"I cannot see them any more. We're gone too far now." Hange says looking towards Liberio no longer capable of seeing or hearing anything.
"Should we head back and help them?"
"We cannot!" Hange says with a sad expression. "This ship is too important for us to risk it being intercepted by Marley. We've managed to save several diplomats that participated at the congress, they will vouch for us in case word spreads that we were responsible for the battle in Liberio. We have to keep them safe until we reach Paradise and from then we'll see what happens next."
"What should we do with the prisoners captain? Should we throw them overboard and have them swim back to shore? They could make it."
"Right... Let's see. What are your roles on this ship? If its something useful I might keep you on board."
"I'm the chief engineer. I do the maintenance and clean the engines."
"I'm the navigator!" 'I'm the man in charge of this, I'm the man in charge of that'. Everyone was trying their best to convince Hange to keep them on board.
"So, what is your role here?" Hange asks one of the younger sailors who was quite silent.
"I'm a cook, I make the meals for the other sailors."
"A cook eh? You see, we on Paradise have some really tasty recipes however we have nothing on how to cook fish and those weird spider looking creatures that crawl on the sea floor. We heard they are delicious but have no idea how to prepare them. What do you say, you make us a nice... prawn I think was the name. You make us a prawn meal and we all get along."
"How do you know I won't poison all of you?"
"We're all buddies here right! You're my pal, aren't you... you..."
"Niccolo."
"We're pals, right Niccolo. Pals don't poison one another especially when my other pals have blades specially designed to cut flesh and bone." Hange gets closer and speaks in a lot deeper voice. "Now if you don't want to roast your own legs feed me those prawns."
The scouts were tired and hungry, not just from the battle and the voyage but also the devastating blow they took with Leo, Levi gamble to save Erwin's life. A warm hearty meal will improve everyone's condition.
"More! More!"
"Damn it spit it out, someone give me a hand here, Sasha is choking again!"
"No!" Sasha shouts shoving even more food in her mouth.
"You really are devils, fighting over food like that."
"Food is food, good food is better than regular food! I'll have all the good food I can get my hands on."
"At least chew it properly or one day you'll really die from your bad habits. Chew it properly and I'll make you some more!" Sasha nods as she starts biting and chewing even bigger pieces of lobster.
The first to reach Paradise however was not the stolen Marleyan ship but Leo's crystallised titan body. Somehow they reached the shore without drifting at sea for too long. Captain Levi and Erwin were still unconscious. Using Grisha's memories Leo takes a close look at Levi and deduces that beyond a few concussions he is fine. He protected himself with the blades from the Armoured titan's slap and dampened the hit to the building with the 3DM gear gas. As for how long Erwin will be unconscious he doesn't know, his bullet wound closed up and no scars were left behind as well as having his right hand restored but it was still impossible to tell how he will react to becoming a titan shifter.
After checking on them, not too far away something very large washed ashore. The exhausted Cart titan washes ashore. It must have fought against the currents with its massive body while the Warhammer's crystal body worked like a raft and carried them effortlessly to shore. Out of the titan steam starts coming out but nothing moves inside the steam. Both Leo and Pieck were trying to ambush one another.
"No blades eh... All broken or destroyed by the hit." Leo then looks at his incredibly skinny arm. He lost a lot of blood and once his body was no longer capable of maintaining his titan form his body started eating all the fat and muscles to create energy to keep the Warhammer standing. He crawls off the crystallised titan body and onto the beach.
"Time to meet with destiny. Sacrifice your hearts." Leo says to gain courage to face the possibly still standing Cart titan. Pieck was the most resilient titan out of all of them. There was always the possibility of her still being able to transform.
Leo walks up to the melting bones of the Cart titan and a punch flies his way missing him. Pieck was posing in a stance as if ready to fist fight him.
"It is over Warhammer titan. I'll defeat and take you back to Marley!" She says holding her fists up. Her left hand had a bite mark. She tried turning into the Cart titan but couldn't.
"You're three heads shorter than me and weight half as much as I do. Do you think you can win in a fist fight against me?" Leo was mocking her but in the state he was a well placed punch could really be able to break his ribs. He had no muscle or fat to cushion the blows, he was made out of chalk and Pieck was, granted, a rubber hammer but a hammer still. She throws two punches and Leo dodges both of them with ease.
"Physical violence doesn't suit you at all."
"I am a fighter too, I have my pride!" Pieck says trying to punch Leo in the gut. Her arm was so short compared to Leo who was at least thirty centimetres taller than her. She simply couldn't reach him. Unable or unwilling to throw a punch to defend himself Leo chooses to headbutt Pieck. They both are hurt and fall to the ground on their behinds. Leo can't help but laugh at how easily he took her out.
"Recognise this?" Pieck says pulling out a gun. Leo gets up seriously surprised.
"Why do you have that?" He asks.
"Why don't you have it? It is not nice to throw things that belong to you away."
"I never threw it away, it just served a different purpose."
"Since when do guns serve other purposes beyond killing people?"
"Guns defend people too! When I'm somewhere where I cannot defend my allies I leave a shield for them to hide behind. When my allies can fight back I leave a sword for them." Leo sits down and Pieck gets closer to the point she puts the gut up to his head.
"Have I even fooled you?"
"I knew from the very beginning that body wasn't you Leo. After we fought in the capital I realised something was off about you so I followed up to when I saw you meet up with the mid-eastern soldiers. I got angry, I got very angry and at that point I could have turned into the Cart titan and eat you all alive."
"Why didn't you? You had all the reasons to do it. I was an Eldian posing as a Marleyan, I was planning to steal the Warhammer titan and I was cooperating with spies and enemies of the state to damage Marley, you would have been a heroine to the nations."
"I was angry you didn't asked me for help!" Pieck throws a punch and it finally connects with Leo's head but between the two probably she got hurt more.
"So you threw that explosive which defeated the Warhammer a second time. Why?"
"Because I don't believe either in Marley nor Eldia. I believe in the people who are my comrades and back then I didn't had a comrade closer to me than you. I would have helped you fight the Warhammer titan, I could have helped you solve what's wrong with this world! Do you know what you made me go through? I had to jump at your neck and bite with killing intent although I knew all to well who you were. I'm mad! I am so mad and angry with you I regret pushing that piece of floating junk all the way from Marley to here! You made me feel only regret and anger!"
Leo listens silently as Pieck insults him and laments all what she had to go through because of him. The lying, the fighting, the longing of knowing the hidden reasons behind all of Leo's actions... Leo grabs Pieck's hand which was holding the gun and points it again at his head.
"Pull the trigger." Leo says and Pieck tries to pull the gun away refusing. "Pull the trigger!" Leo repeats pressing his thumb on her index forcing her to shoot.
"Do you feel better now?"
"No!"
"You will feel better in time." The gun was empty, Pieck didn't bothered reloading it nor maintain it for years.
"Can you turn into the Cart? We need to take Levi and Erwin to the nearest district there is. Levi is wounded and I don't know what is going to happen with Erwin after he ate the colossal titan."
"Sure I can, I was drawing you out using my human form." Pieck transforms and takes the three scouts on her back towards the nearest settlement.
"Do you know if Marley is planning to invade us?"
"It is most likely. Their initial plan was to accuse you all of murdering the ambassadors at the peace conference but that failed and the world will turn on them now. They will try to capture the founding titan and use the Rumbling as a war deterrent while they slowly conquer one country after the other."
"Then we must hurry, as soon as Levi and Erwin are battle ready Eldia will stand a chance." The Cart titan runs as fast as it cans up to the point where the walls were visible. Leo waves the wings of freedom from the Carts back as to not be bombarded as they approach the walls. The four are let inside and Levi and Erwin are taken immediately to a hospital. They didn't rest though as they had to meet up again with the rest of the scouts.
"I've been meaning to ask. You look a lot skinnier than yesterday. Is that normal?"
"I'm dying and slowly coming back to life. The Warhammer titan is far stricter that your Cart, if I don't use it properly it boils me alive inside its crystal. I've performed four transformations in too quick succession, to be real with you I don't think I can transform until my body doesn't get back to normal."
"Good thing you forced yourself in the fourth transformation though. When I saw you three jump off the ship and back on the docks I was considering swallowing you whole and following the stolen ship if necessary."
"That's a lot of commitment from you."
"I told you didn't I? I believe in my allies not in nations. I knew you had a plan so I acted like a double agent this whole time."
"Why would you trust me though? I could have simply been an Eldian looking to destroy the world for what they've done."
"I knew you were lying from the very beginning when we spoke on the ship and Annie beat you up. You were having difficulties insulting Eldians, it wasn't natural for you. When you told me off in the capital I fully realised there was something serious going on so I slowly started piecing things together. I still don't understand though, how did a Paradise Eldian got to Marley?"
"Through the paths. I've already lived once, in a different world where Eren started the rumbling. I saw him sacrifice and felt so moved I had to repay his kindness so I was sent back in time to find a way to save the world from destruction and I did. All we must do is make sure the enemy doesn't capture Eren and that the rumbling isn't activated. The bad part is however, I might have broken Eren's iron determination. If the two get in contact and Zeke is stronger than Eren the latter might lose his influence over the founding titan and all Eldians will die!"
"Will Zeke activate the rumbling?"
"I don't remember. Slowly I've lost all memories of what happened in the previous world. I don't even remember my own face or what I did for a living."
"So you don't remember me either?"
"We never met actually! You fought alongside the last titan shifters to end the rumbling but beyond that we've never spoke face to face."
"Hey Leo, if once we get to the other scouts, if something happens, if Paradise is invaded... know I'm glad I got to meet you."
"Likewise, but don't worry. We'll see the end of this."