The escort warship "Courage" lay steadily docked at the harbor. Quite a few soldiers of the Survey Corps stared at the steel monster before them with slack-jawed expressions.
For most of them, the largest ship they had ever seen was a wooden steamship inside the Walls. Where had they ever seen a vessel sixty or seventy meters long like this?
The Marleyan soldiers who had fallen into the water were also hauled back up, and together with the Marleyan soldiers who had surrendered aboard the ship, all were taken prisoner by the Survey Corps.
Hange was prying open supplies on a speedboat with a crowbar. Every time she cracked open a crate and saw something she had never seen before, she would shout excitedly. Although she couldn't read most of the text on the instruction manuals, it didn't stop her excitement.
As for the Marleyan Volunteers led by Yelena, they were meeting with Erwin and the others.
Of course, the people around Erwin didn't have friendly looks for these Marleyan Volunteers. After learning that they were subordinates of Zeke Yeager, their gazes became even more hostile. After all, the Beast Titan had left behind no small amount of blood debt.
But Yelena paid no attention to the glares at all. Instead, she spoke calmly, even a little lightly:
"Rest assured, we Marleyan Volunteers have the same objective as you. We share a common goal—this is the basis for our cooperation."
"Objective? What objective could there be? And it seems you're people from a country called Marley, right? Why would he be kind enough to help us?" Mike, who had just returned to the ranks and didn't yet know the details, still vividly remembered nearly dying at the hands of the Beast Titan.
Hearing this, Yelena glanced at Yago standing to the side. Before leaving, Zeke had instructed that only Yago Norman knew about the euthanasia plan, and the specific details would also need to be discussed with him.
Sensing Yelena's gaze, Yago put on an air of having nothing to do with it.
Yelena tapped her fingers on the table in front of her and then said,
"I imagine you also don't know much about Marley's actual situation. Put simply, Marley runs rampant across the world by relying on the power of the Titans, ruling and even destroying many small nations through brutal force."
She paused, then continued, "The countries of us Marleyan Volunteers were all destroyed by Marley's army and Titans, so we seek revenge. And you're the same. Marleyan soldiers regard you Eldians as sinners—surely you're well aware of their attitude toward you, right?"
Listening to the dispute between his subordinates and Yelena, Erwin uncrossed his hands. His gaze sharpened as he asked only one question,
"What help can you provide?"
Yelena said, "A great deal of help. Setting aside these latest Marleyan weapons, the Marleyan Volunteers I've brought are all specialized talents in various technical fields."
As she spoke, Yelena patted the tall, dark-skinned Onyankopon beside her and said,
"Onyankopon—our most outstanding captain, pilot, scientific technician, and a mathematical genius. Give him an hour and he can calculate any result you want. He can even pilot airships."
Before Yelena could finish, an excited Hange suddenly leaned in, eyes shining as she stared at the dark-skinned Onyankopon. That slightly terrifying look made Onyankopon feel a bad premonition.
Sure enough, the next moment Hange couldn't wait and rushed straight at Onyankopon.
"That's great! You're a scientist—then you must recognize these words! Come help me take a look at what all this stuff is!"
A completely bewildered Onyankopon was dragged away just like that by Hange. Her behavior also stunned the Marleyan Volunteers over here. What was going on?
Yelena froze for a moment as well, but quickly recovered and said in a normal tone,
"Besides that, we've also brought a batch of special-type talents."
"Special-type talents? What's special about them?" Erwin was a bit curious, but his nose suddenly seemed to catch a whiff of fragrance. He turned his head and saw that by a temporary tent set up on the beach, rings upon rings of Survey Corps soldiers had gathered. The aroma was coming from inside the tent.
Yelena smiled. "A chef counts as a special talent too, doesn't he?"
The members of the Survey Corps: "...."
...
On the other side, Nicolo had never been this tense in his life. There had to be over a hundred people around him watching him cook, and these people were all the legendary island devils. Even the hand holding his knife was trembling.
The Survey Corps soldiers surrounding Nicolo were also chattering nonstop.
"Smells so good—can we eat it?"
"Hard to say. Didn't Reg's fruit pie smell great last time too? Turned out it tasted like death. We ran to the latrine eight times in one day—our legs went weak from diarrhea."
"You bastard, what did you say? My pie tastes bad?!"
"He's a human from the outside world, you know. Maybe he eats different things from us. Look at that stuff he's making—how ugly it looks!"
"This guy kinda looks like you."
...…
Nicolo felt like a gorilla in a zoo being pointed at however people pleased. A gorilla at least couldn't understand human language—but Nicolo was being pointed at nonstop.
Just as Nicolo was about to explode, chaos erupted among the surrounding Survey Corps soldiers. Nicolo turned his head to look.
He saw a humanoid creature panting heavily, eyes seemingly glowing red. It suddenly shoved aside the Survey Corps soldiers blocking its way and leaped straight toward the dining table where Nicolo had placed the food.
Crunch, crunch! A burst of violent chewing sounds rang out. Nicolo was dumbfounded—he had never seen a human this hungry.
"Sasha! What are you doing? Be careful, it might be poisonous!"
From the Survey Corps soldiers, Nicolo also learned the name of the girl in front of him—Sasha?
He saw Sasha clutching the freshly cooked steak and grilled sea snails Nicolo had made, chewing furiously. As she ate, tears streamed down her face, and she spoke indistinctly,
"It's so delicious! I've never eaten anything this tasty. Even if I get poisoned to death, it's worth it!"
Hearing this, Nicolo felt a slight tremor in his heart. Why did he suddenly feel a bit moved?
When he saw Sasha pick up a lobster and start gnawing on it, Nicolo reminded her,
"That needs to be shelled first."
Seeing Sasha act as if nothing was wrong, some of the Survey Corps soldiers exchanged looks, then all rushed forward together.
"Don't grab it, bastard! Who stepped on me?"
"Ah! I got one! Huh? Damn it, who gnawed this bone and threw it back on the plate?"
"Don't push me!"
"What is that? Something's poking my butt!"
...
Leaving aside the lively scene on the beach, Yelena went alone to find Yago and handed Zeke's intelligence to him.
Yago opened the note. At first he didn't care much, but as he read on, his brows gradually knit together. When he reached the end, his eyes widened as he revealed an expression of shocked disbelief.
"A new Titan?! How is that possible? Could it be… him!" Yago was both shocked and enraged as a figure appeared in his mind.