"Don't worry. I'm one hundred percent sure I can enter the Walls safely," Zeke said with calm certainty.
"Huh?" The young recruits blinked in confusion, startled by his confidence.
But to Zeke, there was nothing strange about it. He was a man reborn, a veteran of this island. This wasn't his first time stepping onto the soil of Paradis. He didn't need to grope around for a path—he knew the terrain, the routes, the dangers.
As for the mindless Pure Titans that wandered aimlessly through the wilderness, they hardly concerned him. The Beast Titan was more than capable of dealing with them. With a handful of stones plucked from the ground, he could tear through their napes before they even drew near.
Stones, after all, were plentiful in the wild. Nature itself was his armory.
"So," Zeke asked one last time, his gaze fixed on the prisoners, "what will it be? Will you come with us inside the Walls, or will you remain outside?"
"Outside!" Andy shouted firmly. "I will never step inside and become a devil!"
"Yeah, that's right… I won't become a devil either," the other two prisoners muttered in agreement, though their voices shook with unease.
"Very well." Zeke did not press further. "I wish you luck. I hope you find a way to survive."
He dropped his backpack before them. "There's food inside. Enough to sustain one person for seven days. Divide it among the three of you—it should last about two. After that, survival is in your hands."
He set down a saber, a pistol, and a handful of tools beside it. "I leave you these weapons. Use them to defend yourselves, to hunt, or… if despair takes you, to end your lives. That choice is yours."
"Warrior Captain Zeke!" The recruits' voices rose in shock, almost scandalized. "How could you give away all our supplies? What if—what if—"
"The path inside the Walls isn't as dangerous as you think," Zeke cut them off sharply. "Just follow me."
The recruits fell silent, exchanging looks of disbelief. Wasn't it he who had just warned them about "the future being filled with unknown dangers"? Why speak as though it were simple now? Slowly, realization dawned on them.
Perhaps that earlier speech had not been meant for them at all, but for the Marleyan officers who had been listening.
The condemned men, meanwhile, were dumbfounded. Inside the Walls… not difficult? Then was it outside that was the true death sentence?
Their stomachs turned as they watched Zeke stride away with such confidence, leaving them food and weapons as though they had been dismissed from his world entirely. Had they chosen the wrong path?
Regret flickered in their eyes, but it was too late. Words spoken were water spilled.
"Then how… how are we supposed to survive outside?" one of them muttered, his voice hollow.
Zeke's expression darkened with irritation. He had given them food, tools, weapons—what more did they want? Still, he relented enough to offer guidance. "Go around to the far side of the island. The Marleyans don't patrol there. They'll come here, at most, but not that side. If you settle there, you won't risk running into them during their expeditions. You can fish, hunt, even grow crops. One way or another, survival is possible."
"Grow vegetables?" one of the prisoners repeated in disbelief.
"There are seeds in the pack," Zeke explained. "In the far east, there's an ancient land called China. Its people are known for growing vegetables wherever they go. Learn from them." He hefted the long sniper rifle now resting on his shoulder, the only weapon he had kept for himself.
"There's food for only two days," Seema whispered, despair gripping her. "And we're supposed to grow vegetables…"
"Have you changed your minds?" Zeke asked plainly.
"No! We would rather die outside the Wall than live as devils!" Andy insisted, his stubbornness bordering on madness.
His companions wanted to clamp a hand over his mouth. Couldn't he see which path was easier? Why was he so eager to embrace suffering?
"Very well." Zeke's tone turned final, decisive. "Then I wish you luck. May you still be alive when I return."
He raised his hand, signaling to the boy standing at his side. "Bertolt. Transform."
"Yes, sir!" Bertolt answered without hesitation. Though confusion swirled in his mind, discipline prevailed. He leapt from the wall, sinking his teeth into his hand.
A golden flash split the sky.
A figure of staggering scale burst forth from the explosion of light and steam. The Colossal Titan rose above them, a walking mountain of muscle and heat. Its crimson frame towered over the Walls themselves, a head higher than the stone barrier that had stood unbroken for a century.
The condemned men froze. They had seen Titans before—but never anything like this. They had thought the Beast Titan, standing seventeen meters tall, was terrifying. Yet this monster was three, perhaps four times greater.
The Pure Titans swarming at the base of the wall suddenly looked like insects, biting uselessly at the Titan's feet. The Colossal flicked them away with lazy kicks, hurling them across the landscape until their forms vanished into the distance.
Zeke calmly led the warriors onto the Titan's enormous palm. With deliberate care, the Colossal lowered them down, offering a safe landing within enemy territory without forcing them to transform.
As they descended, Meters' voice cut through the roar of steam. A memory struck him. "Warrior Captain Zeke! What about our injections? Just now—you injected us with Titan spinal fluid, didn't you?"
"Don't worry," Zeke replied smoothly. "That was my own spinal fluid. It only activates if I transform and roar. Unless that happens, you will remain yourselves. Even if the enemy captures you and injects you with other spinal fluids, nothing will happen."
Meters exhaled, relief washing over him. But then, suspicion crept into his face. "Wait… does that mean spinal fluid is the only thing that makes us into Titans?"
"Yes."
"And the only ones who possess it… are the Marleyan military?"
"Yes."
Meters' eyes widened. His voice trembled, but the words escaped all the same. "Then—for thousands of years… has it been Marley controlling us? Turning us into demons at will?"
"Yes."
Zeke's answers fell like stones in a silent pond, ripples spreading through the minds of everyone listening.
For the first time, doubt gnawed at their hearts. A door had opened—a door to truths long hidden. And once seen, it could not be closed again.