DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dr. Stone! :)
To my awesome reviewers (21/01/20): Hello, Anonymous, giacomoX, The Green Seer, Evelyn (9001668), Lu-chan 16Love, Ruby890, Kirana Retsu, Yandrik, andreasoledad1314, gabiemndz, and vwheel10! ^_^ Thank you so much for reviewing the sixteenth chapter of No Stone Unturned! He almost won, though! XD Glad you liked seeing Gen! His smart, scheming self was analyzing everybody right from the start :D Looks like you were excited to see Gen! :D Even though he was a newcomer, he still noticed the way Senku and Kohaku saw each other... at least he did eventually :D He'll find out whether his theories are true or not! He broke down their actions and motivations in his head like the mentalist he is :D Gen tiene una perspectiva diferente de las ortras personas, entonces las ineracciones con Suika y Kohaku (y Chrome) destacaron a Gen. Kohaku no sabe todavia que ella estara con Senku, pero el pasara! XD Oh, awesome! This is NOT overkill at ALL! :D As a writer, I love going into detail like this! :D Gen is overpowered, but in the same way, I think a lot of characters in Dr, Stone are overpowered in their fields of specialty as well (like like Suika, Hyoga, and ESPECIALLY some manga characters). In the anime, Senku says that he likes girls who can pump oxygen, but in the manga, he says that he likes girls who can gather ironmaking materials. I used the manga version in my story to be as canon-compliant as possible :D That's an interesting point about Chrome's belt pouches... when I was writing the chapter, I think Gen's analysis of Chrome was trickier for me compared to his analyses of everybody else *nervous sweatdrop* so I can see what you mean about the comparison being farfetched! O.o Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me! ^_^ Estoy alegre que te gusto aquellos capitulos! Me gusto escribando acerca de Ruri y Suika :) The plot will definitely develop, especially since we have a new character for everybody else to interact with! :) Thank you so much for leaving reviews for thirteen chapters of my fanfic! O.O I'm glad you liked reading Ruri's thoughts; I enjoyed writing them! :D It's a good thing you like slow burn, because this will VERY slow burn XD I love Kohaku and Chrome's friendship, too! :) Haha! Actually, I chose not to put the gorilla thing in there, but I did put the lioness thing! :D Yup, gathering that much iron sand took a LONG time! Senku doesn't trust them completely yet :( But he's happy to eat sunflower seeds with Suika! :D I hope all you enjoy this new chapter, and thank you again! ^_^
Chapter Seventeen: (S01 E09a) Pumping Oxygen
Senku surveyed the scene before him. He wasn't surprised that Kohaku had managed to rope Kinro and Ginro into helping her surround the familiar-looking stranger threateningly with weapons – after all, Senku had personal experience that those two had no problem with approaching strangers threateningly with weapons.
Ah, I know where I've seen him. Asagiri Gen is from the modern era, like me, so Tsukasa must have revived him. And if he's part of the Tsukasa Empire, he must know how Taiju and Yuzuriha are doing.
I'll have to plan this out, though. While he's working hard at the furnace later, I'll ask a lot of subtle questions first before mentioning Taiju and Yuzuriha, because asking Gen about them immediately will make it look like I'm worried them and whether or not they're being treated properly.
When she heard Senku say that he had seen Asagiri Gen's face before, Kohaku lowered her weapons.
"An acquaintance of yours, Senku?"
"Not even for one millimeter," he replied, and the weapons went back up to join Kinro and Ginro's, whose spears were aimed at Gen's heart and spine.
"I know I'm in the wrong for eating your delicious ramen without permission, and I'm deeply sorry about that~"
He doesn't look sorry in the slightest, thought Senku.
"…but a teeny, tiny bowl of ramen isn't a reason to threaten an innocent magician like me with weapons, is it? I'm shaking with fright at the thought," he said, giving a dramatic shudder that made the soup in Gen's ramen bowl swirl dangerously close to the edge.
Senku noticed that Ginro looked unusually concerned about that… and so did Gen, skillfully manipulating the younger guard to lower his weapon, releasing the magician's spine from the danger as the protection of the village was exchanged for a half-eaten bowl of ramen.
After seeing his brother abandon his duties so easily, Kinro was visibly annoyed, trying to keep his spear pointed at Gen's heart, but failing due to the occasional irate glances he shot at Ginro, which inadvertently kept making him lower his weapon.
Kohaku, however, had remained alert. Senku noticed her shoot a suspicious look at Gen's fingers before gripping her weapons tighter and focusing on his face once more, her gaze clear as she regarded the stranger who was now talking lightheartedly about the warm weather and the delicious smell of ramen.
And it was a good thing, too, because by the end of Gen's little speech, Kinro had stopped focusing on the stranger in their midst, choosing instead to scold his brother. Ginro had happily finished Gen's leftover ramen, gaining both a full stomach from the food and several sore lumps on his head courtesy of his older brother.
Hmm… looks like we're getting off-track… The point is that they've eaten the ramen, so now it's time to make iron…
"Well, if he's really just an innocent ramen eater, we'll just let him be," Senku said to Kohaku, who turned to look at him again, lowering her weapons slightly, but still keeping them pointed in Gen's direction.
Senku continued, addressing the crowd at large, "But free meals are things that don't exist. Everybody who ate any ramen will have to work!"
Most of the crowd look confused.
They must not have expected that.
Senku gestured to Chrome.
"Chrome here will explain what we'll be doing today…"
As Senku walked a short distance away to whisper something to Suika, Chrome faced the crowd.
"Hey, everybody!" exclaimed Chrome happily, waving to the crowd. "We're going to make this crazy thing called 'iron' today! See these bamboo poles around this furnace? Four of us will stand…"
As the enthusiastic man explained the process of ironmaking, Kohaku gave Gen one last long look, checking up and down for any possible hidden weapons or tricks, before lowering her weapons to her side.
"Yes, each shift is four hours long."
"Yes, we'll have ramen for dinner – all you can eat!"
"No, you can't get out of this – you ate that insanely good ramen, so fair is fair!"
After Chrome had dealt with all of the crowd's questions, Suika, who had been in charge of keeping track of who ate the most ramen because those people would also have the most shifts, spoke to those who would take the first shift.
Senku watched as she arranged people around the furnace. Suika placed Ramen Eater and Pigtail Girl near the bamboo poles – and, following Senku's quiet instructions earlier, she included Gen in the first shift as well.
When Suika left Gen to get a fourth person, she was stopped by Kohaku, who exchanged a few words with Suika. After seeing Suika nod, Kohaku unstrapped her equipment from her back and gave Suika her shield and one of her knives. Kohaku then stepped up to the last remaining spot at the furnace, the spot on Gen's right, and placed her other knife at her feet for easy reach.
When they were all in place, Senku did some final checks and lit the fire underneath the pot of iron sand before standing back and giving the first four workers their signal.
"One… two… three… GO!"
They were a little slow at first, with all of them except for Kohaku not used to the exhausting labor of pumping oxygen into a furnace nonstop.
After the first two hours, the four of them were already getting tired, but they had found their rhythm and were rewarded by a great plume of black smoke, evidence that their hard work was bearing fruit.
Senku stepped up next to Gen.
Time to ask some questions about the Tsukasa empire.
"Asagiri Gen. How are Taiju and Yuzuriha doing?"
(End of Chapter Seventeen.) (21/01/20.)
I. My personal comments: In the anime, Ruby, Gen, Ganen, and Shirogane were seen pumping oxygen for the furnace, but in the manga, it was Kohaku, Gen, Ganen, and Ruby, so I went with the manga version :D I find it interesting that Kohaku, in the manga, had the suspicious stranger to her left and the girl who showed interest in Senku to her right XD How do you feel about Senku's control and Kohaku's caution during this chapter? :D
II. A tiny request: Thank you for reading my fanfic! :D If you've read this far, I hope you'll consider taking an extra minute to leave a review for Chapter Seventeen ("Pumping Oxygen")? I would love to hear your thoughts, especially the parts or specific lines that you liked or disliked in this chapter! :D Also, all kinds of constructive criticism are very welcome! See you next chapter! (By the way, I'm "fireflyhwufanficwrit" on Reddit and "firefly-hwufanficwriterrrrr" on Tumblr :D)