This is a story written alongside my friend abranca38 and is a light passion project, meaning this won't take away attention from my other stories. Abranca38 and I both wanted to throw our hats into the ring within the AOT x Godzilla crossovers with this one. Cover art by abranca38 as well! Please enjoy!
The year was 850 and the world was finding itself on the precipice of prosperity and ruination in equal measure.
Turmoil was brewing across the globe. From the frontiers of the Hizuru Empire all the way to the Capital city of Marley, Maere. It was always there to be sure. Lingering under fake smiles, firm handshakes and wafer-thin treaties written with centuries of bloodshed behind them, but it was finally beginning to boil over and rear its ugly head. There were a few minor cases of conflict brewing in the Frontiers on the Amerigo. The locals and settlers thought they were far enough from the Motherland's reach that they would dare propose independence, taking Marley's hard-earned resources and lands for themselves. Their timing was suspiciously close to the new Warriors acquiring their cursed powers. The Separatists' confidence in facing inexperienced Warriors were unfounded when they were wiped off the face of the Earth by their sheer power and force.
That was the year 843 when the world was reminded of who held the power over the demonic forces of Eldia- and who can unleash their rapid maws onto deserving foes.
Tensions rose but no right-out conflicts emerged for the two years. It was the year 845 in which the Paradis Island Operation commenced. When their most versatile Warriors were sent off to liberate the island of Paradis and usher in a new age for Marley to prosper in. It was too bad that it was then that everyone else wanted a piece of it.
Marley was soon beset by numerous nations, military adversaries, and a small number of collations. All of which aiming to reclaim lost land, avenge past grievances, steal resources or just bloody the nose of Marley just to spite her and her people. Many were crushed in the first opening months of 845 with only a handful remaining to this day.
On this present day, the 14th of March in the year 850, Marley found its main force close to victory against one of these interlopers: the country of Saradia.
Saradia was a small nation wedged between the Hizuru Empire's Burma state and the country of Bharat. It was a formidable little thing with an impressive army and navy to complement it. From what Marley intelligence was able to gather, this military force was requested by numerous loans from its neighboring countries. Supposedly, the group who ordered this were the same ones who staged a coup that put them in charge of the whole nation. It was further provided that these creatures were nothing more than snakes as they tried to sneak a good majority of those forces onto Paradis. It would've been an interesting sight to see this army land on the northern side of the island to try and besiege and claim the Founding Titan for themselves, if their armada hadn't been spotted sailing past Soma.
The Paradis Border Navy was quick to mauver and repel the ships from making landfall on the island. Unfortunately, the filthy beasts decided to fire upon the Marleyan Navy. Their high numbers decimated the low-numbered Border Navy. The creatures, now realizing their mistake, ran back to their little mud holes where they belonged and hunkered down to await the Motherland's wrath.
It took Marley two years to put down other decadences and gather the forces necessary to siege the nation, and a further gruelling 3 months to dominate the enemy. 3 months of hell for the Eldian ground forces, 3 months of headaches for the Marleyan military, and 3 months of boredom for the navy captain Douglas Smit.
Standing in the bridge of his beloved super-dreadnought, the MGF Marley's Might, Douglas performed his usual check-ups among the crew and the consoles aboard. Douglas felt like he was going through the motions. Boredom was eating away at his mind like a tick. Looking out the window, he caught view of the cloudy sky above. It was a refreshing change, given the sky had been clear up until this point in the week, and the captain knew that this would provide him and his crew a much-needed break from the rays of the sun. Despite this, Douglas still felt sick as he also caught sight of the same shoreline he had seen over and over again. Turning his gaze away from the window, he looked back down at the map splayed on his table. Same old navy placements, nothing new. He didn't bother to read the orders from the admiral that came in this morning. He knew it will be the same as yesterday and the day before that. The same copied message written a month ago; patrol the coastline.
Douglas couldn't contain his silently fury at the audacity of these orders. A patrol boat or even a Corvette could do the job but assigning a Super-dreadnought for patrols was asinine and insulting. Douglas' vessel was built for war, not to shepherd the coast looking for non-existent enemies. Douglas read the reports. He knew the whole Saradian fleet was located in the main port city and their last fortification. Douglas also knew why the brass had the Dreadnoughts paddling about the coastline when they knew the exact location of their enemy; intimidation and reassertion.
Douglas wasn't blind to see Marley had been favoring the Warriors and the Eldians more and more to resolve combat in these last few years. More so for the past year alone. They had neglected their navy in favor of their Titans. Why? To tell the world then even without all their Warriors, the Motherland was still a ruthless beast. This war was another testament to the relatability of the Titans and their usage. Even with the evolution of Anti-Titan weaponry, Marley and the Warriors still pushed on and conquered their enemy. Leaving the remaining military branches in the dust. Another reason to hate those abominations called Eldians.
Douglas didn't mind showing his massive beast of a ship to the peasants on the shoreline but he and his vessel thirst for blood and war. Both were gnashing their teeth to sink them deep into the flesh of their enemy. An enemy the higher ups were keen on denying them and giving to those disgusting freaks. Alas, Douglas listened to the paddling of his crew and their ship while he lazily glazed over the coastline and the numerous villages dotted across it. Disgusting rodents, he thought. Men and women who happily stood by as their sons and fathers despoil the Motherland. It was quite a shame that Douglas was ordered to just sail by and only shoot when under fire. What he wouldn't give to see his beautiful ship sing in fire and bullets as those villages were rippled asunder.
"Sir, I've sighted a vessel."
Douglas perked upon hearing his young spotter's announcement. He pushed aside another officer as he made his way towards the boy. "Enemy vessel?" he asked, slight excitement dripping from his voice.
It was dashed away when the boy shook his head. "No sir. Looks like a fishing vessel."
Douglas didn't restrain his disappointed grumble. He reached for a pair of binoculars handing on a nearby wall and looked through them. "Heading?"
"North-west. 340" the spotter responded.
Looking at the direction provided, Douglas saw the pitiful excuse for a fishing vessel petter towards them. Their sails were at full mask as black smoke plumed from its main exhausts. Douglas snickered at the crew's apparent incompetency to push their engine to the limits. Douglas' eye honed down to the symbols across the bow of the ship. He let out a loud grumble at the familiar but unintelligible symbols. "Of all times and places, some Hizuru mooks have graced us with their presence" he spat.
"Sir, I've identified some Eldian on the port side; Lucky Dragon Number 5" the spotter announced.
An officer behind Douglas spoke out. "Sir, the vessel is on a direct course towards us" he informed.
Douglas barked out a laugh. "Oh really? What are they planning on doing? Boarding us and capturing our ship with nets and fish guts?" he snickered.
"No sir, I think they're in trouble" the young spotter.
Douglas laughed again. "I'll say. Those stupid bastards are pushing their engine to the brink. They can't sail at all." he said mirthfully.
"I see a white flag sir… and the crew. They're waving their arms at us" the spotter said.
Douglas looked back through his binoculars, confirming what the spotter had said was truthful. It was too far to see any finer details, but Douglas could make out the crew waving their hands in the air, jumping up and down and pointing behind them. "Heh, looks like they're having a party on there. Too bad we have a job to do here. Radio them. Tell them if they come even a kilometre near us, we will happily blow them all the way back to Yamato." Douglas ordered.
The Radio officer gave him a curt nod and got to work but was halted by the second officer. "Sir, is that wise? Surely we can radio in one of the nearby corvettes to lend aid or instruct them into divert course to the nearest port" the second officer suggested.
Douglas scoffed at each suggestion. "Completely out of the question. They got themselves into this mess, they can get themselves out of it. We are a military vessel Mr. Brene, not some nanny boat to lend hand and foot to some vagabonds on some paddle boat."
"Sir, what if it's the enemy that's attacked them?" the second officer theorized.
"You mean the enemy that's only in one place far away from here and in the opposite direction? If so, they're doing us a great service by whipping these sympathizers off the face of the earth. Hizuru may tote the line with the regulations around abominations but I won't let them play around in our seas. Spotter and radio! Have they developed common sense yet?" Douglas barked.
The spotter responded first. "They're still holding course."
The Radio operator was next. "Nothing but gibberish sir" the operator said, holding his headset back and letting the stream of panicked nonsense flow from the headset.
Douglas grumbled but let a small grin form of his face. "Give the order men. Have our boys load up the guns. Helos has granted us a great boon today. It may be a piddly boat but at least we won't end this war without firing a single shot."
The bridge became a flurry of action as his subordinates maneuvered the ship into combat mode. All but a handful were doing their jobs. Douglas could see the confusion and fear in their eyes. Their self-appointed ringleader, his second officer, stood up against him. "Sir, please reconsider. That boat isn't the enemy. Those men need help-"
"Everyone is our enemy Mr. Brene. I'm surprised you haven't realized it in your years of service. Everyone hates the Motherland because she is perfect and powerful. Lesser beings crave what they can't have and they will go to any lengths to achieve it. They will use your sympathy to worm their way into your heart and poison you from the inside out. Not today, Mr. Brene. Today, we make an example out of these interlopers. Today, we bloody our teeth and show the enemy we are Marley! Spotter, keep an eye on them" Douglas ordered.
The spotter gave him a crisp salute and turned back to his duty. Douglas stomped away, shoving the binoculars into Brene's chest. "If you ever want to be more than a sympathizer, get use to watching what will happen next. I'd watch out for the fish guts flying-"
"Sir! It's gone!"
Everyone on the bridge froze in place. A second ticked by before the words registered to everyone. Everyone tore away from their consoles and duties to stare out towards the direction of the fishing boat. Douglas yanked the binoculars back into his hands and shoved his way to wards the windows. The spotter was right. Even from the naked eye, the fishing ship should be visible. Douglas looked through the binoculars and still didn't see the vessel. All he saw was the dark chopping water, the grey cloudy sky and the coastline. Not fishing vessel in sight. "Radio! Radio! Get them on the-"
Douglas's voice fell upon seeing the radio operator. The tanned man was deathly pale. His eye's bulging wide and his hands digging into the knobs on his radio. Douglas swore he heard the knobs crack under the white knuckled pressure. Nobody moved. They were frozen in confusion and unsure whether to intervene and help the radio operator. Second officer Brene took a brave step forward and shook the operator's shoulder. The operator flinched and scrambled to remove the headset. His shakes shook so uncontrollably that he fumbled the headset onto the table with a loud crash. Free from his head, the noise from the headset flowed freely into the bridge. The horrible noise.
It was quiet but the fear it brought kept the men so still that the audio was audible enough to hear clearly. Screams. Bloodcurdling screams. Screams that didn't need to be in Eldian or Hizuran to understand what was occurring. Something truly horrid was happening on that boat. Accompanying the sounds of terror were horrid noises. Loud groans and snaps, as if something was being crushed under a great amount of pressure. The sound was accompanied by the wet sloshing of what was undoubtedly ocean water. It was sickening to listen to. The horrid sounds gave way to crackling and loud bangs. The screams dissolved as a cacophony of sizzling and muffled crashing. The Marley's Might crew finally found reprieve from hearing such a horrific event as a loud pop crackled through the headset before static buried the sound of death and dread.
Seconds painfully ticked by for Douglas. His withered eyes still staring at the headset. He fully expected the sounds to return. More screaming. More crunching. More terror. He only snapped out of it when he noticed the eyes boring into him, silently demanding his orders or an explanation. A recent recruit dared to question loudly whether or not it was a Titan. A stupid assumption that returned Douglas' fury. "Titans aren't deployed here! No Titan, no matter how big, can eat a boat as big as that fortune dragon or whatever the hell it was!" Douglas growled.
"B-But those screams and noises sir!" the radio operator whimpered.
Douglas felt his body shiver at the reminder but recovered it was a bolstering roar. "It's an enemy ploy! They ran aground or they suddenly plummeted to the bottom of the sea! They could be anywhere! What matters now is that we found them or what's left of them! Can you imagine what will happen if a simple fishing boat got past a super-dreadnaught or we report this without any evidence?! We'll be the laughing stock of the navy!"
Douglas would've continued if his spotter hadn't called out to him. "Sir, I have eyes on an… object."
Douglas stomped over to the young lad and peered out the window. He spoke as he scanned the waters. "Is it the boat?"
"I'm not sure… wait. I see it. It looks like a… a rock? Towards the north sir. Three degrees" the spotter informed.
Douglas adjusted his heading. Under the low light of the darkened sky, he just caught the object the spotter was referring to. Breaching ever so slightly out of the waves is a jagged rock. A sharp triangular point with rough ridges wrapping around it. The waters around it were rough. Smacking against the daggered rock and spraying the air with sea mist. Douglas' first thought was the boat had run into at rock and sunk, but his common sense rescued him.
He had been patrolling these waters for a month and he had never hit any rocks this close to the coast. If the fishing boat had struck the rock, then the boat should've impaled itself onto it or still be afloat. Even then, the fishermen would've dove overboard, not sink with it. Where was the debris from the sinking boat? Where were the bodies?!
"Sir, the water… something isn't right with it" another crew member said.
Douglas ignored the sailor briefly but caught onto his words when he too noticed the bizarre sight. The water was dark and choppy. Douglas chocked it up being an overcast day and the wind but he noticed the surrounding water beside the portside is calm and lighter. It was only the area where the Lucky Dragon 5 was last seen. Douglas had only seen something like this when fish and whales were just below the surface…
The water grew more agitated in time with Douglas' growing dread and confusion. He couldn't wrap his head around what he was seeing. His mind and body too focused on the pit forming in his gut and roaring at him to run. "S-sir! M-more rocks!" the spotter stuttered.
Douglas gasped. His hands began to shake. He focused against the shaking lenses of his binoculars to see that, yes, more rocks were emerging from the surface. The water was getting worse. Irregular waves sloshing and crashing into each other, growing bigger by the second, but Douglas was more focus on the ever-growing rocks. By now, the bridge and even the deck crew all looked towards the port side to witness this bizarre sight. They all watched in stunned silence as the sharp rocks slowly breached the surface with many more similar shaped and ridged rocks. It was an unnatural sight. These rocks were aligned and shaped in a pattern that didn't occur in nature. Too ridged, narrow and… aggressive. Douglas' bewilderment slowly morphed into pure, unadulterated terror when he saw the rocks turn.
Everyone on the bridge gasped and swore. The rocks surfed on the water, breaching the round waves and leaving a powerful wake. They sliced through the water so effortlessly it was almost as if they were gliding across the waters. The spotter whimpered something out with Douglas only catching the last part. "…wake. It's bigger."
Douglas tore his eyes away from moving rocks and towards the wake. All he saw was a foamy sea, until he saw the tail of the wake was disappearing suddenly. Engulfed by bigger waves. It was another wake, but way bigger. Douglas saw something moving under the water. Something big. It was long and looked like it was moving from side to side. Was it… a tail?
Douglas' question would remain unanswered as his crew distracted him. Loud cursing and panicked cries bombarded him from all sides. He focused back onto the rocks. Not only had they grown, they had changed course and were now heading right towards them. "Guns… guns! Man the guns! Now! Sound the alarm! Combat positions!" Douglas screamed every command he could think of.
The men fought over themselves. Pushing each other and slamming into desks and objects in a panicked rush to prepare their defense. Mass hysteria ran rampant in the command deck. It spread to the deck and even below when the sharp rocks continued to grow larger and closer to the ship. Fortunately, Douglas' officers swiftly reigned in the men. While fear was rampant among the crew, they did their duty. If not for Marley, then for their very lives.
Gunners loaded their weapons, men hauled ammo and supplies throughout the ship, spotters kept an eye on the new phenomenon and the command crew did their best to steer the ship for battle. Their captain, meanwhile, was stuck in place. His eyes glued onto the strange sight. Douglas didn't know what this thing was, but he knew it was dangerous. Whatever it was, it must've destroyed the Lucky Dragon Number 5. Douglas paled when he recalled the radio transmission. The groaning noises and snapping sounds. Could they have been eaten? Oh god. That explained the sudden disappearance. Douglas was now on the verge of throwing up. Will… Will they be eaten? Will they scream just like the Hizuru? Good lord. To die an Eldian's death. Devoured.
"Sir! SIR!" the Spotter screamed in horror.
Douglas regretted following the Spotter's eyesight. The sharp rocks now turned into giant swords cutting through the waves with a purpose. Behind them, the water rippled as something beneath swayed under the surface, pushing the rocks forward as they swayed side to side like fins on a fish. Then Douglas saw it. Oh, by Helios, does he see it
It breached before the sharp rocks. It's pebbly surface gushing with foamed water spraying at it. It looked rough and course. Douglas' first childish thought that it was a boulder, given it looked like one; but that didn't make a lot do sense, did it? No, what it truly was soon showed itself.
First came the eyes. Unnatural orbs filled with nothing but true, unadulterated rage. It was inhuman. It was monstrous and nothing no living God would want to put on this earth. A snout appeared next, spewing forth a spray of water before inhaling an angry breath. Even the act of breathing oozed with untold wrath. Then came the teeth. The teeth!
A lipless mouth filled with so many teeth that Douglas swore if it were to bite it will leave nothing but slices of meat so butchered it would look like puréed meat than solid food. The mouth was pulled into a primal sneer. Finally, it's full head appeared, and it was as if the devil of the earth had arrived. Hell, for all Douglas and his crew knew, this was the Devil of the Earth. The same monster that gave Ymir her power 2000 years ago, because whatever could describe this monster heading towards them with the intent to not just kill but brutalize?!
The monster made no noise or even a rumble to show that it was here. That's what everyone expected it to do. It was the natural thing to do. No, the monster instead swam silently towards them like a predator stalking its prey. It was beyond horrifying and creepy seeing something so gigantic just swimming silently towards him. Douglas took in his enemy and did the only appropriate thing: yell at his crew to fire all weapons.
A chorus of "Fire!" echoed thrice. By the last shout, Marley's Might finally sung. The coastline was awash with booms and bangs as massive cannons, placements and small arms fire were fired at their monstrous enemy. Every gun, from main batteries, anti-air guns to even rifles and pistols, were used. The creature was quickly blanketed in a thick cloud of smoke and fire. Shells impacted and blew up. High calibre ammunition bounced and struck the rough hide of the monster. The small arms fire did nothing but add more to the fire. A solid minute of continuous firing resulted in blindness for the spotters. The thick smog provided a cover for the monster. It was soon apparent the rounds were now hitting the water. The deafening booms slowly replaced with heavy splashing. Douglas, despite his fears, orders a cease fire.
It took minutes but Marley's Might quieted down. There were screams across the ship as officers and enforcers pulled terrified soldiers off their placements for disobeying the cease fire. The hysteria was still rampant across the vessel. Along with the hysteria came dread. Sailors still white knocked and fingers on the trigger. Their unblinking eyes staring into the black cloud of smoke and powder.
As the smoke cleared, the crew saw nothing but churned water filled with spent rounds and shells. Seconds passed before the silence was ruined by a mixture of cheers and scolding. Some thought they had won, others exclaiming that the creature had ran away, and a handful of sailors thought that the monster was a collective illusion that had just vanished much like the fishing boat. Douglas and his command crew went to work regulating their crew and munitions. Without a body or even a drop of blood in the water, they knew the creature was not dead. Spotters rushed around, trying their best to see through the bright spots in their eyesight. Second officer Brene ordered the radio operator to send word to Marley and inform them of what they encountered. Douglas, meanwhile, accompanied his spotters in searching for the monster. Just as he heard his radio operator cry into the microphone, Douglas saw the daunting shadow that loomed over his beloved vessel.
On the starboard side of the ship, the monster had risen high into the air. It's sneering vestige glaring down at the ship below. The crew collectively screamed out in horror that the monster looming over them. Suddenly, it breached further out of the water with a powerful boom. The force of which slammed and rocked the Marley's Might. The sailors on deck were thrown off their feet. Half fell overboard into the churning waters below. The creature's bulk towered over the vessel. None had ever seen the Colossal Titan, yet this new monster easily took its rank as the new God of Destruction. The giant monster looked down at them with its haunting eyes. Looking down them like a God would for its own idiotic mistakes. Like a God, it brought it wrath down on the undesirables. Its two large arms reached up over his head. The massive thick limbs having huge hands tipped with long thick claws. It clenched its hands, shaking with uncontrolled rage. Finally, the creature gave them a roar.
It was inhuman. Windows exploded, the ship rattled, and the men collectively screamed as loud as they could- even though the monster's roar dominated them. The creature howled a monstrous roar fitting of its unearthly form. So loud that the men suffered ruptured ears and burst blood vessels before it all came to an end. Bringing its body and arms down like a guillotine, the monster collided with the ship. The vessel's inners burst out like a squashed grape. Bolts blew off and metal snapped. There was a sickening groan before the ship died in a gory fashion. The ammunition and supplies ignited. The ship exploded with a thunderous boom, taking every single soul on, in and around the ship.
Douglas' last sight was the monster's snarling visage front and centre just as the flames and metal tearing him apart engulfed his vision. Thus ended the mighty vessel; MGF Marley's Might. It's death bringing out the birth of a new age that it will break the ones before it.