Moon Mission Arc

The **Moon Mission Arc** is the fourteenth and final arc of *Dr. Stone* and the only arc of the Stone to Space Saga.

## Summary

### Finding Why-man

With the creation of the dam, the Kingdom of Science's obtains large-scale power production. Gen puts on shows to get everyone up to speed on their story so far. The topic of entertainment gets Ryusui excited, prompting him to mention the use of media as a way of controlling the world.

They build a CRT television and everyone is enthusiastic to watch shows, until they realize there's nothing being broadcast. Instead, they use the CRT as a screen for SAL 9000— their completed computer, delivered to Japan from their friends in Corn City. Sai rapidly begins programming punch cards, allowing everyone to play video games on the computer.

Later, Sai and Ryusui play a game of chess against one another, with Sai using an AI rather than playing himself. Ryusui loses, and comments that the AI has already surpassed his human intellect. Meanwhile, the others lock the Petrification Weapon in a safe, covered with a glass dome and in a vacuum for protection. As they leave, Gen and Yo hear some noises coming from inside and go to check, but before they can open the safe, the device activates, petrifying them both. Yo's statue shatters.

The beam spreads to a radius of around 20 meters before stopping. Gen and Yo are revived, with Yo sporting a new haircut. The others ask what happened, which Yo immediately gets defensive about, while Gen explains their observations. Gen confirms that no one had spoken to the device beforehand. They discuss theories, then plan. They put the device under camera surveillance, and begin broadcasting entertainment as well. The ultimate goal of the cameras are for a satellite to show them where Why-man is on the moon.

Senku explains how satellites work and shows the simple solar panel design they'll be using to power the craft. At Treasure Island, the rocket components are completed, bringing the rocket and engine to the launch pad. Xeno and Senku admire their work as they prepare for the first launch. The rocket immediately spins off the platform and falls into the water. Countless more rocket failures follow, but Xeno and Senku don't lose hope.

Suika and Chrome race the rocket scientists for their two-way rocket design. After the 7th attempt, the satellite finally arrives safely in space, and the Kingdom improve their world map. Using the new information, Ryusui and Chelsea set off to continue reviving all 7 billion people. Soon, after diligently observing the video feed of the moon, Kohaku spots a black mass that changes over time. Xeno confirms that it's unusual, and is almost definitely related to Why-man.

### Getting to Why-man

The Kingdom celebrates the discovery, but Suika and Chrome realize their time for modelling rockets is up. With a flash of genius inspired by one of Ryusui's comments, he gets to work completing the design. The next morning, the pair hold a science conference to debate their plan against Xeno and Senku. Chrome proposes that they assemble the rocket in space to avoid the weight restrictions, allowing a return flight. Neither Xeno nor Senku see any problems with it, so the plan is put to a vote. Unanimously, the two-way rocket wins.

In order to design the rocket, the Kingdom develops an internet connecting all their major cities. Using eucommia elastomers, they're able to make long cables suitable for laying across the ocean. They use Hawaii as a relay point between Japan and America, obtaining coffee in the meantime. After not seeing their friends for a very long time, everyone is finally able to communicate directly again. To make designing more convenient, Senku develops e-paper.

Astronaut selection and training begins, with the initial criteria being someone with experience dealing with the Petrification beam. Everyone gathers in Japan for the tests of stamina, concentration, equilibrium, and combat. Ultimately, the team selected is Senku, Kohaku, and Ryusui.

To aid construction, Ryusui once more designs a small scale model of the craft. Sai creates a training simulator for the computer, for which Ryusui tops the leaderboard. Everyone compliments him, saying there's no one out there better than him for the task, but something is eating away at him. Joel designs the resurrection watch, a device able to splash revival fluid onto someone after a set time. They also create a grenade net launcher in case they need to destroy piles of the devices. Ryusui and the others train their marksmanship, but that night, Ryusui decides to pay a visit to an old enemy, hidden away and trapped in stone.

Later, Ryusui discusses reviving a better astronaut candidate than himself with Senku, to which he agrees. The next morning, They tell Xeno about it, and he can barely contain his excitement. A few members of the Kingdom disagree as they're scared, and Chelsea points out that Ryusui was "hyped" to go to the moon. Ryusui stays quiet.

Shortly afterwards, Stanley is revived, and Xeno quizzes him with a question about shooting on the moon. Stanley answers quickly and correctly, impressing Senku. Xeno asks Stanley if he's up to the task, and after gently grabbing Xeno's chin and tilting his head slightly, Stanley says that he is. When night falls, Ryusui returns to the firing range, alone. Francois finds him, and after some conversation, he breaks down in tears, as he really wanted to go to the moon. The new astronaut team is then Senku, Kohaku, and Stanley.

Measurements are taken for the spacesuits, and while they have all the materials for it, Senku decides it's a good time to begin a few random crafting projects to improve everyone's quality of life. He makes a microwave oven, plastic wrap, a washing machine, a video camera, and countless other items, but most importantly, he builds a smartphone for Taiju. The smartphone screen design is then reused in the rocket's cockpit, marking the final piece for the rocket's completion.

The date of the launch is set, and the astronauts begin their final walk to the rocket. Everyone bids farewell to their friends and family, and Stanley is given a gift of chewing tobacco shaped like cigarettes by Xeno. Tears are shed. Joel and Kaseki finally meet, and together they put a new battery into the petrification device. Everyone prepares for the launch, the astronauts are petrified, and the rocket lifts off.

Once in space, Senku is revived first as a test to make sure the Revival Fluid works correctly. Senku takes this time to mourn the loss of his father Byakuya. Soon after, Stanley is revived, and after checking all the systems, they decide to revive Kohaku too. They all have space ramen together, similar to what Byakuya and the rest of the ISS astronauts did. They enjoy the experience together.

The other parts of the rocket begin arriving into orbit. The first connection goes off without a hitch, but soon after they realize that their communication is only one way: the rocket has an electrical problem. Kohaku leaves the rocket to spot when the next piece is coming, and Stanley is forced to dock with only half a screen. He succeeds again while Senku discovers the problem. A petrified human hair had short-circuited a circuit board and they don't have the tools to fix it. The docking screen goes fully dark, meaning they'll have to dock blind. They watch in horror as the next part of the rocket approaches, only to see it jerk. They discover Ryusui hitched a ride, and brought a replacement for the circuit board with him.

With all the pieces connected, the rocket begins its journey to the moon. After three days, they arrive. Ryusui declares that he'll be the one to stay onboard while the other three head down to the surface. Senku is the first to touch down on the moon, with his first words being "get excited!"

### Solving the Mystery of the Petrification

Safely on the moon, the petrification device is locked into a small airtight capsule with a speaker on the inside, so that it may be activated if necessary. Using the lunar rover, Stanley drives them towards the black mass Kohaku had seen on the cameras. Along the journey, they pass an old Apollo mission site, and "Senku" requests that Kohaku open the capsule. Confused, she stalls a little since Senku is more polite than usual, but "Senku" insists she do it quickly. She begins opening it but is stopped by Stanley grabbing her wrist and telling her that Senku didn't say anything. Why-man's voice says thanks, as the seal was broken, which forces Kohaku to throw the device away from them for safety. The beam radiates outwards as they notice they'd arrived at their destination.

The black mass was in fact a vast amount of petrification devices, all of which collectively make up Why-man. The device in the capsule asks once more if they want to die, and from Earth, Gen proposes they offer a gift. Senku tries to think what the devices want, and comes up with offering them more diamond batteries to replenish their life force. From their responses, Xeno establishes that they're highly advanced mechanical parasites.

Why-man then explains the reasoning behind all that had happened in the last 3,700 or so years. They came to Earth after hearing the regular radio signals, and petrified the birds as a test to see which species was the most intelligent. After hearing the humans discuss the phenomenon over the radio waves again, they decided to petrify them all. 3,000 years later, the people of Treasure Island began accidentally sending out radio waves, and the devices began the next stage of their plan: giving humanity their power. But unfortunately, humanity only destroyed them. Growing impatient, when the more powerful radio station was switched on, their only question for humanity was "WHY?"

Because the devices believe that the ultimate goal for any race is survival, they couldn't understand why humanity was rejecting their gift. When they successfully petrified the whole world again, the devices were pleased. But when they realized humanity still had no intention of using the devices, they asked why humanity seemed to want to die so badly. Senku asks why they'd do that since in doing so, they destroyed humanity's best chance at helping them. They said they expected humanity to break out sooner. With nothing else to do, Senku offers himself to learn how to rebuild the devices and help them. They enter into a private conversation, which worries the rest of the Kingdom.

Senku and the devices have a drawn out conversation that ends with the devices deciding to leave Earth, but first, they want to petrify the astronauts. Both sides suddenly go on the offensive, and there's a stalemate. Senku requests they take the chance with humanity one last time, but because of the extremely tiny odds, all of them leave bar one. That one device, they bring back to Earth with them in the capsule, safe.

Returning home and celebrating their success, the astronauts are all given awards for their work. Several years later, Gen is acting as a liaison between Japan and America's scientists. He returns to Japan to enjoy day 2 of Taiju and Yuzuriha's wedding. Kohaku discovers that Chrome asked if Ruri would be okay with them getting married in the future, to which she agrees. Tsukasa and Hyoga wonder about their futures, as they should be put on trial for their actions. Everyone heads into the science lab with cake for the scientists. Senku shows off his latest and greatest project: a time machine. With it, they hope to be able to save all 7 billion people, as several statues are unrecoverable. It may take thousands of years to complete, but the development is still something to get excited about.

## Story Impact

* The computer and hydroelectric dam are completed.
* The petrification device goes out, seemingly without reason, and petrifies Gen and Yo.
	+ Gen and Yo are revived immediately after.
* The Kingdom of Science create a satellite to scan the moon's surface for Why-man.
	+ Rockets are made, several ending in failures, but ultimately successful.
* Kohaku discovers a black mass on the moon, likely to be Why-man's location.
* Chrome and Suika design a two-way rocket, which everyone votes for.
	+ The two-way rocket begins production.
* Astronauts are selected through several trials.
	+ Kohaku, Senku, and Ryusui are chosen.
	+ Ryusui is then replaced by Stanley.
* The rocket is launched.
	+ There is an electrical problem which Ryusui fixes by delivering a replacement part and docking the shuttle himself.
* The team arrive on the moon, with Ryusui staying with the ship.
	+ They travel to the black mass, but get tricked by a sneaky radio message from Why-man.
* Why-man is revealed to be the petrification devices themselves, millions of which create the black mass Kohaku saw.
* Why-man explains their reasoning behind the attacks and messages.
* The devices leave for other planets, but one remains behind to join the Kingdom of Science.
* The rocket safely returns home, and several celebrations ensue.
* The story ends.

## Inventions in Order of Acquisition

*For a complete list of inventions in more detail, see Inventions and Discoveries.*

* Television
* Computer
* Rocket
* Satellite
* Internet
* Resurrection Watch
* Grenade Net Launcher
* Smartphone
* Space Suits

## Trivia

* This arc is the only one that has a saga to itself.
	+ The covers of Chapter 213 and Chapter 214 connect, creating a double-page spread.
* The calendar featured in this chapter shows a date that would next appear in the year 5760, which would push the story forward almost 10 years.
	+ Inagaki has said that this is an error and will be corrected.

## References

1. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 213, Pages 1-5
2. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 213, Pages 6-12
3. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 213, Pages 13-19
4. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 214
5. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 215
6. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 216
7. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 217
8. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 218
9. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 219
10. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 220
11. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 221, Pages 1-10
12. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 221, Pages 11-19
13. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 222
14. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 223
15. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 224
16. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 225
17. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 226
18. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 227
19. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 228
20. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 229
21. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 230
22. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 231
23. ↑ Dr. Stone Manga: Chapter 232