Joel Gear

**Joel Gear** (ジョエル・ギア, **Jyoeru Gia**) is a watchmaker that was found in North America. He was revived to take apart the Petrification Weapon and see what makes it tick.

## Appearance

Joel is a young man with a bowl cut and two errant hairs sticking out of the top of his head forming a '12'. His eyes are white with no visible pupil, almond-shaped, and have dark shadows underneath. They are also mostly hidden by his bangs. His eyebrows and nose are both narrow. His mouth seems quite small, with no visible lips.

His outfit is heavily clock-themed, consisting of a graduated collar with a set of heart-shaped clock hands dangling down the front, a black long-sleeved shirt with '9' on the left arm and '3' on the right in swirled writing, and a white apron with side pockets and a '6' on the front in a similar font. The numbers along with the clock hands on his chest creates a simplified clock across his whole body. He also wears black pants, shiny leather shoes and has a watchmaker's loupe (magnifying eyeglass) strapped to his head. Upon arrival at the American Colony's base, he made himself a watch to wear as well.

## Personality

Joel is very confident in his abilities, showing great pride in himself. He believes a man who minds his time should always wear a watch as it's proof of good taste. He prefers to work in silence, albeit without a desk, squatting on the floor.

Depending on who he is interacting with, Joel's mannerisms change drastically. With women, Joel is very shy and stutters, not saying much. This is because he spent his whole life working and never learnt how to act around women. In contrast, Joel is quite rude, cocky, and verbose when interacting with other men, showing them no respect whatsoever. However, he will show respect to fellow artisans as he wanted to share a toast of wine with Kaseki over the success of their mission.

## Abilities and Skills

According to his former boss, Joel is a very skilled watchmaker and was her star employee. He was able to craft a wristwatch in a day after reviving. He was also able to study the mechanics of the petrification weapon, succeeding in restoring its ability to function.

## Synopsis

### **South America Arc**

Joel is revived by the Kingdom of Science. When he awakens, he's immediately embarrassed as he is naked in front of three women, to which Minami remarks "is a normal reaction". After arriving back at the American Colony's base, Joel is put to work by Brody. He is given the petrification device to analyze and is amazed by its intricacies. Joel soon finds the central core, noting it was blackened, and tries removing and placing it back in to see if it will function. Testing his theory, Joel gives it a command, and sure enough, the device activates and he is petrified a second time.

Not long after, he is revived again by Yuzuriha. Joel once again shows his shyness to women and rudeness to men. In spite of this, he intends to continue working on the device.

Joel would later confirm that the diamond the KOS made was a true diamond, and was up to the task of creating a diamond identical to the one in the medusa, claiming no one has ever seen skills like his, and would continue to work on perfecting the diamond.

However, this would prove to be a challenge as Joel was said to be struggling to perfect the battery alongside Kaseki. Kaseki would later find the key to perfecting the battery, that being cutting the diamond as to leave a cleavage plane that divides the diamond in two halves (which was discovered by breaking spent medusa diamonds). However, due to no longer being able to communicate with Corn City, they couldn't relay this information to Joel. When François and Suika were captured by the Americans, François sent a message to Corn City telling them they have split into two groups. Joel identified this message as covertly telling him about the cleavage plane in the diamond batteries.

To the Americans in Araxá, this message didn't seem quite suspicious; however, Dr. Brody thought something was off about sending such a pointless message, and prevented the group at Corn City from hearing it. However, it is revealed that the watch Joel made when he first arrived at the base had a radio built in, and received the Morse code of incoming messages. Joel claims he did this as he only trusts his own work. Joel would use the clue he received from François and craft a functional diamond battery for the medusa. Upon finishing it, Joel activated it inside of a glass of alcohol, declaring a toast to not just finishing the job, but also to Kaseki, who was the master craftsman that discovered this.

After seeing the medusa complete, Brody grabs the medusa from inside the glass, shattering the glass in his hands, claiming that Joel tried it out inside a glass to prevent the Americans from stealing it. Brody would go on to put the medusa in a safe and had the other soldiers put guns up at Joel and the other KOS members. Joel's watch would receive a message in Japanese from Senku, and after having Minami translate it, Joel and everyone else is shocked at the orders from Senku that it's do or die. As the rest of the KOS charges into battle, Joel states he cant go on with a toast of victory with Kaseki, believing in everyone and Senku.

Joel watches as everyone charges in and are shot down one by one in their attempt to get the Petrification Weapon. After the quick battle ends, the Americans stand atop the pile of bodies, believing to have killed everyone. However, Joel was still alive, and he reaches out for the medusa in the open safe while the soldiers are off-guard, using Kinro as a shield. Joel taps a button on his watch and grabs the medusa, as Brody slams the safe on Joel's arm, crushing it. When Brody questions why he betrayed them, Joel says it's Bourbon Revenge, and that they interfered with his toast of victory. Brody realizes that Joel's watch is a radio and orders it to be taken; however, he is too late as Why-man's regular radio command is received by Joel's watch. The order '12,800,000 meters, one second' is given, and the worldwide petrification is activated again. Joel is once again petrified as the beam covers the whole of Corn City and soon the entire Earth.

### **Globetrotting Arc**

Eight years after the second petrification event, Joel is revived along with the rest of the Kingdom of Science in America by the group led by Taiju. Joel was happy to be revived but was disappointed that Kaseki was not with them to share a toast. After Brody and the others are updated on the Why-man situation, Joel and the others are surprised by Senku planning to create a computer.

### **Moon Mission Arc**

Joel traveled to Japan to ensure the Petrification Weapon was operational for the Moon launch. It was this time that he finally met Kaseki and the two worked together to put a new battery into the petrification device. The Kingdom of Science noted that they made an excellent team. He later attends Tajiu and Yuzuriha's 2nd wedding ceremony.

## Trivia

* The hairs making the '12' seem to have only popped out after depetrification.
* All of the swirls on his body spiral clockwise outwards.

## References

1. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Volume 22 — Extras
2. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 190, Page 4, based on the drinking age in America and assuming his drink is alcoholic.
3. ↑ Confirmed 20+ in a Twitter space hosted by Riichiro Inagaki on August 4th 2021
4. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Volume 21 — Knight File
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dr. Stone: Kingdom of Science Encyclopedia, Page 142
6. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 1, Page 15
7. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 177, Page 13
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 177, Page 19
9. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 178, Page 4
10. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 191, Page 19, Joel Gear is petrified along with the rest of Corn City.
11. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 206, Page 5, Joel Gear is revived in Corn City.
12. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 178, Page 3
13. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 183, Page 6
14. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 184, Page 12
15. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 185, Page 8
16. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 186, Page 19
17. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 190, Page 19
18. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 191, Page 19
19. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 206, Page 6
20. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 223, Page 10