The Archer (Dr. Stone X OC)

Chapter 8

-Arisa POV-

Kohaku gave me some underwear for swimming and we went into the river.
We used the stone magnets to get black sand, which we would use to make iron.
"Look at how much I picked up" said Kohaku and I chuckled.

"Me too" I smiled.
"We're finally taking the first step on the road to the kingdom of science" said Senku. "The curtain is rising on the age of iron! Now that's exhilarating"

~

"Seriously, though, that lioness..." said Senku, while taking a break with Chrome. "Is everyone in your village like that?"
"Your sister is a lioness on her own... We have a few brute strength gorillas, but Kohaku's the only agile gorilla" said Chrome.

"I said I'm not a gorilla!" said Kohaku. "Also, Arisa and I are doing all the collecting here!"
"Why don't you guys get off your asses and do some work too?" I said. "We don't have enough manpower!"
"Sorry" they both said and began working again.

"She's right though" said Senku. "This is going to take all day"
"Should I get someone from the village to help out?" asked Chrome.
"As far as the villagers know, you two are both suspicious sorcerers" said Kohaku. "Sadly, no one's going to come help"

"Huh?" I said when I saw a watermelon swim closer.
Suddenly the watermelon stood up, it was a little girl.
"It's Suika" said Kohaku. "Why are you here?"

She raised a rock with black sand on it.
"Did you follow us here?" asked Kohaku.
"Her name is Suika?" asked Senku.

"It's a nickname, probably" said Chrome. "She's always wearing a watermelon rind. Hey, Suika! You took my magnet!"
He took the stone but saw the black sand.
"Iron sand" said Chrome.

"I want to help" said Suika. "I can never make myself useful to anyone because I have this thing on my head. That's not going to change even when I grow up. So if there's ever anyone in need..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it" said Senku. "I appreciate it. The kingdom of science doesn't turn anyone away. We need all the help we can get. A shrimp like you would be ten billion times better at gathering sand. We're counting on you, Suika"

Senku gave her a magnet rock.
"He's the first person to not ask me why I'm wearing this on my head" said Suika. "He must have thought I don't want anyone to see my face, so he's being nice"
"You really don't know my brother" I sighed.

"You're glorifying him too much" said Kohaku.
"He just doesn't care what you look like as long as you're useful" said Chrome.
"I'm going to gather all the iron sand!" said Suika and she swam off... "Donburako, donburako..."

"Who are you, Momotaro?!" shouted Chrome and I frowned.
"You don't know Dragon Quest or Monster Hunter, but you do know Momotaro?" asked Senku. "Who taught you?"

"Hey, you know Momotaro too?" asked Chrome.
"Ruri told us all about him" said Suika.
"Come to think of it, why do you know about gorillas?" I asked. "Are they out in the wild?"

"I've never actually seen one" said Kohaku.
"But there's a gorilla in Momotaro, isn't there?" asked Chrome.
"No there isn't" said Senku.

"He used millet dumplings to win friends, remember?" said Chrome. "A bear, a lion, a gorilla and an alligator"
"What kind of wild-ass Momotaro is that?!" shouted Senku.
"I heard all kinds of stories from Ruri too" said Kohaku. "Come to think of it, I think I learned all my big words from Ruri too"

"I'm low-key interested in this Ruri chick" said Senku and I snorted. "We really need to make the cure-all and save her, whatever it takes"
"What do you mean, you're interested in Ruri?" asked Chrome. "What does that mean, Senku?"
"Senku, Senku" whispered Kohaku. "Chrome seems to have a crush on Ruri"

"Ah, so that's what it was" said Senku. "Here we go"
"And Chrome's such a child" said Kohaku. "I like how oblivious he is"
"What are you guys talking about?!" shouted Chrome. "Damn it, who are you calling a child?!"

~

"So the black sand we got from the river turns into this iron stuff?" asked Suika after we had enough.
"Yeah" said Senku. "Mix four parts iron sand to one part coal and bake"
"Hey that's easy" said Chrome.

"Wait, the other shoe hasn't dropped yet" I said.
"It's harder than it sounds" said Senku. "It's not like making clay pots. The highest temperature we can get by burning wood is 700 degrees. But ironmaking, turning iron sand into iron requires 1500 degrees"

"That's not even close enough" said Kohaku. "What do we do?"
"Here comes the other shoe" I sighed.
"We blow like hell" said Senku. "We have to give it as much oxygen as we can. We'll send in a ton of air and double the flame's damage output from 700 to 1500"

He threw some wind making handicrafts to us.
"This things blows air?" said Kohaku. "With something this useful, I could probably do it by myself"
"You can make that claim once you've done it" said Senku. "We're never going to have enough manpower"