To Be The Strongest - Chapter 89

Days passed by uneventful. Well, uneventful would be the wrong word for it. Nothing too exciting had happened would maybe be a better wording for it. Something had happened after all.

Sawney and Bean had been killed, causing Hange much grief while Shinobu patted her on the back in comfort. While it was a sad thing for Hange, Shinobu held no kind feelings for the titans at all, so if it was anything, she felt nothing about the demise of the titans.

It was just sad that her experimental subjects had died. While she may have eventually been able to turn them back into humans, in the far future maybe, they had still killed innocent humans, so they had to pay for their sins.

When asked how she felt about the situation, Shinobu had replied as such.

The rest of the crew had answer in about the same way.

Ban didn’t care about it at all, as he had experienced worse than what was happening on this island. He had lived in a world with demons after all.

Lafitte had replied in his own way that he had expected such an occurrence. There was a deep hatred on this island for their nemesis. No matter for what cause, humans were always their own biggest enemy.

Soren had refrained for giving his opinion, only stated that he didn’t care.

And Akane had looked at the rest of the crew, who all had varying but rather similar answers. Her reply was just like Lafitte. It was bound to happen.

With that boisterous day passing by, no perpetrators had been found.

The following days, the rest of the Survey Corps recruits had arrived at the HQ. Eren was training hard to get his titan form under control, while the rest of Akane’s crew were training their combat skills.

Shinobu had become skilled in using her observation haki, being able to sense her surroundings up to 2 miles. She could effectively sense her opponents actions and emotions, being able to counter their attack or outright dodge them. This was ofcourse partially attributed to her speed.

She seemed to take a lot of pŀėȧsurė in startling her opponents by appearing his their blind spots, something that was easier done with those originally from this island than those belonging to her crew.

Her armament haki was unfortunately still rather basic, but had already increased a bit, being able to slightly darken her skin when using it. Enough for her to be able to decapitate a demon from her own world, if she had to say so herself.

The same advancements could be said for Lafitte, though he was more sėnsɨtɨvė to the presences of others than their emotions. His range of perception was a bit farther as well, ranging a bit above the two and a half miles.

Ban hadn’t trained much, so he was still around the middle levels of both armament and observation haki, not having unlocked the emission haki or the future prediction haki. He wasn’t planning on doing that in the future either as, in his own words, he had no real use for it with his current abilities.

Soren was already strong, as his tribe the Minks, were already training from a young age. Observation haki and armament haki came natural to him, as he had reached the same level as Ban not too long ago.

And Akane, she had begun to reach the upped levels of her armament haki, as she could feel it could become better but just wouldn’t. She knew about Emission, so all her current focus for haki training was solely for that. Her observation haki could wait, as future sense was hard to attain even with training. She would have to partake in a lot more life threatening battles if she wanted to awaken that ability.

From the side, the Survey Corps had looked on with interested eyes at the unknown powers displayed in front of them. The bolder one of them, Petra, stepped forward.

“Say, Akane. What are these abilities you are showcasing?”

Akane patiently explained the concept of haki to Petra, the rest of her companions patiently listening as well.

“Then is it possible to learn these abilities?”

Petra asked, looking at Shinobu as she agilely dodged a swing from Ban while blindfolded. She had even managed to strike back, hitting Ban hard against the chin.

“Ara Ban. Your lack of training is showing~”

Shinobu teased as she motioned for Ban to continue. This sight had been happening more than once these last few days.

“It depends on your innate talent I suppose. Some people are better in observation haki than in armament. It takes a lot of training to even awaken it, but it might be possible.”

Hearing a positive response, Petra didn’t hesitate to ask in how to train in it.

Having received the how’s, Petra regrouped with her companions as they too began the same training routine, though making a bit less permanently harmful to their bodies.

“Let’s see if they can attain it.”

Akane muttered as she went back to her own training.

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A bit less than a month had passed as the Survey Corps had stated they would embark on the 57th expedition beyond the walls.

While there was a lot of fanfare when they departed, the situation was solemn when they were truly beyond the wall. They had split in small groups, spreading out over a large region. Ban, Lafitte and Soren had joined the group on horses, while Shinobu had joined Akane as she was flying through the sky in her fox form.

From time to time Akane could see red and green smoke being launched into the sky, the formation in front of them changing depending on the area and on the color which the smoke showed.

Green would mean the formation was being changed into a certain direction, while red meant there were titans. It the worst case, an abormal titan (one that had unusual intelligence and abilities), black smoke would be launched.

“Hello Hello, Akane-chan~ I think something is wrong. Smoke hasn’t appeared for a while. Shall we find out what it is?”

Glancing at her back, Akane could see the curiosit brimming in Shinobu’s eyes, as well as a bit of sadness. Well, loss of human live was a sad think, in some cases.

“Sure, why not.”

Not minding it, Akane flew in the direction in which the smoke had stopped appearing. That was when multiple black signal flares appeared.

“Oh my, so lucky~”

Shinobu happily said as she peered in the distance, her haki having already seen what was happening. Akane had sensed the same as well, seeing a female titan run at a incredible speed through the formation. The ones that were in her way were mercilessly killed.

“Want me to catch her?”

Akane asked, already knowing what Shinobu’s answer was.

“Yes please! It has intelligence. See how it moves? I’m sure there is a fifty-fifty chance that she is like Eren.”

Skidding to a stop, the female titan swatted her hands towards Shinobu, who easily moved out of the titans trajectory with a flap of her haori. Circling around the titans arm, Shinobu landed on the female titans arm, her hand moving faster than the female titan could react as a stinger-like sword was stabbed into the female titans arm.

“Dance of the Bee sting: True Flutter”

The female titan didn’t pay too much attention to her wound, as she made a swift backwards movement, effectively throwing Shinobu off of her. The titan followed it up with a fast kick, only to be yet again dodged.

While her attention was on Shinobu, the female titan kept her eyes on Akane as well, anticipating for it to attack as well. It was a correct ȧssumption, as Akane made a quick move and landed hard on the female titan, forcing her down with her weight.

Akane’s dug deep into the female titans other arm with her armament reinforced claws, tearing the arm effortlessly off. The female titan made a sweeping movement of her legs, trying to hold Akane in a firm lock, only to suddenly miss her target as the fox has dissappeared.

Closing in on the female titans head, Akane now in her half human form brandished her sword to make a slashing motion to the titan’s throat, only for it to be blocked by crystalized skin.

“How neat. I’m sure Shinobu would love to find out how that works.”

Sweeping her remaining arm at Akane, the female titan only then noticed the lack of regeneration of her arm. Still, she completed her motion and freed herself from Akane and Shinobu, who didn’t mind the titan from backing away a bit.

Standing side by side, Akane and Shinobu watched in amusement as the female titan stared in shock at her arm. Which was followed by a look of resentment and caution.

“Nice isn’t it~ It was a poison especially made for you guys~”

Shinobu giggled as a white fluid dripped from her sword.

“Now let me see if it works on your human body as well. I’m sure your sins will be forgiven if you experience how the human you killed have felt in their last moments.”

While Shinobu was having fun, Akane launched multiple flares, a muixture of black, purple and red. Then a green flare was shot in the distance, indicating where the group was going. A smaller deeper green colored flare was shot towards her direction, making Akane smirk as she knew Ban and the others were now heading in her direction.

“Let’s have some fun before the other arrive. I’m sure your sacrifice will help Shinobu advance greatly in her haki.”

Akane smiled brightly as a wide circle of black flame was formed around them, the flames reaching far above them, effectively blocking the female titan’s way of retreat.