gambling apprentice.

the boy and his master.

After the sorrowful incident with akuma!Mana, Allen was brought to one Cross’s patrons—an old woman called Mother. At first, the boy was still traumatized from what had happened to his late father and himself. He kept screaming out in pain for more than one month, and even lost his voice for that. He refused to eat anything or say anything. Cross was the one who had to ‘babysit’ Allen, eventhough he didn't like it and whined about it a lot. It was sort of an obligation because of his promise to Mana's brother.

“Do you remember... what Mana has always used to say? Never stand still. Keep walking.” — Cross Marian to Allen Walker, Chapter 206.

Allen finally spoke after Cross reminded him Mana’s words. His clock began to move, but his personality changed a little. Cross said that “He spoke like Mana.” This indicates that Allen still had his rude character after he met Mana, but since that moment, Allen had adopted Mana’s personality into his own. In later chapters however, after developing a good relationship with members with the Black Order, Allen's speech is slowly beginning to revert back to his old self.

After Allen ‘woke up’, he began rehabilitating his left arm by learning poker from Mother. He learned how to move his hands swiftly. He didn’t cheat back then, because Mother had a very good pair of eyes. When he grows up though, Allen’s gentle personality always seems to alter whenever the boy plays Poker. He cheats and doesn’t want to lose, and he’s incredibly good at that. He’s become like this since Cross Marian owes a large sum of money to his friends and lovers, scattered in countless places. And Allen becomes the one who has to pay for his debts, and he gambles to collect the money.

Allen has gone through a number of unpleasant experiences because of Cross’s quirks. The one that troubles him the most is the amount of debt that never seems to decrease, but there are also other things like the man-eater flower Cross borrowed from Krory’s grandfather. Despite his misgivings, Allen still respects Cross a lot. While he is traumatized of him and tends to be careful when Cross is around, Allen is not afraid to confront Cross when the old man’s messing around. He can go and hit him on the head without hesitation. Afterall, they’ve been together for a few years—even longer than Allen did with Mana—whether he’s aware of it or not, I think Cross has become the second father figure to Allen. Even after Allen learns that Cross has been hiding an important truth from him all this time, it looks like he still holds a lot of faith in him. We’ll get to that part soon!