Locacaca
The Locacaca (ロカカカ, Rokakaka) is an enigmatic species of plant featured in the eigth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, JoJolion. Although introduced seemingly without much importance, it becomes central to the plot of JoJolion as the part develops, with multiple sides seeking and preserving the plant for their own purposes.
With limited records, the species has been harnessed by humans apparently since the 20th century.[1] It is notable for its effect of equivalent exchange on those who consume its fruit.
Summary
Locacaca trees are small trees with tubular and crenelated trunks, small enough to be hidden in a suitcase. At the top of a Locacaca tree is a crown of leaves. Thin, thorny, leafless branches grow out of the trunk, and they rotate perpendicularly as they grow fruit. The Locacaca fruits themselves are ovoid and covered with small points of flesh, and the leaves attached to the fruit resemble fig tree leaves.[2] The interior of the fruit is compartmentalized, like a citrus fruit. The fruit tastes of bitter fig.[3]
It is first mentioned when Tsurugi explains to his grandfather and Josuke why he trusted Yotsuyu Yagiyama: he had observed the man feeding a dog afflicted with the rock disease a fruit, and it seemed to have been cured as a result. Although the two are skeptical, Josuke sees what appears to be a fruit disappearing into the ocean during his fight with Yagiyama. However, the man dies and crumbles into stone before Josuke can force him to reveal information about the fruit.
Using King Nothing to automatically track the fruit, Josuke discovers the fruit's scent lingering on Tsurugi's father, Jobin Higashikata. Josuke, Tsurugi, and Yasuho resolve to obtain the drive record data from Jobin's car in order to find out where he has been, in hopes of discovering the location of the fruit's tree.
Yasuho and Tsurugi soon discover a Locacaca tree in the possession of Yotsuyu's associate Aisho Dainenjiyama. The two bear witness to its nature of equivalent exchange when an elderly man missing a leg eats a Locacaca fruit. The fruit regrows the man's lost limb; though his eyes turn to stone in the process, the man reasons that he can simply buy another fruit to recover his sight.[4]
The nature of the fruit and its miraculous abilities have made it the subject of many people's interest, including Yoshikage Kira, who sought it to treat his ill mother Holy. It is noted that after destroying several Locacaca trees, Kira kept one in his apartment for his personal use. The Locacaca Organization of Rock Humans also seeks the fruit, as the Damokan Group held a monopoly on the fruit's trade until Kira and Josefumi Kujo stole a branch from them.
Yasuho later researches the Locacaca, and finds that it originates on the island of New Guinea, where it was known to the natives as recently as the 1930s. At certain times of the year, men would go into the mountains to harvest the Locacaca fruit; rather than a tree, the fruits there came from a perennial plant that would have one to three fruits growing from it at any given time. Finding a Locacaca fruit was rare, even for the native Papuan peoples who lived there for fifty thousand years. Reportedly, women suffering from infertility ate the fruit and became pregnant, at the cost of replacing the milk in their breasts with sand; furthermore, elderly people who had lost their teeth swallowed the fruit and grew a set of stone teeth to replace them. However, all reports of the Locacaca ceased after the Imperial Japanese Army invaded New Guinea in 1942.
At some point, Holy researches the fruits in a hidden laboratory at TG University Hospital, before the Locacaca Organization takes over the operation and incapacitates her.
In 1941, Lucy Steel makes her second visit to Morioh, spurred by the rumors of a new species of plant being found in the area. After barely escaping a living guard rail, she witnesses Tooru pick up three Locacaca plants and disappear before he can be pursued.
Abilities and Powers
Equivalent Exchange
The fruit of the Locacaca tree follows the same principle of equivalent exchange as the ground of the Higashikata estate: it is capable of granting something to anyone who eats it by taking something else from them. The first example of this concept is seen when an old man uses a Locacaca fruit to regrow his lost leg in exchange for his eyesight.[5] This process can be repeated as long as someone can gain another fruit.
Yasuho's research into the Locacaca fruit reveals that during the equivalent exchange, part of the afflicted's body turns to stone. Infertile women who ate the fruit could give birth, but their breast milk turned into sand; elderly users grew back teeth made of stone in order to eat again.[6] Dr. Wu Tomoki has also performed research on the fruit, and has discovered that 125 grams of the fruit are needed to perform one unique equivalent exchange. Upon being ingested, the fruits is absorbed as it travels from the labial frenum down to the small intestine, invading the body through its bloodstream. Afterward, the Locacaca takes 3 minutes and 21 seconds to heal a specific lesion in the body, prioritizing the gravest injury; to do this, it takes the cells and nutrients from another region of the body, which turns into rock. However, as the chosen region is seemingly random, there is a possibility of the exchange being fatal. In his own operations, Wu uses the Locacaca in combination with his own Stand, Doctor Wu, to prevent the Locacaca from entering vital areas like the brain, thus reducing the risk of death.
Urban Guerrilla mentions that while the process is beneficial for Rock Humans, there is some incompatibility between the plant and regular humans, due to the carbon in a human's body cells and its differences with the qualities of silicon-compound organisms.[7]
Perhaps the most intriguing ability of the fruit is the effect it has on those afflicted with the rock disease; namely the Higashikata family, the Joestar family, and the dog Iwasuke. In the case of the latter, Yotsuyu is able to cure the dog of the rock disease by feeding it a piece of a Locacaca fruit.
New Locacaca
It is eventually revealed that the branch stolen and grafted by Josefumi Kujo resulted in a New Locacaca (新ロカカカ, Shin-Rokakaka), which demonstrates a unique ability compared to typical Locacaca fruits. This species of fruit allows an individual to use another person's body as collateral for the equivalent exchange, and thus avoid the negative consequences of the equivalent exchange. This is shown when Yasuho eats the New Locacaca to exchange with Joshu, whose arm shrinks and becomes shriveled as Yasuho's arm regrows.[8] According to Urban Guerrilla, power over the New Locacaca would give Rock Humans a significant advantage over the rest of society.[9]
The plant appraiser Rai Mamezuku reveals the fruit to be within the Higashikata family orchard, but Ozon Baby's interference renders them unable to obtain the branch. Though Poor Tom appears to deliver the branch to his allies, the latter party soon discovers that both they and Josuke have been tricked by Paper Moon King: Jobin and Tsurugi obtain the real New Locacaca branch, grafting it to a Locacaca tree and hiding it within their own home.
Before the branch can fully ripen, Jobin and his wife Mitsuba are attacked by Wonder of U, and Jobin is killed by the ensuing calamity. With the tree thus unguarded, Joshu Higashikata takes the tree outside and uses one of the fruits to heal an injured Yasuho's arm, realizing too late that his own arm would be sacrificed in the process. Tooru, who had been hiding nearby, soon uses the other fruit to initiate an equivalent exchange after being injured by Josuke's Soft & Wet.[10] However, Tooru is unable to make contact with his target, and is instead forced by Kaato Higashikata to exchange with Tsurugi. Kaato then crushes the branch between her cards to flip the exchange process in Tsurugi's favor, destroying the last of the New Locacaca in the process.[11]
Locacaca 6251
Locacaca 6251 (
The equivalent exchange ability of Locacaca 6251 is noticeably more potent then that of the raw Locacaca fruit: just one dose is able to heal Josuke Higashikata's multitude of injuries, some of which are life-threatening. Locacaca 6251 is engineered to produce greater results with a minimized risk of life-threatening side effects: as such, Josuke only loses small patches of skin around his face, neck, and left eye after using it. However, as stated by developer Satoru Akefu, the drug is still incomplete.
The abnormally fast development of the drug is due to the Locacaca Organization's use of Holy Joestar-Kira, a doctor at TG University Hospital, as a test subject. Soon after taking over the hospital from the inside, the members of the organization began administering Locacaca 6251 to her without her knowledge, causing a rapid deterioration of both her mental and physical health. As the drug was developed further, the group continued to test it on Holy, exchanging her health for the success of the drug. Though the responsible parties are killed in the fight for the New Locacaca, Holy never recovers from her illness.
Locacaca Users
Gallery
A portable, bonsai-tree sized Locacaca plant.
Yasuho holding half of a Locacaca fruit
A Locacaca fruit in Iwasuke's mouth
The New Locacaca branch grafted onto a tree
The New Locacaca branch grafted onto a cactus
The New Locacaca branch nearing harvest
Trivia
- The Locacaca 6251's name is a reference to the JoJo6251 artbook.
- In JJL Chapter 33, Norisuke uses King Nothing to recreate a Locacaca plant from a piece of fruit provided by Iwasuke. The shape of the branch appears to be different from Locacaca plants seen later in the series, but notably resembles the branch Josefumi grafted the stolen Locacaca onto. It is unclear if the differing appearance of this branch is the result of a design change.
References
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 47: Hato Brought Her Boyfriend Home, Part 1
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 33: Josuke! Go to the Higashikata Fruit Parlor
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 82: Doctor Wu and Awaking 3 Leaves, Part 4
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 39: Doobie Wah, Part 1
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 39: Doobie Wah, Part 1
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 47: Hato Brought Her Boyfriend Home, Part 1
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 69: Urban Guerrilla and Doremifasolati Do, Part 2
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 101: The Wonder of You, Part 18
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 64: Mother and Child
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 107: When All Curses Are Broken
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 108: Go Beyond, Part 2
- ↑ JoJolion Chapter 92: The Wonder of You, Part 9
