(A/N): Shout out to CossieCose for being the first ever reader of this book. Thank you, my friend.
Edited: Oct 1, 2023
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Taiju had been collecting food and lifting heavy loads ever since he woke up, but there was nothing to complain about. He was lucky enough Senku had clothes for him. He knows his friend never lifted weights in his life, so he was very much happy to do the physical labor for his friend.
He showed all the baskets of his collection to Senku, who looked dryly at it.
"What a huge amount, Taiju. How can you have such an absurdly broken level of endurance, you bastard."
Taiju laughed, his confidence showing, but he stop once he saw Senku separating them in two small baskets almost the instant he showed it to hid friend.
"European Destroying Angel or Amanita Virosa, POISONOUS!"
This one was thrown on one basket.
"Hypsizygus Mamoreus, comestible!"
Thrown on the other basket.
"Fly Amanita or Amanita Muscaria, POISONOUS!"
One particular mushroom caught his attention.
"You can clearly see that it's not good, it looks like the mushroom from Mario! Mugwort, comestible!"
Now this, this one really took the cake.
"WOLF'S BANE! Who do you want to kill, you idiot?! You tryin' to kill us?!"
It was amazing how he found all of these just around the forest, but that's how mushrooms are.
Few minutes later, they're roasting the edible mushrooms and eating the cooked ones. Taiju's eyes lit up at the taste of it.
"DELICIOUS!! What's the seasoning?" He glanced at Senku, who was eating his food peacefully.
"Just salt from seawater. Humans can eat almost anything if it's salted. Salt is absolutely necessary for food preservation. It's one of the most important prehistoric discoveries."
Taiju couldn't thank the world enough for being Senku's friend, especially at a time like this.
"Thank you Senku, for all! I'm not a genius, so I'll make up for it with volume and my fighting spirit!"
He stood up, picking up his now empty large basket, running to the other side this time. All while screaming to hype himself up.
"OOOOOOAAAAH! GATHERING THE OTHER SIDE!"
Senku just waved at the direction he went off to.
Taiju looked around for what he thinks are edible food this time. It was mildly challenging though, but at least he found some grapes.
"SOME WILD GRAPE!" He plucked out a bunch, "Is it edible?"
He tasted them, anyway.
"I'll know by eating it!"
He spat out the seeds when the nasty sour taste made itself known.
From just a few feet ahead, he spotted the cave he woke up from a few days ago, walking towards it.
"That cave is where I was lying for several millenia."
He stepped inside, seeing a pot sitting innocently down the ground.
"THIS IS!" He marvelled, "There are other survivors apart from me and Senku?! Who put it here?!"
From out of nowhere, Senku spoke up.
"It's me, idiot."
Taiju turn around, seeing his friend, "YOUUUU!!"
Senku stepped inside the cave too, humming as he observed the liquid dripping from the ceiling of the cave.
"Hmm, so there's nobody else in this world. We'll increase the number of humans. It's our number one priority. What will the future hold for humanity if just the two of us males live?"
"True! So, did you put these two statues as well here?"
The big oaf asked.
Senku turned to him, mildly confused at what the big guy said.
'I didn't put any statue here...'
He saw Taiju crouching down in front of two statue, one seemed to be taller than the other by almost a head. The shorter one was standing and seems to be staring blankly ahead of her, probably the green light. But the thing that surprised him the most was that they have clothes that were obviously made from materials you could gather in the wild.
Someone else was awake in this stone world.
'These two seem familiar. I forgot their names...'
"I'm not the one who put them here, but now that I'm looking closely.... Taiju, do you know their names?"
Senku asked. Hey, he may have seen them but he never bothered to know their names since he just seen them for like, once?
Taiju look closely at the two girls, if this is not during the stone world it would have been very awkward and definitely weird.
He backed up, pointing a shaking finger at the other two.
"AH, I KNOW THEM!!! They're Lalaine and Athena! They're Ana's friends. I thought you of all people would know, Senku!"
"I don't interact with them much, anyway. I think Ana only brought them to the clubroom once and it was when we got petrified."
"You're right, they've been in the chemistry clubroom once, Senku. Nice for you to remember their names, Taiju-kun."
Both male flinched a bit, that voice did not come from them. The voice was definitely feminine compare to his.
Ana casually stood at the entrance of the cave, easily closing the distance between them. Ana patted Taiju on his shoulder as she walk past the two.
"It's nice seeing you two, again."
The other male finally spoke u.
"NO! We're completely overlooking the big picture!" He pointed at Ana, who was now attending to her friends while humming softly to herself.
"How are you NOT petrified?!"
Ana stopped what she was doing and turn to him, giving him a wide grin.
"What do you think? Say, I woke up the same way you did, just a little over three or four months ago."
"That's... I've never found your statue and how come you didn't went looking for me?" Senku realized too late what he said at the last bit of his question, but he just went along with it.
"Who said I haven't been keeping watch of your from afar?" Ana stood properly as she tightened and fixed the sash around her waist, "Didn't you notice?"
As if that was the missing puzzle pieces, Senku was enlightened.
"... Around 3 months ago, food gathering had become easier for me. There weren't as much wild, dangerous animals and..." Senku paused, "That was you?"
The black-haired girl gave him a peace sign accompanied by a grin, "Yep! I may have not made myself known that time, but there's noooo way I would leave you alone, even if you were unaware."
Then, she went closer to Senku's face, invading his personal space which had Senku spluttering at her expression.
Taiju had the sudden strong urge to walk out of the cave, despite not knowing the reason for said urge.
"Aww did you miss me?" Then her tone lowered a bit, "I'm sorry... I actually did want to join you. But hey, now at least you know you'll always have me." She chuckled at that as she put some distance back between them.
Senku fixed his composure as he caught his breathe, "Then why didn't you? I did try to search for your statue, but I never really found you."
"... I was practicing to make my clothes."
"... Understandable." Senku sighed, "For what it's worth, it turned out good." He added, just to assure the girl in front of him.
"... Oh my!! Thank you!! As if I would let the reboot of humanity prevent me from having stylish clothing! It was so hard, though! I'm not used to making clothes, especially with these materials." Ana whined.
Senku hummed at her just to let Ana know he was listening and analyzed the broken pieces of rock.
"Why did our petrification dissolve after 3,700 years in the first place?"
Taiju suggested something, "The stone eroded?"
Senku continued his pondering, and now he caught Ana's attention again.
"So, if you suppose that it was this mysterious rock that eroded away. Isn't it odd that we three all awoke at almost the same time. Only a half year difference in 3,700 years? There is always a logical explanation for coincidences. I also drifted near your cave but..."
He pointed up at the ceiling of the cave.
"Look at these droplets. It is created from bat dung, the miraculous water..."
Ana finished it for him with her eyes shining in newfound information.
"Nitric Acid!"
Senku just let her be and started walking out the cave, followed by the two. Taiju still can't get it though.
"WHAT, NITRIC ACID?! But, what is it? I don't understand at all!"
"Thought so big guy, but I won't bother explaining it to you."
Senku glanced at Ana.
"Where did you sleep all this time after you woke up?"
She averted her eyes.
"I made temporary camp of course, but I definitely have a source of warmth."
"The truth, Ana."
Ana turned away, crossing her arms childishly.
"Up the trees, but I was honest about the fire. Besides, almost every thing here in this world basically have the same rules of my favorite survival RPG and my body handled worse."
Senku gave her a knowing smirk, "Never took you for a gamer, pray tell which one?"
"Minecraft." The girl responded, not missing a beat.
After that was an awkward silence and in a few minutes, they've reach the camp.
After getting something from his lab, which turns out to be a petrified, or what Ana's been calling in her mind- stoned, bird. He set it down on the ground, pouring the nitric acid on it.
Taiju looked closely at what he was doing.
"So, if we put this something-acid, the rock will melt and it will revive?"
The scientist only scoffed at his words.
"How convenient if it were that simple."
They waited for a few seconds.
And waited...
and.... Nothing happened. Just like what happened on the episode 377 of One Piece. Absolutely nothing happened.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Senku picked up the bird and walked back in his lab to put the petrified bird back on the cabinet. His two friends were gawking at the sight of the inside of his lab.
"I've already experimented a lot between changing method and objects. Many times. Dozens of times."
The cabinet was filled with many petrified birds, notes stuck in from of them to tell on what method was used on them.
Taiju was bewildered, Ana was astonished.
Senku was deep in his thoughts again.
"This is in the realm of fantasy. Is it rock or cells? We didn't have the equipment to search now."
What Taiju said next made Ana chuckle to her self.
"There are things in this world, things that science can't solve."
Senku chuckled at him, "Such banality. That's why we keep making hypothesis and test them. Science is a slow process. If we had some booze. If we had alcohol from booze, which is ethanol. We could, by making nitric acid with ethanol, make some nital. It's an industrial etching liquid."
The big guy realized something, along with the dark haired girl.
"What did you just say, Senku?"
Senku looked up at him,
"Huh? Nital. It takes the feral grain boundary if the..."
Ana joined in the conversation, she caught the scent of grapes when they were walking back.
"No, I can tell from his face that he doesn't understand that. He's talking about when you said 'If we had some booze.'"
At this point, Ana seemed to be glowing in excitement.
"We can make some wine using the grapes Taiju collected!"
Senku looked at Taiju after Ana's explanation. In return, Taiju showed him the grapes, a big grin on his face.
Senku smiled at both of them.
"Good job, you two!"
___
Later that day, Senku and Ana were both crushing some grapes methodically with their hands. On the other hand, Taiju was crushing the grapes by stomping on them.
Which caught the attention of Senku, "Hmm, yes. I'll let you handle all the grunt work using your broken levels of endurance. That's logical."
Ana only glanced up at Taiju, raising an eyebrow.
Much later, both Senku and Taiju were mixing grapes and raisins. Soon enough, they were able to make wine. The three of them were now seated as they held up their wine to taste.
"Ooh! Better than expected. Even if it's 10 billion times worse than commercial wine." Senku stated after he took a sip from his wine.
Ana made a face after she tasted it, "Either this is really bad, or my tongue is just used to the high quality wine I tasted and the ones we had back home."
Senku rose a brow at this, "Oh? What are the ones in your collection...?"
"My grandpa's collection, more like. Well..." Ana tried to remember it, "There was a Pomerol uhh 2012? There was a 2007 and that was around ¥230 Thousand."
Senku was glad he was no longer sipping his wine as Taiju spat out his. Ana continued.
"He had a 61 bottle collection from the 1855 classification, a total of around ¥2.6 Million. And I think there was a Romanée-Conti that was worth around..."
Taiju and Senku both waited for her to finish her words, leaning in closer.
"¥9.8 Million...? I think."
The two were as pale as a sheet of paper and were frozen for seconds as Ana swirled her wine.
"Just how rich were you actually..." Senku laughed in bewilderment.
"Hehe."
"What do you mean 'hehe'?!"
At least Taiju learned something new again, "I DIDN'T KNOW WE COULD MAKE WINE EASILY JUST USING GRAPES!"
Ana put her hand up, "Wait. That's illegal."
Senku started his explanation animatedly, "You just have to crush grapes and raisins and put it in a plastic bottle. Don't put on the cap. Mix everyday. But it's moonshine, so like Ana said, it's illegal!"He grinned to himself, picking up a large pot and carrying it. "Steadily, step by step! Now, it will be a little more difficult. Let's make some brandy by distilling wine!"
Taiju didn't understand what he said, "Distillation! What is it?!"
Senku crouched down to place the pottery on top of the fire, "Thought you would ask. You hear it, cool it and make it drip to increase the alcohol content."
He stood back up and held both his hands towards the pottery.
"Even the Mesopotamian civilization from 3000 BC were distilling using some pottery. IF THEY CAN, I CAN. THIS IS EXCITING!"
The pottery broke, spilling all the wine on the ground. Senku froze at the mess of wine, and Ana tried her best to console him.
___
Throughout the rest of spring, the three of them were all busy on distilling the wine and making pottery for making the revival fluid. All while testing other methods too.
Just because Ana was busy making the revival fluid with Taiju and Senku, does not mean she forget to visit her friends.
She just placed them closer towards the entrance, making sure it was safe for them to stay there.
Not long after, it was now winter.
Taiju just got back from fishing, now having a beard. He brought a hand to his face, only noticing it just now.
He immediately hollered, "I will be hated by Yuzuriha!"
Senku thought for a second, Ana crouching beside him, playing with clam shells and collecting some.
"I gotta do something about this to stay healthy. Getting sick means game over."
He pick up one of Ana's clam shells, despite her protests. Senku gave it to Taiju.
"Clam shell. Use this."
Taiju immediately used it, causing his face to swell and reddened. Both Senku and Ana fell to the snow, laughing at him.
Seasons changed, and winter was over.
They tried other methods, nothing worked.
Senku weakly kicked a pot in frustration. That was until a new formula was made in his mind.
A half petrified feather that has the fluid on it. The half of it was no longer petrified.
He told Ana and Taiju to get some distilled wine with the nitric acid, picking another petrified bird and placing on the ground outside.
Senku mixed the two liquid, pouring it on the sparrow.
"I'll explain this to you, big guy, as Ana already know about this. There's no 'There are things science can't solve' . We call the step by step process of making rules for things we don't understand. That is Science."
The stone started cracking, an eye was visible. The bird broke free, flying up to the wide blue sky.
Taiju awed in amazement, even Senku felt accomplished at this. Why wouldn't he? He just discovered what it takes to make the revival fluid. Ana smiled widely at the bird that was now flying circles above them.
Senku sat down, chuckling to himself.
"One year since the start of the experiment. Number hundred and something. Faster than expected." He chuckled, "A steady job. We defeated fantasy with science. This is exciting! Taiju, Ana, it's thanks to both of you and your grapes. You two can pick the first people we will wake up."
Ana beamed at him, the wide smile on still on her face. She shared a look with Taiju.
"REALLY? Thank you, Senku!!" Not wasting an opportunity, she draped herself all over him as Senku struggled to find his footing.
Taiju nodded his head in agreement too.
"THANK YOU SENKU! The answer is..."
"OF COURSE."
Both of them declared in unison.
The image of Yuzuriha flashed inside Taiju's mind, whilst Ana was of Lalaine and Athena.
[Next time on 'Unprecedented Adventure'! It's the revival of Lalaine, Athena and... Tsukasa?! Yuzuriha will have to wait another day!]
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(A/N): If you like it, please leave a vote. Thank you!
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Edited: Oct 1, 2023