JoJolion
JoJolion (ジョジョリオン, JoJorion) is the award-winning eighth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, published in Ultra Jump starting May 2011.
The story begins in 2011 and follows Josuke Higashikata, a young man afflicted by retrograde amnesia, on his search to uncover his identity in Morioh Town, a coastal Japanese town affected by the Tohoku earthquake.
JoJolion represents the second part of the series set in the "Steel Ball Run Universe".
Plot
Welcome to Morioh Town
In narration, Yasuho explains how the Wall Eyes rose concurrent with a version of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Massive, rocky protrusions marked with long, vertical holes, they rise between the coastline and the mainland, blocking highways, waterways, gas and power lines.
Yasuho calls an ambulance. She notices a star-shaped birthmark on his shoulder, surrounded by the fresh mark of a human's bite. The man asks Yasuho whether she knows who he is, before beginning to sink into the ground, prompting her to pull him out, revealing a deep hole. She notices that he has four testicles.
Joshu finds Yasuho and the man, jealously launching a lethal attack; inciting him to initiate a power in the form of a bubble emerging from his birthmark that turns Joshu blind. The man faints, before they are all taken to hospital.
Soft & Wet
Later at the hospital, the protagonist meets with Yasuho again and explains that he is amnesiac. Yasuho offers to help him and by searching the man's hat, manage to seemingly learn his identity: Yoshikage Kira.
Apprehending and interrogating him, the attacker identifies as Ojiro Sasame, a surfer seeking revenge against Yoshikage Kira, whom Josuke closely resembles (in dress as well as in body). Sasame tells of a psychopathic Kira, who in the past by an obscure power and for little reason convinced Sasame to consume his own fingers. Finished, Josuke identifies a Wall Eye in a photo of Kira.
Traveling to the site of Kira's self-portrait, buried deeper, they discover the body of the real Yoshikage Kira, who has died of cardiac arrest three days prior.
The Higashikata Family
Josuke and Yasuho are taken in by the head of the Higahikata family, Norisuke Higashikata IV, owner of a fruit importation business inherited from his grandfather Norisuke Higashikata I.
Lent the Higashikata name, Josuke Higashikata is welcomed into Norisuke's home and provided with Joshu's bedroom, to his chagrin. However, while Norisuke instructs Josuke to guard his blind daughter Daiya and ominously warns him to obey his word, Yasuho is escorted out by the family's maid Nijimura and warned not to return.
California King Bed
As everyone leaves, Daiya has a crush on Josuke and decides to play with him. With her Stand California King Bed, she threatens to take the few memories he has and make him her servant, and Josuke must make Daiya step on his shadow to take his memories back.
Meanwhile, Yasuho discovers from a DNA test that Josuke and Kira are practically the same people.
Defeating and befriending Daiya by baiting her into the fridge's light, Josuke elicits her assistance in researching her family as they enter Norisuke's study together.
Family Tree
A book in the study contains a family tree, revealing that Yoshikage Kira and the Higashikatas are directly related; referencing the Steel Ball Run race and a link between Johnny Joestar and Norisuke Higashikata.
"Paisley Park" & "Born This Way"
After reading the family tree book, Josuke makes a plan to find Kira's mother, Holy Joestar-Kira, whom Daiya mentions that she resides in Morioh hospital. Utilizing his phone's GPS on the way, which seems to communicate contradictory instructions, Josuke is trailed and attacked by a dark motorcycle rider. Josuke manages to kick off the rider's helmet, revealing a Stand composed of both bike and rider.
Josuke deduces that mysteriously, his GPS is actually helping him escape his pursuer. Reaching the hospital, Josuke finds and defeats Kyo Nijimura, the Higashikata family's maid.
Josuke asks Nijimura whether she attacked him under Norisuke's orders. She reacts with distaste and insists on killing him if he approaches Holy, who she reveals to be both her and Yoshikage Kira's mother. Thus, Josuke resolves to find another way to conduct his research.
The Lemon and the Tangerine
As Josuke leaves, she asks him to show her his tongue. She confirms and explains to Josuke that he has two tongues (fused as one) and four eyes (as two), before revealing that he must be a fusion of Kira and another person, having emerged from the ground near the Wall Eyes, which is known to fuse together objects that are buried there.
At the hospital, after being kicked out, Yasuho's Stand, Paisley Park, activates subconsciously, leading her to Holy Joestar-Kira. She watches as doctors perform several tests, noting a compromise in Holy's ability to discern people from objects and that she is missing several vital organs without negative repercussions, as well as several perfectly spherical portions of her brain, all without any evidence of surgical removal.
"Shakedown Road"
Josuke manages to acquire his own cell phone, and at Norisuke's request, is taken to high school by Joshu to test his academic level.
Their path is interrupted when Josuke and Joshu enter Shakedown Road, where the denizens of the road somehow make Joshu and Josuke damage miscellaneous items and coerce them into compensating with money. As a result, Josuke owns 330,000 yen to a pet shop owner. Later on, a group of thugs pressures Josuke and Joshu to become mules for a suspected drug trade.
However, Joshu discovers that the strange events on the road are due to Stands under the falling leaves that, if the leaves create a path, can teleport people and object through the path. He manages to intercept the real exchange on the leaves and flees with the payment. When the thugs catch up to him, Joshu awakens his Stand Nut King Call and manages to flee.
However, Josuke has also discovered the power of the gingko leaves has taken the money for himself with his Stand, which with he repays the pet shop owner in full. Josuke makes a call to Yasuho and, while Yasuho doesn't answer, she notices that it was made near a local landmark, the Joestar Jizō. Reminded of the family tree, she researches the subject.
Morioh Town: Year 1901
Josuke and Yasuho learn that research and the revelation of the pet shop owner that the Jizo was built as a memorial to Johnny Joestar and discover the circumstances of his death.
A famous American jockey, Johnny had married Rina Higashikata whom he met at the end of Steel Ball Run and had built relations with Japan as both a riding teacher for the government and a fruit importer. The two lived together in America on a ranch, but after several years, Rina was struck by a mysterious disease. Rina began to lose her memory, and her skin was like rock. In his anguish, Johnny stole the Saint's Corpse and took it to Japan, pursued by American agents. He hid the Corpse in a hole under a pine tree and brought his family here. Praying to the Corpse to transfer the disease away from her wife, Johnny saw with horror that his son became ill instead. At the end, Johnny took the disease onto himself and died, his head crushed by a rock.
Nonetheless, the pet shop owner precises that it is only hearsay. Still, Josuke makes the link with the disease that is affecting Holy.
Yasuho has navigated to the Meditation Pine at the rear of the Higashikata estate by photos in the news stories she has researched. She reads of a baby washed up nearby on November 13, 1901, wearing a necklace. She notes that she can see the Higashikata house, when she is grabbed by a hand from inside the tree and momentarily groped in the darkness.
Paper Moon Deception
Yasuho finds herself with Tsurugi Higashikata, the grandchild of Norisuke. Tsurugi reveals that they are in an underground facility used by the Higashikata Family and also that he is cross-dressing because of a family tradition. The boy wants to play with Yasuho but she rebukes him. She discovers that Tsurugi has folded her phone like an origami into a frog and when it touches her, she falls under the influence of Paper Moon King.
Yasuho heads back into town, trailed by Tsurugi. She realizes that everyone save Tsurugi looks and sounds the same, and she cannot even discern texts. Although Yasuho calls Josuke for help, they never manage to join and Yasuho lives a series of misadventures, notably meeting Joshu who she mistakes for a rapist and whom she knocks out.
When Tsurugi lasts reveals himself, Yasuho concedes, following him back to his playroom. Elsewhere, Josuke sees that he is no longer afflicted by Tsurugi's Stand and that Yasuho was its main target.
Through the slot in the door of the second underground room, somebody spies on Tsurugi and Yasuho's return.
Tsurugi's Goal & the Architect
Yasuho calms in Tsurugi's playroom. He apologizes, admitting that he targeted her with his Stand, Paper Moon King. He states that anyone who comes near the Wall Eyes will awaken a Stand and that the Higashikata do not appear to discuss the subject among themselves.
Asking again the purpose of the underground complex, Tsurugi explains that it is a space dedicated to treating the mysterious illness that turns the skin hard like stone befalling all Higashikata firstborns. Yasuho is reminded of Holy's condition and that Kira tried to save his mother.
Tsurugi leaves and Yasuho takes a nap. However, a figure emerges from a wall. Uttering obscurities, mentioning Soft & Wet and that Josuke need not exist, the man pulls a sheet of clear material from his eyes, pinning it around Yasuho's wrists and face. He captures Yasuho who wakes up and proceeds to torture her. Paisley Park escapes to warn Josuke.
Telling Yasuho that he has been watching "all of them" up to now, the man introduces himself as Yotsuyu Yagiyama, an architect, who most of all desires social status, for which purpose he intends to ensure that Josuke dies again. Yotsuyu suddenly slips on a banana peel origami that Yasuho made and the man disappears.
Norisuke, Tsurugi & Yotsuyu
Meanwhile, Josuke spots Tsurugi heading toward the garden and follows him, himself followed by Norisuke. Josuke decides to interrogate Norisuke to discover his intentions once and for all. Despite earlier suspicious behaviour, Norisuke exposes the multiple reasons why he doesn't mean harm, most importantly, that both are interested in finding a cure for the Rock Disease plaguing both their families. Norisuke says that he's adopted Josuke because Kira has supposedly discovered a cure and he hopes to find it too.
Asking Norisuke, a firstborn, how he himself was cured, Norisuke limits his answer to that his parents traded their lives to cure him. Josuke asks Norisuke's permission to question Tsurugi, and the request encourages Norisuke to accompany him as a form of compromise. Norisuke nonetheless keeps his Stand's nature secret.
Near the hatch to the underground facility, Josuke and Norisuke find themselves surrounded by numerous garden pots, converging toward them. Breaking the pots with Soft & Wet proves ineffective when the shards begin to dig into Josuke's flesh, attracted to him in particular. It is only through the combined effort of a now free Norisuke dragging him out of the Pot's reach and Josuke utilizing soap bubbles to steal the weight of the shards attached to him does he escape death.
Josuke then feels someone touching him but doesn't see anyone. This time hundreds of chestnuts advance on the pair and threaten to pierce their skin with sharp thorns until Josuke robs them of their moisture and they disintegrate, giving Norisuke enough time to force the hatch open and break the chained inner handle with a rock. Once the two enter and seal the bunker they find themselves out of their opponent's effective radius and indulge in a temporary calm.
King Nothing
In the bunker, Norisuke compels Tsurugi to reveal that Yotsuyu approached him with the promise of a cure for the Rock Disease, demonstrating its potency by feeding it to a dog transformed into rock and seemingly healing it. However, the exact nature of the cure wasn't revealed to him.
Josuke, who's made sure that Yasuho is safe in a nearby bedroom, checks the room again when Tsurugi mentions that there is another hidden entrance. When he sees that Yasuho has disappeared, he immediately gives chase. Norisuke reveals his Stand King Nothing which tracks objects and people by their scents, and both follow the scent of Yasuho, aware that they are going into a trap. While following the scent, Norisuke chooses to reveal some of the Higashikata's secrets, namely the Rock Disease which affects the eldest child but which was "healed" by having one member of the family perform an equivalent exchange in the ground of their property with the child.
King Nothing leads Josuke and Norisuke to the coast in which they find Yasuho still unconscious. At the same time, Josuke spots Yotsuyu who manages to touch him before being pummeled away and hide among the rocks. Threatened again by Yotsuyu's power, Josuke suggests Norisuke to track the mysterious man who can transform into rocks.
"I Am a Rock"
Using Yotsuyu's scent, Norisuke manages to find the architect in his rock form. Scratching the rock skin with a boulder, and seeing it bleed, Josuke and Norisuke are puzzled by Yotsuyu's true nature. Yotsuyu turns back into a normal form and declares that he will obtain the Higashikata's wealth before disappearing again when Soft and Wet punches him away.
Josuke goes on the offensive and foregoes defending himself against the canisters. Spotting Yotsuyu from the bleeding scratch, Josuke imprisons him in a bubble and begins to transport him to the coast. Yotsuyu reveals his Stand I Am a Rock and pops the bubble with converging rocks as the canisters of pesticide reach Josuke. Covered in pesticide, Josuke nonetheless pushes Yotsuyu off the cliff with him and both fall into the sea.
Josuke imprisons Yotsuyu inside nets and threatens to drown him if he doesn't answers his question, but the latter remains silent and dies, leaving a rock shell. At the same time Josuke spots a mysterious fruit sinking in the water from the architect's bag. Now out of the water, Norisuke and Josuke examine their peculiar enemy but have more questions than answers about Yotsuyu's kind. Linking the fruit he to a possible motive for his presence in Morioh, Josuke decides to investigate the fruit.
Josuke! Go to the Higashikata Fruit Parlor
Having checked Yotsuyu's family register, Norisuke reveals that Yotsuyu has been impersonating the real Yotsuyu Yagiyama who died years ago. Meanwhile, Yasuho has been sent home.
Norisuke, Tsurugi and Josuke find the dog who ate the cure with the fruit. Norisuke examines the fruit but it is unfamiliar and decides to keep it and register its scent. Tsurugi dubs the dog Iwasuke.
Deciding to check a record of every known fruit variety, Norisuke brings Josuke to his fruit parlor, but their search is interrupted bu they meet Jobin Higashikata, Norisuke's eldest who's just come back from a business trip. Jobin greets Josuke and offers him a Dorcus Titanus Palawanicus stag beetle. Overjoyed to see his eldest son, Norisuke decides to accompany him back home, and unbeknownst to him, King Nothing detects the mysterious fruit's scent on Jobin's tissue, which only Josuke notices.
Every Day Is a Summer Vacation
At the Higashikata, Josuke asks if he can go to Jobin's room, saying he needs advice for raising his stag beetle. Accompanied by Joshu, Josuke is accepted in Jobin's room.
A flashback narrates how Josuke has goaded Tsurugi into cooperating with him against Jobin. Tsurugi then reveals that Jobin is obsessed with beetles and beetle fights.
In the present, Josuke manipulates Jobin into accepting one round of beetle fight, the loser having to shave one eyebrow. The first round begins between two Palawanicus. At first Jobin's beetle gets the upper hand thanks to sharpened mandibles and planted female pheromones which motivate the beetle. But Josuke releases the pheromones he's planted in the ring and his beetle makes Jobin's beetle flee out of the arena. Jobin loses one time.
Meanwhile, Tsurugi goes to Yasuho's home and enlists her help to investigate Jobin. Jobin, happy despite his loss, accepts another round with another beetle.If Josuke wins, he gets the key to Jobin's Lamborghini.
Unexpectedly, the second beetle fights with unnatural precision, and Josuke notices a liquid oozing from a hole on its head. He is saved by the time out. Before the second bout, Josuke secretly plunders from Jobin's paintbrush and then inquires about the liquid. Jobin reveals that it's wax, which when melted will cause convulsions to the beetle and eventually kill it, but not before Jobin wins.
As the second bout begins, Josuke pops the bubbles which plundered the air around the paintbrush and is baffled to discover a temperature as high as 60 °C. The Rosenbergi slowly overwhelms the Palawanicus with its precise movement. However, Josuke has planted hornet's poison in Jobin's brush as Jobin brushed his Rosenbergi between rounds, killing it. Josuke is the winner; he takes the Lamborghini's keys with him and tries to leave but Jobin stops him, having realized that Josuke came here for an ulterior motive. The keys are transported anyway to Tsurugi with a bubble, who goes on the investigate the car in the garage.
Jobin Higashikata Is a Stand User
When Yasuho and Tsurugi enter the garage, Yasuho's phone gives her a choice between two items, and Yasuho chooses the flashlight. When they open the Lamborghini's door, Paisley Park appears, gives Yasuho the flashlight and shows the Lamborghini's itinerary in Morioh.
Jobin procceeds to pressure Josuke into revealing his intention with his mysterious power, but Josuke distracts them by activating the fire hoses of the estate and flees. Instead of pursuing him, Jobin and Joshu check on the car. They almost surprise Yasuho and Tsurugi but Yasuho, using the flashlight, has found the key to Norisuke's car and the two hide inside it. Yasuho then checks hacked public camera footage of the car and sees a man contacting Jobin.
Doobie Wah
Later, Yasuho and Tsurugi watch the man, Aisho Dainenjiyama, a security guard at the baseball stadium nearby. Trailing him with Yasuho's phone folded into a frog, they see a trade for the fruit, which miraculously makes a leg regrow. The phone is surprised by Aisho who stomps it, wounding Yasuho and Tsurugi.
Although the phone escapes, Aisho unleashes his Stand. Yasuho and Tsurugi are assailed by Aisho's Doobie Wah! hiding in a deadly wind vortex. Escaping the building by a window, they realize that Doobie Wah! is materializing via their breath, forcing them not to breathe as they try to flee. They hop on a bus to get out of the Stand's range, but Doobie Wah! relentlessly pursues them.
A flashback details Aisho's past: he used to live in a house with a girlfriend, but when he revealed his true nature as a rock man, his girlfriend used a period of sleep to sell the house, nearly killing him in the process when it was demolished; Aisho was saved when Yotsuyu woke him up and lamented the loss of his house. To attack back, Tsurugi releases a car origami. Aisho is tricked into mistaking a bus for Jobin and is run over; he subsequently dies.
Love Love Deluxe
The next day, Yasuho, Tsurugi analyze the video feed of Aisho's death, realizing the strange nature of the people they are going after and determined to investigate the stadium. They meet Josuke and since Yasuho and Josuke are too happy to see each other to continue the investigation, it is paused for the time being.
Josuke and Yasuho stroll on the beach, sharing a tender moment, however Josuke is signaled by another girl, calling for a meeting later. Josuke follows her, intrigued since the woman acts as if she knows him, calling him "Secchan". His suspicions are confirmed when she mentions Yoshikage Kira, but finding something unfamiliar, she flees. Using Soft & Wet to learn her name, Karera Sakunami, Josuke calms her worries about him, and opts to fake knowing her until the moment she tells him his real name.
As Josuke follows Karera, he is dismayed at Karera's flighty behavior, going to random places and conning people with her Stand ability. She eventually show Josuke a photo of all three, and reveals his name: Josefumi Kujo. Josuke catches a glimpse of her Stand Love Love Deluxe and continues to follow her. Meanwhile a pair of twins playing football, the A. Phex Brothers, track Karera.
Karera then goes to Kira's apartment, but upon being announced Kira's death, freaks out, asking for the circumstances of his death, Josuke mentions the heart attack, but doesn't mention he was present at the crime scene. Karera reveals that she saw Kira hide a Rokakaka tree in his apartment, Josuke being clueless of what she's talking about but suspecting a link with the mysterious fruit.
Karera is suddenly held by one of the A. Phex Brothers, who uses his Stand Schott Key No.1 to doze Karera with gas, which he ignites. Josuke saves Karera, who flees, and the Brothers opt to kill Josuke first.
Two double pages disclose many details about the Rock People, their physiology, their habits, and their manners.
A fight ensues between Josuke and the A. Phex Brothers. Josuke manages to block Schott Key No.2's poison gas, when the elder brother grapples him and shifts some poison gas from his left hand to his right hand, Josuke plunders the poison gas and takes him hostage with the bubbles around his head. When the elder, soaked with gas, is ignited by Karera, his brother runs toward him, forgetting the bubbles which pop and envelop him in poison gas. Both Rock men are consequently killed. Karera finally understanding that Kira and Josuke performed an equivalent exchange, goes away before Josuke can ask her anything else.
Hato Brought Her Boyfriend Home
The legendary Rokakaka Tree is introduced, being a plant from New Guinea formally discovered by an Australian expedition in 1938. The Rokakaka was already very rare for the native New Guinean, who occasionally used the fruit to cure various ailments. During World War II, all reports of the fruit disappeared and it became a mere legend. Yasuho and Tsurugi are sitting in Yasuho's family room and are having a telephonic conversation with Josuke. Yasuho has done some research about Josefumi Kujo and asks why Josuke is interested in him, to which Josuke answers that Josefumi might be his original identity. He then plans to go at Josefumi's house for further investigations and asks Yasuho if he can find a picture of him.
Josuke's conversation is interrupted when he sees Hato coming back. Daiya and Joshu become incredibly excited, as Hato has brought her first boyfriend home. Daiya explains the situation to Josuke and enthusiastically asks how handsome is Hato's boyfriend. However, he and Norisuke are flabbergasted to see that the man in question is rather ugly, being short, overweight, adorning a horseshoe mustache and wearing a tracksuit. He introduces himself as Tamaki Damo, manager of a cleaning store and 23 years old. Joshu finds the situation hilarious and openly mocks Damo, which infuriates Hato. Damo offers Norisuke some youkan; it is at that time that Kyo Nijimura and Norisuke notice separately strange fingerprints on the family room's door handle and the youkan box, Kyo trying to clean the fingerprints on the handle.
Norisuke tries to change to subject of conversation and asks how Hato and Tamaki got acquainted with each other, wiping some handprints on the window. Meanwhile Josuke resumes his conversation with Yasuho on the phone and tells her to fax the photo of Josefumi she's found; Yasuho is rather skeptical as she comments that Josefumi doesn't look like Josuke. Hato then narrates that when she was doing a photo shoot in a studio next to Damo's shop, one of the necklace broke. Damo picked up all the pieces and repaired it, offering the necklace to Hato. Moreover, Damo managed to write the sentence "I Love You" on the necklace, and Hato was seduced by the incredibly romantic gesture.
Josuke then announces that he'll go out for a bit, and Norisuke asks him before that to get Kyo, who's gone to the foyer and isn't answering. In the foyer, Josuke spots Kyo's dish towel on the floor then traces of Kyo, as if she's slipped into the walls. Meanwhile Damo enters the room on the left instead and gets out, which Joshu notices. Meanwhile the fax has finally printed and it is revealed that the man on the photo is none other than Tamaki Damo, using the name Josefumi Kujo. Daiya notices the fax while Joshu opens the locker door to look further inside it, but his hands slip inside the handles. Joshu then trips when he tries to free himself and hits his head on a nearby faucet it opens and the tap water goes through his head; Joshu is powerless as he and his Nut King Call are melted and drained into the faucet. Meanwhile Daiya, who is near blind, can only read the name on the fax and doesn't let the others see what is on the document. However Hato notices Damo's photo and asks to examine the sheet, to Daiya's refusal. Daiya runs to the next room to give Josuke his fax, but when Josuke looks at her, she's collapsed and is melting on the floor.
As Josuke is stunned to see Daiya melting on the floor, Tamaki Damo approaches Hato and kindly asks her to go to the foyer and get back the fax. When Norisuke drinks his champagne, the bubbles distort his skin greatly and as he melts, Damo reveals his true self. Switching his behavior for a dominative one, Damo reveals that he's come to the Higashikata estate to solve "three" problems. Revealing his Stand Vitamin C, Damo explains that he's firstly investigating the disappearance of an architect, two twin brothers and a security guard, eliminating the responsible party if necessary. While Damo proceeds to toy with the softened Norisuke, he asks him about Yoshikage Kira; Norisuke tries to play dumb, to no avail. Damo then tells Norisuke about the beginning of the whole affair.
Two years ago, Yoshikage Kira, 27 years old and ship doctor by profession, is called on the deck to save a man who's fallen from the upper deck. After a short examination, Kira asks about the second victim, as there is another blood trace on the ground. Kira then discovers that the blood comes from one of the Rocks stored inside a container which was burst open, and notices the human form of Aisho Dainenjiyama in the rock. Curious, Kira inquires about the container and learns that it's from Port Moresby in New Guinea, that its cargo is listed as perfectly legal, and that the Higashikata Fruit Parlor is he client. Back in Morioh, Kira is watching over the docks. He surprises Ojiro Sasame eating noodles in a nearby restaurant and bullies him, prompting the surfer to flee. Meanwhile Kira finally sees Aisho getting out of the hangar where the Rocks were stored, and deducing that he is part of a strange fruit trade, decides to tail Aisho and eventually steal the fruit. When the client in question manages to extract the pepper from the soup, Kira recognizes the man as Josefumi Kujo.
In the present, Josuke warns Hato, who's entered the foyer, not to touch anything and tells her that Tamaki Damo is attacking the family right now. Josuke tries to escape by breaking the glass door with a flower pot, but it slips back at Josuke, who is now under the effect of Vitamin C as well. Unknowingly to Hato, the enemy Stand lurks right behind her.
Vitamin C and Killer Queen
Back when Josefumi was a little child, he once almost drowned at the beach when his neglectful mother Kiyomi hesitated saving her son from a failed relationship. Fortunately for the young Josefumi, Kiyomi's conscience pushed her to save him, but he was already unconscious from lack of oxygen and hitting his head against the rocks. Brought to the hospital, Josefumi was saved by Holy Joestar-Kira and her son Yoshikage, who performed surgery with his Stand.
Back to around two years ago, Aisho Dainenjiyama is conducting a trade of the Rokakaka for 200,000,000 yen with star baseball player Atsunori Iwakiri. Both are spied on by Yoshikage and Josefumi, who see first hand the potential of the Rokakaka when the baseball pitcher fully recover from his shoulder injury and greatly performs during the baseball match. Kira pretends to only wanting to steal the fruit for the money, but Josefumi tells him that he knows that Holy is ill and needs the fruit. Out of respect for both, Josefumi accepts cooperating with Kira in order to steal the fruit. Moreover, he demonstrates that they can reduce the risks by only stealing several branches and grafting them to harvest the future fruit at their leisure.
As Aisho leaves the stadium, Kira and Josefumi trail him. By distracting Aisho with the help of an eye medicine and an engineered motorcycle accident, Josefumi manages to open the briefcase where the Rokakaka is, take several branches and graft decoys in their place. The heist is a success.
In the present, Tamaki Damo interrogates Norisuke Higashikata IV, and asks him who killed Yotsuyu Yagiyama. Damo has to cut off Norisuke's arm in order to make him confess that he killed Yotsuyu, but Damo correctly guesses that someone else was helping him.
A flashback demonstrates how Holy's condition has worsened, and that she has trouble remembering her son. The narration goes to August 19, 2011. In Yoshikage's boat, the two young man discuss the grafted branches' condition, with Josefumi announcing that the fruits are almost ripe. As they approach the harbour, they see Karera Sakunami who has been stalking Josefumi for quite some time. However Yoshikage sees that Damo and Yotsuyu have boarded his sailing boat. As Damo reveals how he noticed the theft and traced it back to them, Vitamin C easily disables Josefumi and Yoshikage while overpowering Killer Queen. Damo vents off some frustration on the powerless Kira, cutting off his liver, and then announces that he will spare one of them. Sensing a kind of responsibility for failing to protect the secret of the Rokakaka, Damo decides that whoever tells him first about where the grafted branches are will live. He pushes Josefumi to reveal it, who almost confess, but Kira interrupts him, announcing that allies will come help them. Damo doesn't believe the surgeon at first, but see Karera approach the boat. Yotsuyu sends I Am a Rock to pinch Karera on the ground, but it is too late for the Rock Men to stop Kira's attack. Having hidden Sheer Heart Attack inside Karera's hair, Kira manages to make them explode, destroying a good part of the harbour and sending everyone into the water.
Josefumi and Kira drift along the coast up to the grafted branches' location where Josefumi drags the already unconscious Kira to the branches and plans to feed him one of the fruits. At the harbor, Damo sends Yotsuyu and the A. Phex Brothers after Josefumi, wanting his subordinate to sweep the coast. At the same time, Karera is hiding behind some of the debris. Josefumi tries to feed Kira one of thr fruits, but Kira doesn't react, his empty gaze indicating that he most certainly is dead. Josefumi eventually uses Soft & Wet to forcefeed Kira.
In the present, Josuke reveals to Hato that Damo is an enemy and that they must fight him. Back to the past, Kira is seemingly healed, but Josuke's face begins to crumble away, making Josefumi that the Rokakaka he cultivated are different. While the Rockmen sweep the coast, wary of the incoming tsunami, Josefumi notices that Kira also has metal piece embedded into his skull. Josefumi weeps as he realizes Kira also protected him from the blast. When the A. Phex Brothers meet and confront Josefumi, he promptly defeats them both and sends them into the cliff. Having no other choice, Josefumi confess to the dead Kira that he secretl thinks that he should have died on the beach the day they met. Happy to have lived this long thanks to Holy, Josefumi sacrifices himself and takes the last fruit from the branches, hoping that Kira will be able to harvest them, and destroys the Rokakaka, feeds it to Kira, and performs an equivalent exchange with him. Norisuke and Tsurugi are seen going back to their home to protect themselves, and a piece of the Rokakaka is picked up by Iwasuke. At the same time, the earth opens under Josefumi and Kira, and both fall into a fissure.
Walking Heart
Back to the present, Damo tortures Norisuke IV or order to find Josefumi Kujo whom he suspects is working with Norisuke. When the old man denies knowing Josefumi, Damo calls Hato to him in order to make an example of her. While in the foyer, Hato cannot believe that her boyfriend is an enemy, Norisuke is forced to confess that he suspects Josuke of being Josefumi.
Damo then moltens Hato, and looks at Josuke. Confirming his suspicions, he tries to kill Josuke, but Hato, who had been transported out of the house and Damo's range, attack him with her own Stand.
Breaking Heart
Damo cannot reach Hato, and Josuke uses Soft & Wet's bubble to alert her of Damo's position through the roof, allowing her to defeat him. Everyone returns to their normal state, and Josuke pursues Damo in order to kill him for good. The murder is witnessed by Jobin.
Meanwhile, Norisuke's wife, Kaato, has finished her sentence and prepares to leave prison, and contacts her son Jobin in order to plot against Norisuke.
Milagro Man
Josuke Higashikata finally discovers that he is the amalgamation of Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo.
The story returns two weeks prior to Kaato Higashikata's release. At the Higashikata's, Joshu asks money from his father Norisuke, as he wishes to buy idol items. After the meet-and-greet, Joshu spends time choosing the goodies he wants to buy, only to be cut off by a fellow fan who already chose what he wanted. Upset, Joshu realizes that this man left his wallet on the counter and steals it just as the man returns to find his wallet. In the restroom, Joshu steals all the cash inside the wallet and the cash card, withdrawing 500,000 yen from his victim's bank account after guessing the code. Happy to have outsmarted his victim, Joshu indulges himself in a shopping spree, trying to buy an expensive wristwatch, several movie tickets for one showing, and eating in a luxurious restaurant. At the same time, due to many coincidence, Joshu doesn't actually lose his money, but accumulates more and more as he tries to spend it. At first merely thinking that he is lucky, Joshu doesn't pay attention to it.
However, when he tries to spend his money in a bar, the manager and several security guards interrogate him about the money. To Joshu's surprise, the owner is furious that he is trying to give him the money and mentions a "Milagro Man". For unknown reasons, the owner forces more money into Joshu's pocket and tries to beat him up. Joshu uses Nut King Call to fight back and flees. Joshu eventually notices that the staff put even more money inside his bag and Joshu becomes suspicious.
Nervous to have so much money and realizing that whenever he tries to spend his money, he instead receives more, Joshu examines the bills but sees nothing unusual. He decides to gamble in a boat race and wins 3.1 million yen. At first happy, Joshu then notices that the money inside his bag has somehow increased, making it impossible to close. Anxious that someone could discover his money, Joshu tries to hide it inside a coin locker. As he pushes the money inside, Joshu sees that the immatriculation of the bills all finish with "13R". The locker breaks down, letting some of the money fly away, but all the bystander then return the money without asking questions. Joshu then tries to take a taxi home, but the taxi driver then tries to return the money. Joshu insists that he keeps the cash, and the two eventually struggle to have the other one take the money. Joshu accidentally burns one of the bills and sees it multiplying at high speed and to his horror, the money begins to cover him.
Joshu wakes up on his home's couch, thinking that he's merely dreamed the past events. However when he returns to his room, it is flooded with money which falls into him. Joshu tracks down his victim, named Zaihei Nigatake, and blames him for what's happening to him. Zaihei, grateful toward Joshu for taking his "curse", explains everything to him. This cursed money which never goes away from its owner is said to have belonged to an arms dealer named the Milagro Man. The Milagro Man lost a lawsuit and went mad, killing his whole family and setting his mansion on fire, burning everything except a single scorched bill. The curse remained inside the money and two years ago, Zaihei unwittingly took the curse in Europe and returned to Japan, living hell waiting for someone to take the curse. Zaihei advises Joshu to have someone take the money and try to destroy it to pass the curse completely.
When Zaihei takes a bottle of juice and opens it, Joshu reveals that he planted some of the money inside the wrapping. When Zaihei opened it, he unwittingly tore the bills inside, and he sees the money appearing around him and burying him. Zaihei begs Joshu to save him, but Joshu departs, cleared of the curse. On his way home, Joshu melancholically ponders his true worth in the world.
Dawn of the Higashikata Household
Josuke confirms his second identity, then finally sees Holy Joestar-Kira for the first time. Holy's condition has deteriorated drastically and Josuke is appalled that the hospital staff doesn't take care of her. Feeling attachment toward her, he swears to find the cure and pay for Holy's treatment in the meantime.
Afterward, the Higashikata family notices that Kaato, their mother has returned home although Joshu and Dayia don't remember her. Norisuke and Hato are wary of her because she's murdered a child, and Joshu tries to humiliate her publicly. Kaato furiously leaves the house, while Jobin confirms that he was the one letting her in, making Norisuke suspicious of his son's intentions.
The Man Who Lives by the Pond
At the Higashikata House, Josuke and Norisuke discuss what they ought to do, hiding from the rest of the family under the pretense that Josuke wants to try out Norisuke's motorcycle. Josuke shows a footage of Jobin creeping in the garden, and suspects that he is in collusion with the Rokakaka Smuggling Organization, exposing Jobin's possible use as a cover for their smuggling. Norisuke refuses to believe that his eldest may be conspiring behind him, but acquiesces when he realizes that the lives of family members Holy and Tsurugi are at stake, and the Rokakaka is all that can save them, agreeing to further cooperate with Josuke. Norisuke tells him to go find an plant appraiser whom only he knows of who will be able to find the grafted branch.
Relaxing on a hammock in Norisuke's garden, Kaato Higashikata has been eavesdropping on them and after a brief fight with her ex-husband, Kaato calls Jobin and warns him that Josuke and Norisuke are planning to meet someone. Jobin thus heads to a pond near a shrine. In here he meets with a rock human named Dolomite. Dolomite was crippled in the past when he electrocuted himself while trying to save his apparently mentally challenged girlfriend, and then abandoned by her. Although Dolomite claims he is happy living his life near the pond, Jobin exposes him the miraculous new properties of the grafted Rokakaka fruit, catching Dolomite's interest who decides to use his Stand.
Some time later, Josuke is given a letter by a courier boy. In the letter, there is a tooth, and the boy starts to act feral, pursuing straight in Josuke's direction even if it means bashing his head against obstacles. Soft & Wet trips the boy up while Josuke goes away from the boy onto the road. Still bloodied, the boy still stands up and relentlessly pursues him. A sudden car gets between the two, and the driver, a mature woman, chastises Josuke for staying on the road. As she accuses him of pulling an auto assurance scam, the boy creeps inside the car, and reaches for Josuke, touching the woman in the process. Josuke blinds the boy, saves the woman, and then tries to take refuge far from the boy and at the same time observing. The boy collapse as people gather to oversee the incident. Wondering who would attack him, as Tamaki Damo had no other ally with this kind of power and there is still no gain in attacking him as he hasn't found the Rokakaka yet, Josuke suspects that someone wants to prevent him from reaching the plant appraiser. Still, Josuke thinks that no one is aware of his search for the plant appraiser but his thoughts are interrupted when he see the same mature woman who has become feral as well and is beginning to menacingly creep toward him from the top of a wall.
Blue Hawaii
Dolomite gives one of his teeth to Jobin, who explains his need to "climb higher" and his intention to find the Rokakaka first with the help of Dolomite's Blue Hawaii.
Back to Josuke's predicament, the mature woman who almost drove into Josuke has become feral like the boy. Josuke sees that the boy has become conscious again and understands that the tooth is important in order to fight his enemy. The woman's attacks are relentless, and Josuke, unable to touch her without being defeated, has to constantly flee. Pursued up a scaffolding, Josuke gets almost bitten but Soft & Wet manages to bash the woman with a shovel and trap her inside a neighbouring building. Josuke then tries to put as much distance between himself and the infectee.
Josuke calls Yasuho for help, as she is the one person he completely trusts. He explains his situation and instructs Yasuho to go investigate the tooth he left back at the Ryuushou Temple bus stop and warns her not to touch it. Yasuho departs immediately to help Josuke.
Josuke realizes that he is in the middle of the crowded commercial district where anyone could attack him. Sure enough, another infectee has come to attack him. Defending himself and fleeing when he can, Josuke successively repels one infectee after the other. However, without Yasuho, he will eventually be defeated.
Meanwhile, Yasuho has come to investigate the tooth, and has identified Dolomite as Masaji Dorokoma thanks to Paisley Park. However, before she can locate Dolomite, Jobin renders her unconscious, throws away the tooth, and breaks her mobile phone to stop her from helping Josuke.
Although Yasuho wakes up, she has no way to find the enemy. At the same time, Josuke is still being chased. Having taken a taxi, Josuke sees a bird has crashed into the car, followed by both the taxi driver and a fly becoming infected by Blue Hawaii's power. Realizing that the enemy Stand can control animals, Josuke must flee again and goes into a convenience store to take a bug spray to kill the fly. Although it dies, the fly's corpse still pursues him. Josuke retreats into the bathroom, aiming to narrow the fly's angle of attack, but to his dismay a baby has been infected which then tries to crawl into the bathroom. Unwilling to harm a baby, Josuke lets himself get touched and becomes controlled by Blue Hawaii.
Josuke mindlessly walks up to Dolomite's pond at the Mutsukabe Shrine, where the Rock Human interrogates him about his goal and resorts to ordering him to drown himself at the bottom of the pond. However, Yasuho, who has been trailing Josuke this whole time, intervenes and bashes Dolomite with a metal bar. The limbless Dolomite cannot defend himself and when she begins to push him into a mud pit, he surrenders and reveals that it was Jobin who asked him to attack Josuke. Dolomite then comments that the two have become involved with a dangerous business by approaching the Rokakaka, all the more since a new species of the fruit has appeared.
The Plant Appraiser
Josuke and Yasuho take a bus to go find the Plant Appraiser. Yasuho asks if leaving Dolomite alone is safe, but Josuke thinks that he won't be a nuisance anymore. However, he ponders on Dolomite's words about the Rokakaka. Dolomite had explained that in the grand schemes of things, Jobin is a simple gofer, and he himself only wishes to find his "Blue Lagoon" by healing himself with the fruit. Yet, another group is after the Rokakaka, a group that left Dolomite alive especially because he doesn't know anything about them and for whom the fruit is invaluable. Because Josuke is the result of a new variety of it, Dolomite advises him to back off from the chase for the fruit.
Josuke realizes that Dolomite had also been talking to someone else, who had been watching over them, hidden somewhere. Moreover, that same person must have overheard Josuke's destination. At this instant, the bus driver stands up from his seat and collapses on the floor. The plant appraiser who Josuke is supposed to meet makes his first appearance. Driving the bus, the plant appraiser asks for Josuke to protect him, as they are all now under attack.
Characters and Stands in JoJolion
Major Battles
Trivia
- According to a note by Araki in volume 2, the -lion in JoJolion's title is derived from the Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (evangelion), in reference to the Gospels. "By combining this word with "JoJo", I've meant for the title to signify the existence of the protagonist "Josuke" in this world".[1]
- It won the Grand Prize for manga at the 2013 Japan Media Arts Festival.[2]
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