After walking around a bit and talking to get to know each other better, Eren had decided that Hanji and Erwin were nice people. They treated him like a human, not like a homeless orphan boy. He was happy to leave this port city behind. It brought him nothing but pain, and it'd be nice to see what's beyond the horizon.
"That's our ship!" Hanji chirped once they made it to the harbour. She pointed to a large ship. The Jolly Roger that flew on most pirate ships was replaced with a deep green flag that had a pair of wings on it, one blue and one white. It had three masts, the mainmast with two sails, the other two with one. And it was black. All the woodwork was black, making the white sails look whiter.
"Isn't she a beauty. That would be the Maria! Our pride and joy." Hanji sang as they got closer. "This is your new home Eren! Well... we hope." Eren looked to her before stepping foot on the gangplank.
"What?" Hanji just smiled and started to push Eren up the ramp.
"Nothing nothing. You can clean right?" Eren cocked an eyebrow.
"I haven't lived in a house for years." Erwin and Hanji looked him up and down, getting a better look at the boy. Besides the dirt almost caked on his skin, he didn't look like he was on the streets long.
"How do you manage to look so... not homeless?" Hanji asked.
"There was one nice lady here. She gave me new clothes and cut my hair. She died last month. Mother fucking robbers." He bit out. The two nodded and continued onto the ship.
"Well, learn quickly. Because that's your job and our captain is very-"
"Wait? Captain? Neither of you are the captain?" Eren looked between the two. Hanji shook her head.
"Nope! I'm the ship's surgeon, and Erwin's the Quartermaster! You'll meet the captain soon enough! Now, let's show you around the ship!" And Hanji looped her arm around Eren and began to drag him around.
"So obviously this is the deck." Eren look around. The deck floor was a light colored wood, completely opposite of the wood of the rest of the ship, making the floor wood look almost white. There was a small door close to the bow. People were going back and forth, going in with boxes and barrels and leaving with none.
"That's the storage hold. That's where you'll find all of our supplies. Over here" She pointed towards the stern, where the quarter deck was. "The door on the starboard side leads into the hull, where the kitchen, medical room, and bunks are. The door on the port, leads to the captain's quarters." She was about to pull Eren to the door on the left when Erwin stopped them.
"Hanji, you forgot again." Hanji blinked a few times before laughing like an idiot.
"Oh right!" She turned to Eren. "If you ever go into the captain's room without his permission or when he's not in there, you'll be walking the plank!" She smiled wide as she drug him to the left door and into the hull.
Inside the hull was different. The inner walls were painted forest green while the outer walls were that familiar black. The floors where a tanish wood and it really felt more like a house than a ship, if it wasn't for the ship moving with the water below them.
"Alright, so the door at the end of the hall is the kitchen, it's the only room that has a door leading to the supply hold. The door next to it is the medical bay, and my room. So if you ever feel sick or something else, like lost an arm or something, you know where I am. The doors on the port side are for the male crew members, and the rooms on the starboard are for the female members."
"The crew is made of males and females?" Eren asked. Hanji nodded.
"Yup! Everyone was hand picked by Erwin and myself!" Eren nodded.
"So, I'm the only one underage on the ship?" Hanji started to laugh.
"Yes. But we have others around your age."
"How close to my age are we talking?" Hanji put a finger to her lip.
"Well... we have a few that just turned eighteen." Eren turned.
"What?" Hanji nodded.
"They were old enough to leave home, and did. You're the only one we've ever recruited that was still underage. Well, recently anyways." Eren nodded, a smile on his face. Maybe he'd make friends? There was a crash in one of the rooms and one of the doors on the right opened.
"Shit! Run Connie!" And out came two boys, one with his hair shaved to almost nothing, and another with short ash-brown hair with a darker brown sort of undercut. First thing Eren thought seeing the ash-brown haired boy, horse. And said horse just so happened to not be paying attention and ran Eren over.
"See you later dude." Buzz-cut said, running up on deck. The ash-brown was ripped off Eren and Hanji was off to the side laughing.
"You never learn Jean." Said a girl with black hair and gray eyes. She looked sort of bored, then she looked down at Eren. "I haven't seen you on board before. Hanji, who's he?" The girl turned to Hanji, who had just finished laughing.
"Oh, this is the new cabin boy! Eren! Eren, this is Mikasa, she's one of the riggers, and this is Jean, he's a powder monkey, the boy you just saw running was Connie, he's a powder monkey too." Eren nodded.
"So he's the cabin boy?" Jean smirked and it automatically made Eren's only open eye twitch. "What's with his eye?"
"None of your damn business." Hanji said, coldly. Jean and Mikasa actually flinched, and Eren cocked his head. She had seemed so happy. "Come on Eren. I'll get you a patch for that." And she drug him to her room, rummaging through her things and pulling out an eye patch.
"Why do I need a patch?" Hanji sighed.
"Just trust me. Put this over your gold eye, it'll make it easier for you to walk around the ship. You keep it closed for a reason, right?" Eren nodded and put the patch on. It was surprisingly comfortable. "We have a very accepting crew, but most people get creeped out by people with two different colored eyes."
"Thank you." Eren said, and Hanji smiled again.