Iggy the Stray Dog/fr

Iggy the Stray Dog (野良犬イギー) est une histoire courte écrite par le romancier Otsuichi pour le 35ème anniversaire de la série JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Cette nouvelle a été prépubliée dans le JOJO magazine 2022 SPRING puis publié le 19 mars 2022. Une version couverture rigide de l'histoire a été publié le 19 mai 2022.

Iggy the Stray Dog est une préquelle à Stardust Crusaders. Dans les années 80, au centre-ville de New York, le diseur de bonne aventure Mohammed Abdul s'en va capture le chien manieur de Stand Iggy.

Chapitre 1
Mohammed Abdul arrive à New York et débarque à l'aéroport John F. Kennedy. Il récupère sa valise puis prend un taxi pour se rendre aux bureaux de la Fondation Speedwagon au centre-ville de New York, à Manhattan. Dans le taxi, Abdul remarque que le conducteur doit utiliser ses essuie-glaces pour nettoyer la vitre d'une couche de sable. Le conducteur explique qu'en fait, du sable se disperse dans l'air de New York depuis six mois. Abdul lui dit qu'il est égyptien, et le conducteur répond que la chanson "Walk Like an Egyptian" est très populaire en ce moment dans le pays, mais Abdul n'a jamais entendu cette chanson.

En vérité, Abdul est venu à New York dans le but secret de capture un chien errant. Selon un rapport de la Fondation Speedwagon, un petit chien de la race des et avec un goût pour les chewing-gums au café a été aperçu en train de vandaliser un magasin en ville. Lorsque le propriétaire a essayé de chasser le chien, celui-ci lui a sauté à la face avant de péter sous son nez. Depuis, plusieurs incidents impliquant ce même Boston Terrier errant ont eu lieu, le chien volant tout le temps les mêmes chewing-gums. En plus, des touristes se sont plaint de s'être fait voler leur chewing-gums par un chien. Plusieurs agents de la fourrière ont essayé de le capture mais continuellement gênés par du sable dans les yeux, ils n'ont jamais pu capturer le chien. Un autre incident impliquant une fusillade entre dans gangsters rivaux a vu les deux armes des gangster s'enrailler avec du sable sans raison apparente. On aurait aperçu un Boston Terrier dormant près des lieux.

Ayant terminé sa lecture du rapport, Abdul conclut que le chien doit avoir le pouvoir de manipuler le sable. Abdul a d'ailleurs pu entrer dans les bureaux de la Fondation Speedwagon sans rencontrer aucun garde, et il se dit qu'ils devaient être au courant de sa venue. Un membre du personnel dit à Abdul que le chien semble être le seul responsable des incidents et qu'il n'a aucun allié sauf une bande de chienne qui semblent l'attendre toujours. Il semble aussi que les autres chiens sont conscient que le Boston Terrier est un être exceptionnel et qu'ils sont intimidés. Ainsi, on sait que le grand chien d'un propriétaire de boutique qui aboie souvent est tétanisé et silencieux quand le Boston Terrier passe à côté de lui alors que celui-ci est bien plus petit. Les habitants ont même surnommé ce Boston Terrier le "Roi des Chiens Errants". Abdul lit un autre rapport d'agent de la fourrière qui ont essayé de capturer le chien. Un homme travaillant dans le contrôle des animaux sauvages étaient en train de prendre une pause cigarette quand soudain, il entendit un bruit comme du sable qui s'écoulait. Il était sur le point de regarder ce qui se passait mais à l'instant, il remarqua qu'il avait les pieds enfoncé dans du sable jusqu'aux chevilles. Le sable remonta sur son corps jusqu'au cou, le piégeant ainsi, puis son camion se mit à secouer violemment, libérant les chiens qui étaient capturés dedans.

On donne d'autres documents à Abdul : un pedigree et un certificat d'engagement pour adoption au nom de l'ancien propriétaire du chien. Le chien appartenait à un homme riche et vivait auparavant dans un manoir à Brooklyn. Cependant, il a prit la fuit. Le chien s'appelait Iggy. Les agents de la fondation Speedwagon ont aussi essayé d'attraper le chien en vain, et ils craignent qu'Iggy ne tombe du côté de DIO. Abdul avait déjà rencontré DIO il y a quelques jours mais avant d'être contrôlé, il prit la fuite et n'est pas revenu au Caire depuis. Abdul quitte le bureau et appelle un taxi pour l'emmener à l'hôtel. Le trajet ne dure que dix minutes, mais le chauffeur lui demande alors 75$ pour l'arnaquer. Il utilise même un compteur truqué comme preuve. Abdul utilise alors Magician's Red pour chauffer la voiture et détruire l'écran LCD du compteur pour prétendre que celui-ci était défaillant de toute façon et que le prix est incorrect. Il donne une quantité moindre au chauffeur, mais le chauffeur ne semble plus intéressé. Abdul n'a aucune sympathie pour l'arnaqueur qui s'en serait prit à d'autres touristes et pense qu'il a mérité le dégât à sa voiture. L'homme sort une cigarette pour la fumer et Abdul l'allume en un claquement de doigt pour le surprendre. Il dit alors au chauffeur de vivre honnêtement à partir de maintenant, puis prend ses affaires et entre dans l'hôtel.

Chapter 2
Avdol admires a hot sandwich from a corner store and then heads to the suburbs by subway to assist with catching Iggy. He enters an office for a company known as Reliable Pest Control Service (RPCS), who the Speedwagon Foundation had hired to help them capture the dog. A large, middle-aged Spanish man greets Avdol, allowing him to watch them work as long as he doesn't get in their way. He introduces Avdol to his four rough-looking team members, who are playing poker. A large white man in the team, who reminds Avdol of a rugby player, argues that Avdol being there with them would be bothersome. Avdol mentions that he'll just be shadowing them, but the man complains that he would take up space in their van. The Spanish man calms him down and takes Avdol away from the others, explaining his team's rudeness as them just being fed up after all the times the Boston Terrier escaped from them.

The Spanish man describes animal traps to Avdol and shows one of the posters they made of Iggy, which was offering reward money to anyone who reported sightings of the dog. The man also reveals that the three scars across his left eye came from his last encounter with Iggy. He fired a tranquilizer dart at the dog but it somehow was hit out of the air before Iggy jumped on him, ripped out his hair, and farted on his face. A bell in the office starts ringing, signaling a new sighting of Iggy that got reported. The employees quickly change into their uniforms and drive to the Harlem River, where the young tipster saw the dog stealing gum from a nearby grocery store. Avdol and the Spaniard head into the store, where the clerk explains how Iggy drooled all over a candy shelf. Avdol searches the surrounding area outside and finds the "rugby player" employee questioning a homeless man about the dog. The homeless man points to a wall, which seemingly appears ordinary. Avdol investigates it by touching the bricks with his fingers, only for his arm to plunge straight through it. The brick wall collapses into a pile of sand, revealing a hidden alley.

The employee follows Avdol into the alley, causing Iggy to summon his Stand. Iggy's Stand carries him, shoves the employee to the ground, traps Avdol in sand, and then quickly flees from the alley. As Avdol manages to break free, the RPCS team coordinates a plan on their walkie talkies to catch Iggy in a pincer maneuver. The team gathers together and finds Iggy nonchalantly crossing the road without paying any mind to traffic, forcing cars to brake in the middle of the road. The team then traps Iggy into a corner at the pier. As the Spaniard prepares to shoot with his tranquilizer gun, Iggy simply looks bored and scratches his ear, aggravating the Spaniard who thought the dog is making a fool out of them. In reality, the team realizes that they aren't actually standing on a concrete pier, but rather a huge sand structure that Iggy had built to mimic the real one. As the sand starts sinking, Avdol and the team struggle to escape. Avdol realizes that it's quicksand and warns everyone that they'll sink more if they keep struggling. He advises them to stay calm, since if they remain still then they would float on top of the quicksand before it eventually disperses into the Harlem River, allowing them to swim to the shore.

Avdol summons his Stand, Magician's Red, causing the sand to sizzle and vaporize from intense heat, and evaporating the water in the quicksand. Iggy is shocked upon seeing Avdol also having an ability, while the RPCS employees do not understand what is happening. Avdol doesn't know whether Iggy could understand human speech, but he attempts to bring the dog to his side, promising to offer all the coffee gum he could ever want. He also explains how Iggy would be safe with the Speedwagon Foundation, but the dog doesn't back down. Avdol creates footholds on the water with melted quicksand and runs to get closer to Iggy so that he could get within Magician's Red's range. When Iggy suddenly vanishes, Avdol speculates that he might have devised a way to hide underwater for long periods with his ability. Nearby tourists and the RPCS team are amazed after witnessing Avdol running across water, while Avdol merely tells them that he'll return tomorrow.

Avdol decides to explore Central Park in the afternoon. As he sits on a bench observing his surroundings, all of the sand reminds him of Egypt. He takes out his deck of tarot cards and shuffles them, picturing Iggy's Stand. The card he draws is The Fool, so Avdol decides that would be the name of Iggy's Stand.

Chapter 3
While wandering Manhattan Island in search of Iggy, Avdol is approached by two men who hold him up at gunpoint, attempting to rob his golden earrings. Avdol calmly explains to them that it's real gold, burning their guns with his Stand at the same time. When they run away in fear, Avdol wonders if that's how he looked when he ran away from DIO. Back in Egypt, Avdol owned a shop in when the vampire approached him. Avdol had learned about the man's identity from his American friend, Joseph Joestar, who warned him to run away if he ever encounters DIO. Although Avdol assumed he could stop DIO, he had no choice but to flee upon actually meeting the inhuman creature. He jumped from a window and managed to escape thanks to his familiarity with the 's labyrinthine layout.

Avdol reminisces about his past. He was born in Cairo, Egypt. His father was a soldier and the second son from an ancient and noble family, whereas his mother was an astrologer who did readings on a street corner. When Avdol was young, his father sacrificed himself in the to shield a friend from a grenade, with only his arms remaining after the explosion. His mother then raised him using her own earnings and the survivor's pension from her husband. However, she also passed away before Avdol became an adult, shielding a young girl from terrorists who shot her in the head and back. The man saved by Avdol's father became a teacher, and the girl saved by his mother grew up to be a nurse, so Avdol took comfort in knowing that his parents' deaths were not in vain. Using the tarot-reading skills passed down by his mother, he made a living in the slums of Cairo, avoiding a life of crime by keeping the memory of his parents alive. In 1985, his fortune-telling skills attracted a wealthy woman who hired him as her personal assistant, leading to his first encounter with Joseph during a trip to the United Kingdom. At a party in London, Joseph attempted to woo Avdol's employer, but she wasn't interested and went to chat with other men. Avdol was with Joseph in a room and used his Stand to rekindle a dying fireplace, piquing Joseph's interest. Avdol is shocked to learn that Joseph could see his Stand, though Joseph didn't know what it was at the time.

While a storm ensues in Manhattan, Avdol visits the Speedwagon Foundation to report his findings, such as the ability of Iggy's Stand and the name he gave it. The staff members show Avdol footage of Iggy escaping from a truck. After analyzing the footage, Avdol compares Iggy's traits to the characteristics he learned about Boston Terriers from his studies in Manhattan's libraries. Avdol is also given a report about Iggy's past, learned by the Foundation in one of their investigations. Iggy was owned by a rich businessman in Brooklyn who owned dogs as status symbols. The man was nicknamed Mr. Electra or Mr. E due to his family business's logo featuring the Greek goddess. Iggy's parents and siblings were normal dogs, but Iggy's presence in Mr. E's mansion coincided with several unexplained sand-related incidents. He once urinated in a sandpit and kicked sand over his waste to cover it, but some sand flew onto Mr. E's feet. Enraged, the man threw sand at the young Iggy, who stopped getting along with his owner after the incident. Iggy learned how to manipulate sand and used it to mess with Mr. E, filling his bed and teacups with sand. One of Mr. E's young Asian servants was assigned to watch Iggy. On one of her walks with him, she noticed Iggy was interested in coffee-flavored gum that a young boy spit out onto the road. She bought a pack from a nearby store for him, which led to Iggy constantly craving the flavor. He ran away from the mansion one day, took his collar off himself, and raided a gum shelf from a candy store. Mr. E didn't care about his disappearance and bought a replacement dog.

The pest control companies send reports that they are giving up on catching Iggy. The dogcatching team who Avdol was with earlier are also forced to quit by RPCS management, though this was secretly due to Avdol's request, who didn't want them to get involved in a Stand battle. Avdol doesn't have any luck finding Iggy, until Joseph sends him a letter through the Speedwagon Foundation office. Joseph explains that he is currently on a trip with his wife to Australia, but was able to use his Stand to mark the location of where Iggy should be hiding on a map of New York. Avdol remembers about how Joseph awoke to Hermit Purple a year prior. Joseph was constantly having premonitions of missing things, such as the location of his lost car keys. When he once saw a news report of a missing child, the image of the child under the floorboards of a house popped into his head. Joseph later learned that the boy's parents were arrested and the boy's body was found beneath the floorboards. Joseph's trip to Australia was actually to search for underwater natural gas and oil, since he and the Speedwagon Foundation had co-funded the creation of a company that researched underwater resources. Avdol examines Joseph's map, where a spot north of Central Park is circled. He was hoping Joseph could have used spirit photography to determine what kind of buildings are in that area, but he recalls that every time Joseph attempted to do such a technique, only a photo of DIO standing in darkness would be printed out.

Détails

 * Pour une raison inconnu, la couverture du roman écrit le titre comme étant "Stray Dog the Iggy".