Mario Zucchero

"I'm the one doin' the talking here! I'm the one in control!"

- Mario Zucchero, Chapter 461

Mario Zucchero (マリオ・ズッケェロ) is a minor antagonist featured in Vento Aureo.

Zucchero is a Passione operative and Sale's partner, but also a Stand User. He ambushes Team Bucciarati with his Soft Machine for the possession of Polpo's treasure.

Appearance
Zucchero is a man of average build and height, keeping his hair attached in a strange-looking ponytail that points straight back before curling at the end.

Zucchero wears a long sleeve collarless shirt with spikes on his shoulders, sleeves, and back. He has long trousers that cover his feet, acting as boots.

In the colored manga, Zucchero has a green suit and light gray hair. In the anime, his hair is lime green and his suit is unchanged. In the PS2 game, Zucchero's suit is the same color as his hair.

Personality
Mario Zucchero is a vain and careless individual compared to his partner Sale: when asked what he would do with 6 billion lire, Zucchero answers that he would spend it on vacation trips and women, not thinking about how the money could help him rise within Passione. His first appearance shows him driving despite not paying much attention to the road, to Sale's frustration. He is also reckless, suddenly jumping out of a car in the middle of driving as soon as he heard of Polpo's treasure, leaving Sale in the passenger seat of the moving vehicle. Despite this, the two still work together to oppose Bruno Bucciarati's team of six by themselves. Zucchero's choice to immediately confront the entire team head-on indicates a level of calculated confidence in his Stand's ability (or his own simple foolhardiness).

In battle, Zucchero is skilled at sneak attacks and ambushes, having managed to hide a boat on top of another in order to set up his attack on Bucciarati's team. Using his Stand ability, Zucchero stealthily picked off members of a squad that would otherwise overwhelm him with ease in mere moments. However, he is also rude and demanding, violently threatening Bucciarati when he has him cornered in his boat and repeatedly shouting curses in the process.

Abilities
Zucchero's Stand, Soft Machine, has the ability to deflate people and objects by stabbing them with its short sword.

Vento Aureo
Introduced as one of the pursuers of Polpo's treasure, Zucchero attacked the boat that Bucciarati's gang was on before deflating everyone except Leone Abbacchio and Bucciarati with his Stand.

He is soon defeated by Bucciarati after getting his head "zipped off" in a ranged surprise attack. Later, Team Bucciarati tortures him by hanging his head off a fish hook while having his eye roasted by a pair of spectacles to interrogate him on the whereabouts of his partner.

Thanks to Abbacchio's Stand, the group learned that Zucchero has already given off their location and the rest of the plan involving. After Sale's defeat, he was left unconscious on the boat.

Purple Haze Feedback
After Giorno Giovanna becomes the boss of Passione, he orders Zucchero, Sale, and Pannacotta Fugo to make amends. The mission given to them is to target Massimo Volpe and the remnants of Passione's narcotics team.

Lured by Angelica Attanasio's Nightbird Flying, Zucchero and Sale discover the hideout of the narcotics team in a warehouse at the edge of Villa San Giovanni – a small town on the Strait of Messina. Zucchero uses Soft Machine to deflate himself and Sale so they could get close to their targets. However, Zucchero is caught by Massimo Volpe who easily defeats him with Manic Depression, making it impossible for Zucchero to control his body. After Vittorio Cataldi kills Sale elsewhere in the warehouse, Massimo drags Zucchero's deflated body into the room and tosses him aside. Vittorio takes interest in Zucchero's body as it resembled a plastic sheet, taunting that he has bad luck because they had Angelica on their side. He stomps on Zucchero's body, although is grossed out afterwards when he realizes his heart was still pulsing. Vittorio continues to toy with Zucchero's remains nonetheless.

Later, Zucchero is interrogated by Massimo and his team. Draped on a chair in front of him like a flattened, wet shirt hung to dry, he could barely produce any audible sounds. Despite his lack of speech, Massimo could understand Zucchero's words based on his lip movement, discovering that Fugo is the enemy of the narcotics team as well.

Vladimir Kocaqi uses Zucchero as a decoy to separate Sheila E from Fugo and Cannolo Murolo. Sheila smells vomit and realizes it must have been from someone under the influence of Manic Depression. Just as she reaches her deduction, Zucchero travels through the flattened ground, poised to poke Sheila in the back with Soft Machine's needle, but ultimately misses since she jumps away in time. The rain in their environment was ideal weather for Zucchero, as he could hide in the gaps between the pavement and the water. The weather and his vomit were also masking his scent so Sheila would have difficulty finding him. Sheila continuously talks to Zucchero wondering whether he betrayed them but he provides no response. He could no longer talk and was little more than a mindless robot following orders and reflexive responses.

As Sheila constantly shouts Zucchero's name, Zucchero unconsciously heads toward her in order to strike with Soft Machine's needle. However, his instincts had failed him and he falls into a panic when his needle strikes only air. Sheila had tricked him by using Voodoo Child to echo her voice, creating giant pairs of lips in all the cracks in the ground surrounding Zucchero. Trapped within the teeth of Voodoo Child, his body is stretched as the lips slide across the ground. The only words he could inaudibly utter were "Gotta move" until his body crumples from the effects of Massimo's Manic Depression. Zucchero's bodily functions were escalating so high that his flesh could no longer withstand the force of his blood pressure. Finally, the blood in his veins gushes out everywhere and his body inflates, shattering every bone in his body into dust.

Gallery
Manga=