One by One

Two years after the Colossus Titan's first attack, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin labor in a field as passing Military Police officers gripe about production quotas. One mentions that most field hands were conscripted for the operation to reclaim Wall Maria and almost certainly died. Armin quietly tells his friends that his parents were among them, sent not to recover territory but to thin the number of mouths the government had to feed.

Boot camp follows. Drill instructor Keith Shadis stalks the ranks, breaking down recruits one at a time; Armin gets the treatment while watching officers explain the ritual as a manufactured rite of passage that builds a soldier's temperament. Shadis pointedly skips Annie and several others, veterans of hardships that already remade them. Jean earns a headbutt for naming the comfortable interior as his goal, Marco's devotion to the king gets mocked, and Connie is hoisted by his skull for saluting with the wrong hand.

Then Shadis spots Sasha, chewing in formation. She has stolen a steamed potato from the kitchens and, under interrogation, cannot grasp why eating it mid-drill is the issue. Her solution, splitting the potato and offering the instructor the smaller "half," earns her five hours of running and a skipped lunch, the latter clearly the harsher blow in her mind.

Around the barracks, the trainees trade origins, and word that Eren and Armin come from Shiganshina makes them minor celebrities. Questions about the Colossus Titan pile up at dinner until the memory of his mother's death turns Eren's stomach. He recovers by declaring how badly he wants to slaughter the Titans, prompting Jean to sneer that the bravado hides shaking knees. The near-fight defuses, but Jean's attention shifts to Mikasa, complimenting her striking face and black hair. Watching her leave with Eren, who tells her the long hair is a liability, Jean wipes his hand on Connie's shirt and calls the residue his lost faith in humanity.

Elsewhere, a collapsed Sasha lunges at Krista's offered bread; Krista's kindness earns her worship as a goddess, while Ymir dismisses the good deed as image management and hauls Sasha to bed for her own amused reasons.

Training proper opens the next morning on the suspension rigs that simulate maneuvering gear. Mikasa, Jean, and Connie hang steady on their wires. Eren, humiliatingly, cannot stay upright at all.

The chapter appeared November 9, 2010 in Japan, with the English edition arriving March 26, 2013. It sits in the 104th Training Corps arc between Primitive Desire and Necessity, and its material was adapted into the anime's first Humanity's Comeback episode.

The story is framed as a flashback set three years before the victory at Trost, introducing nearly the whole graduating class in a single stretch, including the first meeting between Krista and Ymir.

The chapter quote is Eren announcing to his fellow trainees his plan to join the Survey Corps and clear the world of Titans.