LogBook Entry 184: Fort Medusa

From the title of this week’s chapter, I would like to use this introductory paragraph to define what a fort is. Traditionally, it refers to a fortified building. An area that has been heavily armed, whether in preparation for war. Or a conflict of any kind. For real world examples, think of the famous Fort Knox.

This is the fourth chapter in the series that has the name ‘Medusa’ in it. The first three were all in Treasure Island (Medusa’s True Face, Medusa and Perseus, Medusa vs Science). Judging by how Medusa-centric the past few chapters have been, it was a matter of time before we got a chapter with Medusa in its title.

So, the crew finally make land on Araxa. Ryusui relishes the thought of getting the rare rocks and metals. Which is not his first experience with something valuable (Think of how he was adamant on getting oil back in the Age of Exploration). Chelsea runs an experiment on the soil to test it for metals, an experiment that produces a positive result. Chrome recognizes the experiments as like when panning for gold. He has a whole warehouse full of minerals back in Ishigami village, so Araxa reminds us that he is a geologist by heart.

For those of you who wonder what gold panning is,, this is what it looks like in real life:

Senku’s group wastes no time in creating a fort, and Senku explains that it is to prepare for the final battle with Stanley. This is not the first time that Senku has made battle preparations to face off against a foe. Remember the climax of Treasure Island? He also had to prepare himself for the fight against Ibara. Back then, they had even gone as far as managed to get Mozu onto their side.

He already knows that Xeno sent him a message, also noticing that Xeno’s nails were magnetic. Ryusui states that they need the ship to make the voyage around the world. Makes you wonder what they will do with the Stealth Ship eventually.

In that regard, both parties have something the other wants. Stanley wants Xeno back, while the Kingdom of Science want their grand ship back.

Hyoga and Tsukasa discuss their odds of survival in the upcoming battle. Tsukasa states that they have zero chances of winning with their current set of weapons. Interesting to note that the two superhumans are still injured from when Stanley shot them back on the motorbikes.

And as we learned at the start of the story, gunpowder is something that even Tsukasa could not fight against. In a way, we are getting further confirmation of this with this current Stanley debacle.

The group also proceeds to set up traps around the area. They must make sure the traps are all in perfect shape, because even the smallest mistake could cost them their lives. An animal sets off one of the traps, so they decide on setting up more traps to be on the safe side. The extent to which they are going to make sure these are perfect proves just how formidable an enemy Stanley is. Not just him, but the people with him are all dangerous. Unlike Ibara’s group of post-petrification foes, Stanley and his group are all from the pre-petrification era.

Taiju, Chelsea, Tsukasa and Carlos set out to mine diamonds. The waterwheel (Which they also used to provide power in Ishigami village), helps them to polish the diamonds up.

But when it comes to working with the diamonds, there is a huge problem. The devices themselves are too small. This makes them rather limited to work with, to the point that Kaseki himself is dejected about using them to work. This isn’t the first time he has been dejected about working on a new scientific invention - See the Hickman pump.

However, this time, Gen cannot exactly encourage him from this slump. This is because even Joel, an expert watchmaker, is struggling with the Medusas himself.

Taiju suggests a suicide attack, where he himself would rush at Stanley’s group and launch the petrification wave at them. He used a similar strategy to protect Senku and Yuzuriha from Tsukasa at the beginning of the story.

An attempt that he will not be allowed to repeat this time, since it is far too risky.

Chrome draws inspiration from Taiju’s suggestion and suggests that they all Kamikaze themselves in the petrification wave. A similar phenomenon happened back at Treasure Island.

However, back then the petrification they underwent was unavoidable, stemming from Ibara’s attack. This time, they would be willingly allowing themselves to get petrified.

One person would be on standby to revive all the others. Just like Senku did in Treasure Island, though back then he did have to pour the revival fluid on himself to be able to do so.

This time, the person on standby would be in a safe area, away from the petrification area.

Ryusui points out the weaknesses in Stanley getting to the Medusa first, or the person on standby being shot to death. To counter this, Senku’s group builds a tower. Atop the tower is the trademark Kingdom of Science flag, that Senku has had from the start of the story.

The inside of the tower has the Medusa and speaker, which makes it easier to access from all over the ground. The moment Stanley is spotted, one would just shout into the numerous microphones all over the area, and the wave would launch immediately. Senku used a similar strategy against Ibara at the start of their battle, but back then it did not exactly work successfully.

Kohaku remarks about how a light that once brought the world to its knees would now be their guardian angel, and the chapter concludes at this point.

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A very, very fantastic chapter. Of course, we as the readers of the story are aware of the lack of luck in Senku’s life. So, there is a ten billion percent possibility that this plan is doomed to fail. From the get-go. Which makes it interesting to see how they compromise in the event of a setback. There is also the X factor in Dr Xeno. How will they prevent him from interfering in this plan? Who will be the person they leave aside to revive all the others? And will they finally manage to beat Stanley?