Stumbling on the deck of MNV Unrelenting Justice as it took yet another hit to the hull from a Mid-East destroyer, she had to use a hand to make sure her sailor's hat didn't fall off her head of blonde hair.
For once, she cursed being so tall, it made her stand out like a sitting duck on the deck of the ship. Not only were they taking artillery fire from destroyers, they were being shot at by rifles from the Mid-East ships. They weren't here to destroy what was left of the second fleet, they were landing an invasion force at the port of Odiha.
Several ships had blown straight passed the blockade what remained of the fleet had put up when they were first spotted on approach, landing troops and commencing fighting with what were less than desirable forces in the city. Although Public Security seemed to be putting up a decent fight from what she could see from here.
Unfortunately for them, the four Titans were all halfway across the continent on the front lines, which meant it would be Navy against Navy in the water, and Army against Public Security on land.
"Yelena!" The Captain, now on the deck of the ship screamed at her. "Where's the fire team?! I want them up here now! And find out why my cannons aren't firing on the enemy!"
"Aye Sir!" Yelena gave an extremely fast salute before rushing off across the deck of the destroyer she was stationed on. She took the stairs three at a time, her long legs coming in handy for this as the pressed on to the inside of the ship.
Alarms were blaring on the inside, the destroyer now at Red Alert following the engagement with enemy forces. She navigated her way through the narrow corridors, brushing past many other sailors, many of whom were soaked in water that the ship was taking on.
"Sergeant Roberts!" Yelena called out down the corridor to the leader of the fire teams on the ship, though he couldn't hear her over the alarms. "Sergeant Roberts!" She yelled again, this time he did notice, he was leaning back against the door, rifle in hand, his trousers were soaked and and he'd lost his hat.
"Sergeant Roberts, the Captain wants the fire teams on deck now." She reported to the bearded man.
"The armoury's underwater." He motioned to the sealed door he was leaning on. "Shell went straight through the hull, it was a dud though, miracle the whole ship didn't go up in an explosion. Water got everything, three of my men as well."
"What about the cannons then? Why aren't they firing back?" Another blast shook the ship, causing the both of them to stumble and catch themselves.
"Here, take my rifle, go back to the deck." Sergeant Roberts handed Yelena the rifle that was in his hand. "I'll get those idiots firing the cannons again."
"Aye Sir!" Yelena saluted as the both of them rushed off, Yelena back in the direction she'd came from, while the Sergeant rushed off deeper into the ship to get the cannons firing again.
As Yelena reached the door to go outside, the ship rocked violently so that she was thrown forward against the railing, losing both the rifle and her hat overboard as she saved herself from the same fate. "Fuck." She cursed, rushing back up the stairs three at a time and back onto the main deck.
"Yelena!" The Captain spotted her, waving her over into what little cover remained on deck. "Where's my fire team?"
"The armoury is underwater Sir. A dud shell tore straight through the hull, everything was lost to the sea." She reported back.
"Shit..." A frustrated palm went to the forehead of the Captain. "What about my cannons? Why aren't they firing?"
"Sergeant Roberts went to check on that Sir." The extremely tall sailor informed her superior. "He said he'd get them firing again." The both of them then ducked as the sound of gunfire flew right by them.
The both of them peeked their heads around the corner, there was a destroyer looming right in front of them, preparing to fire once again. "He better fucking hurry up." The Captain said it as more of a prayer than anything else.
Before the enemy destroyer was able to fire, the decks below them had finally decided to get a grip and fire on the enemy destroyer, though only one shot was fired, and it missed, landing in the water right in front of the destroyer. "You've got to be shitting me." The Captain lambasted their luck. "The cannons must be-"
He was cut off this time as the rest of the cannons fired all at once, both him, Yelena and what was left of the crew watched as the shells tore through the enemy destroyer and sent it up in flames. The steel destroyer slowly sinking as the crew abandoned ship.
"Yes! Take that you Mid-East scum!" The Captain celebrated the blow with a huge fist pump, but the victory was to be very short lived. Their ship was basically crippled, and beyond the flames of the enemy destroyer was a huge battleship, and the Captain of said ship did not take too kindly to the destroyer on their side being sunk.
The light and sound of the battleship firing was barely registered by them, with Yelena barely managing to hit the deck before the impact. The shells tore through what was left of the hull, explosions booming throughout the lower decks, with the Captain becoming victim to one of those, with a shard of metal impaling him through the bottom of his jaw and all the way up through the top of his head, leaving him dead on the deck.
Lifting her head and looking around, Yelena saw what was left of the crew jumping overboard the first chance they got. Standing up, she made a break for the side closest to the harbour, watching the bridge and several of her comrades being burned alive by the fire that went up there. Yelena then dived up and over the guard rail with no regards to what could be on the other side, she just knew that if she stayed on the ship she was dead.
When she surfaced from the water, she swam to the nearest lifeboat that had been dropped from the destroyer by someone, though the one she had got onto was empty aside from herself. She had to watch from the halfway between the harbour and the sea as what was left of the Marleyan second fleet was decimated by the Mid-Easts larger and better equipped fleet. She contemplated swimming back to shore because there were no oars, she knew they wouldn't shoot her like this, they'd take her as a POW.
She had given up hope now, all that was left to do was wait until she and the rest of her fellow sailors were picked up out of the water.
Suddenly, a blinding light and an explosion came from behind her to the right, the winds rocking the lifeboat she was on. Turning around to look, she saw a pure white Titan stood by one of the enemy battleships that was moored just off the harbour. She and what was left of the sailors watched in awe as the Titan brought both fists up, and brought them down on the deck of the ship, smashing right through the hull of the entire ship and shoving it over into its side to let it sink.
"Is that..." Yelena didn't know what to think, she'd never seen a Titan like that before, she'd only seen pictures of the Armoured and Female Titans before, never one up so close. She watched as he moved to the two troop landing ships moored in the harbour, watching as he ripped them both to pieces with his bare hands, meaning that the ground troops no longer had a way out of Odiha.
The steel and metal that made up the ships were torn through like they were pieces of paper. Yelena had no idea a Titan could be so powerful. It was only two weeks ago when the Mid-East Navy sent the Female and Armoured Titan running for the hills, yet this one was making their navy look like a child's play set.
Once finished sinking the ships in the harbour, the Titan turned his attention to the ships out in the bay, wading forward through the water until he was stood about waist deep in the water right next to where Yelena was in her lifeboat. All she could do was stare at the Titan as it stood right before her, though the sounds of artillery being fired got her attention, the battleship out in the bay, along with the remaining destroyers had fired at the Titan and her by proxy.
All the Titan did to protect itself was put an arm across its face, but the other arm came across the life boat to protect her. She could feel the impacts of the shells hitting the Titan, it was rocking the water with the force, but after the barrage, the White Titan remained standing, and when he looked back to see if she was okay, that's when she realised, this wasn't just a mere Titan, this was a God standing before her.
"My god..." She muttered as she watched in awe as the Titan stood protecting her formed a crossbow in his right hand out of nothing, and fired it at one of the approaching destroyers. The white bolt that formed out of nothing flew through the air towards the destroyer, going straight through the hull of the ship without any resistance, and by the time she looked back up at the Titan, he had already fired another bolt that tore through the ship once more, igniting something on the interior as the ship went up in flames.
In the time it had taken the Titan to sink one ship, another two destroyers had closed the distance, giving them a free shot at the Titan. The ships opened fire, a huge volley of artillery shells being fired at both him and Yelena. This time, Yelena didn't flinch, because she knew this God would protect her, and she was right, a huge shield sprouted from the forearms of the White Titan.
The explosions rocked the water once again, but the Titan remained virtually untouched aside from some pieces of what she presumed to be Titan hardening breaking off and falling into the sea. Yelena swore she saw a spark in the right hand before something began forming out of nothing yet again, this time it wasn't a crossbow, but instead it was a rope like creation. It grew back into the water, flopping down just like a normal rope would.
He didn't even need to move, the ships had closed to a distance where they thought the artillery would blow right through him, but instead, what they got was far worse than they could've imagined. He lifted the rope out of the water, and it split at the end, into nine protruding tips, each with a small ball at the tip. He brought it up and slammed it down with enough force to crack the earth open, splitting the ship into six different parts, ripped apart from top to bottom.
The other destroyer came next, suffering from a side swipe that tore through anything on the top deck of the ship, setting the ship ablaze, but he did have the mercy within him to finish it off with another swift blow, the nine-tailed whip he created ripping through the steel with ease.
"Is this what the true power of a God looks like?" Yelena wondered to herself as the lone battleship in the bay had actually begun to retreat, presumably signalling for any reinforcements for the initial invasion to do the same, but when he reached for the small of his back, she noticed the cable going from the tailbone of the Titan to something in his hand.
What happened next was what solidified Yelena's thoughts of this being God himself. The Titan wound up a throw, and lobbed something shiny towards the battleship in the distance, collapsing into the water just after he did. She was concerned for a moment, but when the light shone once more through the air and the Titan formed again in mid-air, crashing right into the bow of the battleship, he had damaged it severely, but slipped off the end.
However, like a fish out of water, he surfaced very quickly and flopped onto the ship, knocking away anything that was left on the bow he'd just crashed into so he could stand up straight, staring down the bridge of the ship, and for the first time in many, many years, the famed War Hammer was formed by him once again.
"He's no Devil." Yelena watched from the harbour waters on her feet as the hammer was brought down on the bridge, obliterating it into blood, metal and debris, along with the rest of the ship as it began to sink. "He is God." She spoke aloud, her eyes sparkling with a rekindled hope that was once lost entirely.
(Eight days later, Hizuru Embassy)
"I'll put it to you bluntly Mr Tybur, the Mid-East want to pull out of the war entirely after you decimated a fleet of their ships in the bay of Odiha." Kiyomi Azumabito, didn't look to pleased in the room they'd conversed in before. "The Ambassador I've been relaying information to for you told me in confidence. The Mid-East no longer believes the war to be worth the risk anymore. Not with the famed War Hammer Titan picking sides this time."
Lukas frowned, yes, he'd dealt the Mid-East a huge blow in Odiha, but he didn't expect them to take such a drastic response from them in such a short time. "This certainly is problematic for my plan to prolong the war long enough for Paradis to join them." He placed the cup of tea in hand back onto the saucer. "The war has been a great success for them despite what happened in Odiha. Their Navy continues to patrol the high seas, posing a threat to every Marleyan Naval ship. They took the Arabian Peninsula, which has a huge amount of oil beneath the land. They also convinced the Isles of Brittanica to revolt and kick out the Marley."
"Perhaps the war is becoming too big for them to handle?" Kiyomi offered up as a suggestion. "Despite the numerous nations in the Alliance, Marley as a nation is still far larger, in land mass and economy. They can afford a prolonged war, the Alliance can't sustain it."
"Can't, or won't?" He narrowed his eyes at the Hizuru ambassador, she was up to something, he could feel it. The Azumabito's reputation for being money grabbers was well known, she needed this war just as much as he did.
"Ambassador Kiyomi." He began his next sentence with. "You do realise that if there is no war with the Mid-East, then Marley will turn their attention back to Paradis, which means no Iceburst Stone for you."
He knew that had gotten to her, because she'd flinched at the mention of the precious resource not being available to Hizuru. "Whatever doubts that they're having about the war, I suggest you help steer them towards less of that, and more fighting against Marley."
"Nothing is so simple as just telling them to make more war." Kiyomi answered calmly, though deep down, she was just as frustrated and annoyed at the situation as he was. "As a Titan, you terrify them. They're calling you 'the Devils right hand' in the Mid-East. I'll see what I can do, but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."
"Ambassador Kiyomi, when we last spoke, you said you told the Mid-East everything about the deal we'd made, minus who you made it with." He brought that up.
"That's correct." Kiyomi nodded. "I fail to see how that's relevant at this point in time though."
"Did you tell them about the Iceburst Stone?" He posed the question, and the way he didn't get an answer immediately told him everything he needed to know. "You greedy bitch!" He slammed his desk onto the table between them, making Kiyomi jump in her seat. "Do you have any idea about the risks I'm taking just to be here and speak to you? We had a deal, you need to convince the Mid-East Alliance to keep up their war effort, or the deal is off."
"And what's stopping Hizuru from sending a diplomatic envoy to Paradis anyway?" Kiyomi countered his outburst with. "Everyone knows where the sea wall is, we can dock there at night and scout the region."
"Marley's focus may be on the Mid-East for the moment Ambassador Kiyomi." Lukas had now regained his composure. "But Paradis has always been on their minds. It won't be long before they start sending Survey ships to scout the Island once again." He informed her. "In the wake of the attempted Invasion of Odiha, I've made some new friends that have kindly decided to join my cause. I can guarantee that they will make contact with the people on Paradis before you ever do."
"You aren't the only one who has cards up their sleeve Mr Tybur." Kiyomi spoke rather suspiciously, at least to him it was suspicious. "We Azumabito haven't survived the last century on playing nice. You haven't told me everything, so there are things that I kept to myself. The profit to be made was just another incentive to add to the list."
"You could have a deck of cards up your sleeve Ambassador, but I don't give a shit. Nothing you do will surprise me enough to make me back down." He warned her. "You will convince the Mid-East to continue the war using Iceburst Stone as an incentive to defeat Marley. I'll have my new friends get the Island ready for your arrival once they get there."
"Again, what's to stop us from going there in advance?" Kiyomi posed the question to him yet again.
"Well for starters, they know who I am for one, and know nothing about you." His straight face then twisted into a subtle, yet sadistic looking smirk. "And if I find out you tried to cut me out, I'll tell the State Secretary about the Hizuru engineers helping the Mid-East extract oil from the Arabian Peninsula."
"That isn't happening though." Kiyomi informed him. "We would just deny it."
"You could, but I just saved an entire city from a Mid-East invasion force. Who do you think he's more likely to believe?" It was a good point, Kiyomi had to admit that. Marley would most likely believe him over anything Hizuru had to say on the matter.
"You might not be Willy's son, but I can see you take after him quite a bit. He can also be very persuasive when it comes to negotiations. Although his style is far less threatening and barbaric than yours is." The Ambassador told him. "Willy tends to make concessions and take his time, whereas you use force and threaten others until you get what you want from them."
"Just because I threatened you, that doesn't mean I've threatened others until I get my way. You'd be surprised as to how persuasive I can be when I start speaking about my cause. People become sympathetic surprisingly quick." He shot back. "I didn't force your agent into my bed just to back you into a corner, in fact, it was almost the other way round. I would've been quite happy to be drugged or whatever, but no, that wasn't what happened at all. Now we're in this situation, where I've been more than gracious with an offer to bring your nation back to its former prestige and glory while bringing Marley to its knees, yet you spit it back in my face, why is that?"
Kiyomi let a small smirk come across her face. "Contrary to your assumptions Mr Tybur, I did in fact speak to the Mid-East about the Iceburst Stone reserves on Paradis. They weren't interested in dealing with the Island Devils, so therein lies your main problem. It isn't me, It's the Mid-East Alliance's stubbornness to not see Eldians as actual people, it seems they too have been brainwashed by Marley's constant push towards the Devil propaganda."
"Don't act like we were any different to them Ambassador Kiyomi." Lukas scoffed at her attempts to sit on her high horse. "We were the same at one point in time. My views were changed after living there for years and seeing them suffer and struggle for every inch. Your views changed because of the money, right?"
"Not just the money, the descendant of the Asian clan on the Island that you mentioned. I never mentioned it at the time, but since we're clearly struggling to settle on a deal, I shall tell you that we believe the descendant you mentioned is descended from one of the Shogunate's heirs." Kiyomi revealed to him. "In all the panic over the Great Titan War, an heir was mistakenly left behind on the Island, and as you may know, the Shogun clan no longer exists, meaning that they are Hizuru's hope."
His eyes narrowed at Kiyomi once again, he couldn't tell if she was lying or not. Usually he would poke a little further into the story, but honestly, Mikasa being royalty, he could somewhat believe it. She may lack the fairness an Empress, but she definitely had the military experience to rule as a female Shogun.
"Interesting, her name is Mikasa Ackerman if you wanted to know, but I don't know if she'd be willing to return with you to Hizuru. She's very attached to some of the Islanders." Lukas informed her.
"Mikasa Ackerman..." Kiyomi repeated the name before standing up and bowing before him. "Thank you Mr Tybur. This information will be crucial for us in the future." She then raised her head and sat down once again. "I will see what I can do about the Mid-East Alliance considering surrender."
"I'm sure they'd be even more convinced if you were to show them what Iceburst Stone could do." It was a suggestion, nothing less, nothing more. "Or maybe they want to know that the Warriors are preparing to quash the revolt on the Isles of Brittanica."
"They would be willing to listen to that information, that I am sure of." The two of them stood up and bowed once more. "Thank you again Mr Tybur. Your contributions to Hizuru will be remembered."
(Five months later, Paradis Island)
"Captain!" A sailor rushed up alongside his superior, who was busy looking at the Island through a pair of binoculars. "Still no word from the advance party. It's been two hours."
The Captain hummed before turning to face the sailor. "Then have teams two and three prepare to land as well."
"Yes Sir." The sailor rushed off again.
"These damned Island Devils. They managed to defeat our Warrior Unit. We need to find out what they're doing now and relay it back to Marley." As he finished speaking, every sailor on the ship was caught off guard as the boat rocked violently and tipped backwards, causing some to slide down the deck while others held on to the railings for their own safety.
"Grab onto something!" The Captain yelled at his men, though when he looked down, he saw a huge arm wrapped around the underside of their ship as it was hoisted well into the air. "Its... It's a Devil!" The Captain yelled.
The whole ship was lifted over fifteen metres above ground by a huge Titan and was carried over to the rocks above the sea level and was set down, causing many sailors to hit the deck with the force they were dropped with.
On the higher rocks directly in front of the ship stood a man, accompanied by two other men, though one of them was restrained with his arms behind his back. "Good Morning." He spoke with an air of command about him. "My name is Erwin Smith, welcome to our Island."
Erwin then gestured to the Marleyan Sailor who had been restrained. "We have captured the team you sent to first scout the Island. None of them have been harmed, and none of them will be. You have a choice right now. Lay down your arms and come chat with us like people over a cup of tea, or alternatively, you could fight back and piss off that Titan stood right behind you."
"Please Captain! Forget about me and gun these Devils down while you can!" The sailor, whose name was Niccolo pleaded.
"Niccolo..." The Captain trailed off as he grabbed the nearest rifle and stood up, pointing it at the three men stood up on the rocks. "Know this you wretched Devils! Marley doesn't negotiate with filthy bloods like you! And we're certainly not going to sit down and drink the pig piss you call tea!" Despite the threat of the looming Titan behind him, he rushed forwards to the bow of the ship. "Marley will never bend to the power of Devils. This is all they have to say to you!"
Erwin stood still, he never moved a muscle as the gunshot rang out through the air. Though instead of him being shot, on the ship, the Captain had been shot by one of his fellow sailors, straight through the head as well.
After a moment of silence, one of the sailors raised their weapons at the one who had shot the Captain. "Put your hands up Yelena!"
Yelena though, had no intention of doing so, instead pointing her weapon back at him. "Lay down your weapons." She ordered, and on cue, her comrades sprung into action, forcing the minority of sailors who weren't with them into submission.
"Erwin." Yelena removed her hat as the others had restrained them, giving those on the Island a good look at her. "I'd like to accept your invitation. Let's have some tea."
Her attention was then brought to the Titan stood behind them. "I've been told so much about you. Eren Yeager."