Both these chapters offered some insight on the main villain of the series. The reason the world was turned to stone 3,700 years ago. Answers that the whole fandom had been wondering about, theorizing before this point of the story. Did they live up to our expectations though? Let’s dissect our findings.
Why-Man does end up being someone who has been with the cast this whole time. Not in human form though. They were the Medusas themselves. Machine lifeforms, which exist in solidarity on the moon. For those of you who are into superhero series, it reminds you a bit of Brainiac from Superman. Or the Skynet system from the Terminator series.
The interesting thing about this revelation, is that not too long ago, Senku’s group had also come upon a pile of Medusas on earth. Back in Manaus, during the South American arc. Those in the pile were dead though. Unresponsive. Even using the usual Medusa commands to activate them did nothing. This time, they’ve come across an active pile of Medusas. One that responds to them, and even engages in dialogue.
What we know of the moon’s surface is that it’s a vacuum. The Medusa that Senku’s group also talks to them, engaging in conversation for the very first time. Could it have tried reaching out before, but failed to because of lack of the vacuum? Or it simply chose not to talk to the group, considering it viewed them as an inferior series? We saw it put in a vacuum chamber in chapter 213, then self-activate at the time. That self-activation could have been a form of dialogue, but the words were not heard due to the presence of the vacuum.
More than try and talk to Senku’s group, the Treasure Island Medusa tries activating to petrify them. Seems to be a reaction born out of anger, impatience. Or it could be that the device does not see the space crew as worth talking to. It would fit in with the superiority complex we’ve seen them to possess. To this display of hostility, we see Stanley prepare his net grenade launcher. How would these devices react to hostility? If some of them are destroyed, would the remaining ones fight back with petri beams? Do they have a shared memory, experiences? What does this mean for Matsukaze who destroyed so many of them back on Treasure Island?
Thankfully, a superior Medusa commands it to stop. More than that, Gen suggests offering a peace offering. To try and pacify the devices, as is tradition when one is trying to negotiate with a neighboring country. For the Gen fans who were disappointed that he would not be on the moon trip (And also worried about his participation in this final part), it’s genuinely heartening to see he is still playing a big role in the story. It makes you wonder if negotiations would have gone smoother if Gen was on the moon in person, rather than working remotely. Due to Senku’s tact, or rather lack of it.
Senku immediately remembers the diamond batteries, which are an important lifeline for the devices. They spent a good portion of the last part of the story analyzing the device, breaking them down and trying to figure out what made them tick. The answer they came across was the diamond batteries, a hypothesis we see confirmed by the Medusas in Chapter 229 as well.
Does that mean no batteries are equal to no life? If Senku refuses to make the diamond batteries, would the devices die out naturally?
Xeno defines the devices as mechanical parasites (Giving us another great Xeno panel). The defining element of his character is scientific progress/the lack of it in our modern society. It was also a regret he had with the old world. With immortality however, eternal life, people can continue working on science eternally. In the case that Senku will not agree with making new batteries, we could see a situation whereby Xeno agrees to it. He was there with Senku when they were breaking down the batteries, after all.
The devices are seemingly pleased with Senku’s suggestion, and they agree to offer a retelling of events from 3,700 years ago. From their own perspective. This series has always had a way with flashbacks, having them connect into modern day events. Ever since the Sai/Ryusui reunion chapters, we have not really had any new flashbacks. That was around 20 odd chapters ago as well.
The flashback answers so many questions, allowing us to piece so much of the puzzle together. Why the swallows were chosen, a choice that ended up being completely random. Basically, any species could have sufficed, but the swallows ended up being the first species the Medusas encountered on their descent into the earth’s atmosphere. Swallows and humans do not really have any genetic similarities, so this is an answer that hits home as far as our real-world science is concerned.
We also learn about what happened on Treasure Island, 3000 years after the first petrification. It was something I had personally been wondering about this whole time, so I am glad that it is a mystery which was addressed. We know that Treasure Island was a haven of rare metals, from the time capsule. The islanders there created radio waves by polishing the metals regularly. Kind of like the effect we saw from the sphere we saw Chrome possess in his lab earlier in the story.
The Medusas are shown capable of noticing and reacting to radio waves, which we were informed of before in the story. They noticed the radio waves on Treasure Island and reacted to them by descending onto the island.
Sadly, this descent led into an island level fight for the device. The devices simply wished for the humans there to carry out maintenance on them. To make them new diamond batteries, in exchange for immortality. A plan that ended up not working out for them.
Fast forward 700 years later, Senku and Xeno manage to wake up. It takes a while for them to manage to recreate radio waves in the world, and this whole time, the Medusas have been waiting for someone to notice them. To make them new batteries. They wonder why the humans are doing nothing to assist them, keeping up their end of the deal. All this anger culminates in the question of ‘Why’. Which is a very solid way to tie things in together.
There are still a few lingering questions, such as why the Medusas chose Manaus as the petrification origin to engulf the whole planet. Why is there such a huge pile there if one could petrify the whole planet? Also, why is there such a disparity in the diamonds inside those devices?
I think we are still due one or two more chapters of flashback, so this story is not quite done yet. There is also the possibility that the devices might withhold some information/lie, so we as readers should take everything, they divulge to us with a pinch of salt. So far though, I have to say I am personally satisfied by this.
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