Axl RO

"People must sacrifice something in order to advance."

- Axl RO

Axl RO (アクセル・RO) is a minor antagonist featured in Steel Ball Run.

An agent to President Valentine, Axl RO attacks Hot Pants, Gyro and Johnny with his Stand in, summoning corporeal representations of figures from their pasts in order to steal the Saint's Corpse parts. He is a Stand User, powering his Civil War with guilt.

Appearance
Axl appears to be a middle-aged man of average to above-average height and medium build. Darkness (either shadow, paint or a tattoo) covers his face to just below his eyes and in mirrored, hook-like tribal marks on his cheeks; save for a scattering of dots.

Over a light, drooping rag, he wears a thick, round military helmet covered by a net. He wears a thick wide-necked top, bearing four dark rectangular patches between his shoulders and elbows on his long sleeves. His chest is overlaid with a V-shaped piece from which hang layers of squares; and he wears dark, knee-high boots.

Personality
Axl tells that as a soldier, given the opportunity to sacrifice his life for the sake of many of his company, he refrained.

With his Stand ability, Axl is able and keen to abandon his sin and guilt.

Abilities
Axl's Stand is Civil War, constituting a system in which is he able to transfer or unload sin and guilt via the attacks of hostile, ghostly representations of people and objects he or his targets harbor as having wronged or unfairly discarded.

Background
During his youth, Axl RO wanted to be a musician but was drafted into the army in 1863, where he was stationed in a tree to be a lookout in a remote town. Having no one to talk to, and being completely alone, Axl resorted to alcohol to relieve his despair. His job had been to light the lamp in order to warn the soldiers nearby of an incoming enemy troop. However, he did not do so in fear that the enemy would find him in the tree and would have killed him. So, he silently sat there and finished his drink as the town was burned to ashes. The people of the town and the soldiers were massacred, and that marked the beginning of continued losses for Axl's side in the war.

Ever since Axl has always been looking for ways to repent his sins, and when he obtained his Stand, he was hired by Funny Valentine to kill Johnny and Gyro.

Steel Ball Run
Johnny ended up shooting Axl, and after being killed, he mysteriously resurrected and claimed he was purified from his sins. Axl's sins were transferred to Johnny in the form of all the soldiers who died during that enemy attack long ago. Johnny was able to dodge the zombies by using his Stand power but was stabbed in the neck and killed by Axl. Having been killed, Johnny was revived and Axl's sins returned to him. Following this, Axl RO attempts to attack Johnny with an axe but is fatally shot by Funny Valentine in the neck. Axl then bleeds to death from his injuries, killing him for good.

Trivia

 * His helmet is an M1 combat helmet, which is rather anachronistic, as it was adopted in 1941, 50 years after his death.
 * The fact that his side in the war experienced constant losses after he failed to light the beacon implies that he fought on the side of the Confederacy and that he was likely stationed somewhere close to Gettysburg, where the most decisive battle of the US Civil War was fought.
 * This is also supported in the colored scan by Axl's fatigues, as Valentine - who fought for the Union during the Civil War - wore a set of blue fatigues, as opposed to Axl's green uniform shown in the flashbacks.