Jorge Joestar

Chapter 8: Nero Nero Island

The murders of Kira Yoshikage and Tsukumojuku, the threedisplays made from the bodies of murdered detectives (including Tsukumojuku’s),Morioh setting sail, the group suicide of village residents, the mysteriousfigure hiding inside Cube House…and now on top of all that another mysteriousmoving island sailing across the sea, just like Morioh…there were just toomany things I had to think about, I thought. It had been one thing afteranother, and I’d had no time to really work any of them over in my mind. Ohwell. I had to assume this was the speed events always unfolded at in Morioh; Ihad to keep up.

“Fuck! I’ve got no damn idea what’s going on. Let’s go takea look,” Nijimura Fukashigi said, and started to get on a dolphin.

“Hang on, Fukashigi,” I said.

“There might be people like you on that island, too. Betternot to show our hands.” Morioh seemed to have quite a lot of StandMasters. If that unusual quality had something to do with it floating away,then that could be true over there, too. If there were two island moving acrossthe water, there might be similarly unique. How many other Stand Masters werethere in Morioh, anyway? How many Stand Masters had been among the hundreds whodied in Jozenji? Fukashigi grit his teeth, and got off the dolphin. The otherisland was getting steadily closer.

“Maybe these’ll help us recon,” Muryotaisu said,emerging from Arrow Cross with a telescope and a pair of binoculars, presumablyRohan’s.

“Oh!” I said, impressed. I was kicking myself inside,though.

“Muryotaisu, better not go inside Arrow Cross for a bit.Earlier, I found Cube House hidden inside it, and there was someone inside CubeHouse. Someone suspicious.”

“What…?” Muryotaisu looked at the new island, andback at Cube House, as if not sure which he should tackle first.

“I’ve locked Cube House up, and made sure we’ll know ifanyone goes in or out,” I said.

“I dunno, man…how do you get in?”

“Oh, directly above and below the desk in the study.”

“Got it,” he said, and went back inside. He came out afew minutes later, and explained, “I set up a hidden video camera.” Iwas sure the camera was Rohan’s, too, and the idea of him just doing whateverhe wanted with Rohan’s things made me want to laugh, but there was too muchgoing on for that.

“Woah, that ain’t Japan! It’s some foreign island!”Fukashigi yelled. I took the binoculars off him and took a look. He was right;the view was nothing you’d seen in Japan. There were only a few buildings insight, but they were mostly made of brick, and there were several windmills.Not sights you saw a lot in Japanese country towns. The crops waving in thewind looked like wheat. I looked down at the water’s edge. There were severalships with Italian names. I found a sign by the road leading from the docks tothe town. It said, “Welcome to Nero Nero Island!” in Italian.

“Nero Nero Island, it says.” Muryotaisu went backinside Arrow Cross, and came back out with an encyclopedia. Nero Nero Islandwas about a tenth the size of Morioh, population roughly three thousand. I knewa bit more that wasn’t written in the encyclopedia “Nero is Italian for‘black’. Nero Nero island has a long history as a Mafia base.” I had to doa lot of research about organized crime around the world for a previous case.

“These days Nero Nero Island is the headquarters of thePassione Family. They’ve got about three hundred members. Territory reaching toRome and Napoli – Naples, in English. They’re competing with the Sicilian Mafiaand the Camorra, so how a group this small survives…well, I didn’t know howbefore, but since Nero Nero is on the move, I’d bet there’s a good chancethey’ve got a lot of Stand Masters in

their ranks. They’re already fairly unique in that therearen’t any records of the boss’s face, and he’s so secretive that not even theinner circle has ever met the boss. The only name anyone even has for him is‘Diavolo.’ Italian for ‘Devil.’ Hey! What’s that?” Just like Morioh, theNero Nero Island harbor and part of the ocean around were inside a giant bubble.I’d just found a truck racing down the road to the harbor.

“Looks like they’re in trouble,” Muryotaisu said,looking through the telescope.

“I can see people in back, waving at us.

What?” I looked, but the magnification on thebinoculars wasn’t strong enough. I squinted trying to see, and the little trucksuddenly went up in flame and rolled.

“Ahh!” we yelled. Figures emerged on either side of theburning truck, approached the people lying on the ground, and light flashed attheir hands. Pop. Pop pop. Pop.

“Shit shit shit! Fuck! They’re killing everyone on thetruck! Jesus! They ambushed that truck! God damn it, I gotta go help!”Muryotaisu tossed the telescope aide, and flew off into the sky with his threedolphins. All I could do was watch. There was a barrier around Morioh, andnothing inside or out could get through it. They’d rammed a jet fighter intoit, and shot missiles at it, and couldn’t break through the wall, but ifMuryotaisu somehow got through that would definitely change things.

“Shit! There’s still one left alive!” I could seesomeone running through the grass towards us. He must have slipped away whilethe gunmen were attacking the truck. He was waving desperately in the directionof Morioh, begging us to help. Light flashed behind him. Pop pop pop. Pop poppop. Like he was knocked aside by an invisible hand, the man running towards uswent sprawling on the ground.

“Can’t you do anything, dipshit!?” Fukashigi yelled.NYPD Blue had picked up the telescope, and was looking

through it. He bellowed back, “What the fuck do youwant me to do? Shoot back!?” He pulled a gun out of his side holster; itwas huge, and very real. He put it away immediately.

“This bad boy is a Colt Python. It’s loaded with .357magnums. It’s from the first production run they ever did; it’s damn close tobeing a work of art. This fucker hits you it’ll blow the back of your headclean off. If it hits you. Even the best gun has an effective range, kid.Bullets don’t fly forever. They slow down, their arc changes, then they turninto a bit of lead and land somewhere. That’s how bullets work. Even if I had afucking sniper rifle I couldn’t hit them at this range. Even if I could,there’s a barrier between us. Probably two.”

“Argh! So you can’t fucking do anything!?”

“I am doing something! I’m gathering evidence. I’ll arrestall these motherfuckers.”

“Arrest…? Fuck that, we have to help those people!”

“No can do, asshole. Oh, looks like one of the murder squadis Passione’s Dolcio Cioccolata.” Four pieces of paper shot out of NYPDBlue’s side, fwp fwp fwp fwp from the gap of his shirt. I picked them up; theywere copies of the files Interpol, the Italian police, the CIA, and the FBI hadon him. Not only had he sold drugs in America, he’d even been involved interrorist activity.

“I’m broadcasting video footage live to all fourorganizations. Heh heh…oh, Secco Rotario’s there, too. Passione membersrunning around their base, killing ordinary citizens…either they’re trying tokill the boss, and cutting off his escape, or they already did it, and arecleaning up.” Three men who looked like farmers made it to the harbor,jumped in a boat, and headed towards us. Muryotaisu was in Morioh Harbor,trying to reach them, but was stuck helplessly behind the barrier. He’d begunthrowing his shoulder against it, trying to break through, but the invisiblewall refused to budge. Over on Nero Nero Island, the farmer’s boat crashed intoanother

invisible wall. The prow rammed headlong into it, the boattilted sideways, and the farmers were flung out of their seats. One landed on the boat, but the other two went inthe water. There was a good two hundred meters between the two barriers.Muryotaisu and his dolphins kept up their assault, but could not break throughthe wall. Two hundred meters away, boats came after the escape boat. Lightflashed. Pop. Pop. Pop pop pop. Pop. Pop.

“Auggghhhh! Shit! Shit! Shit!” Fukashigi yelled. Icouldn’t watch, and turned my eyes away, and saw more paper lying on theground. I picked it up and read it. One sheet was Secco Rotario’s hospitalrecords. It didn’t name any kind of psychological or physical condition; theonly thing written on it was the name of his doctor. Dolcio Cioccolata.

Wait, he was a doctor? I looked back up and the slaughterhad ended. The three in the boat weren’t the only ones who reached the water;there were other bodies lying on the docks. The Mafia members moved them out ofsight, dropping the bodies in the water between the boats, or tossing them intothe tall grass by the side of the road to the harbor. Most likely, they onlybothered so it would be easier to kill anyone else who came running, if therewas anyone left alive.

“Hey…they can see our island, right?” Fukashigi said,his lips quivering.

“How can they just kill people in plain sight?” Ididn’t answer. But there was only one answer. Because it wouldn’t cause anyproblems. Or because they knew they could stop it from being a problem. TheMafia got rid of problems in three main ways. Bribes, threats, and murderingwitnesses. There was no way they’d try and buy or threaten however many peoplethere in Morioh. But would they really try and kill everyone here? No matterhow many of them there were, could they really manage that? I remembered themessage Hirose Kouji had received from the former American

President. He said if nothing changes, the American armywill flip the island! That was delivered shortly after Morioh changed course.The sudden swerve West had put Funny Valentine in danger, so he had clearlynoticed it; by ‘nothing changes’ he meant if we kept heading West, so we werestill headed in the dangerous direction he’d warned us about.

Was it possible the Mafia was aware of the American army’sintentions? According to the records NYPD Blue’s stomach had printed out,Passione had already started operating in America, and there were no lines ofbusiness the Mafia couldn’t find a way to profit on, so they must have beenmaking political and military contacts; perhaps these had informed them. ButNero Nero Island was running alongside Morioh. It, too, was traveling in thesame dangerous direction. Perhaps Nero Nero had received the same threat fromAmerica, and they’d taken advantage of the panic to start in-fighting? Werethey certain their powers would allow them to survive what was coming? Whateverwas going through the Passione members’ minds, the threat to Morioh was stillvery real. Bariya Choumaru had suggested we would have to police ourselves, butthat had mostly been an appeal to Kira Yoshikage’s state of mind, so in my opinion,we would need to be prepared for further attacks from the outside. As I reachedthis conclusion, Muryotaisu came riding back to us on his dolphin. He lookedexhausted, physically and mentally.

“Fuck those guys,” he said, shaking with rage. I wasn’tsure what a high school delinquent could do against the Mafia, but he was in nomood to have this pointed out.

Whatever it was he could do, we all had to work together now.

“Muryotaisu, you have any idea how many Stand Masters thereare in Morioh?”

He thought a minute, then shook his head.

“How could I?”

“How many do you know about?”

“…I can’t just tell you that.”

“Come on, this isn’t the time for that…” I said, andtrailed off, gaping. It was starting.

“Shit shit shit shit shit! Here it comes!” Fukashigishrieked. Muryotaisu turned to look. Nero Nero Island had been running offMorioh’s starboard side, but it had suddenly veered port-wise, towards us, thehead of the island approaching diagonally.

We were headed straight West, so Nero Nero Island’s head cameramming into Morioh’s South side, into Morioh harbor, right before our eyes…!“Oh shiiiiiiiit!” I yelled, thinking furiously. The barrier had stoodup to a jet fighter and a missile attack, but could it stop another barrier,another island? Morioh’s barrier was larger, but when two ‘ships’ crashed intoeach other, size was less important than the angle. Morioh was unable to avoidthe attack…! Zzzuuun! There was dull roar, and Morioh lurched sideways as theother island slammed into it.

“Fuuuuck!” we yelped, hastily crouching down in thegrass.

We put our hands on the grounds to steady ourselves, but tono avail. There was a zhump as Morioh recovered that sent me and the Nijimurabrothers rolling head over heels towards the harbor.

When we managed to stop ourselves and look up, we saw NeroNero Island slowly rising out of the water. It had not stopped moving forwardon impact; instead, the two barriers slid against each other, forcing thesmaller island upwards. Soon we could see what was propelling the islandforward. Nero Nero Island had not just been floating. It had been swimming. Asthe underside of Nero Nero Island came into view, two

massive legs appeared, skittering against the side of thebarrier! “Uhh…I’m not too good with insects,” Fukashigi said. Therewas a ear-splitting rumble, the ground shook…and then there was a thunderingcrack as if lightning was hitting the entire sky at once, and we all clappedour hands to our ears as Nero Nero Island came crashing through the barrierdome, and landed in Morioh harbor. The weight of the other island had brokenthrough the barrier. The barrier’s sound proofing was gone too. The massiveisland hit the sea with a horrible thuuuuuuuud. A white wall of waves rose up,rocking the still waters of the harbor, doing terrible things to the boats andthe coastal parts of town.

While the wreckage was still being tossed around in thechurn, Nero Nero Island moved forward, the two legs reaching up. Two moremassive, muscular legs reached out from the sides of the island, hooked theirclaws onto the sides of the hole in the barrier, and began squeezing the restof its body, the island, through the gap.

We no longer remembered to scream. The sound of the waves inMorioh harbor echoed off the interior of the dome, the thuds slamming into ourbodies. It was painful, like our ears were ripping open, like someone wasdriving a nail into our head. But we didn’t dare close our eyes. Nero NeroIsland had twisted its massive body into the sky above Morioh harbor, and was nowstanding on six legs. It was neither island nor ship, but an insect. My legswere shaking, and my entire body felt numb. I couldn’t move a muscle.Muryotaisu and Fukashigi were both standing perfectly still, mouths open, allcolor drained from their faces. Only the Stands were moving. Grand Blue’s threedolphins slid up next to Muryotaisu, and started shoving into him, chirping,“Kikiki.” He snapped out of his trance just as… BANG!

An explosion rang out over the sound of the waves. I jumpedand spun around and found NYPD Blue aiming his Colt Python at Nero Nero Island,smoking curling from the barrel.

“Heh,” NYPD Blue grunted.

“I know perfectly well that didn’t reach them. That was awake up call, you little fucks.

We got no time to stand around gawking.

Wake the fuck up, you punk motherfuckers! What now? If I wasin charge here, I’d say we retreat and regroup.” I had no objections tothat plan. The Nijimuras and I stood up, dashed past Arrow Cross House to theother side of the hill, and were about to jump on Muryotaisu’s dolphins when Iremembered something. Sugimoto Reimi! I let go of Johana’s fin, dropped back tothe slope, used the momentum to swing myself into a U-turn and dashed back upthe hill.

“Hey, where you going?” I heard Fukashigi call afterme, as his dolphin carried him away.

“Reimi!” I yelled. Just as I reached the white pebblesaround Arrow Cross, a voice behind me said, “Thank you, Jorge. I’ll go.You run.” Grateful for these words, I turned around and found Rohan flyingbehind me, Blue Thunder on his head. He passed me by.

“Let me take care of Sugimoto!” But I didn’t leave. Nodetective would leave until he was sure everyone was safe! And I had alsoremember the figure inside Cube House. I couldn’t run until I’d figured out whothat was! Scrnch scrnch scnrch gravel flew in my wake and I caught a glimpse ofNero Nero Island making land in Morioh harbor through the sunroom window. Thewaves had already demolished the town, and now the island’s giant legs werecrushing the rubble. The ground in town couldn’t handle the weight of theisland, and with each step the insect took, bmmff, crnkk, pbbbbbggg, its feetsank into the ground, and the hollows filled with maybe sea water? Groundwater? Either way, the sea extended itself via these pocks. I almost stopped togawk at it again, but I forced myself not

to. I heard for the West sunroom, where Muryotaisu hadcarried Sugimoto. Rohan and Reimi were there. They were watching Nero NeroIsland trample Morioh harbor, terrified.

When I saw that Sugimoto had her arms around Rohan Ihesitated, but there was no time to spare.

“Rohan! Reimi! Can you get out of here?” I called outthrough the window. Sugimoto jumped, but shook her head. Right, she was aStand, I thought..

“Jorge,” she said.

“I think this is the safest place. I think.”

“?”

“If it was the old Cube House, it definitely would be. Tothe Cube House, the outside world is beyond the world’s end, and not somethingthat ever affects it.” I knew what she was saying, now. Yes, normally theseven cubes of a tesseract formed the inside of an eighth cube that wrappedaround them. Cube House was a tesseract made of square walls, so inside it wasa single universe, an entire world squeezed inside, so the Cube House itselfwas not part of our universe. Nothing would affect it, which meant you couldattack the crap out of it and it would never reach the inside. The walls of theCube House were the ends of that world.

Which all made me wonder why Rohan and Fukashigi had avoidedexploding by being placed under Arrow Cross. I had assumed it formed a vacuum,but this was clearly not the whole story. If it had been, they would not havesurvived there for long. They had lived because they were not just under ArrowCross, but under Cube House; because the world’s very end lay on top of them. Azone where everything was reset to zero, the absolute buffer. Pushing aside myexcitement, I said, “Then let’s escape into Cube House.”

“But it’s turned into Arrow Cross, so I don’t know if itsold power remains.”

Sugumoto didn’t know her own power. If a Stand was powermanifested, perhaps it was the same as people not knowing their own strength.

“No, Cube House itself exists simultaneously,” I said.She looked surprised, and I led her and Rohan into the study. First I checkedthe rug. It was still in place. I inspected the top of the desk as well.Nothing out of place. No one had gone in or out. Then I moved the desk awayfrom the door.

“Ah! Hey, don’t touch that! To a manga artist, a desk islike a chef’s kitchen or a teacher’s podium! It’s not something anyone elseshould feel free to just move around as they like!” I ignored him.

When I moved the rug aside and revealed the door, he shutup. Sugimoto looked just as surprised.

“Uh, so I went below this door earlier, and there was someonethere. I don’t suppose you know who?” I asked.

“Eh? No…”

“OK. Then…” I debated whether I should say anything,but decided I should.

“Worst case scenario, Tsukumojuku’s murderer is hiding outinside here. Our working theory is that Rohan didn’t notice the killerarranging the display of Tsukumojuku’s body and escaping because he wasasleep,” I said. Rohan shook his head.

“That’s your theory, not mine,” he insisted. I cut himoff.

“But it’s possible Rohan didn’t notice his escape because hehasn’t escaped yet. Because he’s below this door.”

“I see,” Rohan said.

“So he made that locked room without my eyes and earsdetecting a thing because he made this a temporary way point? He carriedeverything he needed, including Tsukumojuku down here ahead of time, and thenbegan work once I left the study?” Despite the events outside, Rohansounded so calm it effortlessly dissipated all the tension I was trying tocreate.

“I certainly considered that, but I don’t believe he wouldhave had

that much time to kill Tsukumojuku. After all, I metTsukumojuku last night, at 11:30 PM, in Fukui, in the town of Nishi-Akatsuki.No matter how fast he worked I don’t think he could have killed Tsukumojukubefore dawn, or gone through all the steps he would have needed to plan this.But this isn’t really the time to discuss it in detail. Rohan, do you haveanything that would work as a weapon?”

“Maybe a golf club?”

“Can I borrow that? And a rope.”

“I have some mountain climbing gear.”

“I’ll borrow that, too.”

“Just so you know, both were forced on me by my editors.They keep saying I should exercise more. I haven’t touched them since.”

“I really don’t care. Sorry, kinda in a hurry, here.” Istood back up and looked around for the hidden camera Muryotaisu had set up.There. It was hidden behind a plant in the corner of the room. As I waschecking the camera, Rohan came back with a golf bag and a bundle of rope.

“Ah! That’s my camera!” he yelped.

“I had Muryotaisu set it to record in case anyone went in orout of this door,” I said. I turned the desk so it straddled the door,tied the rope to the desk, and opened the door, letting it fall into the room.Rohan peered into the space below, and muttered, “Ooof… this was undermy feet this whole time?” I dropped the rest of the rope through the door.

“Jorge,” Sugimoto said.

“Going in there is dangerous.”

“Eh?”

“Cube House is meant for a single occupant. If two or morepeople run around inside, it could be very bad.”

“Bad how?”

“It could lead to contradictions.

With floors and ceilings.

The rooms inside turn to accommodate the people inside.”

“Oh, I see…as long as you move horizontally from thestudy, nothing can go wrong, but…”

“Right. If you go below the floor or above the ceiling, the floor of the room next door is the wall of the room next to the study.”

A: “The floor is weird!”

B: “The ceiling is weird!”

“…hmm. …So, uh, how does the Cube House handlethese contradictions?”

“One of you will be pulled into a parallel universe. He’llbe lost in that world, and never get anywhere.” Jeez, that was hella scary.

“…has that happened before?”

“Nope.

When Cube House was Cube House I was all alone in here. ButI know. That’s how it works, with powers. You know things without having totest them, but there’s still lots you don’t know. You know?” …I wonderif the intruder I encountered had grocked to the danger of parallel worlds, andrun from me? I wasn’t sure.

“Um, but then, if we go down now, isn’t it stilldangerous?” Rohan asked, anxiously. Sugimoto smiled.

“Don’t worry, Rohan. I’m the owner of Cube House. I’m thebasis of its behavior. I decide where the floors and ceiling and wallsgo.” Good! But we had to hurry.

“Then let’s go in!” I said. I took a firm grip on therope.

“Wait,” Sugimoto said.

“Make sure you don’t fall straight down.”

“Eh? Oh.”

“I’m the the door down there would catch your fall, but ifyou broke through the door, and did that three times…it would be verybad.” I looked up. The third door she mentioned was the door in theceiling. The room below the room below the room below this one was the study,so if I broke through all three, I’d fall forever.

What would happen then? If gravity increased my fall speedhere, I’d fall until I hit terminal velocity.

“Everything’s so extreme and permanent,” I muttered.

“It’s the Cube House,” Sugimoto said.

“Can’t be helped.”

True. This was a world of its own.

All three of us made it safely down the rope to the roombelow. It was immediately obvious Sugimoto felt more at home down here in CubeHouse. She smiled more.

“Let’s go find this rude interloper,” she said.

“Should we really leave the door up there open?” Rohanmuttered, looking up at it.

“If that giant insect monster steps on it, what’ll happen? Iguess we’re on a pretty big hill. It probably won’t try climbing up here.”

“Don’t worry, Rohan,” she said.

“There’s no way it could do anything to Cube House.”That square house – the neighbors called it Cube House – supposedly was movedhere from a town called Nishi Akatsuki, in Fukui. How that rumor got aroundwithout anyone having any idea who owned the house, nobody knows. I rememberedRohan saying that. If nobody could do anything to it, how could anyone havemoved it? “I don’t know,” Sugimoto shrugged. I sighed, and raised thegolf club, ready for anything.

“Hey! Don’t act like I’m supposed to know that. That’s thevery core of my being! Most humans couldn’t tell you anything like that. Asksomeone how they became what they are, go on.” She had a point, Iadmitted, as I lowered myself into the room below. Sugimoto and Rohan stayed inthe room below the study, and I went down a room below that, opened the door inthe floor, and made sure the room below that was empty. I was in the room belowthe room below the study, which was also the room above the room above thestudy. Three center doors were open, and if I fell through here and brokethrough the ceiling of the study,

Sugimoto had said I’d fall forever without ever escapingCube House.

“Anyone there?”

“Nope.”

“Then come back up.” Easier said than done. But with alittle effort I managed to scramble back up the room to where Rohan andSugimoto were waiting, in the room beneath the study.

“Then we just have to check the four rooms around this one.Let’s do that quick.” I glanced over, and Sugimoto was watching thedisplay on the video camera I’d brought with us.

“See anything?”

“Nah…”

“I can’t hear the giant’s footsteps any more,” Rohansaid. Sugimoto laughed without taking her eyes off the display.

“Not in this house, no. Even the study is a room in CubeHouse now. No longer part of Arrow Cross.”

“I sure bought one hell of a house…” I opened thedoor to the east. Nobody inside.

“OK, then I’m going around to the right, ” I said.Rohan nodded, and tightened his grip on his golf club.

“OK, but Jorge, when you open it, don’t do it slowly. Justslam the thing open like the cops do in movies. They way you’re opening doorsis more like a horror movie, and it’s making me nervous.”

“Sure thing.” I went in a circle around Sugimoto andthe camera, opening doors. Slam! Nobody in the north room. Slam! Nobody in thewest room.

“Last one.”

“At this speed, no way he could get out in time.”

“Right.” I’d saved the south door for last, for goodreason. This was the door I’d sensed the intruder’s presence behind, and if hewas still down here, he’d be behind this door. My palms were sweating, but Icouldn’t put it off any longer. I put my hand on the doorknob,

and glanced at Rohan. He nodded, but before I could open thedoor, Sugimoto shrieked, and staggered backwards three steps, staring at thecamera in her hand.

“What is it?” Rohan said, moving over to her. But  I still had to check behind this door. Slam!Empty! Good! “Wh-wh-what does this mean, Rohan?” Sugimoto said, hervoice trembling. I ran over, looked at the screen, and my jaw dropped as far asRohan’s had. On the screen…was Tsukumojuku.

He’d climbed up the rope to the study, closed the door, putthe rug back, straightened the desk he’d knocked over, put everything on thedesk exactly back where it had been so that nobody could possibly tell thatanyone had come through the door, and then Tsukumojuku – who was very clearlyalive – looked right at the camera, and walked towards it.

We could hear his footsteps on the carpet, and a thunderingcrash from outside. It was the sound of Nero Nero Island crashing through theMorioh barrier. On screen, Tsukumojuku looked up, alarmed. That proved thisvideo had been made a few minutes ago. Tsukumojuku looked back at the camera,staring right into the lens, and grinned.

“Ha ha ha, I guess my life belongs entirely to JorgeJoestar. To both Jorges: Don’t worry about it. In the words of Iason SobraQuarto: ‘Life is an explosion.’ My life is exploding as we speak. Ha ha! Seeyou again.” And with that, he vanished.

We stared at it dumbly for a minute, unable to think, but Icouldn’t afford to not think all day, so I went outside instead.

“Uh… take care,” Rohan said, his mind elsewhere.Confused, Sugimoto looked up at me as I was clambering through the door.

“Do humans come back to life sometimes?” she asked.

“Ha ha ha,” I laughed, buoyed by the suddenpossibility that Tsukumojuku might be alive. I wanted to talk to that strangeboy one more time.

“I think some people just don’t die that easily.” Whywas it I couldn’t just trust that he’d come back to life?

I pulled myself up into the study, left Cube House, closedthe door behind me, left Arrow House through the west sunroom, and ran down thehill. Nero Nero Island had clambered out of the harbor, and was headed into thecenter of Morioh. The sheer weight of it definitely made it move slower onland. It took ages for it to simply lift one of those giant insect feet. Andeach step sank deep into the ground, so to pull one foot out, the other fivehad to dig in, which made them sink deeper, and threw the entire island’sbalance off. Somehow it managed not to fall over, and precariously move itsfoot forward, smashing buildings as that foot sank into the ground again. Asrickety as the island’s movement was, I still couldn’t even begin to catch upwith it. My legs were too short! I mean, they were normal lengths and I wasprobably on the good side of athletic but after experiencing the joy of ridingJohana around my two legs felt like slugs! Blue Thunder couldn’t be reloaned,apparently; it had vanished the second Rohan took it off. And there wereobviously no taxis running…my feelings were getting ahead of me and I couldalmost cry but as I got further down the hill and reached a larger road and sawthe stream of emergency vehicles headed for the destruction, the drivers’ gripson their wheels, and people hanging off the fire trucks by their fingernails,to a man looking like their worlds were ending I stopped caring about my speedat all. How many people could be kept safe under Arrow Cross? Things were sobad now it might

have been better if the people in the harbor had gone crazytoo. I dashed down a dirt road through a field, looking up at the sky. It wasalmost five, and the sun hung low in the west.

With the barrier broken, the wind was blowing again. Thehumid, sticky sea breeze was making me sweat, but it was still an improvement.My feet felt lighter. A lot of baggage was slipping away. The sound of NeroNero Island’s footsteps was getting closer. I turned my gaze forward, and spedup. I was almost at the battlefield.

I ran through Morioh suburbs. Nero Nero Island’s feet hadcrushed an awful lot of houses, but they’d been evacuated in time, and I didn’tsee any signs of loss of life. I passed the rear legs, and as I drew closer tothe middle legs I glanced at the deserted station, and crossed the tracks. Icould make out people scurrying around the front legs. Budogaoka Academyappeared to be the center of activity, probably because lots of people hadalready been gathered there. I slowed down, considering my approach, when thesurface of the road next to me went pssht and I jumped. A gunshot? I dove offthe road into a garden and hid behind a wall. I looked around, but didn’t seeanyone. Then three more bullets went psst psst krashht moving from the road tothe wall; I could feel the impacts on this side. Thunk thunk. At last Irealized these weren’t coming from my level. Above me. I looked up and saw thecoast of Nero Nero island above me. Someone was absently shooting at me. NeroNero Island’s belly was a good 200 meters thick, so it was around 300 metersfrom here to the island’s surface. I couldn’t make out the face of the guyshooting at me, but I thought I could hear him laughing.

Skrnch skrnch spshhht the bullets kept coming, all hittingthe other side of the wall but if I stayed here he was bound to get luckyeventually. 3, 2, 1! I summoned my nerve and broke away from the wall. I threwmyself onto the porch of the house. Spsh spsh! Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunkthunk! Bang! Bang! Ba-bang! The hail of bullets followed after me, slamminginto the roof but once I was out of sight he gave up. I laid low until I wassure the gunfire had stopped. I let myself breathe again, then figured I shouldat least check on the owners of the house, since they’d saved my life. I peeredin through the window, but all was quiet, no signs of anyone there. I knockedon the window and called out, but there was no answer…except for a highpitched whine coming this way, followed by a massive explosion. A house a fewplots away had exploded into a pillar of fire. A rocket launcher!? Was I in afucking war zone? Wait, if they’d been aiming the gun at me, they must havebeen aiming that rocket at someone else. I jumped up and ran off the porch.Someone saw me go and hastily started shooting. Behind me and to either side Iheard pshht pshht pop! Chnk! Pshhtpshht psht! Pounding into the pavement. Butat this distance firing blind would never hit me if I kept moving. The rockerlauncher probably couldn’t get me either. I hoped whoever they were aiming thatat was safe! There was a ton of smoke, and plenty of fire left. As I drew nearthe impact site, I called out, “Hey! You alive!?”

“Jorge!” someone answered.

“Over here!” Hirose Kouji was hiding in the garage, onthe other side of the rubble.

“Oh! Good! You’re not hurt?”

“Nope! You?”

“I’m fine!” I ran into the garage too.

“They might fire a second missile down, so we should keepmoving,” Hirose said.

“They’ve got a shit load of weapons.”

“Right.”

“Here. Just think and it’ll fly you there,” Hirosesaid, and put a Blue Thunder on my head, too.

We flew right out of the garage. Vrrooom! This was…evenbetter than the dolphins! I could really steer it at will, with no hands. Everythought I had turned to action, as if I was really flying on my own! But sincethe propeller was on my head I couldn’t shake the feeling that my neck hurt.(It didn’t.) I followed after Hirose as we flew serpentine through theneighborhood, flying just above the ground so as to better hide ourselves fromthe shooters on Nero Nero Island.

We dodged propane tanks and bicycles, vvwip vvwip vvrrr vvrrruntil we flew into a factory and found the Nijimura brothers.

“Ohhh, you’re alive, Jorge?” Fukashigi said.

“What about Rohan and Reimi?” Muryotaisu asked. I letthem know the two of them were safe inside Cube House inside Arrow Cross. Ididn’t mention Tsukumojuku just yet.

“What’s going on here?” I asked. None of them saidanything immediately. Sensing the Nijimura brothers didn’t want to admit theywere in trouble. Hirose finally broke the silence.

“Shock and awe.

We’re occupied and they’re in control.

While everyone was still in a panic because the island wasstomping Morioh flat several Stand Masters with weapons came floating down, andkidnapped all the exhausted, half-dead folks in the gym. One of them has aStand like a tornado, and it vacuumed them all up.”

“That was Dolcio Cioccolata,” NYPD Blue said.

“I got the evidence.”

“Fuck, man…don’t just record shit, do something aboutit!” Fukashigi yelled. His voice was hoarse, and the yell was more

anguished than angry.

“Look,” NYPD Blue said.

“You order me to go into the mafia HQ alone, I ain’t thetype to back down. Like I said, up to you.”

“……….!”

“Tch, you’re just a punk kid. You talk big, but talk ischeap. You gotta grow up. Match your build. Pathetic.”

“Raggh, damn it! Then what the fuck should I do?”

“I told you that, too. Sit tight and wait. Diving emptyhanded into a war you can’t win ain’t what a man does. It’s what a fool whocan’t stand embarrassment does. For a man to sacrifice himself he needs abetter reason than shame. You gotta grin and bear it, keep your mind flexible,and wait for your moment.”

“………!” Fukashigi grit his teeth and went silent.

“Once they had hostages, all resistance ceased,” Hirosesaid, resuming his explanation.

“They called for Mayor Shishimaru, and made him theirpuppet. All orders from the mafia have been relayed through him. Right nowthey’re dragging Stand Masters into the open. Promising not to harm anyone whocomes forward of their own accord. But if they have to find us, we’ll bepunished. In a very mafia-esque move, they’re encouraging people to turn inanyone they know. They’ve got a number of people in the last hour alone. Ournames may well come to light soon.”

“So?” I asked.

“Is that it? Nothing else has happened yet?”

“Eh? Uh, yeah…”

“If they’ve got hostages and the mayor working for them andare hunting Stand Masters they’re still trying to get control. They’re prettyfar from getting us under their thumb completely. It just feels like they have.But really, they’re still trying to get us in line. And they haven’t let usknow their real goal yet.”

“Their real goal?”

“You think they really want to occupy Morioh? They’re the

mafia. There’s no enemy mafia group here; they’ve got novested interests in the town at all. I won’t go so far as to say there’snothing here the mafia might be interested in; there’s money and women, buteverything that goes on in this town right now is being watched very closely.It’s 2012. There are satellites chasing us around, manned and unmanned probesin the sky, monitoring the town in real time. Any yen the mafia steal right nowcan’t be spent. They can’t launder it or hide it. They can’t sell any women.They know that. And they know it’s only a matter of time before someone withreal power hits these two islands, and occupies us for real. The barrier’salready down; they did that themselves. It won’t be much longer.

Whatever it is they’re really trying to do will come outsoon; something they can accomplish with all this going on. Something tiny,that the satellites and aircraft won’t ever notice, but something veryimportant to them.”

“Very important how? What can Morioh people do for themafia?” Hirose asked.

“Our current theory is that Kira Yoshikage is moving thisisland, probably to escape from all the detectives descending on the town. It’sa good theory; it’s probably the truth. So something like that might behappening on their end.

Would these psychos run from a detective? Probably not. It’sa mafia island, and we saw them killing each other on Nero Nero Island from ArrowCross hill.

Whatever these psychos are up to has something to do withtrouble in the mob. Like NYPD Blue said, if the mafia are killing bystanders…”

“Either they’re trying to kill the boss, and cutting off hisescape, or they already did it, and are cleaning up,” NYPD Blue said,repeating his own line.

“I did say that. Mafia headquarters are where the boss feelsmost safe. A place where even the noncriminals will protect him. For many, it’swhere they were born. They’ve dropped as much dough as they can there, greasedthe

wheels, and can expect a good return. But now it’s in chaos.Either they’ve killed the boss and are purging the last of anyone who’d comeback on them, or they’re trying to kill the boss and making sure he can’t getany help from the locals. Driving him into a corner. Either way, the boss dies,lots of people go with him.” I was the first to break the silence.

“I dunno if NYPD Blue’s theory is right or not. But it’sclear the mafia are attacking for a reason.

Which begs the question – why do the mafia think whateverthey’re after will be here? Because they’ve done their homework on the place.

Why would the Italian Mafia have even heard of Morioh?Because Morioh started swimming out to sea. That was all over the news, andsomething this weird’s gonna be broadcast in every country in the world. Themafia would have seen it. They’d know a killer named Kira Yoshikage lived here,and know that several detectives were murdered here.” When they saw BariyaChoumaru’s press conference, I had speculated that there were other detectiveshere besides me. I had based that speculation on solid grounds, but would themafia even need that? And I considered this, I heard the same truck that haddelivered the call to the town meeting broadcasting a new message through itsloudspeaker.

“Would the detectives Daibakusho Curry, Runbaba 12, andJorge Joestar please hurry to the Budogaoka Academy Garden?” Hunh!? Ithought. On several layers at once. They were summoning me by name? DaibakushoCurry and Runbaba 12 were both from Nishi Akatsuki, too! All three of us wereNishi Akatsuki detectives!? Why would all the detectives in Morioh be from thesame place? Even though no other detectives had been able to get here? And thetiming of this summons was too perfect. …well, timing always worked likethat. Good or bad, things were always perfectly timed.

“Yikes,” Fukashigi said.

“What’ll you do? Don’t go.

Wait for

your moment.” That was NYPD Blue’s advice from a momentago, so I laughed, and called him a dipshit.

“Shut the fuck up, moron,” NYPD Blue roared, sosuddenly both Fukashigi and me snapped our mouths shut. See? Timing. I tried adifferent approach.

“Detectives don’t back down at a time like this,” Isaid. For them to know my name… I’d only told it to the three boys here, andthe two in the Cube House. That means someone had done some digging and foundmy name. Kira Yoshikage. Had he sold me to the mob? Was he waiting for hischance to strike? Interesting.

I asked the Nishimuras and Hirose to provide whatever backupthey could, went alone to Budogaoka Academy’s garden, and found the townresidents gathered there and a young Italian man in a well-tailored suitsitting on a chair in the center with Shishimaru Denta standing next to him.

When Runbaba 12 and Daibakusho Curry saw me they smiledruefully. They were both good looking men, but had clearly been through someshit; their shirts and pants were both soaking wet and ragged. Mine weren’tmuch better.

“Hey there.”

“’Sup.”

“You still alive?”

“Eh heh heh.”

“Didn’t think we’d have a reunion here.”

“Seriously.”

“What a pain. Let my curiosity get the better of me…”

“Yeah, but if you were watching this on TV you’d be kickingyourself.”

“True.”

“For sure.” Fed up with us whispering to each other,THUD! The mafia dude kicked the table between us. I didn’t jump, but maaan.

“Oh shit.”

“Shit, shit.”

“Three of us here. He don’t need

two.”

“Woah.”

“Well, we don’t need you.”

“No, you.”

“Dipshit.” THUD! This time he had his hand in his suitjacket. Maaaybe it was time to knock it off. His hair might be okappa but hedidn’t seem to speak Japanese.

We…or at least I spoke Italian, but it was a pain so Iasked Shishimaru Denta, “So? What’s he want with us?”

“Eh, um, I believe this er, phone…any minute now someonewill call this phone. I think.” His head was swollen in weird places so hemust have put his own self on the line to protect the residents, so I forgavehim. But there was no phone on the table he was pointing to. There was a filthyrubber ball and a right shoe and a pebble.

“……….?” But the pebble suddenly started ringing.

“Plu pon pin para para pon plu pon pin para para pon!”It also vibrated. Oh.

“A Stand,” I said, and the other two looked surprised.

“Eh? What, Jorge, you know what this thing is? What is it?”

“How is it ringing?” If they didn’t know about Stands,they were in for a rough ride. But they’d pick it up fast enough, like I had. Ipicked up the pebble. It had a display and accept call button, so I pressed itand answered.

“Hello?” To my surprise, the voice on the other endspoke Japanese.

“Hello? Is that Jorge Joestar?” A young man’s voice.

“Yep. You?”

“My name doesn’t matter. You are…English, born in Japan?”

“I am. And you’re Japanese, born in Italy?”

“…………”

“What’s your business?”

“I’m starting to like you.”

“You are? Then come on down here. Let’s talk face to face.”

“Let’s get down to business.”

“You want to hire me?”

“? ….what do you mean?”

“Hire me as a detective?”

“I suppose?”

“Then tell me the name of my client. As a detective…youlet people use you, you end up in a sticky situation. Get used to that fact,you start turning down any jobs where the client’s identity isn’t clear.”

“………..”

“If you don’t tell me I’m hanging up.”

“………….” I waited a moment, then took the pebbleaway from my ear, and was about to hang up when I heard him laughing. A gentle,light laugh.

“Heh heh heh…very well. My name is Shiobana Haruno. NikkeiItalian. I usually go by Giorno Giovanna. Satisfied?”

“Yes. Thank you. Please proceed.”

“I’d like you to look for someone. I don’t know their realname. All I know is what they’re called. Diavolo. The boss of the PassioneFamily.”

…well, that was pretty much what I’d expected.

“Is this person a Stand Master?” I asked.

“…….we believe so.”

“But neither I or the other two detectives can use a Stand,and we honestly know very little about them.”

“We will provide you with an assistant.”

“We can’t choose who?”

“……………”

“Didn’t think so.”

“The man with you is Bruno Buccellati. His team will beworking with you. He’ll lead, I’ll be in charge of communications,

and the other three will each accompany one of youdetectives.”

“I see. Is there a time limit?”

“No.”

“But our current situation can’t last forever.”

“No matter what the situation, no matter what happens, youmust find Diavolo.”

“……….!?”

“Understand me? No matter what.”

“……..and if we can’t?”

“There is no need to consider that.”

“I see.” I was better off not thinking about it, yeah.

“So, Jorge Joestar, I look forward to your success.” Hehung up. Bruno Buccellati stood up, and spoke to me in Italian.

“You speak Italian, don’t you?” Shit, I thought, whichwas clearly a mistake. He laughed.

“Heh heh. I can smell lies. Remember that. Even if you keepsomething hidden, the taste and scent may be weaker, but that’s still alie.” Three dangerous looking Italians came up behind him. They were allyoung.

“So?” I said.

“I do speak Italian, but…” Buccellati looked at theother too.

“You both speak Italian as well, detectives?” BothDaibakusho Curry and Runbaba 12 nodded.

“Si, si.” High-level communication was a necessity inour line of work. Buccellati assigned each of us one of his men. DaibakushoCurry got Leone Abbacchio. Tall, with stern features, he loomed over that notespecially tall Daibakusho Curry. Runbaba got Guido Mista.

Well-built, with a hat. Apparently he smelled a bit, sinceRunbaba 12 sniffed once, made a face, and

kept his distance. I was assigned Narancia Ghirga. He wasabout the same age as me, with a boyish face, by the way he fixed me with amenacing glare suggested he was well aware of how young he looked.

“Don’t fuck with me,” he hissed, and he made sure Iknew he had a knife on him, too. Clearly, he was the most dangerous of thisgroup.

So, time to go investigate. I kept the pebble, DaibakushoCurry took the rubber ball, and Runbaba 12 the orphaned shoe. Runbaba 12 triedto convince us to trade with him but Buccellati roared, “Enough!” andI looked at Narancia and saw someone standing next to him. It was Tsukumojuku.

“…………!” He grinned at me.

“Hey! I am your instrument. A person needs your help. I’lltake you to them.” He grabbed my shoulder.

“Yo, what the fuck?” Narancia yelled, pushing me asideand pointing his knife at Tsukumojuku. In that instant we jumped.

“Whoops. Brought an anomaly along, but…it all meanssomething, I’m sure. Bye!” Tsukumojuku vanished, leaving me and Narancia.On the H.G.

Wells, an American spacecraft launched by NASA. Passingaround the dark side of Mars on its journey to the red planet, about to make anew discovery. Namely, that, in addition to Phobos and Diemos, Mars had apreviously undetected third moon. Previously undetected because Mars had alwaysbeen between it and the Earth.