Still Can't See

Word of a Titan that fought for humanity in Trost spreads unevenly through the interior, where distrust of official announcements runs deep. Some dismiss the story as government propaganda; others quietly weigh what such a creature could mean. Eren, meanwhile, remains chained in an underground cell, absorbing the hostility of his guards and beginning to think of himself as the monster they see. Hange and Mike Zacharias eventually collect him and deliver him to a courtroom, where he is shackled to a post at the center of the floor.

Commander-in-Chief Darius Zackly presides, explaining that ordinary law cannot apply and that he alone will decide the outcome of this military tribunal. Two factions want Eren: the Military Police intend to study his corpse and name him a hero after the fact, wary of the political chaos his living existence invites, while the Survey Corps under Erwin proposes using his power to retake Wall Maria via an advance from Karanes District. Minister Nick of the Wall-worshiping church demands immediate execution for defiling the Walls' sanctity, and a merchant's outburst about sealing the gates draws a cutting rebuke from Levi about who actually pays for civilian safety.

The hearing turns against Eren when Zackly cites a report that his Titan form once swung at Mikasa. She confirms it under questioning, though she stresses that the same Titan saved her life twice. Nile Dok counters that her testimony is compromised and drags up the killings from six years earlier, when Eren and Mikasa slew the traffickers who abducted her, framing both children as threats. As the gallery calls for two executions, Eren snaps. He shields Mikasa, denounces the room's cowardice, and demands they simply put their faith in him. The tirade prompts the Military Police to raise their weapons, and at that instant Levi launches into a savage, methodical beating, kicking out one of Eren's teeth in front of the court. When Nile warns that the abuse might trigger a transformation, Levi points out the absurdity of dissecting someone they cannot restrain, noting that Eren's Titan felled twenty of its kind. Erwin seizes the moment, proposing that Eren operate under Levi's direct watch, with judgment deferred until after a field mission. Zackly accepts.

Afterward, Erwin admits the outburst gave them exactly the opening they needed, and welcomes Eren aboard. When Hange chides Levi for the lost tooth and asks Eren to open his mouth, the group discovers the tooth has already grown back.

Eren stands before a military tribunal, with custody contested between the Survey Corps and the Military Police Brigade.

Mikasa testifies that Eren's Titan once attacked her, and Nile Dok exposes the pair's killing of three kidnappers in the year 844 to cast doubt on them both.

Levi publicly beats Eren to demonstrate that the Survey Corps can control him, undercutting the case for dissection.

Erwin's proposal places Eren under Levi's supervision, and Zackly releases him to the Survey Corps pending mission results.

Eren's knocked-out tooth regrows within hours, an early display of his regenerative power.

Still Can't See opens volume 5 as the 19th chapter overall, published in Japan on March 9, 2011 and in English on June 4, 2013. It begins The Female Titan arc and was adapted as the episode Can't Look into His Eyes Yet: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 1.

The courtroom sequence is the story's first extended look at politics inside the Walls, introducing Zackly, Nile Dok, and Minister Nick while establishing the church's influence and the interior's distrust of the military. It follows What Should I Do Now? and the special chapter Ilse's Notebook, and precedes Special Operations Squad.