Ibara

Ibara
Biographical Information
Japanese Name	イバラ
Rōmaji Name	Ibara
Personal Description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Height	207cm
Status
Status	Petrified
Petrification Date(s)	Year 5741 (Petrified by Senku)
Family	Byakuya Ishigami (Ancestor) Lillian Weinberg (Ancestor) Connie Lee (Ancestor) Darya Nikitina (Ancestor) Yakov Nikitin (Ancestor) Shamil Volkov (Ancestor)
Occupation	Minister
Affiliation	Petrification Kingdom
First Apppearance
Manga Debut	Chapter 107

Minister Ibara (イバラ, Minister Ibara) is the Minister of the Petrification Kingdom and the main antagonist of the Treasure Island Arc.

Initially serving as a helping hand to the Head of the Kingdom, he usurped power by using the petrification device on the latter and establishing a dictatorship over the island.

Appearance

Ibara is an extremely tall, middle-aged man, standing at almost double the height of Kirisame, and well-muscled, despite his age. He has a thin face with sunken cheeks, a prominent nose, a thin, twirled mustache, and a long goatee tied near the end. He wears a white robe with a stone or metal collar, tied at the waist with a dark sash. He wears two stone pauldrons with spikes around the top edge of them, and a similar-looking hat.

Personality

Ibara is merciless, manipulative, and has no regard for his followers' safety. He also is a dirty pervert, grabbing a woman from the harem and claiming her as his "reward" for all the hard work he has done, despite her obvious protest. In addition, he tried to grab Kohaku to feel her up and almost had his hand snapped by her before Mozu intervened. He is properly paranoid and sets out to find the intruder once he realized that they were on the island and escaped petrification.

Despite his paranoid nature and not coming across as much, Ibara's true nature shows a dark persona and gives off a terrifying presence. As shown when he confronted Ginro and he realized that the great leader was a statue.

He does not value his followers, no matter their loyalty, as shown when he wanted the entire island petrified despite his own people on it and even petrified Kirisame once his evil nature is exposed. At the same time, he is short-sighted as he planned in forcing the Kingdom of Science to make more revival fluid, despite the fact there may not be any of them unpetrified. Additionally, Ibara seemed unworried about the truth about the head being revealed upon his own defeat.

Ibara was likely the one who created the rule to not make new things, as this would allow the islanders to fight back and kill him; he additionally forbade leaving, knowing full well that he would end up dying alone as most of the islanders despise him. He is also callous and an "ask questions later" type. Upon finding the boat belonging to the Kingdom of Science off the shore, he has them petrified despite it being obvious they weren't from the island and stole their supplies and clothing. While he deems science as Science as sorcery, he can be very cautious when dealing with it as he quickly deduced Mozu allied with the invaders after spotting an earpiece, panicking at seeing Hyoga revived.

Ibara enjoys battle, as while initially angry Senku ran from him, he realized he was actually setting a trap. He is not above giving his enemies compliments, as he was impressed by Senku's plans.

He displays his cruelty when he shows no remorse or hesitation in murdering infants. He also has limited knowledge of the medusa device. He discarded it in fear when Senku attempted to use the radio to turn the device against him; unaware that the verbal commands must be given in person. Eventually, he is outsmarted by the intelligence of Senku.

Abilities and Skills

As the de facto leader of the Petrification Kingdom, Ibara held full control over it and was second in authority only to the Head of Petrification Kingdom, which he used as a puppet leader.

Intelligence: Ibara is an exceedingly intelligent man. He was able to tell that there were intruders on the island based on witnessing a piece of glass Kohaku broke, which matched the glass on The Perseus which he and his tribesmen invaded after petrifying everyone. He also quickly realized the actual purpose of Kohaku's earring and devised a countermeasure against the Kingdom of Science based on Mozu wearing the same earring. During his confrontation with Senku, he deliberately drove him towards a cliff where he wouldn't be able to escape from him. When the rope attached to the petrification device ripped while he was having a tug of war over it with Ryusui and Senku he quickly threw and bound his sash to their drone. He predicted them letting go of their rope to let the petrification device move toward him and responded by throwing his hat at it, moving the device to them instead.

Unfortunately for him, he is not on par with Senku's high-level intellect.

Physical Abilities: While not as powerful as Mozu or Kirisame, Ibara has proven himself to be a capable combatant, as he was able to overpower and fatally wound Ginro (who would’ve died had Kohaku not tricked Ibara into petrifying them). Despite his old age, he is very fast and possesses great strength.

Later, he was shown to be able to overpower Senku and Ryusui in a game of tug-of-war.

Equipment

Ibara uses stone claws as his weapon of choice, wearing single parts of them on his fingers.

History

Ibara managed to steal the Medusa and use it to petrify Soyuz’s father. Whether this came from a personal vendetta or simply to take control of the island is unknown. He then attempted to murder the infant Soyuz for witnessing the crime. Fortunately, the boy was safely sent away to the mainland of Japan. Hiding his evil deeds, Ibara took command of the island, unaware that his sins would one day come back to haunt him.

Synopsis

Treasure Island Arc

Ibara and his men investigated the Perseus and the minister took an interest in the clothing of his petrified foes. He realize that they must be from the other side of the world from the 100 stories he’s heard about. The minister overheard yelling coming from the hills but thought little of it after Kirisame discovered it was a couple, seemingly on date.

While investigating the Perseus more, Ibara spotted a barrel that moved on its own. As he tried to discover what the cause he heard glass shattering.

He and his men find a simile new beast roaming the forest but while his men think nothing of it, Ibara is certain that more invaders have arrived. The minister tells his men to search every village in order to find the enemy.

He also continues to hold the harem selection. He selects three girls: Amaryllis, Kohaku, and Ginny.

Wanting to draw out any invaders he had the statue of Ryusui Nanami our on display. He told everyone on the island if they weren’t an invader then they would have no problems to destroy it. He is utterly flabbergasted when Kohaku completely demolished a statue.

Ibara later caught sight of Mozu wearing an earpiece, which he recalled Kohaku wearing one. Suspecting Mozu may be involved with the invaders, he tells this to Kirisame.

When the invaders attack, Ibara had Kirisame to take a fake replica of the weapon to expose the enemy. The old minister then has his soldiers commandeer the Perseus in order to trap the enemies on the island. Ibara then helped his soldiers corner the Perseus crew but was surprised to witness the revival of Hyoga .

Still shocked to see a statue being revived, he soon recalls Ryusui being a statue. Realizing that his enemies have a means to free those from petrification, the old minister flees from the scene. To defeat his foes, Ibara order Kirisame to petrify everyone on the island.

Ibara ordered Oarashi to go to the island's center and carry out the task, as Kirisame protests this. After the revelation of the head is made, Ibara petrifies a tearful Kirisame while mockingly thanking her for her service. Just as he tries to put his plan into action, Yo Uei shoots his hand and claims the weapon.

Falling behind Yo in the ocean, Ibara put a command to the device to activate it.

Swimming out of range of the beam, Ibara reclaims the device after Yo drops it. He notices Oarashi and plans to have put his goal into action. Having a contingency plan, he places a range and time to activate. Ibara gloats to himself on how Oarashi will lead everyone to the island's center and they'll be petrified.

He investigates the island to revel in his success and discovers Soyuz has also returned but failed to properly tell the other islanders. However, he was shocked that Senku was still freed, due to pouring the revival formula on himself. Senku then has the mobile lab hit Ibara.

Emerging from the vehicle, Ibara stabs him in the shoulder when he reaches for the Petrification Weapon. Desiring to finish Senku, he challenges him but the latter runs and Ibara pursues him and the two engage in a battle of wits once it is revealed Senku laid out traps. Ibara then corners Senku after calling his bluff, he asks Senku for his name and the latter tells him while Ibara wishes him farewell. However, he hears a noise and drone comes up with Ryusui on it (having been revived when Ibara unknowingly shattered the formula on him) and he takes the weapon.

After a fierce tug-of-war, he laughs that Ryusui ended up petrified and breaks into pieces. However, he finds that Ryusui placed a voice com on the weapon. Recalling what it could do, he panics when Senku activates the device. Ibara then ends up petrified.

New America City Arc

Following the end of the battle the Petrification Kingdom is told the truth about the minister manipulating them and they subsequently see Soyuz as the new leader.

Relationships

Enemies

Senku Ishigami

Ibara first encountered Senku on the Perseus when the Kingdom of Science raided it. At first, the Kingdom of Science was overpowered and ended up cornered, however, Senku revealed that they lead them into believing they were cornered and revives Hyoga. Upon seeing the revived Hyoga and Ryusui, Ibara quickly figures out the statues can be revived and flees, finally starting to see the Kingdom of Science as a threat.

Later, after the Medusa covers the entire island, Ibara returns to the island, sure of his victory, only to see Senku still alive, infuriating him. Then, the two engage in a battle of wits, which ultimately ends with Ibara being outsmarted by Senku with the assistance of Ryusui and being subsequently petrified.

Trivia

• His name Ibara イバラ is the Japanese word for Thorn/Thorny/Briar
• While it's not been confirmed, it is heavily implied that after Ibara has his way with women, he'll petrify them once they learn the truth to his schemes. This is further evident when he petrified Kirisame for the crime of discovering the truth.
• Similar to the witch Medusa Gorgon from Soul Eater, whenever Ibara's evil nature is prominent, the whites of his eyes turn pure black.
• He knows how to count very high, knowing timers and radius.
• It would seem he has no knowledge of what the Hundred Tales pertain to; if he does, Ibara doesn't care post-petrification humans are meant to assist Senku (and the Kingdom of Science by extension) with restoring the pre-petrification world.
  • Also, he didn't seem to recognize Senku's name after being told or perhaps ignored the significance.