Power to Strive III

The Attack Titan

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan or this story.

Previously: The group worries about the size of Marley's military and the technology of the world. They talk about needing a navy. They're skeptical of the "truths" of Ymir Fritz.

|~|

A man in a blue uniform screamed as the Attack Titan lifted him. The Titan squeezed the soldier into a bloody pulp. "The soldiers had their lives squeezed out of them like fruit being juiced," Grisha narrated, "and their scraps cast into the water."

On his knee on one of the wharves, the Attack Titan tossed the remains behind him.

"What do you think Marley thought happened to this ship and its crew?" Mikasa asked. "Kruger is killing all the soldiers so none of them can run back and tell Marley about the Attack Titan."

"Maybe they thought Paradis caught them and sank the ship to defend themselves," Jean answered.

"You know what doesn't make sense to me?" Hange tapped her chin. "The king threatened to unleash the Colossal-type Titans on the world if the continent tried to disturb the island's peace. Yet based on the number of Pure Titans we've seen, it's clear Marley has been coming to our little island and turning Eldians for a very long time now. Weren't they afraid of retaliation? Of the king making good on his promise to send his army of behemoths as vengeance for flooding the island with mindless monsters?"

"I think it's like we just talked about," Petra responded. "We know the potential of the Founding Titan's true power. Though for some unknown reason the king didn't have the guts or he outright refused to bring his people in line as they fought each other after conquering the other nations. He instead decided to pack his shit and grab a small chunk of the Eldian population then move to this island. Clearly he was weak-willed if he couldn't handle the infighting. So Marley would send a ship now and then to punish the traitor Eldians cause they didn't think he'd retaliate. Maybe they were testing boundaries."

"I think you're right," Mikasa said. "They were sending Titans to roam the island but they weren't disrupting the peace of the Walls outright." She wondered if Marley might have stopped turning Eldians after this ship failed to return. And decades later they sent the four Warriors.

"Although it doesn't explain the kings and queens that followed after the first King of the Walls," Erwin countered. "Why wouldn't they do something? Surely not all of them agreed with this ideology."

"Was it because they decided it was convenient to use the Pure Titans to maintain their power?" Armin provided. "The royal family has been able to keep their power consolidated for over a century now."

"It is a good way to keep people in line by keeping everyone trapped in," Levi agreed. "It's why they didn't like us, the Corps, going outside the Walls and trying to break free of their control. Though they couldn't completely oppose us either for wanting to kill the monsters that would eat people left and right. So they tried using other excuses, like taxes."

Grisha stood atop the wall, hands still tied behind his back. "I suppose I should explain what the ocean is."

The sun was setting over the horizon as Grisha continued to stare at the Attack Titan.

Connie whistled. "Look at that view!"