GioGio's Bizarre Adventure II: Golden Heart, Golden Ring

GioGio's Bizarre Adventure II: Golden Heart, Golden Ring (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険II ゴールデンハート／ゴールデンリング) is a light novel written by Miya Shotaro and Gichi Otsuka, with illustrations by Hirohiko Araki; released in both Japanese and Italian. It tells an original story based on Vento Aureo.

Summary
The story takes place in, after the group betrays the Boss (circa Chapter 523). Coniglio (Coni) is a shy and introverted girl, without friends, originally from Rome. Through a series of bizarre events, she is now in Venice to work as a cleaning woman in a hotel, taking the place of her grandmother who died in a car accident. Because of this, her existence has become somewhat of a routine. But Coniglio has a secret: she is a Stand user and her Stand's name is The Cure, a little rabbit capable of healing any injury or disease almost instantly. However, she doesn't understand the true nature of her power, nor is she able to control it very well.

One evening, while waiting for her American friend Winona, Coniglio's attention is directed towards a young boy standing in the hallway of the hotel. Suddenly, a strange tall purple creature appears next to the young boy. Unbeknownst to her, the strange creature was called a Stand. The lights of the hotel hall are suddenly turned off and the people inside the room start dying without any apparent reason. Coniglio survives thanks to her Stand, but has to be hospitalized. She blames herself for not having used her powers to save Winona and the other people.

The news of the accident catches the eyes of Bucciarati's gang and they immediately suspect it of Fugo's doing. Believing that Fugo had an accomplice who detonated the hotel's energy generator, the gang decides to look for Seppia, the member of Passione responsible for the explosives trafficking in Venice. They reach for Seppia's house, but the old man is nowhere to be found. Leone Abbacchio resolves to activate his Stand to find Seppia's whereabouts. Apparently, the old man was kidnapped by other Passione members and taken to a boat.

Meanwhile, Fugo seems to be stalking Coniglio; he activates his Purple Haze against innocent nearby people around Coniglio, forcing her to save them. However, in the darkness of a blacked-out Venice, Purple Haze's virus can spread without boundaries and not even The Cure is capable of saving them all. Desperate, blaming herself for the death of all those people, Coniglio collapses to the ground.

At around the same time, Team Bucciarati has fallen into a trap: Seppia was no other than the alter ego of Sogliola Lopez, a Stand user who was given the task to kill them by the Boss himself. Thanks to his Stand Joy Division, Sogliola forces the gang to follow a particular route through Venice's canals, attracting them towards Piazza San Marco. There, at the top of the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica, a hitman is waiting for them. The hitman's name is Rigatoni, a killer specialized in murdering Stand users and Mista's former partner. Using his Public Image Limited, Rigatoni severely injures Narancia and Abbacchio, but avoids killing them because he wants Mista to be his first victim. However, thanks to a clever combination between their Stands, Giorno and Mista manage to defeat and kill Rigatoni. Unfortunately Mista is injured as well, so Bucciarati and Giorno are left alone to enter St. Mark's Basilica and kill Sogliola.

Inside the Basilica, Sogliola's true plan to kill the gang once and for all is finally revealed. After having sucked Purple Haze's virus from so many victims, The Cure has grown in size, completely losing control. It is now a huge powerful rabbit carrying the virus, the perfect weapon to wipe out the traitors of the organization. Bucciarati tries fighting, but he is incapacitated by the virus. Giorno's Gold Experience tries to kill the beast, but since The Cure is capable of absorbing even its own pain, it only ends up making it stronger.

The situation seems hopeless, but Coniglio recovers and manages to tame her Stand, which dissolves all the absorbed pain in a cloud of smoke, reversing to its true form. Sogliola has already left the battlefield and tries to escape from the gang thanks to his Joy Division. He had almost managed to leave the Basilica when Giorno, Bucciarati and Mista corner him while Sticky Fingers delivers the final blow.

In the last chapter the gang watches as Fugo slowly disappears in the distance with his boat. Sogliola's plan has failed also because of Fugo not revealing Giorno's immunity to Purple Haze's virus. He has no regrets since he has managed to get Sogliola killed without disobeying the orders nor betraying his former friends.

After having heartened Coniglio with his kind words, Giorno continues the journey with the gang. Coniglio leaves Italy and travels to a small village in Illinois, USA, where she will learn to develop her powers and try to use them to help other people.

Trivia

 * In the Italian version, they misspell the name of one of the authors. Instead of "Miya Shotaro", it lists "Miyasho Taro".
 * While there is no official English translation of GioGio's Bizarre Adventure II: Golden Heart, Golden Ring available, a fan-translation of the novel was created by tumblr users azoreaneve and lesbicattiva.