JORGE JOESTAR - Chapter 15
Summary
George wakes up, lying on a bed with his injuries and fractures healed. The Italian man sitting next to him greets George, with George confused as to how he could suddenly understand and speak Italian. Vinegar Doppio introduces himself and reveals that Rohan made it so everyone in the house could speak English, Italian, and Japanese. Doppio grabs a book lying on the side table named Pink Dark Boy: Part 8. Volume 112. He transforms it into a phone using his Stand and calls Giorno to inform him that George has woken up. Doppio also reports that George is feeling a lot of pain and struggling to get up, before telling George that he'll get over it if he keeps moving. When George says he can't move any further, Doppio suddenly becomes infuriated and threatens George by showing the gun in his pants. His eyelids violently twitching, Doppio reveals he's a gangster, but George rebukes him with no fear. George snatches Doppio's gun from him and threatens the gangster back. Doppio then picks up the manga volume again and George suddenly feels an intense vibration and ringtone reverberating within his brain. George confidently points the gun to his own head and precisely shoots off a two centimeter portion of his skull that had been converted into a phone. George then turns the gun toward Doppio and doesn't hesitate to fire. However, none of the bullets hit and instead ended up in the wall behind Doppio.
Another gangster named Guido Mista had arrived, telling the two of them to knock it off. Doppio starts arguing toward Mista so Mista decides to shoot him instead. George sees miniature entities wearing gym uniforms riding the bullets. Each of them kicked their bullet aside to merely scrape Doppio's cheeks, giving him cat-like whiskers. Mista and his Stand, The Iron Ladies, cackle at Doppio's new appearance. As George is confused as to what he just witnessed, Giorno arrives, apologizing for the manners of his men. He introduces himself to George and explains what Stands are, revealing that Rohan also made it so George could see Stands. Giorno and Rohan explain how they learned George's history by reading everything about him, and decided that he is the best man to solve the mystery of Diavolo and Kira's deaths. They also reveal to him that Tsukumojuku had died there and another Jorge Joestar was in charge of that case. George is informed of Jorge's adventures and what the current situation is like now in London. Although George desires to go back home, Giorno has no intention of letting anyone leave Arrow Cross House until the mystery is solved.
George asks Doppio to call England with his phone, but he is suddenly no longer able to despite it working a few minutes ago. Doppio turns a light bulb by the bed into a phone and is capable of reaching Passione's offices in Rome, San Diego, and Tijuana, so he thinks the problem must be on Narancia's end. Meanwhile, Pannacotta Fugo points out that outside of the house, the sky of Morioh looks like the night sky even though it isn't night yet. There are no clouds, stars, or the moon. Instead, they all see a giant white whale swimming in the sky along with other giant fishes. Mista realizes that Morioh must be floating upside down in water. Desperate to get back to Lisa Lisa, George starts believing in his Beyond. He realizes that believing in Beyond means that there is an author writing a story with him as the main character, but in order to get back to Lisa Lisa, then he would have to create the 'narrative flow' of the story by first solving the murder of Diavolo. NYPD Blue explains the situation. Rohan's Heaven's Door had tried turning the two bodies into books, but the pages were filled with the word "death" in different languages. He then tried using Heaven's Door on the holographic recordings of Videodrome, but only their names and information about their Stands were written on the pages. Abbacchio describes that the estimated time of death for both of them was twelve hours ago, at eight AM. Abbacchio replays the recordings so that George could notice any suspicious details. Fukashigi tries pulling NYPD Blue out of the way, but his Stand refuses, not wanting to leave a murder investigation to amateurs. George notices that Kira's face was covered in sweat, but the sweat would dry up the instant it hit his shirt. The rest of his body should have been soaked as well, but his shirt wasn't even damp. After George points out the clue, Abbacchio and NYPD Blue also touch Kira's chest on Videodrome's recording so they can see for themselves. George moves on to checking Diavolo's chest, where he notices the same situation occurring. Mista mentions that they are all acting like freaks and then cackles along with Fugo.
After Rohan mentions how he had a clock in his study but someone had stolen it, George deduces that there must have been a reason for the clock being stolen, with "time" being the key word. He realizes that time must have been sped up, even though their bodies were moving normally. George theorizes about how King Crimson and Bites the Dust could cause time to flow differently and how humans have an internal sense of time which could be a little off without any Stands involved. George asks Rohan for a thermometer so that they could do autopsies. Abbacchio and NYPD Blue are reluctant to take rectal temperatures until George convinces them to by saying they shouldn't let an amateur handle it. Grossing Abbacchio out, Rohan describes how he used the thermometer on various wild animals such as birds, cats, and a boar, but he assures that the thermometer is well sterilized. The two officers take the temperatures and then examine the inside of Kira and Diavolo's mouths and eyes. Abbacchio asks if George figured out anything but George ignores him. Abbacchio throws the thermometer at George but the latter dodges and the thermometer shatters, angering Rohan. George calculates that the killer would have to be traveling 800,000 meters a second to be able to kill Diavolo and Kira. As he wonders why Kira and Diavolo didn't even try to resist their deaths when Diavolo could predict his fate, George realizes that Diavolo and Kira must have been fighting each other. Kira's Bites the Dust would activate and try to kill Diavolo, but Diavolo's King Crimson would sense that future and prevent it from happening. However, Bites the Dust would still be fated to turn time back one hour. Thus, Kira would have no memories of trying to blow Diavolo up and would attempt to do so again. Every time Diavolo deleted the time frame of his death, they were trapped in an infinite time loop.
With his Beyond, George is convinced that his deduction is correct so he moves on to figuring out why their battle had to happen at the Arrow Cross House. Cube House was a tesseract with its own spacetime, and whoever the killer is wouldn't want to speed up time for the rest of the world as that would cause mass hysteria. Following George's request, all of the clocks in the house are brought to the study by Rohan, Muryotaisu, Fukashigi, and Koji. The Nijimura twins are creeped out at how all of Rohan's clocks are exactly in sync with even the second hands matching, but Rohan argues that he isn't as sloppy as them. George then asks Reimi about the Cube House. Rohan explains how Stands can unexpectedly evolve, so it's natural that Reimi doesn't have her old memories. For example, Muryotaisu's Grand Blue had also increased in number. Noting how Reimi looked depressed after what Rohan said, George asks the manga artist if he ever felt the fear of forgetting what he lived through. Rohan denies by saying he's thrown his whole life into drawing manga so there's nothing frightening about it to him. Koji and the Nijimura twins scold Rohan for his rudeness to Reimi, leading Rohan to finally realize his thoughtlessness. Rohan apologizes and says that he's not trying to be conceited but he just expects too much from people. The Nijimura twins and Koji laugh about his arrogance. George interrupts their banter and explains that he doesn't think Reimi evolved because a Stand forgetting their user would be a problem. Rather, he believes that something traumatic happened and Reimi was inflicted with a Wound.
George's explanation triggers Reimi's memories and an Arrow violently ejects from her body. Her memories return, and she smiles at George, revealing that her sole purpose was to search for him. Penelope was desperate after George's presumed death and unconsciously awakened her Stand. Reimi supposedly manifested at Nishi Akatsuki in Fukui Prefecture, which is the hometown of the other Jorge. She and Cube House then moved to Morioh in 2004, waiting for George to reach there. At some point, Reimi was asked by someone to protect four Arrows. She accidentally stabbed herself with them in 2007 and developed a Wound, transforming Cube House into Arrow Cross House. Reimi decides to take George back home, but Fugo and Mista retort that George still hasn't solved the mystery. Reimi threatens that if Fugo and Mista don't listen to her, they would never escape, since they are inside her and Cube House has no doors or windows. Fugo and Mista panic trying to look for exits, and encounter the tesseract function of Cube House for the first time.
George explains his final deductions to everyone. The killer's Stand has the power to speed up time. They lured Kira and Diavolo to Arrow Cross House after setting the two against each other. As time looped, the killer sped up time and compressed it until neither of them could move at all, then slit their throats. Giorno unsuccessfully tries to conceal his surprise, making George suspicious. After George asks Bucciarati if his boss is lying, Bucciarati notices the scent of a lie coming from Giorno. Giorno tells him that he's imagining it, infuriating Bucciarati. Fugo and Mista run back into the room asking Bucciarati what is happening, but Bucciarati angrily yells at Fugo to shut up. Giorno denies all of the accusations but Bucciarati doesn't believe him. Bucciarati begins stitching Giorno's mouth closed with his Stand Stepmom until Giorno yells out that he isn't lying, but he was the one that was lied to. Meanwhile, NYPD Blue and Abbacchio notice that Diavolo's pages from Heaven's Door were not in order; his body only had odd pages, meaning that Diavolo had an alternate personality and someone else had the even pages. Giorno says that he was betrayed by God, causing Bucciarati to punch him in the face. Giorno begins crying, but the tears and blood dry in an instant.
Rohan discloses that he used Heaven's Door on everybody except Giorno who could already speak Japanese and Italian, and Doppio, since he arrived late. They notice that Doppio is no longer with them so Muryotaisu summons Grand Blue to go find him. The dolphins quickly retrieve him from Cube House below the study, where he angrily points out that he was on the phone. Rohan was suspicious of Doppio from the beginning because of the crazy things he had been saying. However, Heaven's Door reveals that Doppio has both odd and even numbered pages, so he is a normal person who is just a bit peculiar. The bodies begin rotting faster as Enrico Pucci arrives, stating that Giorno shouldn't blame God for abandoning him. Pucci divulges that Giorno couldn't bear the burden of his sins and created an alternate personality in his mind, so he could play the hero while his alter ego, Diavolo, was punished for his dirty deeds. Giorno smiles, revealing that manipulating Pucci was all part of his father's plan and now the priest no longer has any use to him. Flustered, Pucci tells Giorno to shut up and rapidly speeds up time, threatening to slaughter all of Giorno's men. Giorno points to a rhinoceros beetle flying in the air, turning it back into an Arrow with his Gold Experience. He had turned Reimi's Arrow into a living being to prevent the flow of time from damaging it. Giorno then explains that there are actually three more Arrows since the house has three arrows outside, causing Reimi to violently eject the remaining ones out of her as well. Giorno laughs about these Arrows being the real four rhinoceros beetles. With the Arrow, he evolves his Stand into Gold Experience Requiem. His evolved Stand immediately sends Pucci to a world where he'll wander for eternity with all his desires and actions being in vain.
With Giorno off guard, Rohan uses Heaven's Door on him. They verify that his body has the even numbered pages, but all of the pages also said the word "death". Noticing Giorno's eyeless face on the back of the book cover, George asks Antonio Torres if he came to this universe with Tsukumojuku. The actual Giorno had used his Stand Gold Experience to transform Antonio's hollow skin into a body double of Giorno. Since Antonio was now discovered, Giorno cancels the effect and Antonio reverts back into being empty skin. George realizes this is the original Antonio who bullied him back when they were children, before Antonio made all of his clones. Ordered by his boss, the original zombie Antonio in 1900 had traded places with the skin sample that Tsukumojuku was carrying, traveling through time with him. Now having the appearance of Diavolo, Giorno finally reveals his betrayal, claiming to be the boss of Antonio. Fugo attacks Diavolo along with Mista and Abbacchio but their attacks do nothing. George then attempts to punch Diavolo but King Crimson punches him through the stomach. He mentions intentionally avoiding George's heart so that he could take him to go see the Secret Emperor. The gangsters and the Japanese group try protecting George but they are all easily defeated. Reimi cries as Diavolo jumps into Cube House with George.
George awakens, finding himself on the deck of a ship near a large black coffin. Diavolo yells at the man in the coffin to wake up, and George recognizes him as Dio Brando. They had traveled through time to one hundred years after Dio sank in the coffin. Hungry, Dio decides to drink some of Diavolo's blood first. As Diavolo's body belongs to Dio's son, his blood is suitable. Diavolo attempts to use King Crimson but Dio's The World stops time before he can. Dio then reveals the Stand he had stolen from Jonathan Joestar's body, a crown of thorns that could see the futures of his blood relatives. Dio kicks Diavolo and stomps on his head, claiming they still have work to do. George witnesses Dio and Diavolo vanish, realizing that they traveled through time as Cube House's effect was still lingering on Diavolo. He understands that Antonio Torres's true boss is Dio and just had his orders relayed to him by Giorno. Trying to understand the situation, George falls asleep and dreams of Lisa Lisa.
Dio eventually wakes George up by stomping on his face. Holding a Japanese katana, Dio demonstrates how Jonathan taught him that he could be entirely cut in half but still live. He then decides it's time for George to die, but George believes in his Beyond. He notices that Diavolo had reverted back into Giorno and his Stand was out. Already predicting what Giorno would do, The World grabs Gold Experience Requiem by the throat before it could touch Dio. Giorno declares that he doesn't mind being killed, but he wants to get Dio's soul to become a double of him. He reveals that he's not the son of the Dio that died robbing a train in the 37th universe, but instead comes from another universe where he canceled his own death and survived in a place between life and death until he arrived in this universe, waiting for Dio. Dio verifies that this Giorno has the Joestar birthmark and then thrusts his sword through Giorno's heart without hesitation. George starts crying, angering Dio as to how pathetic Jonathan's son is. Dio then sticks his hand into his chest and tears out half of his soul, claiming that he understands the shape of life now, causing George to realize that Dio spoke as if he had his own Beyond too. George believes in his Beyond, causing the sun to rise in time. However, Dio realizes that the sun isn't hurting him that much, shocking George. Before the sun could fully set, Dio shoves half of his soul into Giorno's corpse, transforming the boy's body into a duplicate of Dio. He then picks up the duplicate Dio, throws him into the coffin, and closes the lid.
Ecstatic over conquering the sun and the success of his plan, Dio walks up to a horned man lying on the desk beside George, who he brought with him when he previously traveled through time with Diavolo. He reveals that he had become the Ultimate Thing by drinking this creature's blood. Dio starts feasting on the remains of Kars, claiming the Pillar Man is the best meal that he's ever had. Believing that George is unpredictable since he's a Joestar, Dio decides not to let him die, and demands that George take him to where he wants while the Cube House effect is still on him. He states that he'll sleep for two years until the fake Dio is killed in Egypt, and then he'll collect his Stand back. Afterwards, George will travel through 36 universal loops until he reaches England in 2012, where Lisa Lisa is waiting for him. George notices a dying message left behind by Giorno in hiragana: "Courage" (ゆうき, Yūki). Giorno had sacrificed himself for George and wanted George to have courage to save everyone with his Beyond.
