We made it at last!
Using the platinum
Kohaku's Spy Team acquired...
It's the fluid from the Miracle Cave.
UNLOCKED: NITRIC ACID!
Nitric acid.
So 3,700 years ago and even now on this island,
the petrification beam almost wiped everyone out.
Now, we can revive people all we want.
In other words, humanity's revival is all but guaranteed.
KINGDOM OF SCIENCE VS PETRIFICATION KINGDOM
Our counterattack starts now.
Now that we have nitric acid...
Right, you mentioned gunpowder earlier.
Can we start making firearms now?
We don't have the quantity for that.
I wish we could have a proper factory.
Sadly, we'll have to make do with this makeshift device.
The amount we can produce is pitifully low.
We can't afford to wait months to save up enough to wage a war.
That's right. We have to act quickly instead of waiting.
Once we have enough to revive one person,
we'll start recovering our friends.
We're getting back artisan Kaseki first for crafting the drone.
They're being tossed into the water!
It's no surprise. They're nothing but piles of rocks to our enemies.
Hold on...
A rescue mission on a heavily guarded ship is too risky.
Now is our chance to dive down and salvage the pieces.
Can we find them all?
The current might have carried them away.
The sea currents...
Ryusui would be perfect for the job!
If we can get him back...
This one's attire was particularly flashy.
He must have been their leader.
Oh no! They're taking Ryusui away!
Now, now. I have ill news for you all.
It seems we have infiltrators among us.
Finding them is of utmost importance.
If you're not one of them,
breaking the statue would be easy, right?
All right! Bring the next girl up!
How dare he do such a thing...
No, no, no! Control your emotions!
Kohaku, you mustn't lunge at him!
Remember, destroying the statue doesn't kill the person.
He'll be okay if we put him back together before we revive him.
Kohaku.
The statue should have reached your location by now.
- Don't worry... - Wait, what plan is this?
The girl over there. Kohaku, wasn't it?
What's wrong? Too scared to smash?
Or are you the infiltrator?
Ryusui!
I did as you commanded.
Is there a problem?
No, not at all.
Oh my, Kohaku. Look at the mess you made.
Let me clean it up for you.
Don't worry.
Since piecing together shattered fragments is difficult without Yuzuriha's help...
I struck in a way that broke the statue into clean parts.
Kohaku and the team sent back a lot of stuff.
It seems like the first batch arrived.
You don't mean to say...
they're carting over my dear Ryusui bit by bit with the 4WD rats?
What other option did we have?
This is called "taking advantage of being petrified by escaping in pieces."
My dear Senku, I know you love your pragmatic approach,
but this idea is bordering on crazy, even for you.
What the heck? There are so many rats today!
S-Sorry! I'm sure Kohaku will catch them all.
Ryusui will probably say...
"Ha ha! You did a great job breaking me into bits!"
"Thanks to you, I achieved becoming the first person to be revived twice!"
...when he wakes up.
No way!
Well, there is a good chance he might say that.
It was Ryusui who saved me.
His captain's hat was taken by the enemy,
so I made him a new one out of paper.
Huh? What's that sound?
It's not the usual cracking noise.
Millennia-old statues weather over time,
preventing surface cells from returning and causing them to break off.
But it's only been a few days, so there's no weathering here.
What we're seeing now is the true revival process.
Ha ha! Thank you, my friends!
Thanks to you, I achieved becoming the first person to be revived twice!
Ryusui!
Wait, am I really the first?
Yeah, you are.
Well then...
It's Kaseki you need now, isn't it?
Bingo! Well, aren't you quick to catch on?
RYUSUI HAS BEEN REVIVED!!
Ha ha! Great work, Suika.
You carried out your duty of being the sole survivor of the ship.
You're already a full-fledged warrior of the Kingdom of Science.
I have a general idea of the situation.
A sailor's intuition is never wrong.
The plan is to steal the device the moment it's thrown.
In short, this is an aerial battle, right?
TA-DAH
Am I right?
Wrong!
DRONE
Even my dear Ryusui, with his endless desires,
can't grasp this crazy plan!
No, this is great.
Being true to our desires is the way of our kingdom!
It looks like they've tightened the security on the ship.
Not only Ibara, but also Moz, the strongest fighter, is aboard.
They ten billion percent think there are other surviving intruders.
We can't get close, not even by one millimeter.
Can't we search at night?
We can't search the ocean floor without sunlight.
But we'll be spotted when we surface to breathe.
In that case,
we'll dive to the bottom in one breath!
- Let's go, Soyuz! - Just like that?
I guess our athletic pals never expected me and my dear Senku
to do the heavy lifting.
I thought as much. It was a fool's errand to begin with.
How about a southern island scuba diving trip?
We're making oxygen tanks!
Why are you tearing the lab apart all of a sudden?
We don't have time to make them from scratch.
These available parts will have to do.
This tube from the mobile lab is just an ordinary iron pipe.
Now, give me a lid.
Isn't the build too simple?
Are you...
turning that into an oxygen tank?
Can it even handle the pressure?
I ran tests before.
By sealing the protruding edges with soldering,
it can handle 100 atmospheres of pressure.
But it blew apart after a month.
I don't really get it,
but I remember you tried making a rocket engine before.
So this is the oxygen tank?
This is incredibly crude.
Unlike our skilled artisan Kaseki, I'm just an amateur.
Consider the rough design as part of the charm.
To inject air into it, we need some tough tools.
We could try using the engine piston.
Senku is taking the car apart!
The regulator should be able to seal the air inside.
Kaseki will be heartbroken.
My lovely mobile lab!
Don't underestimate his skills.
He can rebuild everything once he's revived.
Yes. He's right.
You two are making this into some sort of emotional moment,
but it's my dear Kaseki who's going to be doing all the work!
Next, we pump air into the tank.
I have a bad feeling about what's coming next.
In true Science Kingdom fashion, we'll be pumping air by hand for hours.
But even I can do it easily.
No way...
You're right. I thought...
Two atmospheres of pressure
It's only easy at first. Two atmospheres is like inflating a bike tire.
10 ATM
50 ATM
Suika! Compressing air stores heat!
The tank will explode if it overheats!
Cool it down with water now!
Got it!
How long is this going to take?
Well...
Based on its capacity...
Another five hours multiplied by the number of tanks...
I knew it!
10 HOURS LATER
The pump exploded!
Oh no!
No, this is enough.
We only need two tanks.
UNLOCKED: OXYGEN TANKS!
Incredible! I'm really breathing underwater.
How long can they breathe with those tanks?
It depends on the depth,
but roughly... ten minutes.
Only ten minutes?
We spent ten hours pumping them up with all we had.
The pump even exploded at the end.
These are the first and last oxygen tanks we have.
So these ten minutes are all we've got
to retrieve Kaseki from the bottom of the ocean.
Ten minutes is barely enough time.
If we only had some clues...
The enemies dropped the statues from above at this speed...
How do you remember the details so perfectly?
Soyuz is a true phenom!
Wait, come to think of it,
retaining memories from his time as an infant was already amazing.
Anyhow, you're a huge help!
This information is priceless.
I know Ryusui will find everyone.
He knows the ocean better than anyone.
This is...
a reef current!
A tidal current that develops within rifts in the reefs.
So, all the pieces must have been carried away by that current.
Ha ha! We found the capable sailors of the Perseus!
Sorry you had to wait in the darkness for this long.
You all deserve a special bonus.
I'll be sure to reward you with loads of dragos!
I spotted three jellyfish!
ONE: FOUND A FEW TWO: ONLY KASEKI
THREE: ALL MEMBERS FOUND
They found all of our friends.
Amazing work!
We can revive them all!
Yeah, but it must be done in the correct order.
In any case, if we don't revive our artisan Kaseki, we're done for.
We don't have any oxygen tanks left.
This critical moment will decide our fate.
Ha ha! Kaseki, you're the first one I desire!
He's planted firmly on the ocean floor.
He won't budge at all.
It's time they signal us to pull them up.
It's completely quiet.
How much oxygen is left?
An average-sized male breathes 15 liters of air per minute.
But since they're moving a lot, it's around 20 for them.
The oxygen tanks are 10 liters with the starting pressure of 70 ATM.
The issue is the depth.
Based on the jellyfish's location
and the movement of the tether,
it's about 20 meters.
Only four minutes of oxygen left.
It's no good! It could take hours to dig Kaseki out.
But without Kaseki, we can't make more oxygen tanks.
And no tanks means no deep dives.
We've only got one shot at this!
We have to bring him back no matter what!
When your own strength falls short,
what matters is desiring the strength of your comrades!
A leader's role is to utilize everyone's abilities to the fullest!
The signal!
But the way it moves is strange.
It looks like a message.
Tap-tap, tick-tick...
Is this Morse code?
Dash-dash, dot-dot. "Z"?
It can take ages to send a Morse code message with a rope.
Don't worry, it won't take long.
No words are needed between comrades.
Ryusui sent a message soon after I signaled time was running out.
It means he's in need of something urgently.
If he's in a hurry, he wouldn't send a full sentence.
It's likely just a single word.
But there aren't many words that start with "z."
Zoo? Zebra? Zipper? Zinc?
None of them makes sense. So it's Morse code, but in Japanese.
Dash-dash, dot-dot.
It's "F"! The thing he wants starts with "F"! And he needs it fast!
The fluid!
That was quick.
I see.
By reviving Taiju, who's the strongest,
we can pull out Kaseki.
But Ryusui, we can't pour the fluid on him underwater.
How will you revive him?
By using the air inside my tank,
I can create a pocket with atmospheric pressure.
I'll pour the fluid from below.
He made that call without wasting a moment.
He decided to use the last of his oxygen!
Darn it, the statue is missing an arm.
If we revived him now...
How did he know that was Taiju's arm?
Did he remember everyone's poses when they got petrified?
Incredible, Soyuz!
Of course, I was awake all along!
Of course that would happen when one gets revived underwater.
I have to brief Taiju on the situation and tell him our plan.
I'll create an air pocket between us!
Kaseki first! We need Kaseki--
That breath was all I needed.
Ryusui, you need the air too.
What matters isn't talking with words.
Friends can communicate with their hearts!
But I don't have any basis for that claim.
No, you got that right.
Our hearts do the talking for sure.
They should be at their limit by now.
Pull!
Hey there, Kaseki.
Hey, big oaf.
Welcome back, everybody!
MEDUSA'S TRUE FACE
This story is fiction but the flora/fauna, substances, and methods
are based on reality.
Collecting/making them is dangerous and/or may constitute a criminal act.
Please do not attempt.