A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on june 27th, 2022 @ 11:34am

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𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝚂𝙸𝚇,
𝓑𝚁𝙰𝚅𝙴 𝚅𝙾𝙻𝚄𝙽𝚃𝙴𝙴𝚁𝚂.

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《 𝖳𝖧𝖱𝖤𝖤 𝖸𝖤𝖠𝖱𝖲 𝖠𝖦𝖮 》

EREN THROWS A MARLEY SHIP onto the ground. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen of Marley! Welcome to Paradis Island! I'm Hange. I'm here to welcome our distinguished guests who've come from far away! Please, come here and enjoy some tea and relax." They offered. "By the way, here's your friend who have arrived here before you. We're already getting along very well!"

Levi was holding onto Niccolo. "Isn't that right, Niccolo?!" Hange asked.

Levi digs his blade deeper into Niccolo's back. "Captain! Don't mind me! Just shoot these devils already!" He shouted.

"Just what are you saying all of a sudden, Niccolo?" Hange asked.

"Captain!"

"He's clearly not interested in playing along with your stupid skit." Levi informed.

"Niccolo!" The captain of the ship grumbled. "Listen up, you damn devils! Marley lean no ears to the words of those with defiled blood! We have no interest in drinking pig piss with you tarnished bastards!"

"Huh? Huh?! Are you sure you want to insult us like that?!" Hange spat back. "Can't you see the Titan behind you?"

The soldiers turned around to be met with the gaze of Eren's Titan. "We will not bend to the power of devils!" The captain declared. "This is our greeting to you!"

A gunshot suddenly went off as everyone noticed that the captain had been shot.

"What're you doing, Yelena?!"

"Throw your weapon away." Yelena ordered.

"You guys..."

"Do as she said." Onyankopon demanded.

Yelena took off her hat. "Hange-san, we're honored to receive your invitation. Let's have that tea." She said.

"That tall woman just shot her own ally to death. Just what's her goal?" Connie questioned out loud.

"Beats me. Be she's on our side nor not, it's clear we can't trust her either way." Jean replied.

"Sasha, don't sleep." Mikasa told her, grabbing onto her ponytail.

"But we're fortunate enough to be able to talk and gain intelligence from them." Armin informed.

"Yeah, we're really lucky." Eren agreed, causing Armin to turn around. "It was by pure chance that we were able to stop them from landing. If Marley gets serious, it won't end up this smoothly. We must think of something about it."

Later, everyone was in the courtroom. "That would be Zeke Yeager's request. All of this would be done to rescue the Eldian people who are in—" Hange was soon cut off.

"Nonsense! Who would accept such a ridiculous offer!"

"We're talking about the Beast Titan here! He turned the people of Ragako into Titans and spread terror inside the walls! He's the very person who nearly killed the entire Survey Corps, yet he's sending out a request?!"

"Their objective has always been to retake the Founding Titan. If force doesn't work, they will use any other means at their disposal." Zachary spoke.

"Our enemies must realize that as well. How about we first listen to the Commander's story first?" Pyxis suggested.

Hange turned to look back at the paper in their hands. "According to Zeke, they have a plan. What he needs to carry out that plan are the Founding Titan and a Titan with royal blood. The world can be saved if he has those two things. However... He can only reveal this secret plan after those conditions are met." They announced.

"I can't listen anymore."

"They sure think of us as fools."

Eren suddenly stood up. "Eren?" Josiah questioned.

"That's true. I remember. There was one time I was able to activate the powers of the Founding Titan. It was in the moment I touched a Titan with royal blood. That Titan is unmistakeably that of my father's former wife, Dina Fritz. Zeke is Dina's son, so he must've figured it out somehow. That means the way to overcome the vow renouncing the war. The only hope left for us Eldians. The way to trample the world using thousands of Titans inside the walls... The condition to activate the Rumbling." Eren ranted.

"You..." Levi turned around to face Eren. "Why didn't you tell us that until now?"

"Because I was concerned about Historia. I can't allow her to become a Titan based on my uncertain information. I admit it was a thoughtless decision." Eren replied.

"We will talk more about that later." Levi told him.

"But, if that's really true... Zeke's secret plan would make sense." Hange stated.

"Are you sane?! Believing in them?!"

"That's right! Who knows what will happen if we let all of those enemy soldiers onto the island!"

"We should hang them all to death!"

"No, we can't really do that. We need those volunteers if we want to protect this island from Marley's survey boats." Hange informed.

Night had fallen once more as the Survey Corps waited for the survey boat. When they got closer, a yellow beam of light appeared followed by an explosion as Armin transformed.

"The Colossal Titan! Why?!"

Armin's transformation made the waters shaky as the Marleyan soldiers began jumping off the boats. Levi pointed his gun at one of them.

"Welcome to our filthy island, home to defiled devils. Thanks for coming. As long as you like pig piss. We won't mind if you refuse, but we also won't let you come ashore. I'm sorry, but you'll need to swim back home." Levi announced.

Everyone was in a room, looking at a blueprint. "By the way, why is your skin so dark, Onyankopon?" Sasha asked.

"He who made us once thought. Wouldn't it be interesting if there were more kinds of people out there? The same goes for the Subjects of Ymir like you guys. All of us exist because someone wanted us to exist." Onyankopon replied.

"Then who made us?" Armin questioned.

"The being that gave the founder Ymir her power. A god. There are those who think like that. It's anyone's freedom to think about it, right?" Onyankopon responded.

The next day, everyone was by the ocean as exotic food was placed in front of them.

"What is this food?" Connie asked.

"Is this stuff edible?" Jean questioned.

"Looks raw." Mikasa added on.

"First time having seafood? Niccolo is a master of Marleyan cooking." Yelena announced.

"Dammit. If you don't like it, don't eat, you Eldians. There's no food for—" Niccolo's rambling was cut off as Sasha took a large bite of the lobster in front of her.

She then began eating the lobster rapidly.

"Hey!"

"That's unfair, Sasha!"

"Mr. Niccolo, you're a genius!" Sasha cried out.

"E-Eat with more manners!" Niccolo scolded.

"I never had something like this." Sasha claimed.

Niccolo then turned around. "There's still more of them, so eat slowly." He informed.

Eren had shot at a glass bottle, making it shatter. "The port will be done soon. The progress has been so fast ever since those Marleyan engineers decided to help." Armin announced.

"I'm surprised they would agree to do so." Mikasa commented.

"You and me both, Mikasa." Josiah agreed.

Armin covered his ears as Eren fired once more. "Sure, we both were suspicious of each other at first and it didn't go so smoothly. But once time passed and we started to look at each other as a person, not title... I'm sure we can understand each other." He said.

"Armin. Did you see anything from Bertholdt's memory?" Eren questioned.

"Eh? Well... No, nothing useful." Armin responded.

"We don't have time. Zeke only has three years left to live." Eren stated.

"Yeah, and about that. Is it really okay for us to just go according to Yelena's plan?" Armin asked.

"Is there any problem?" Mikasa asked.

"Is threatening the world with the Rumbling really the only way to protect the Eldian people? Doing that would truly make us the devils that rule the world with fear." Armin answered as Eren shoots down another bottle. "Can't we just talk it through before that? If we can resolve our misunderstanding by speaking to Marley and the world..."

"Misunderstanding?" Eren repeated in question. "What misunderstanding?"

"You know, people think we're scary." Armin replied.

"According to the world, we're monsters who can turn into a Titan. There's no mistake in that." Eren informed.

"But there are Marleyans who we can get along with." Mikasa argued.

"How many? Most Marleyan soldiers are glaring at us from the prison cell, no?" Eren said.

"I'm sure if we have more time, we can..." Josiah started to say.

"Yeah. We need time." Armin agreed.

"Yes. And to buy that time... we must make sure they can't do anything to us." Eren declared, before firing his gun.

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The rain was coming down as Mikasa was sitting down, hugging her knees. Josiah had accompanied her as he frowned at her state. The two of them were wearing their dark green Survey Corps uniforms.

"Hey! You're Marleyan, aren't you?!"

A sudden shout got both Josiah and Mikasa's attention as they looked over at the commotion.

"What are you coming here for?! What business do you have at a graveyard for Eldians killed by Marley?!" 

"Please wait!"

"Please let us!"

Jean and Connie rushed over towards the Military Police officer. "We will take care of him!" Connie said.

"I beg you, please." Jean pleaded.

"Don't get so close with an Marleyan."

"Hey, Niccolo. Are you okay?"

"Dammit! Why? Did Sasha really die?" Niccolo asked. "Tell me. Why? What were you guys doing?!"

"They said she got shot by a girl who snuck into the airship. How could that possibly happen?"

"It was not just an ordinary girl. She'd been trained." Mikasa informed as her and Josiah joined them.

"A warrior candidate?" Niccolo guessed.

"I also let my guard down. I'm sorry." Jean apologized.

"Why are you apologizing to me? All I did was making food for you guys." Niccolo reminded them.

Connie placed a reassuring hand on Niccolo's shoulder. "Thank you for feeding her so much good food. Niccolo." He told him.

"How did you feel, Connie?" Niccolo suddenly asked.

"Sasha and I were like twins. It's like I'm losing half of myself." Connie responded.

Footsteps soon approached them. "You are?" Jean questioned.

Artur took off his hat. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter." He said.

Kaya and Lisa were crying at Sasha's headstone while Artur stood nearby.

"Umm, sir?" Niccolo spoke up, making Artur turn to him. "I'm just a captive Marleyan. But I have permission to work as a chef. Your daughter enjoyed my food more than anyone else. That's why... If you don't mind... Please come and taste my cooking."

Artur held out his hand. "On the house, right?" He asked.

"Yes!" Niccolo replied, shaking his hand.

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A/N: Another chapter is finished! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1799 words.