The JOJOLands - Chapter 17
Lulu's Bags Groove, Part 2 (バグス・グルーヴのルルちゃん その②, Bagusu Gurūvu no Ruru-chan Sono 2), originally titled That Girl's Bags Groove, Part 2 (あの娘のバグス・グルーヴ その②, Ano Musume no Bagusu Gurūvu Sono 2), is the seventeenth chapter of The JOJOLands and the nine hundred seventy-fourth chapter of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga.
Summary
A man surrounded by three women on a private jet tells one of them to stretch out her tongue more. He tells them to sit in his lap and feeds them three different kinds of top-quality dashi made from kombu in Hokkaido, Japan: "Rausu Kombu", "Rishiri Kombu", and "Ma Kombu". Within the broth are green peas parboiled with salt. Ocean warming has recently limited the area of the sea that these types of kombu can be produced in, so they've become rarer. The guy wants to buy all of Hokkaido for the women whenever he can, believing that he can develop as many resorts as he wants as long as he has enough money and bends the land ordinances. He is revealed as "Howler", and the women are his flight attendants, who inform him that they're about to land at Honolulu.
After landing, Howler is surprised to see a group of men standing by, since the immigration gate is a private pathway just for him. After kissing the flight attendants and saying goodbye, he recognizes one of the men as Yokohama from Dolphin Bank. Howler tries rudely dismissing him, but Yokohama informs Howler that there is urgent news regarding the 300 square kilometers of land that he owns on the northern slope of Hualalai. That land is currently worth 10.6 billion dollars, but Congressman White suddenly authorized the state government to seize Howler's land and the other congressmen have approved it. Howler's surprised but doesn't think much of it since Congressman White has no proof. Yokohama believes that they'll accuse Howler of using his claims to install waterworks in Hualalai's water veins as a way to steal public tax money without actually carrying out the installation. Dolphin Bank currently has a loan to HOWLER Company totaling 30 billion dollars, so Yokohama demands that he pays it back to them immediately. Howler is shocked that they would betray him since he only borrowed that money due to the bank's advice; he used the money for making the Honolulu head office building, and 20 billion went to buying other lands on Oahu. Moreover, he only leased the private jet because they told him to for tax purposes. Nonetheless, Yokohama declares that Howler will be going bankrupt and if he cannot pay them back in cash, then he'll have to pay them back with his land. The Dolphin Bank staff drive away, leaving Howler stunned as to what is going on. He calls someone at HOWLER and informs them that he'll be heading back to the head office soon, but orders them to find Bobby Jean for him since he needs to speak with him urgently. Howler suspects whether the situation is due to the Lava Rock, since the sudden change in his flow of money is similar to a situation that happened when he was a child.
Meanwhile, Bobby Jean tells the user of Bags Groove, whose name is revealed to be Lulu, that they should be looking for a pickup truck and not a van. Bobby shows Lulu a photo of the 5 people who exited the van, but they look completely different than the trio who looked at the land deeds (THE MATTEKUDASAI disguised Dragona as an old woman, Paco as a large man with a bandana, Charming Man as an elderly man holding Usagi as a child, and Jodio as a man wearing a hat and different clothes). Lulu disregards his fake photos and tells Bobby that the most important thing is figuring out their objective for investigating HOWLER's deeds, since they definitely weren't newspaper reporters or police officers. Bobby thinks that although it's curious, they shouldn't bother doing more than what they're being paid to do by Howler, as their job is just to eliminate their targets. Inside the van, Lulu notices a flower hair ornament that fell off Dragona's head onto the seat, similar to what the "old woman" in the photo had. Lulu then starts a temper tantrum, begging Bobby to buy the flower for her while she angrily scratches the doors of the van using her "Hula NYAN Dancer" figure. Bobby promises to buy it for her later. After calming down, Lulu wonders how their targets were able to track down one of her Bags Groove bodies since all of her previous victims died before a doctor could find the lesions. Bobby points out how there's a hospital on the other side of the parking lot where the van is, making Lulu realize that their targets must be trying to go to an MRI to try finding the lesion caused by Bags Groove themselves.
At the hospital, Jodio discusses the plan with the gang. They'll put Usagi in the MRI tunnel, analyze the images near Usagi's brain, find the lesion inside his body, then Smooth Operators and Charming Man will enter Usagi's body and drag out the Stand. They enter one of the two MRI rooms, but the doctor asks them for a reservation code and the next exam would only begin in 30 minutes. The gang tells Usagi to use THE MATTEKUDASAI to transform into an MRI, now that Usagi has seen how the machine works. Usagi worries about them using a fake MRI to examine him and tries to lighten the mood by making jokes out of three-letter acronyms. As he bursts out in laughter, blood pours out from his ear, causing the gang to rush him into an empty room while Dragona tries requesting for THE MATTEKUDASAI to become an MRI. Usagi gasps in pain as Bags Groove rapidly punches inside him.
Lulu and Bobby Jean arrive just outside the MRI room and look around. Lulu eventually sees the gang behind her, deducing that they're the targets due to Dragona's crown of flowers. Meanwhile, Bobby Jean receives a call. Bobby hands the phone to Lulu, and the caller introduces himself with his full name, "Acca Howler". Howler tells Lulu that this call is only for her to hear. He tells Lulu about the Lava Rock and orders her to recover it from the people they're pursuing while also helping Bobby eliminate the gang. He stresses that it's important that she is the one to find the Lava Rock and not Bobby. Now that they've got permission from Howler to eliminate their prey, Bobby Jean summons his Stand Glory Days, firing a pistol with a silencer. After Paco hears the gunshots, the gang suddenly sees several bullets slowly headed toward them. Dumbfounded at the sight, Jodio, Paco, Dragona, and Charming Man are all shot by the bullets before they could dodge them.
Appearances
Author's Comment
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Ultra Jump August 2024
Trivia
- Usagi makes several puns in the chapter based on three letter acronyms:
- "M - 無 R - 理 I - 言って スミマセン" (Muri itte sumimasen) translates to "Sorry for asking you to do something unreasonable". In English, a translation that fits the acronym could be "It's Mostly Really Impractical, sorry."
- He calls Jodio his "BFF", "IDD", and "KKD."
- "BFF" is already an English acronym, which stands for "Best Friend Forever."
- "IDD" (いつでも大好き, ItsuDemo Daisuki) translates to "I'll always love you". In English, a translation that fits the acronym could be "I'm Deeply Devoted."
- "KKD" (君に感謝だ, Kimi ni Kansha Da) translates to "I'm grateful to you". In English, a translation that fits the acronym to show Usagi's appreciation could be "You're a Kind, Kindred Dude."
