Chapter 23
Summary
Zeppeli tells Jonathan that the only way to beat a vampire, or zombie in this case, is to destroy their brain completely. Jack the Ripper, still alive, grabs onto the sword embedded in the tunnel's ceiling. He pulls it down, revealing a secret passage that he then runs into. Speedwagon is put off by the prospect of entering the passage, but Zeppeli insists that they must follow Jack. Zeppeli tosses his full wine glass to Jonathan, and says that only Jojo will be going after him. Zeppeli then tells Jonathan of an old saying they had in Norway:
“The Northern Wind Made the Vikings”
Zeppeli tells Jonathan that he must defeat Jack the Ripper in the secret tunnel without spilling a drop of the wine, or Zeppeli will abandon Jonathan on his quest, regardless of whether he defeats Jack or not. Speedwagon objects to the ridiculous challenge but Jonathan, the old Norwegian phrase, enters the secret passage.
Zeppeli then tells Speedwagon the story of a Caribbean fisherman he had once met. One day while he was out at sea, his boat was attacked by a giant shark that had plagued the waters for some time. His boat was destroyed and his foot caught in the wreckage. In a bold move, he severed his own leg with his fishing spear, and used his wound to bait the creature. The fisherman was able to kill the shark and became the hero of his village. Speedwagon, asks Zeppeli, if Jonathan will be able to finish his challenge. Zeppeli replies that if Jonathan fails, he would not be able to defeat Dio.
Jonathan searches the maze-like secret passage with a torch. Unfortunately, because of the structure of the passage, even with a torch some places are too dark to see. Nearly too late, Jojo realizes that the torch makes him an easy target, and the zombie ambushes him with a torture device shaped like a giant rib-cage. Jonathan barely manages to escape the trap, but not without receiving several cuts along his arm and nearly spilling the wine. Jack the Ripper vanishes into the darkness. He extinguishes the torch in an attempt to avoid giving away his position again but quickly realizes that without the light, he cannot tell where Jack is hiding either. His attempt to conceal his presence proves futile because Jack, hiding just around the corner, can smell Jonathan's blood from the cuts he gave him earlier, and Jonathan is approaching his hiding place.
As Jonathan is about to round the corner, he suddenly notices a ripple in the wine. Jonathan realizes that this is the reason Zeppeli gave him the glass. The ripple in the wine acts a way of detecting the zombie, which meaning that the wine glass detected life around it. Jonathan uses the Sendo Hamon Overdrive technique to attack Jack through the wall. The attack connects with his face, burning off the left half of his face entirely killing him.
