Chapter 148

Empress, Part 3 (その③), originally Leeching Off a Parent's Arm! (親の腕かじり！) in the WSJ release, is the thirty-fifth chapter of Stardust Crusaders and the one hundred forty-eighth chapter of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga.

Summary
Joseph demands that Empress tell him where its user is, but Empress refuses. Joseph decides to find the rest of the group, but Empress screams that he, Joseph Joestar, just killed the doctor and threatens the nurse. Thinking Joseph himself is saying this, the nurse calls the police, forcing him to flee.

Joseph tries to smash Empress against a wall, but it suddenly grows arms to hold itself to the wall and screams that Joseph is there so the police can hear. In order to free himself before the police officer shoots him, Joseph uses his technique, Ripple Beat. However, it fails, because he can't harm his own body with his Ripple. He then wraps Hermit Purple around Empress, forcing it to let go of the wall.

Meanwhile, Polnareff and Nena are walking through the streets together. Polnareff tries to show the woman that he's better than Hol Horse, but she seems uninterested. Joseph runs past them and Nena quickly distracts Polnareff to look the other way so he won't help Joseph.

As Joseph runs through the market, Empress steals food (including a living chicken) and devours everything, spitting the chicken's head out. The more Empress eats, the bigger it becomes. The Stand, now capable of reaching Joseph's face, punches him and mockingly demands that "daddy" needs to feed it more. Joseph tells the Stand he has far more fighting experience than it does, but wonders how he is going to back up this statement.