to see a crowd of people around a group of four men. These men had varying looks and bearing. One was tall with slick black hair and a chiseled face, another was simply too fat with a pair of tight-fit goggles, another was blond with dreads and a scruffy beard, while the final one had dark red hair with a straw hat. This ragtag team looked like they performed comedy routines and although some looked strong, they had a friendly air about them, letting others relax in their presence.

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As soon as Viktor walked in he noticed that everyone was looking at this group with eyes of worship and longing. They seemed to be listening to the stories of adventures that these men had to tell. The red-head was the most talkative and charismatic of them all as he took the lead in talking.

"..... And so we had no idea what to do when the marines surrounded us from all sides, but thankfully we were able to ..." Viktor listened in a bit on the red-head talking about such unbelievable adventures.

'Is he really telling the truth? He doesn't look particularly strong...' Viktor couldn't help but think. Yet everyone else seemed to completely believe all his words. He couldn't help but feel a bit skeptical. Are these really the pirates?

"EVACUATE! EVACUATE!" He heard multiple men running and yelling out to the civilians. One of these men ran into the tavern and bumped into Viktor who stood near the entrance.

"Watch out kid!" The man snorted as he looked towards the people in the bar.

"Get out while you can! Pirates are here!" 

Hearing this man yell, the ragtag group of pirates felt very awkward as they tried to explain.

"Well, you see... we are the pirates." The red-head said.

"What? Huh!! Oh, then I was worried for nothing, it's not like the 4 of you can take on an entire town. Phew!" The man looked relieved at the sight of this awkward-looking group, no one looked particularly intimidating nor strong, which left him relieved.

The red-head exchanged a knowing smile with his crew members as if saying that if he really wanted to, exterminating this town wouldn't be too hard. Not many people took notice of this gesture as they were too engrossed in their imaginations of being adventurers or either too drunk to notice. Only Viktor gave a worried look which was noticed by the red-haired man.

"Kid! Come over here, don't be shy!" He charismatically said.

" Shanks, don't bother yourself, that kid is an introvert. You couldn't get a word out of him even if you paid him money!" A man who was recently introduced to these pirates said to the now titled red-head Shanks.

Shanks gave a weird look at the boy, he noticed a glint in his eyes that wasn't noticeable in anyone else he saw on this island.

'There's more to this kid than meets the eye.' Shanks concluded.

Viktor felt awkward at this mention of him. He truly wasn't an introvert by nature but due to the consistent mistreatment and lack of interest of the people towards him, he developed a weird personality. Well, as long as he was with Sarah he would be completely open and normal, yet when it comes to others he can't help but shy away. So seeing this pirate call him, he hesitated on whether or not to answer to him.

'Screw it!'

He quickly made his way over to Shanks and slightly tilted his head towards him, as if he was confused on why he was wanted.

"Kid whats your name?" 

"Viktor" He replied nonchalantly. Yet right now, Viktors mind was in shambles.

'What? How did I do that, don't I usually shy away? Yet, why am I so calm in this situation.' This thought process went on for a considerable while in his head until he concluded that it was an anomaly. Yet, why did he feel so relaxed around Shanks? Likely because he felt like wouldn't really care about his quirks or judge him like the people of this island.

"Good name! Quite tall for your age, ain't you?" His speaking was smooth and clear, every word was said with confidence and power. 

'This! This is how I want to be! Why can't I be like this?!?' Viktor's mind was truly a mess at the moment.

Before he could reply, Shanks continued.

"How do you feel about pirates?" Shanks asked completely out of the blue. The surrounding people quickly got over Viktor's new surge of confidence while they were confused by Shanks randomness.

'Maybe one of his adventures hurt his head?' This collected thought flashed through everyone's minds in that moment. Yet Shanks didn't really seem to care about other's opinions about him.

"Pirates...... I-I........" Viktor couldn't think straight.

"Sigh, forget it." Shanks seemed disappointed in Viktor as if he had misjudged him. 

A glint passed through Viktor's eyes as he remembered an old children's book he read when he was small. "Darin and the Stormy Seas" was a story he read when he was a kid. This story was about a young pirate who traveled around the world exploring islands and finding treasures. Every new island visited, he would obtain a new member for his crew, and every member would have a unique trait. Until the end where they grew old and found out that the biggest treasure was not the gold or jewels, it was their adventures together. This story wasn't seen as a big deal by many others, yet for the young child trapped on an island with inhabitants who hated him, it gave him hope. Hope that one day he would grow older and become big enough to leave this island and adventure out. Yet certain external Circumstances disallowed that emotion to be shown.

Shanks turned around with a disappointed face. As soon as he turned around, he was startled by a shout.

"Pirates! Most of them are horrid criminal scum. They pillage and kill innocent people all across the seas and sing songs about it. They love kidnapping and some even love selling others as slaves. Truly pirates are the biggest scum on this earth!" Viktor yelled with emotion, his eyes tearing up.

Shanks truly seemed disappointed as he shook his head and turned around again only to be startled yet another time. 

"BUT! Even through all that... I believe, I-I truly believe in my heart..." Viktor couldn't help but tear up as thoughts went through his brain at high speeds.

"That pirates are the freest people in this whole world!" He said with raging emotional tides in his heart.

This emotional phrase ran through everyone's hearts. Especially Shanks, who began smiling dumbly at Viktors exclamation.

He put his hand on Viktor's head and rubbed his hair as he smiled.

"Good words kid!"

Smiling, Shanks brought Viktor to sit next to him while he recounted his stories and adventures throughout his years.