[Location: Dr. Stone - What Remains of Japan - Near Ishigami Village - Near Chrome's House.]
The crackling light and heat of the campfire held firm against the cold winter night.
Nestled in its glow, a group of villagers watched their chief, Senku Ishigami, with eager expectation.
Senku reached out toward the fish resting before him.
"Devour," he whispered, a hint of excitement in his voice.
Yet nothing happened.
"Huh? What did you just say?" Chrome asked, tilting his head as he watched from the side.
"Something was supposed to happen by now... right?" Gen chimed in, his tone leaning toward a statement rather than a question.
"Yeah. The fish should have vanished," Senku replied thoughtfully.
Minutes earlier, after returning from the White Space, Senku had given them a brief rundown of what happened after he accepted that strange proposal. Given his premise, he found it fascinating to learn that, from everyone else's perspective, he had simply vanished the instant he accepted the invitation.
After all, from his point of view, it was the world around him that had changed. He had even considered the possibility that the place was nothing more than a mental palace he'd been dragged into by unknown means.
As for the total time elapsed concerning Zefir and the other "part-timers," barely an hour had passed.
For their part, his friends and the villagers—his labor force—simply listened to his tale, voiced their surprise, and accepted what had transpired without much questioning.
To them, the fact that Senku had returned safe and sound was reason enough not to dig too deep.
In other words, they didn't fully grasp what had happened... and preferred to keep it that way.
As for what Senku was doing now, the answer was simple: he was experimenting.
From the moment he heard the phrase "devour targets," a question had taken root in his mind.
'What, exactly, qualifies as a "target"?'
The immediate translation was straightforward, but the context opened up multiple interpretations: an objective, a mark, a victim.
Under the concept of "devouring the target," the implication was clear: the target had to be consumed or absorbed entirely, whether literally or figuratively.
The real issue was who defined said target.
Zefir... or himself?
To test this, he had asked for a freshly caught fish. After all, it met the known restrictions of the "devour" ability.
Only targets that were technically dead could be devoured. That is, those that had suffered an irreversible loss of consciousness or were incapable of spontaneous breathing.
He could have analyzed the exact phrasing Zefir used when explaining the ability with greater precision, but he hadn't deemed it necessary... until now.
"How is it supposed to vanish?" Kohaku asked, leaning forward with curiosity.
"Well..." Senku paused for a moment before answering. "Once I say the keyword 'devour,' the target should be devoured. Or something along those lines," he said, pointing at the fish.
There was no way around it. He would have to carefully analyze the original explanation.
"Hey, Senku... what does 'devour' actually mean?" Chrome asked again.
He wasn't the only one wondering; the curious gazes of the others made that abundantly clear.
Senku offered them a brief look before answering, fully aware of the focused attention on him.
"You could associate it with eating," he explained. "More specifically, consuming food. But it can also mean to destroy or consume something completely."
A lull fell over the group.
"Hmm... But to eat something, you have to catch it first, right?" Kohaku remarked.
"True. And to destroy it, you'd have to hit it somehow," Chrome added, gesturing to reinforce his point.
Off to the side, Gen offered an amused smile.
The line of reasoning was simple at its core.
"I suppose you have a point..." Senku admitted plainly, well aware that exceptions existed. "Well, it doesn't hurt to try." With a tired sigh, he refocused his attention on the fish.
This time, he extended a finger and touched it lightly.
Even if it failed, he would keep testing, gradually increasing the level of contact.
Unfortunately for him, the fishy smell was only growing stronger.
"Devour," he whispered, slightly louder than before.
In an instant, without a sound or a single flash of light, the fish vanished.
"Whoa~! It really vanished!" Chrome shouted, visibly thrilled.
In fact, everyone present shared his excitement.
"It was like a magic trick," Gen commented, genuinely taken aback.
For someone like him, thoroughly accustomed to sleight of hand and illusions, it shouldn't have been particularly impressive. Yet this time, he was certain it was no simple trick.
"It wasn't like the tricks you pull, Gen," Kohaku cut in.
She had personally witnessed the tricks Gen used from time to time, and to her eyes, they were easy enough to spot.
And yet...
"This time, the fish simply vanished completely." Kohaku could only marvel at the sight.
As the group jabbered over what had just happened, Senku glanced toward the upper right corner of his field of vision.
[1 / 1.]
The moment the fish vanished, the counter—previously [0 / 1]—had ticked up by one unit.
Immediately after, a holographic window materialized in front of him, visible to everyone.
[Do you want to obtain its memories?]
[Yes / No.]
The previously lively group suddenly fell dead silent.
"..."
"Kukuku... Now this is interesting," Senku smirked, breaking the silence.
Not only had he found a way to complete the counter, but he had also stumbled upon something intriguing: one could obtain the memories of a fish.
Without hesitation, he selected his choice.
[Yes (Selected) / No.]
A deluge of fragmented imagery flooded his mind, as though they were his own memories.
For a split second, he felt the rush of cold water passing through phantom gills, the deceptive glimmer of a hook near the surface, and a sudden flash of irrational panic.
To the onlookers, Senku seemed to fall into a trance, his gaze distant for a few seconds before he blinked and snapped back to reality.
"Kukuku... Just as I expected," he muttered, pressing a hand to his head to soothe a faint wave of dizziness.
The memories were chaotic and incomplete: simple, intense, yet disjointed visual sequences.
He couldn't help but reflect on how the human brain stored information.
In the human brain, memories exist as distributed networks of synaptic connections. Each memory forms through activity patterns across multiple brain regions—the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and so on.
If "devouring" somehow copied the entire neural network, the memories would arrive intact.
If, on the other hand, it merely absorbed them—akin to a surface-level "imprint"—one would only receive disjointed fragments, isolated images, or raw emotions without coherence.
Furthermore, the ability carried a distinct restriction that couldn't be ignored: the target had to be technically dead.
That detail altered everything significantly.
When the heart stops beating, neurons begin to die from lack of oxygen.
Even so, certain neurons can survive for several minutes—even up to half an hour under favorable conditions, such as cold temperatures.
During that brief window, the physical information of those memories still lingers within the synapses, even if there is no longer a conscious mind to read them.
Once the neurons perish, the physical structure degrades, and with it, the memory vanishes entirely.
In conclusion: if the target had been dead for too long, there would be no memories left to retrieve.
"Hey, Gen... what did the message say this time?" Chrome asked in a hushed voice.
He genuinely wanted to ask Senku directly, but seeing him deep in thought, he opted not to disturb him.
Still, like Chrome, everyone was itching to know what the message said.
"Hmm~... Well, it said something like: Do you want to obtain its memories?" Gen replied, sounding equal parts uneasy, confused, and incredulous.
Senku hadn't brought that part up, and the mere thought of acquiring the memories of everything one devoured was, to put it lightly, deeply unsettling.
'Well... I guess he wasn't exaggerating when he called that Zefir guy creepy,' Gen thought to himself, convinced the description had been spot on.
"What?! Obtain memories? The memories of a fish? Can fish even remember things?!" Chrome blurted out, clearly astonished, mirroring the shock of the others.
"Yeah! How can a fish have memories?!" Kohaku added, bewildered.
However, before they could delve any deeper, another holographic window popped up in front of Senku, instantly capturing everyone's attention.
[You have completed the counter!]
[Reward: Storage Ring]
[Description: Allows you to use a cubic space within the White Space as a storage area. You can store almost anything. Edge length: 1,000 yards. Keywords: Store / Retrieve.]
Moments later, a silver ring materialized, floating in midair.
Before it could fall, Kohaku snatched it deftly.
She examined the object with curiosity, noting that it shared a similar craftsmanship to the other ring Senku had shown them.
"It's beautiful," she commented, enchanted by its refined design.
Around her, the others leaned in to take a closer look.
'Yards?!' Senku complained internally. 'Who still uses such an illogical system of measurement? That's roughly 914 meters per side...' he quickly calculated before his face relaxed again.
"Kukuku..." Senku smirked, genuinely amused and thrilled by the additional reward.
He shifted his gaze back to the counter.
[1 / 10.]
"Alright. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to need a lot of fish. And other animals. Doesn't matter if they're small or large," he said, turning toward the hunting team.
"Understood," Kohaku replied without hesitation.
"We'll handle it!"
"Yeah, leave it to us!"
"There'll be so many you won't even know what to do with them all!"
The others added, grinning and exchanging jokes.
Off to the side, little Suika—still clutching a stone that felt subtly different to her, even if she didn't fully understand why—felt relieved and happy seeing Senku and the others smiling.