Onyankopon

A short crew cut of black hair tops Onyankopon's dark-skinned features, and his broad shoulders and heavy arms suggest solid conditioning. His working dress is a Marleyan-issue military uniform distinguished by two black stripes running down the torso; in casual settings he favors a dark jacket over a dress shirt with long pants.

Friendliness comes naturally to Onyankopon, who builds an easy rapport with Hange Zoë and the rest of the Survey Corps. A serious streak runs underneath it; soldiers fussing over trivial matters mid-preparation perplex him, while Hange's quick grasp of imported technology earns his praise. Faith shapes his worldview. When islanders ask about his skin color, he tells them God created humanity's many ethnicities out of a wish to make the world interesting, an answer that later resonates deeply with Armin Arlert. His effortless handling of both an airship and the Azumabito flying boat points to a piloting or navigation role during his Marleyan service.

Marley conquers Onyankopon's homeland and drafts him into its army, where Zeke Yeager secretly recruits him into the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers. In 851 he sails with the first survey fleet to Paradis; when Eren seizes the ship, he and Yelena disarm their own officers and accept Hange's offer to talk. The Volunteers explain their allegiance to Zeke, and an alliance forms. Onyankopon devotes the following years to readying Paradis for the outside world, port construction included, and in 854 he pilots the airship that extracts the Survey Corps from the raid on Liberio, plucking Armin from the ruined harbor.

Back on Paradis, the Garrison arrests the Volunteers despite their gift of stolen Titan serums. Visited in captivity by Hange, a shocked Onyankopon learns Yelena met secretly with Eren before Liberio, and he recounts how she always volunteered to execute Marleyans who suspected the group. He accompanies Hange thereafter, providing the Volunteers an alibi when a bomb kills Darius Zackly. At Niccolo's restaurant he is captured with the Survey Corps officers by the Yeagerists, though he alone avoids the cell, revealing that his loyalty to the Volunteers stands. He watches in horror as Yelena executes Griez for mocking Sasha's memory, and is left speechless on the rooftop when Pieck points at Eren as the enemy and Marleyan airships fill the sky.

Needing manpower against Marley's assault, he frees the imprisoned soldiers, absorbing a furious assault from Connie before swearing he knew nothing of the spiked wine or the euthanasia plan. When the Rumbling begins and Jean explains that Eren means to flatten the entire outside world, Onyankopon despairs for his own country. He refuses Floch's offer of honorary Eldian status, and at his public execution he reminds the crowd that he helped Eldia partly to free his homeland from Marley, condemning them for repeating Marley's violence. Jean's four deliberately missed shots and the Cart Titan's sudden intervention save him and Yelena, delivering them to the new alliance of Survey Corps veterans and Warriors.

At the harbor he insists the Azumabito mechanics be protected, since only their expertise can make the flying boat operational, and he fashions a sling for Yelena after Magath breaks her arm. He sails the vessel to Odiha, labors through the night on the flying boat, and helps patch the fuel tank Floch's attack ruptures. Hange's sacrifice buys the time he needs to take off, and though the tank is only half full he vows to reach Eren so their death will not be wasted. Dodging the Beast Titan's projectiles, he holds the craft steady long enough for his comrades to leap clear, then attempts an emergency landing. Pulled unconscious from the wreck, he wakes to watch the Eldians of Fort Salta transform into Titans around him. Three years after the war he walks openly through Marley beside Levi, Gabi, and Falco, and he later joins the effort to replant the forests destroyed by the Rumbling.