Pride (Chapter)

Pride (矜持) is the 4th and final chapter of the 31st volume and the 126th chapter overall of the Attack on Titan manga, written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama.

Overview
Upon meeting up with Theo Magath and Pieck Finger, Levi Ackerman and Hange Zoë suggest they combine their forces in order to defeat Zeke Yeager and the Yeagerists. Elsewhere, Connie Springer tries to feed Falco Grice to his mother in order to restore her life as a human, but he is foiled by Armin Arlert, who attempts to sacrifice himself in Falco's place.

Pieck rescues Yelena and Onyankopon from execution and also smuggles out Jean Kirstein while Mikasa Ackerman, Armin, Connie, and Annie Leonhart find Reiner Braun. He is surprised to see them with Gabi and Falco, and Connie informs him that they are now a united front that intends to save the world.

Summary
Hange Zoë shoots a Yeagerist soldier who comes looking for her companion before returning to camp where a severely wounded Levi Ackerman is resting, unconscious. She surmises that the only reason he survived is because of his heritage as an Ackerman. Hange fears that they will be unable to stop the Yeagerists even if Eren Yeager defects from Zeke, and wonders if their time has come.

She begins building a sled for Levi's transportation when Eren uses the Founding Titan to speak to all Eldians. Levi wakes and immediately demands to know where Zeke went. He is bothered that he did not realize Zeke was prepared to die, and that made him careless. Noticing the sled, he asks Hange about it, and comments that despite her doubts, she is not able to stay out of the action.

After encountering Theo Magath and Pieck Finger, Levi says that their interests align. They all want to stop Zeke. Magath is cautious, but willing to listen. Hange theorizes that Zeke is trying to win over Eren so he can use the Founding Titan. Though she knows the Founding Titan is incredibly large and seems impossible to beat, Hange feels that makes it all the more necessary that they work together.

That evening, Connie Springer and Falco Grice make camp for the night. Connie contemplates how he should feed Falco to his mother to turn her into a human again. Feeling conflicted over killing a child, he wonders if Sasha Blouse would have understood. The next morning, they arrive at Ragako and Falco reveals that he overheard Connie talking to himself the previous night. He asks why Connie took him here, while pretending that he did not know who Falco was. Falco asks if Connie is going to try taking revenge for Sasha's death.

Connie tells Falco that what happened with Sasha was part of a military engagement, and he knows that, but shows Falco his mother anyway without telling the boy who the Titan used to be. He suggests that Falco help him clean the Titan's teeth, by climbing up on a support beam.

Before that can happen, Armin Arlert and Gabi Braun arrive on horseback. Gabi shouts that Falco has inherited the Jaw Titan and that Connie is trying to feed him to the Titan. Connie reacts by grabbing Falco and holding a blade to his throat. He starts climbing the ladder to the beam above his mother, pulling Falco along with him, as he defends his actions to Armin. Gabi urges Falco to use the power of the Jaw Titan to escape, but Falco is confused since he does not know what happened to Porco Galliard.

Armin thinks on how he has failed to live up to Erwin Smith's legacy and begs Gabi to forgive Connie. He anchors his wires to a support beam right above Connie's mother, intending to sacrifice himself instead of Falco. Seeing this, Connie lets go of the boy and pushes Armin out of the way before he can fall into his mother's mouth.

Connie realizes that even if his mother became human again, she would have suffered if she had become the Colossus Titan. She told him to become a great soldier, but instead he almost killed a child and one of his friends. Connie decides that he still wants to be a soldier his mother would be proud of, so he suggests that he and Armin go save some people.

Meanwhile, Mikasa Ackerman finds Louise in the infirmary, wearing her missing scarf. Louise can no longer go outside due to the sharpel now embedded in her stomach from the battle, but she still believes in the Yeagerist cause and has no regrets. When she met Eren once, he told her to throw the scarf away, but she held on to it. Mikasa tells her to give it back. As she leaves, Louise tells Mikasa that she became a soldier because she admired her.

Outside, Floch Forster announces that the time of Eldian persecution has come to an end. Jean Kirstein appears to have sided with the Yeagerists, but Mikasa watches from within the crowd. Citizens begin celebrating, and Armin, Connie, Falco, and Gabi get some food before they continue their plan to group up with Reiner Braun. When they sit down, they realize that Annie Leonhart is sitting next to them scarfing down a pie. Upon noticing them, Annie becomes visibly uncomfortable and Connie is shocked by what a sloppy eater she is being. Hitch Dreyse comes over and notices that Annie is gone, having left a note saying she left with her former comrades and thanking Hitch for having spoken to her for all those years.

Floch and Jean take Yelena and Onyankopon to the roof of the destroyed headquarters and prepare to execute them. Onyankopon disputes Floch's reason for killing him, saying how he had hoped that saving Eldia would save his homeland instead of destroying it. He pleads his case to the gathered crowd, but is silenced when Jean shoots four times into the ground, barely missing Onyankopon. Jean complains about his aim, and as Floch asks what he is doing, the Cart Titan begins plowing through the crowd.

Seeing the Titan, Jean pushes Floch out of the way, before being swallowed by the Cart Titan along with Yelena and Onyankopon. Floch orders the Yeagerists to follow them and is surprised to see Mikasa is missing as well.

As the bottom of the fort, Mikasa and Connie react to the four gunshot signal sent by Jean and continue their operation. The two of them along with Annie, Armin, Gabi, and Falco have a pair of wagons loaded with weapons and food. Knowing that all the attention is currently on the other side of the fort, they drive off. As they leave, Annie notices a figure in an upper window is watching them.

After meeting up with Magath, Levi, and Hange, the three who were inside the Cart Titan's mouth clean themselves off in a river. Onyankopon asks Jean when they allied with Marley and Jean replies that it was just last night. Surprised, Onyankopon asks why he gave up a future with the Yeagerists and Jean gives him a vague reply about how some bones would never forgive him if he did. When Yelena inquires why she was brought too, Hange reveals that it was a personal request from Magath.

The team with the wagons finds Reiner in the room where Gabi left him and Annie kicks him awake. Reiner is surprised to see her again and starts to panic after seeing his former friends surrounding him. Gabi and Falco calm him down, saying that they are all on the same side now, and Connie tells him that they do not have any time. They are going to save the world.