Once Leo and Pieck reached the port they were greeted by a vision from hell. Marleyan ships were bombarding the area as scouts and the local armed forces were trying to counter attack.
"If we lose this port we give the enemy a foothold to invade our nation! Not one step back!"
"We must help them!" Pieck says ready to charge the landing Marleyan soldiers.
"Go, I cannot transform so I'll look for a gun and join you. I'll warn the scouts not to shoot at you. Now go!" Leo shouts as bombs were slowly hitting more and more of the mainland. Leo runs down the hill and slides to the ground joining the resistance.
"Is that the Cart titan?" Jeanne shouts seeing Pieck mow down two Marleyan soldiers.
"Its fine. Pieck is on our side now. She pushed me, Levi and commander Erwin all the way from Marley to here. Hand me a rifle, I cannot transform!"
"Levi and Erwin are fine. That's great news, perfect actually. We've sent word for reinforcement, if we manage to hold the Marley ships from docking for long enough the Colossal titan could destroy them in one move."
"How are things here, where is Eren? Did the Marleyans got to him?"
"He was on the left flank, last time I saw him. He is unable to turn into a titan either. It's been a long time but if any of the titan shifters are on one of those ships we'll have to take them on the old fashion way.
"I've got to take Eren out of here immediately! There are titan shifters on those ships!"
"How do you know?"
"Because I know well the general in charge with this operation and I know his strategy all to well. He's going to use the Armoured and Jaws titan to draw our attention while Zeke will sneak on Eren and activate the founding titan. We cannot afford that to happen!"
"Damnation, go find Eren or captain Hange, tell everyone on your way there to be aware of Zeke otherwise we'll lose the war before it even started." Through bombardments and whistling bullets Leo makes his way towards the leftmost flank on the edge of the battlefield. As he runs he passes past a corner and someone suddenly pulls him behind as bullets from a machine-gun chew the corner of the building.
"Damned bloody devils..." A voice says while Sasha and Connie tell Leo about the situation. Niccolo was being forced to reload and rearm rifles while Sasha and Connie keep firing them one after the other.
"There are two machine-guns on the other side of the street, they turn into minced meat whoever tries to pass this corner. We've used our thunder-spears already and 3DM gear won't make it in time to the other side."
"What do you need to take those machine-guns out?"
"Explosives or something to keep them busy for long enough for us to take the shots."
"Get ready, you have only one chance at this." Leo says before throwing himself head first at the machine-guns. He gets shots through the whole body more than forty times in three seconds. Three seconds were enough however as Sasha and Connie get on the ground and fire. The machine-guns are silenced and Leo is bleeding on the ground.
"Take Eren out of here, Zeke will try using the found titan, he's here!" That's all Leo managed to say before succumbing to his wounds.
"Wait, he's going to heal up right? He's going to be fine, why would he do it otherwise?"
"There is no time!" Niccolo shouts pushing Connie and Sasha forward. "I'm already a traitor, might as well make you win, mourn him later, go!" The three follow Leo's orders and reach Eren's location who was surrounded on three sides by the enemy. Sasha shots them from the top of a building while Connie joins Mikasa in melee combat.
"Hey, you! You're Eren Yeager right?" Niccolo shouts running towards Eren. "Leave this position at once, go to the centre, reach the main force you're in way to big danger here. A man, Leo, he came to us and told us Zeke was running around disguised as a common soldier looking to reach you. You can't transform right? Into a titan, then Zeke's will overpower you and force the founding titan to activate the Wall titans and kill all Eldians. Get out of here now!"
"Like hell I'll leave the battlefield!"
"Eren, do what he says. If we lose this battle we won't lose the war, if we lose the founding titan we will lose the nation!" Reluctantly Eren leaves accompanied by Mikasa, Armin, Connie and Sasha. It was too dangerous for them use their 3DM gear so they had to crawl back the same way they came in while enemies were moving on the now retreating position. As they return they find a man standing over Leo's body examining it.
"Yo, brother! Is good to see you again."
"Is Zeke, don't let him get close to Eren!" Armin shouts while Mikasa is already rushing to slice Zeke to pieces.
"Wait!" Zeke shouts rising both hands into the air not wishing to fight. "This man here saw a way to save Eldia from destruction and his actions were strong enough to motivate Pieck to fight by his side. I'll trust him too and fight for that future." Zeke says before warning the scouts of his imminent transformation. Eren and the rest take Leo's body and leave while Zeke remains behind and transforms into the beast titan.
"The enemy, Eldia is not my enemy. That would be you, Marley." The beast titan breaks the roof of a building and throws it over the front line destroying the foothold Marley got on the island. Next he picked up explosives and cannon ammunition and threw it at the Marleyan ships damaging their hulls or completely sinking them forcing the remaining ships to leave.
It was a miracle but the battle turned out for the best as both the Cart and the Beast titan joined the Eldian soldiers and drove away the invaders. It was a short but terribly devastating battle where the whole port was destroyed and all of Eldia's ships were damaged. Once the situation was under control Hange ordered the scouts to look for survivors and wounded while Zeke will be held under observation inside a small, sturdy building on the edge of town, as far away from Eren as possible.
Another priority was Leo, he got shot by two machine-guns in an already very weakened state and people were questioning if he was alive or not.
"No bullets pierced the heart. I've extracted all of them, or at least those who didn't exit his body. The internal organs are... neither working or failing. It's like he has no more blood in his body, something like a mummified body."
"Is he breathing?"
"No, but his body shows signs of responding while probing it, muscles still activate when pressed so I can't tell what is going on. All we can do is wait and see."
"Thank you doctor." Hange says pondering just how many good soldiers and men were wounded or lost that day. First Erwin got shot then Levi was hit by the Armoured titan and now Leo was turning into mummy.
"If things take a worse turn we might have to consider having him be eaten to preserve the Warhammer titan."
"Like hell I will allow you to eat him. I will have at least a body to bury!" Pieck says angrily.
"We will consider it. For what is worth welcome to Eldia Pieck, we're glad to have you on our side. We'll count on you out there." Pieck doesn't answer looking down to Leo's immobile body.
"Tell us if something changes. I trust you'll have his best intentions in mind." Hange says before leaving to meet with Zeke.
"Erwin, get your ass here as fast as possible, I am making a mess!" Hange was under pressure, the gamble between having Leo eaten and losing the Cart titan or leave Leo as he was and risk losing the Warhammer was too difficult a choice to be made by one single person. Hange wasn't ready for this and what's worse, there he was, Zeke Yeager.
"Why the sudden betrayal of Marley? You had it good back then didn't you?"
"A dog with a gold leash is still a dog. I know someone who used to tell me that. The continental Eldians are oppressed for crimes that happened centuries if not millennia ago. You were there, you've heard the fight between Leo and Willy Tybur, one claims Eldia destroyed nations, the other claims Eldia was a failure that never managed to expand because of internal conflict. Which one should we believe? The side of the de facto rulers of Marley which acquired their power and prestige after a titan civil war, or the man who travelled through the real of the paths to save us from destruction? Its quite easy, I simply don't care who's right, I want to take the leash off and live. I'll die in a few years, with the power of the founding titan I can make it so whoever has titan shifting powers loses them before the time limit thus extending their lifespan back to normal."
"Self preservation and an improvement in one's own status. Is that all?"
"Well, Paradise is also extremely welcoming, the one hundred years old architecture is really lovely, looks like a nice place to live a long life. How's the cuisine?"
"The what? Never mind that, I will not allow anything to take place until Erwin arrive here and even then, not until the whole heads of state make a decision on what happens next. We had a plan, we had Leo's plan to keep the titan powers for a few generations until our population grows so that we might be able to protect the island but now with Marley's ambush at the world peace congress things might have changed. It is not for me to decide what will happen and neither for you. I trust you'll follow our orders until then."
"To the letter."
Keeping Zeke, Eren, Pieck and the wounded Leo there was too dangerous. Marley just lost its fleet and it won't try the same tactic twice. The scouts had to reach Shinganshina, take the wounded there, communicate to the other world powers what happened and wait for everything to play out. The wounded and the surviving prisoners prepare to leave with Zeke forced to stay inside a metal cage surrounded by armed guards with his arms tied to the metal bars wearing padded clothing so he might not bite himself and being gagged. Half way towards Shinganshina they meet with the alarmed garrison forces and commander Erwin who were rushing to their aid. The army continues south while Erwin and Levi join the scouts heading to Shinganshina.
"His conditions didn't improved one bit, did they?" Sasha ask feeling guilty for what Leo did.
"Who or what do you like the most in your life?" Pieck who never left his side asks each member of the group who came to visit him. "He told me he was fighting to repay the kindness of the scouts who themselves fought to make his past world a better place, although he is no longer capable of remembering it. So I have to know, if I have to help him out to follow his dream, what do you like the most in the world?"
"I guess I like food..." Sasha says meekly then with confidence. "There are a lot of foods out there and I want to try all of them out. I want to eat until I feel sick and then some more!"
"You're already doing that every day Sasha!" Connie protests.
"What about you then? Tell me what do you want more than food?"
"I want peace I guess. Ah, to hell with it, I want to return home a hero!"
"I want to see everyone in the world go along." Armin says.
"I want to make sure Eren is safe." Mikasa adds.
"You are awfully quiet Jeanne. Is something wrong?"
"There's no way I can tell you all what I want the most in life."
"Could it be... Oh, I get it, something so embarrassing, you can't say it out loud. You want to eat your mother's omelette while lazying around back home."
"Like hell I do!"
"Well, there goes five out of six people. I'll have to ask Eren the same thing once I get the chance to meet him."
"Wait a second, it is not five out of six, it is five out of seven! You want to be part of our group right! Then you have to share it as well. Leo told us who were the people who fought in the last battle, you were one of them too. I'm sure Leo would like to make sure you are happy too."
"Yes, I'm counting on that."
"So... what is it?"
"I told you, I'm counting on Leo to make me happy."
"I get it, but what is it that will make you happy?"
"You're an imbecile Connie." Everyone agrees before leaving.
"What a weird event, don't you agree Mikasa?" Armin asks somehow feeling he should. After all, Arming did swore to help Leo to make people happy and he felt Mikasa just like Jeanne was not fully truthful with her wish.
"I told you, all I want it to see Eren safe."
"Say Mikasa. We're not children any more. Are you that grateful for Eren saving your life back then that you are willing to no longer live it now for his sake, or is there something else?"
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Remember! When the scouts were attacked by a group of pure titans when Rainer and Bertolt stole Eren after revealing their identities, what were you about to say to Eren when you thought that was the end? Be honest with yourself for once."
"I am honest with myself, Eren is family."
"You're not and even I can see it... I'm sorry, we are all a little on edge and Leo's personality might have taken control over me for a second. Still, what I wanted to say I said it, otherwise you might find yourself in the same situation as Pieck."