Declaration of War

Before the festival, Willy Tybur confides to Theo Magath that Paradis operatives have almost certainly crossed the ocean and embedded themselves in Liberio. Rather than hide, he plans to dangle himself and Marley's military leadership as bait during his stage address and draw the hidden enemy into striking. Magath balks at the projected casualties, but Willy notes the dead will be mostly Eldians and needles the commander for suddenly caring about lives he has spent freely in battle. For the world to rally behind Marley, he argues, the internment zone's Eldians, himself included, must be cast as victims of an unprovoked assault. The two shake on the plan.

On stage, Willy admits that the Tybur family betrayed their fellow Eldians generations ago, aligning with Karl Fritz and purchasing comfort, respect, and safety from Marley while everyone who shared their blood faced persecution. Learning that truth upon inheriting the family headship shattered him; the Tyburs, he says, are thieves fattened on honor they never earned. He then lays out the threat: the Colossus Titans packed inside the island's three Walls number in the tens of millions, and while Karl Fritz's renunciation of war bound the old royal line, Reiner's report confirms that Eren Yeager can activate the Founding Titan despite his murky connection to royal blood.

Below the venue, Falco reels at discovering that Kruger was Eren all along, while Magath learns the Warriors have gone missing and quietly concludes the attack has already begun. Pieck and Galliard, dropped into a pit too narrow for transformation, nurse broken bones and puzzle over the soldier who steered them into the trap. In the basement, Eren tells Reiner he finally understands him: living among his enemies showed him good and bad people on both sides of the ocean, and he refuses to condemn a child who had hatred drilled into him. Reiner rejects the absolution. He confesses that he pushed Bertolt and Annie onward after Marcel's death because he craved being seen as a hero, admits that Carla Yeager's death traces back to him, and begs Eren to end his life.

Instead, Eren offers his wounded hand and pulls Reiner to his feet, telling him they were born the same. He vows to keep moving forward until every one of his enemies is destroyed, then begins shifting as Reiner watches in terror. The instant Willy shouts his declaration of war on Paradis, the Attack Titan erupts from the building behind the stage and flattens the ambassador beneath its hand.

Willy Tybur reveals the Tybur family's collusion with Karl Fritz, publicly names Eren as the Founding Titan's current holder, and closes his address by declaring war on Paradis Island.

Pieck and Galliard sit trapped in a Warrior-proof pit, the young candidates cannot locate the missing Warriors, and Magath realizes the enemy has made its move.

Eren and Reiner have their reckoning in the basement: Reiner begs for death, Eren answers with an outstretched hand, then transforms and kills Willy in front of the assembled international press.

Hajime Isayama ranks this as his third favorite chapter across the whole series. As the milestone 100th chapter, it functions as the story's great pivot, ending Marley's unchallenged dominance in a single page turn and recasting Eren as an aggressor on foreign soil.

Volume 25 carries it as its second chapter, released in December 2017 within the Marley arc. The anime splits the material across the episodes Declaration of War and The War Hammer Titan.