Charming Man
The alleged Owner of the Lava Rock (溶岩の持ち主, Yōgan no Mochinushi) is an antagonist featured in the ninth part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, The JOJOLands.
He is a mysterious individual who stalks Jodio Joestar and his allies to try retrieving the Lava Rock back. He is also a Stand user, wielding a currently unnamed Stand that lets him disguise with his surroundings by confusing his enemies' perceptions.
Appearance
The owner of the Lava Rock is a man with a muscular build, and dark, spiky, shoulder-length hair. His hair is flat at the top with spiky bangs, and the back of his hair juts out in all directions. He lacks eyebrows, has light irises, and wears dark lipstick. His outfit consists of a sleeveless jumpsuit with shoulder straps, a large bow tie on his chest, and bow ties on his knees. In addition, he wears dark wristbands and sneakers. Due to his ability, he has numerous sand fragments floating around his face and upper torso. His skin also feels like coarse sand.[1]
He is initially disguised as Paco Laburantes, looking exactly like him, and hiding the sand fragments floating around him before revealing his true nature.[2]
Personality
He is a cruel individual who shows no attachment to his pets, decapitating his cats simply to serve as a threat to Jodio Joestar and the others. His primary goal is to retrieve the Lava Rock, but his motivations are currently unknown, since Jodio believes he did not own the Lava Rock before Rohan Kishibe. Despite having brutal methods, he is possibly merciful, considering he gives Jodio a chance to return the Lava Rock first, before resorting to violence when Jodio declares his intentions not to. He is also manipulative, since he attempts to psychologically persuade Jodio into handing over the Lava Rock, scaring him into thinking the mafia might be after him and his friends.[2]
After shedding his disguise, the man stays silent, refusing to respond to any of Paco's questions or taunts, and simply taking a fighting stance instead. He is cunning and can intelligently use his environment to trick his opponents.[1]
Abilities
Stand
His Stand seemingly allows him to alter the perceptions of his enemies by camouflaging with his surroundings and creating fake disguises using sand fragments. This allows him to impersonate another person using another layer of skin. It's possible to hide objects under the disguised skin, such as a knife. The disguise can also be destroyed with enough force, such as Jodio's heavy rain.
Knife Proficiency
The Lava Rock's owner fights with a knife he carries with him, frequently swinging it around. He is more adept at using it for surprise attacks than for hand-to-hand combat, as Paco was easily able to dodge and counter his attacks. Paco also notes that his skills with a knife aren't good enough for him to be an assassin.[1]
History
Background
This individual spies on Rohan Kishibe at his villa with a trio of cats while the manga artist investigates the properties of the Lava Rocks. He is suggested to be the owner of the Lava Rocks before Rohan, though Jodio thinks that is not possible. He might be from the mafia,[2] but Paco thinks that is unlikely considering the man's skills with a knife.
The JOJOLands
When his cats fail to defeat Jodio and the others in the jungle, the owner decapitates the cats and puts their heads into a bag of chicken burritos. While Usagi and Dragona are testing the Lava Rock's capabilities inside Diamotch, Paco goes to get chicken burritos for himself and Jodio while they wait.
The owner transforms into Paco and returns with fake bags of chicken burritos. He pretends to be excited to eat them, believing they're tastier in the island of Hawaii because the chicken are raised high in the mountains. Jodio then opens one of the bags and sees the cat heads inside, making him suspect that the owner of the Lava Rock is nearby and was stalking them the whole time.[3]
Still disguised as Paco, the owner tries persuading Jodio to return the Lava Rock since their job was just to steal the diamond, hinting that the mafia—or a lower organization with similar methods—might be against them. However, Jodio refuses, sure of Rohan being the only owner of the Lava Rocks. He believes that since Rohan was in the middle of investigating the Lava Rocks, and the "owner" was watching Rohan the whole time, the person also didn't know of its abilities. With the possibility of the mafia being after them, Jodio thinks their enemy would most likely also steal the diamond, as well as kill them to not leave any witnesses behind.
The owner believes they should bring Dragona and Usagi out of the store since they have the Lava Rock. Just then, the real Paco arrives and apologizes to Jodio for taking so long. The shop he went to ran out of chicken burritos, so he asked them to fry up abalones for them instead. Jodio turns around only to see he was with a fake Paco the whole time, as the owner starts shedding off his disguise. Catching them off guard, he cuts Jodio's neck with a knife, claiming he had tried giving Jodio a chance earlier but Jodio wasted it.[2]
With Jodio down, the impostor goes on to fight Paco. He swings his knife toward Paco, who quickly parries the strike by using THE Hustle to grab a food tray onto his arm, using it as a shield. Paco then punches his impostor in the face, before grabbing a chair with his back and throwing it, launching the fake Paco into a pile of chairs and tables. As he gets back up, the man sheds his disguise and reveals his true appearance. Paco asks how long he was following them for, but the man stays silent and takes a fighting stance. He tries making repeated swings at Paco with his knife, but Paco swiftly dodges them all and is about to counter with a punch. He nearly succeeds in slashing Paco, but Paco retracts his arm and blocks the knife with his forearm, using THE Hustle to make his muscles grab the blade. Paco then punches his own elbow, vibrating the blade trapped in his muscles. Suddenly, the man's muscles on his entire arm holding the knife start intensely vibrating and bulging out on the brink of bursting. As the man screams from the pain of his forearm bending over from his inflated muscles, Paco grabs his neck.
Before Paco could strangle him, he makes Paco perceive his arm emerging from faraway clouds, pointing his knife toward Paco's head. Paco senses it before he's hit, and quickly uppercuts the man's chin with his other arm, stopping the attack and sending the man flying. As Dragona and Usagi reunite with Jodio and Paco, the man takes the opportunity to strike with a surprise attack. The group sees a bird grab an expensive watch from a table near a couple, and Dragona is happily surprised to see that the bird is actually flying with the watch toward them. However, Jodio and Paco notice something is wrong and try stopping Dragona from touching the watch. They then realize that what they just saw was a trick messing with their perception, as the woman at the table actually still has the watch on her wrist. As Dragona is about to try grabbing the "watch" from the bird, the man's body emerges from the birds and clouds, with his skin blending into his surroundings. Jodio, Paco, and Usagi watch in horror as the fake watch and birds crumble into his body at the same time as he stabs Dragona's neck with his knife and grabs the pouch holding the Lava Rock. Before the man could escape, Jodio quickly activates November Rain, striking the enemy's foot with his heavy rain, and making the man fall down.[1]
Relationships
- Wild Cat Size: He is the owner of a trio of cats, using them to spy on Rohan as well as Jodio's gang. In his own words while disguised as Paco, he doesn't have the least bit of love for the cats despite being their owner.[2]
Chapters
Manga Appearances- The JOJOLands Chapter 8: Hualalai - Cat Size, Part 3 (1st appearance)
- The JOJOLands Chapter 9: Kailua-Kona - Flight Waiting Time, Part 1
- The JOJOLands Chapter 10: Kailua-Kona - Flight Waiting Time, Part 2
Gallery
- Lava Rock Owner's Paco Disguise Crumbles.png
His Paco disguise starts crumbling
- Lava Rock Owner Reveals Himself.png
Shedding off their disguise
- LRO True Face.png
True appearance revealed
Entering a fighting stance
Arm affected by THE Hustle
- LRO Stabs Dragona.png
Stabbing Dragona
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The JOJOLands Chapter 10: Kailua-Kona - Flight Waiting Time, Part 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The JOJOLands Chapter 9: Kailua-Kona - Flight Waiting Time, Part 1
- ↑ The JOJOLands Chapter 8: Hualalai - Cat Size, Part 3
