Logbook Entry 188: What I Once Sought to Destroy

The chapter title is referencing two things. The first is Tsukasa wanting to destroy Science in the past. Or more specifically, prevent Science from getting to a point where weapons are mass produced around the world. The second thing is referencing the trio of Tsukasa/Hyoga/Kohaku wanting to destroy the communication device -Which was their initial plan when encountering Stanley’s forces.

Resigning themselves to their deaths, Kohaku’s group charges head on into Maya’s.

They initially succeed at repelling them -Kohaku and Tsukasa manage to cut down their guns. Hyoga uses his Owari-kanryu style and causes one of the enemies to misfire their gun. Things are looking upwards initially, but then…

Maya tries dropping a tree onto Kohaku. Tsukasa shows up and protects her from the tree. When Kohaku and Tsukasa first met, Tsukasa used a tree to pin her down, effectively ending the fight. This time, he protects her from a falling tree.

This display of strength makes the soldiers realize who Tsukasa is- Japan’s strongest primate high schooler. So, we as readers learn that even outside the boundaries of Japan, Tsukasa was popular among the rest of the world. Maya gets excited at the concept of fighting him.

She attacks him with a flurry of attacks, and we see Tsukasa take some damage from that. The first time in the series we have seen Tsukasa be harmed by someone else’s physical attacks (Hyoga used a spear back when he betrayed him, which is not necessarily a physical attack).

Tsukasa commends her for pushing him but dispatches her with one attack. Much like he did the lion that was attacking Senku and Taiju.

With this fight, Taiju is still the first and only person to remain standing after an attack from Tsukasa. Rather good track record I would say, ha.

The fight is not over yet. Immediately after Maya’s takedown, Tsukasa gets riddled with bullets. The soldier shooting him states that even before bullets, physical might means nothing. As stated in previous logbook entries, this is a point that has been driven home since the start of the series.

Also compared to the previous time with Stanley, this time Tsukasa gets shot in several areas. Some of them potentially lethal.

Kohaku is in distress at him being shot and turns her back to the enemy. Stanley suddenly appears, shooting Hyoga who got in the way. The second time Hyoga has protected Kohaku in recent chapters, the first being after she nearly fell down a ravine.

Hyoga tells Kohaku to do her job, and she proceeds to destroy the communicator. Stanley commends her plan, before proceeding to shoot her.

Tsukasa lies on the ground dying and spots the destroyed communication device in front of him. He praises them for a job well done, before realizing their current predicament. Hyoga is dead, plus him and Kohaku do not have a long time left. He thinks back to Mirai being saved from her brain-dead state, and him from a frozen state, and wonders if the Medusa can bring back people from a dead state.

He wonders when he started relying on Science so much, before leaving everything to Senku. Above him the stars are shining, and it mirrors Byakuya’s final moments on earth.

Fantastic chapter this week. When Dr Stone goes for emotional writing, it hits HARD. Seeing Tsukasa lament about his initial motivations, and his potential final moments made for a powerful chapter. Was also impressive seeing Kohaku and Hyoga pull their own weight in the battle. In a fight against guns, it was always going to be a losing battle. But still, they did succeed in their mission to destroy the communicator.

The arc is entering its climax, and we are in for one hell of a ride.

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Tsukasa, Hyoga and Kohaku are now depending on the healing power of the medusa. The medusa still isn’t assembled and working yet, and the urgency for having a working medusa is now more than a battle plan to stop Stanley.

The question is if the medusa can bring back someone who is already dead. People across the world have debated the question, “At what point are you considered actually dead?” and a common answer is when you can no longer be brought back to life by doctors (resuscitation). The medusa has proven to break this rule when it instantly brought Tsukasa back to life from cold sleep, something humans have yet to accomplish, if they ever will.

Since humans haven’t proven that cold sleep is effective, we could fairly assume that Tsukasa was ten billion percent dead in the freezer. However, his body was prevented from decaying. Now they are depending on the medusa to petrify them before their bodies start to decay (that is so weird to say about our beloved characters). And that is probably what Tsukasa means here, that if they are petrified quickly enough while their cellular structure is still intact, it can save them. If Tsukasa really was dead in the freezer, then we can be sure it will bring them back, as long as they are turned to stone soon.

Do you think Senku knew there was a good chance they would get shot, which would mean he has faith that the medusa will bring them back?