"Eren, you need to withdraw from the tournament!" shouted Mikasa. All of those fights she watched had worried her enough already, but this last match she watched, Levi against Levi, as she called it, had been the last straw.

The powers of those below were far beyond the limits of humanity's comprehension. What if someone like Hiei comes across Eren? She couldn't watch him die in a horrible way like Feitan guy. Even if she somehow intervened to save him, what could she do crushed like an insect for no good?. From inside, she cursed Zenex, who tricked them and brought them here.

'You want to get rid of the enemies and be free right? Then I have great proposation for you guys.'

"I told you, Mikasa, I will not give up my decision." Eren answered calmly, but he actually his anger started raising inside. Mikasa's overprotectiveness has always bothered him, and after watching the last match, he was already on top of his nerves. And he couldn't deal with Mikasa right now.

"Eren, you just watched the previous matches. There's no way you can win." this time Armin intervened. Armin was always right. That's why his support for Mikasa made Eren even angrier.

"Zenex said that everyone has a chance to win. I had to keep going forward, even the is small." Eren said, but he also knew that he was lying. The worst of it was that he didn't know if he was telling this lie to them or to himself.

"Eren, you're going to hurt yourself!" she tried to make sense to him again, Mikasa, but she couldn't continue because of Eren's hard look.

"I don't need you to worry about me, Mikasa. Winning this tournament means freeing our people. And if you're going to stand in my way, you'd better get back home." Eren said coldly and rushed out of the room, ignoring the hurt expression on Mikasa's face.

Without looking where he was going, he rustled through the gray corridors and went down the stairs and out into the garden. Mikasa and Armin were right. He didn't have the slightest chance against what he saw, but he couldn't give up. If he could get his hands on the right to make a wish, he could destroy the curse of hatred on the Eldian people, save his people in Marley, bring back everyone he lost to the Titans.

He could have brought his parents back.

That's why he couldn't quit. There was so much to lose. He should have won even if it cost his whole body. How dare they ask him to withdraw from the tournament. Didn't they see what they could win? The selfishness of his friends was making the blood rush to his brain.

'They dont know what I saw. The future, my future, what Im going to do. They cant understand, none of them!'

After going down to the garden, several rooms and corridors had passed by without noticing. When he looked around, he saw that there were tables and food everywhere. I should be in the dining room, he thought. There was a pile of food on a table and he saw a young man in a straw hat and a red shirt sitting next to him. He was looking towards himself. He turned his body and raised his hand in the air. When he turned towards him, he saw that there was a huge X-shaped wound in the open area of his shirt. Eren shuddered inside when he thought about how did he get such a wound.

"Yo!" The boy simply wave him and went back to his food. This was strange for Eren. Why was he eating somewhere where there was no one? It was none of his business, but he was curious anyway.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm eating" His tone was serious, although he used an expression that seemed sarcastic, for some reason Eren felt that he was responding in a completely serious way.

"...I can see that. Why are you eating here?"

"Because this is the dining hall. You can eat here. Are you stupid or what?" Okay, he's starting to get really angry. The worst of it was that he could feel that he was asking the last question with all the seriousness in his heart.

"Because there is no one here. Why are you eating here alone instead of eating in your group's room? Or are you one of those who likes to be alone?" He knew that what he said last was not true, for some reason the character opposite him seemed like someone who liked to talk to people, but people were not always as they were seen from the outside. Eren knew this very well.

Annie, Bertolt, Reiner, Historia...

"Nahhhhh! I hate being alone. I came here to meet people from other universes, but for some reason no one is here. Maybe they're sleeping..." he put his finger to his chin and muttered to himself. Eren could see the wheels spinning an smoke raising from boy's head. He decided to save him from this suffering.

"Not that they are asleep. Everyone is in a foreign environment, and learning about the strength of the opposing group gives your group an advantage. That's why everyone wants to stay in their room and dont risk their chances of winning." he explained simply, but you could easily see from the look on the boy's face that he didn't understand the situation.

"That's a strange reason... No matter what the rules say, people should meet each other and have a party. Oh, anyway, there'll be more meat left for me." and he shrugged his shoulders and started chewing on the second giant piece of meat without a care in the world.

When did he finish the first one?!

'I think I've just found the male version of Sasha.'

"By the way, I didn't ask your name." Eren asked.

"Yes, you didn't ask."

.

.

.

.

.

Even though 1 minute has passed, he still hasnt responded. 'I take back my word. Sasha can't be that stupid.'

"I meant to learn your name."

"Ah! Sorry, sorry! I'm Monkey D. Luffy, it's a pleasure! Yours?" He knew that most of the participants of the competition said their last names first. Still, Monkey was a strange last name. I think Ymir used this phrase for Beast Titan. Anyway, at least he knew it wouldn't be his first name.

"Eren Jaegar."

"Ani Kruger?"

"Eren Jaegar!"

"Ermac Ceaser?"

"E-REN JA-E-GER!"

"EH? Your name is very difficult! I'll call you Eri!"

'Why?'

Eren didn't want to deal with this idiot anymore. He thought about leaving the hall, but gave up, and feeling that he would regret it, sat down in the chair opposite to Luffy. After all, he was curious about other universes. Judging by Luffy's intelligence level, it would be very easy to search of his mouth.

"Tell me, Luffy, do you have a dream that you wanted to fulfill?" he first got into the subject by asking about Luffy's motivation. He would learn both, what kind of person was he and what kinda world he came from by questioning the reasons for his motivation.

Yes, as you have noticed, old Eren who always says what he want was no longer. He still displayed those characteristics from time to time, but especially after learning about Marley's existence and seeing those future memories, he gradually began to turn into a colder and more deceptive person. Is it because the enemy he is facing now is the world, is it because of all those memories he has seen, or is it because of the psychological pressure created by the consciousness that only 8-7 years remain? He didn't know why, but it didn't matter. This new state of him was stronger and he welcomed it.

"Shishishishi! Of course there is. My dream is to become the King of Pirates." That smile on Luffy's face could have made even a person who had never laughed in the world (at least himself) smile (he wanted to show this boy to Mikasa and Levi), but Eren felt only disgust.

'Just another fool who wants to rule.'

"So you want to rule over everyone, huh?" he asked in the most normal tone of voice he could, keeping his anger in.

"Huh? Why would I want such a stupid thing?" Luffy's sentence confused Eren. He had said openly that he wanted to be king. How could a king be one if he wasn't going to rule over someone?

"But you said so just now..." Luffy interrupted Eren with that infectious smile.

"To be the King of Pirates means to be the freest person in this world!"

When he heard this sentence, Eren could not move. His widened his eyes like someone tell him Mikasa started laughing like crazy. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He asked again to understand if he had not heard wrong.

"So your dream ... to be free?"

"Of course it is!" Luffy said proudly.

Eren resembaled the person sitting opposite him look like himself. No, that was an insult to Luffy. No matter what he did, Eren could never be free. No matter how hard he tried, there was always something that kept him in chains.

But Luffy wasn't like that. Now that he knew his dream, Eren could feel it easily. He was free not only physically but also spiritually. He was someone that no chain could hold. Luffy was the person Eren wanted to be.

"...mine too..." he muttered in a way that only he could hear. He couldn't understand what this feeling was that he was feeling inside. Is it jealousy or admiration? Maybe it was a mixture of both.

"What did you say?"

It was dangerous. He could have given away his powers with a one wrong sentence. Even worse, he could have been eliminated from the tournament. But he had to do it. He should have to told Luffy about the things he went through. Because only person like Luffy who could understand him. Mikasa couldn't understand, Jean couldn't understand, Historia couldn't understand, even Armin couldn't understand. Only someone like him could understand. A free person.

"Tell me, Luffy, do you have a time to talk?"

In next half hour, Eren told to Luffy everything about his own world (except that he was a titan), or tried to tell because he was trying to wake Luffy up every 5 minutes. He realized later that he had to tell his story in a very interesting way, the same way he would tell a fairy tale to a child, otherwise he could not give Luffy's attention to the story. Sometimes he was surprised at himself why he was trying so hard.

"Now let's see if I understand correctly. There are stupid perverted giants in your world and they eat people." Luffy said with a serious expression, but from the way he described the titans, Eren had a hard time taking him seriously.

"That... is an interesting way to describe them, but it's true."

"The majority of humanity chooses to live in a cage because they are cowards and are afraid to come out." Although he didn't use the word coward, Luffy's addition surprised him, but at the same time made him happy. This showed that they were of the same mind.

"Exactly my opinion, but I must admit being eaten its not a good way to die."

"You are from an army unit that is trying to destroy these perverts and wants to save humanity and be free."

"Exactly."

"So far, you've fought the female pervert, the giant pervert, the armored pervert and the pervert gorilla, but actually, these pervs have been your friends since the beginning."

'Why is he describing it that way?!' Eren sweat dropped from his head.

"But what you have learned is that actually all of your people are perverts, and your ancestor Ymir was the first pervert in history."

'OK, when you say that, it sounds really wrong. Hah, that's weird. For some reason, somewhere in the depths of my mind, he felt a girl slipped and fall to the ground.'

"And in fact, the whole world hates you. And right now a country called Barney is trying to destroy you and calling you devils."

"Marley." corrected Eren. He couldn't understand how a person could be so bad with names.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

Luffy looked at Eren with straight gaze for a while. It was as if he was weighing all that he had learned and trying to think of the best answer that could give. Eren could have sworn that he was seeing the wheels turning inside his brain again.

Racism was not a distant concept for Luffy. He had seen examples of them many times so far. Sacred dragons, what was done to the fishman, the city where Trao came from... He always hated it. If people look a little different, so what. What mattered was what kind of person they were. Even the most normal person could have a disgusting character.

On the other hand, these giant perverts sounded funny. He wished he had Usopp with him, he thought. He was wondering about his reaction to these perverted giants. Finally, he decided to answered to Eren.

"I can understand a little. I haven't experienced the same things as you, but few of my friends I know are in the same situation as you."

"The same?" Eren wondered who they were, but Luffy skipped the subject.

"Those stories don't matter right now. The important thing is that your dream right now is freedom. So why don't you obtain it?" It was easy to say, but on the other hand, to reach it...

"It's not that simple. Armin used to show his grandfather's books when he was little. Snowy islands, fiery mountains, the ocean... I thought that at least when I reached the ocean, I would be able to achieve my freedom. I reached out, but I didn't feel like I was finally free. No matter how much I wanted to enjoy the beauty I saw with my own eyes, I couldn't escape the terrible truth that lay in my subconscious. There are enemies across that ocean who only want to steal our freedom." Eren said with despair in his voice, but Luffy snapped at him without paying attention to it.

"That's a fool's way of thinking."

"What?" Eren glared at Luffy because of the insult he had received, but Luffy didn't care about that.

"If a bunch of assholes want you to die, so what? At the end of the day, the important thing is to live your life the way you want, with a smile on your face and no regrets."

"You can't understand my situation, I..." Eren tried to object, but Luffy interrupted him.

"Of course I understand! Does the whole world want you to disappear? BIG DEAL! The world wants to destroy me and my crew as well, and I started this war by burning their flags myself."

"EHHHHHHHHHHH?!" Eren's jaw dropped to the floor. Did he just say that he started a war against the world? 'And he said it like most normal things. This guy… I need to know more about him. Maybe he's the answer Im looking for. Because the other answer is….'

"And do I regret it? Of course not! I would do the same things again if it happened again! No matter how much they came after me, I always managed to push them back. Because I knew the answer. The answer is the same for you." Finally, he got up from the chair and stood in front of Eren and looked into her eyes. Eren wanted to escape from these iron stares, but something was pulling him into these eyes.

"If someone wants your freedom and tries to touch your friends, all you have to do is crush them without mercy."

At Luffy's words, Eren bent his head forward. I wasn't like He wasn't motivated by his words, he was just obsessed with one word. He didn't know if he really had a true friend. He had only a handful of people as his friends. At least from the ones who survived... His oldest friends, the ones he felt closest to, were Armin and Mikasa. But could he use the word friend for them? He would have given his life for them, and they will give for him...

But he could feel it... he was getting further away from them every day. Whether it's ideas, feelings... A voice inside him was saying that soon they would become complete strangers to each other.

"Friends, eh?" Eren looked up and looked at Luffy with a sad smile. "I don't think there is anyone I can call my friend. The closest to me right now are my childhood friends Mikasa and Armin. But even they don't fully understand me."

"Especially Mikasa, she's being overprotective towards me. Sometimes she even disobeys orders because of me and is constantly trying to save me. Even though I kept my distance from her and... " When Eren finally looked into the other person's eyes, he met with Luffy's hard gaze and could not continue his words from those glances.

"Don't do that!" From Luffy's tone of voice, he didn't dare to object.

"Don't push your friends away from you." This time he used a calmer tone of voice but it didn't make him any less menacing. Nevertheless, Eren found the courage to respond to himself.

"I'm not pushing them away, just..." before he could continue, Luffy interrupted.

"This Mika girl, she is constantly saving you. She cares about you because she's your nakama. There is no shame in getting help from someone from nakama. I'm strong, but I was already dead without my nakama by my side."

"If she's always saving you, save her too."

"If she's laughing, laugh with her!"

"If she is angry, be angry too!"

"If she's crying, find out why she's crying and beat hell out of the reason!"

"If she's eating, eat and party with her!"

"That one wasnt very relevant..." the last thing he said was really ridiculous, Eren wanted to throw himself to the ground and burst into laughter. If Luffy hadn't continued his words, maybe he would.

"Even if you're finally free, what's the point if you don't have any friend to share this freedom?"

It was this remark that impressed him the most. If the price of your freedom was to be alone, was it really worth it? He was always thinks he's friends slowly distancing them from him , but maybe it was he who pushing them away. Especially Mikasa...

When he thought about his life with Mikasa, a feeling of guilt filled him.

No matter how you look at it, he was always hard on Mikasa since he was a kid. So what had he done. Except to protect him and think about him... When she heard that she already had 8 years left, the girl's insides were shattered. Maybe Luffy was right, he should have been nicer to her. He should have thanked her and kept her with him when he saved her. He didn't want to lose her.

A lot of scattered thoughts came to his mind. To bring Reiner into his own ranks and become friends with him again, to save Annie from that crystal... A lot of crazy crazy thoughts... He threw all this into the deepest parts of his brain.

He would think about these things on his way back. Now he could not make a decision properly with this disorganized head. He decided to switch to a different topic.

"You're a pirate, aren't you? In that case, you must be on the same team as Law."

"Trao? Of course it is. Isn't he a pretty great guy?" Luffy said with a smile. There was also a little pride in that smile.

"Yes, he is. He reminds me of Captain Levi. Even his voice is almost like him. His powers are also quite extraordinary. Do you have such unusual powers, Luffy?" His purpose in asking this was not actually to learn his powers. He just wanted to talk about it. He was pretty sure Luffy wouldn't tell him his powers. After all, no one could be that stupid.

Right?

"Ehhhhhh... I definitely don't have amazing power and that allow me to stretch my body." Luffy said, pointing his eyes to the side with his mouth.

'He...He...He's the worst liar I've ever seen in my entire life!' Eren's mouth was open in surprise and he could hardly restrain himself not to scream. He felt a little guilty. If he was disqualified because of himself, he would feel bad. He decided to change the subject again.

"You know what? We've always talked about me. And you? Since you are a person who travels the seas, you should have a few adventures."

"Shisshisshisshisshisshis! Do you want to hear it?" Luffy asked with the eyes of someone who almost wants to play games with him.

For the next half hour Eren listened to the strangest and most wonderful tales he had ever heard. Sea monsters, animals that can fight like humans, island on the sky, traveling underwater in bubbles...

If anyone told such stories, Eren would call them nonsense. Yes, he did not have much knowledge of the outside world, but he had his own line of reality. And these described things stood far outside this line. But when Eren looked into Luffy's eyes, he could believe him. Those eyes were not just the eyes of a madman.

Those eyes were the eyes of a madman who had experienced them.

##########

When Eren finally returned to his room, the fire in his eyes had disappeared. Instead, there was a look of relief on his face. His friends noticed this change in him because they couldn't say whatever they were going to say when they got back.

Eren looked at Mikasa standing by the window for a while, then walked in front of him so that he could face him. Even though Mikasa was a little nervous, she managed not to miss his gaze. Eren put his hands on Mikasa's shoulder and looked at her with determined eyes.

"Mikasa, listen to me! I will not withdraw from this tournament!" Then he softened his facial expression and smiled at her.

"And also, I'm not going to die either." After saying these words, he hugged her tightly.

"If things get too ugly, I will withdraw from the match. I promise you." At first, Mikasa's eyes opened in surprise. Until now Eren never talked with her lile this way. For a little bit, he doubted if someone else had replaced Eren, but for some reason he could feel that it was Eren. Finally, she also returned his hug.

"I haven't been able to return your feelings until now. I'm sorry. I will never leave you." When Eren said these words, he meant that he cared so much about her, but this could not prevent Mikasa from understanding otherwise. His face had turned crimson.

"Damn teenagers and their hormones." growled Levi.

"I owe you an apology too, Armin." Eren said, leaving Mikasa and turning to Armin.

"Eren, did something happen after you left the room?" Armin asked with surprise, but also with little happiness. It was heartwarming to see Eren acting like this after a long time. Or he couldn't help but think if someone else had replaced Eren...

"I just had a conversation with another participant." explained Eren. This time, the happiness on their faces was replaced by fear.

"Eren! What if he had tricked you and found out about your power and disqualified you from the tournament." Mikasa shouted, but Eren just looked at her with a grin and answered without breaking down at all.

"Don't worry, Mikasa, he wasn't a smart enough to do this. He even accidentally told me about his power."

"What kind of idiot would do such a thing?" Levi asked with amazement in his voice.

"I don't know, but he managed to open my eyes, even though he was a idiot."

"Eren, person you met, what kind of person was he?" asked Armin curiously. Eren gave him his answer with a sincere smile.

"...he was a true free person."

OMAKE

Where everything, the past and the future, all memories were connected, a little girl was sitting wrapped around her knees.

This girl had a lot of names. The girl who made a deal with the devil, God, the first titan, but her name was simply Ymir.

Ymir didn't talk much, in fact, she didn't talk at all. She only did what she was told and did not show any characteristic features aside from obeying. But this time she seemed strangely depressed.

At that moment, a sentence came out of his mouth for the first time in a long time.

"I'm not a pervert..."