The JOJOLands - Chapter 14
Summary
Paco, Jodio, Charming Man, Usagi, and Dragona are silently sitting in a car. Paco's studying floor plans, Jodio's watching a video on his phone, Charming Man's drinking water, Usagi's eating a hamburger, and Dragona is curling their eyelashes. Paco checks his watch and sees that it's 10:00, so he tells the gang that it's time to head out. Charming Man, Dragona, and Usagi leave the car and head to the land registry office while Jodio and Paco stay behind. While walking inside, Usagi suddenly trips, dropping his cup ramen and water bottle, making a mess. Three security guards quickly surround them.
A flashback shows Meryl discussing their plan. She assigned Dragona, Usagi, and Charming Man to enter the land registry office while Paco and Jodio were to keep watch in the car and provide logistical support. Meryl explained how deeds work; while often thought of as proof of property rights, they are merely just documents confirming the transfer of land ownership. She emphasized that it wouldn't be a significant issue if the deed were stolen, destroyed, or lost, because the important details are stored as original copies in the state's land registry. The true essence of buying and selling land is essentially about transferring the records of the land from one person to another within that registry.
Taking out a $20 bill, Meryl pointed out that at its core, the bill was just a piece of paper with ink. However, by societal agreement, bills facilitate the transfer of something from one person to another, which is the basis of the monetary system. She noted that the Lava Rock reacts to that system. Meryl informed the team that they would be visiting the registry not to steal, but to bring the Lava Rock close to the original deed. The infrastructure development company, HOWLER, mainly owns land related to water sources in Hualalai, O'ahu, Maui, and Kauai. Meryl boldly declared that their goal was to make all of HOWLER's land theirs, not just Hualalai, for the total value of 50 billion dollars. She warned them about the Lava Rock's powers being unpredictable and cautioned that they must ensure no evidence of their visit to the registry would be left behind, including avoiding security camera recordings, fingerprints, DNA, and anything that could make witnesses remember them.
In the present, Usagi apologizes to the guards and promises to clean up the floor. When they leave, Dragona is upset that Usagi stood out already. Usagi argues that his mishap wasn't enough to leave an impression on them, but Dragona and Charming Man disagree. Nonetheless, they continue with their plan. Dragona uses Smooth Operators to alter Charming Man's ID by giving him a fake identity with a different photo. Dragona explains to Usagi that since it's a state registry office, anyone can get permission to view land deeds by just following the normal procedures. Charming Man changes his face to match the photo by using his Stand and speaks with the clerk. Meanwhile, Dragona tells Usagi to use THE MATTEKUDASAI to replace the security camera's recordings of them into recordings of other people.
The clerk initially states that they only have permission to view digital data, but Charming Man argues that Usagi is a student studying history, and it's essential for him to see the genuine historical articles since land ownership records only existed in paper format from 1980 and earlier. She checks with a coworker and then brings them to a guarded room with 48 documents consisting of all of HOWLER's land deeds. The clerk doesn't permit them to touch any document themselves, as she'll be the one handling them with gloves on. While she flips pages over for Usagi to "study", Dragona sneakily hangs their pendant over each document so that the hidden Lava Rock would touch each page. Suddenly, the Lava Rock starts vibrating, making the pages flutter a bit toward Dragona. The clerk is confused as to what happened, but Dragona successfully has the Lava Rock touch all of the original documents.
As they leave the building, the three start running as Dragona is excited about their success. Usagi tells them to slow down, suddenly feeling a stomachache. After Charming Man calls Jodio and Paco to bring the car over, Usagi vomits. He continues throwing up uncontrollably, wheezing out that he can't breathe. Worried, Charming Man notes that the liquid Usagi threw up is cloudy, so it can't be from the food he ate. He takes Usagi's hood off, revealing large rock-like fragments spreading from Usagi's chest to chin. Charming Man asks Dragona if Usagi has a chronic illness or if it's some kind of drug poisoning, but Dragona has no idea, having only known Usagi for a few days. Charming Man stops Dragona from calling the ambulance, since the report would mention how they were at that building to view documents. He wonders if it's actually an attack from someone rather than an illness, considering the timing. As Usagi fully stops breathing, Jodio and Paco spot them, but are unaware of the situation and think the three are relaxing on the stairs.
Appearances
Author's Comment
Author's NoteGallery
Ultra Jump May 2024
Trivia
- The driver's license Dragona gives to Charming Man lists his name as "Barack Hussein Obama", matching with the 44th president of the United States.
- The text on one of the land deeds shown to Usagi is a passage from "Chapter XI" of the book Elsie at Nantucket by Martha Finley.
