Dr. Stone Finally Answers Its Biggest Mystery: Who Petrified Humanity

Warning: contains spoilers for Dr. STONE chapter #228!

After 228 chapters, Dr. STONE finally reveals the mystery behind the petrification of Planet Earth that kickstarted the science/adventure drama featured in the pages of Shonen Jump. The identity of the villainous Why-man and their connection with the petrifying devices called Medusas is finally unveiled.

Dr. STONE – written by Riichiro Inagaki with art by Boichi – begins with Earth struck by the greatest calamity in history. A “petrifying beam” traverses the length of the planet, encasing all living beings in stone, turning them into statues. The mysterious energy however also preserves people from aging or dying, so 3700 years after the event, scientific prodigy Senku Ishigami, the son of Japanese astronaut Byakuya, wakes up due to an accident and gets started on his mission to rebuild human civilization starting from the Stone Age, picking up friends and enemies along the way. Senku’s group even discovers the source of the petrification beam; an advanced technological device they dub “Medusa.” Previously, it has been revealed that Medusa is activated through a vocal command, proving that the petrifying beam was not an accident, but the work of an unknown enemy of mankind.

The “Kingdom of Science” founded by Senku and his friends first learns of the existence of this being when they activate a powerful radio tower, picking up a Morse code signal repeating over and over the same word: “Why?” They dub the source “Why-man” and confirm they are in fact an enemy when they try to use the group’s radio devices to activate a Medusa, in order to petrify humanity once again. The Kingdom of Science finally learns that the source of Why-man’s signal is on the Moon, putting them in front of their biggest challenge yet: building a vehicle for space travel with the limited technology they possess. The threat of Why-man is just too big to be ignored, as all their labors to rebuild civilization will be rendered pointless if the Why-man manages to activate a petrification beam again. Many years pass, in which Senku forges an alliance with a former enemy who is the only one on his same level of intelligence, American scientist Dr. Xeno, and resources are gathered by traveling the world and building entire cities with the sole purpose of producing the materials needed for space travel. Finally, a team composed of Senku, Kohaku, and Stanley arrives on the Moon, and the truth they discover there is staggering.

On the Moon’s surface there is a “black spot,” first located by Kohaku using a satellite built by the Kingdom of Science. Arriving there, the group finds out that the spot is made by a huge mass of writhing, swirling Medusa devices. Mankind’s enemy, Why-man, is none other than the Medusas themselves. Senku describes them as machine life-forms, while Xeno calls them “mechanical parasites.” Apparently, the Medusas’ purpose is to have someone perform maintenance on them, such as replacing the diamond batteries that power them. The petrification effect actually offers humans eternal life, as it not only preserves them from aging but can also be used to heal fatal wounds (as Senku and the others discovered early on.) By offering everlasting life, the Medusas are spurring intelligent life to better itself, and to march toward progress. This is a hypothesis posed by Senku and Xeno, but the Medusas actually confirm it on the spot.

Despite this huge revelation, however, there are still major points to be explained. For example, if the Medusas’ goal is mankind’s progress, why did they “reset” it, plunging the planet back into the Stone Age? It is true that a lot of progress and inventions were made in the short time since Senku reawakened, however mankind is still far away from the technological level it possessed before the petrification beam. Chapter #228 ends with the Medusas about to share the information on their decision to petrify humanity, so Dr. STONE fans will have to wait until next week to finally have the answer to all the manga’s mysteries.

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