There's some confusion over what time travel could mean for DCST and if it would possibly erase everything that happened, and I'm here to explain how it would work!
So say the DCST world and events we know exist on the original timeline, i.e. everyone gets petrified except for those on the ISS, they come back to Earth, start Ishigami Village, Senku wakes up thousands of years later after the original died, etc.
Call the original timeline Timeline A
Then, once Senku and co. finish the time machine, they go back in time to 'Before the ISS members die', grab the original ISS members and take them back to their time: 'Present time (Chapter 232).
Pretty simple, right? But this is where the classic 'Grandfather Paradox' comes in. If the ISS members never created Ishigami Village, then Chrome, Kohaku, and the rest of the villagers never existed, right?
Actually! There's a pretty simple explanation for this.
Whenever they go back in time to grab the ISS members, an alternate universe is created branching from Point 1, call it timeline B, where Ishigami Village is never created.
But, since they are taking the ISS members back to Point 2, on the original timeline Timeline A, where Ishigami Village was already created, that does not change, and everything stays the same with the addition of the ISS members! While the poor guys in Timeline B never have the Ishigami Village.
Hope this clears some stuff up! If you have any questions, let me know.
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