=====Late 1938=====

"Apologize to Speedwagon... in Hell!"

With a thundering boom, Joseph's Hamon punch crashes into Straizo's skull, sending the traitorous monk spiraling off the edge of the bridge. With the last of his strength, Straizo desperately grasps at a steel girder, his fingers digging into the metal as he clings for dear life in a final attempt to save himself. However, his wounds were too great, and the vampire found himself falling once more as he lost his grip...

...only to be caught again by Joseph himself.

"Why would you save me from falling?" Straizo asks curtly, defeat ringing clear in is voice. "I might still have enough power to blow your arm off, after all."

It was a hollow threat, and Joseph knew it well. "Shut up and do it then!" he roars in response. "I'll just punch you with the other!"

Taking a moment to collect himself, Joseph continues. "I want answers, Straizo. Why did you throw Uncle Speedwagon's body in the river? It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Ah, Joseph," Straizo begins in response, sounding oddly nostalgic. "You really have inherited Jonathan's spirit, it seems. You might be more hasty and quick to anger, but you're a meddler like no other! Very well, I will reveal to you the events you've entangled yourself in."

Joseph takes a contemplative look. "Events? What do you..."

"They will soon begin to unfold!" Straizo continues, interrupting him. "It all begins with the Man in the Pillar! He is the one who will make everything change!"

"You're not making any sense, you nut job!" Joseph replies in a rage. "Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

Straizo merely continues, as if not even registering Joseph's outburst. "It was because of him," he explains, "that I left their bodies in the river. The men I killed... he began to drink in their blood, not unlike a plant drawing nutrients from the soil. I found the very sight of it disturbing, so I took their bodies to the river. But, I was too late! I fear its awakening is close at hand, despite my efforts. He will awaken, from his two-millennia sleep!"

Joseph's face takes on a look of confusion and horror as Straizo continues. "Joseph," he says, "you will soon encounter him, and he will be the one to change your views on the very nature of mankind. The very nature of our evolution! To understand this man, will be to understand the true desires of God himself!"

Before Joseph can ask what Straizo means, he catches a flash of movement from the corner of his vision. Straizo's right arm lashes upwards, striking the vampire's own left arm that Joseph had been clutching. With a gasp, Joseph reels back, astonished at the lack of weight he is holding. Straizo's disembodied left arm is still clutched in his right hand as the vampire freefalls towards the water.

"Straizo!" the young Hamon user yells, leaning over the side once more. "What do you think you're doing, you bastard?!"

"I'm not ready to enter Hell just yet, Joseph!" is Straizo's ecstatic reply. "I've only just regained my youth, I haven't yet had a chance to properly enjoy it! We will meet again, but for now, farewell Jojo!"

The cackling vampire hits the water with a loud splash, leaving Joseph to stare dumbfounded at the open air before him. Straizo's left arm was the only proof he had of the villain's defeat.

"Jojo?" Smokey asks, cautiously approaching the scene. "Is... did you win? Is everything alright?"

Joseph remains still for a moment, staring at the arm of his foe still clutched in his grasp. Then, all of a sudden, he lets out a bellowing wail of defeat. He had won the fight, but Straizo yet lived. Speedwagon wouldn't be avenged.

=====May, 1998=====

"Whew!" Joseph exclaims, leaning against a pillar outside of the auditorium. "I can't believe that was only thirty minutes. It felt like I was in there for ages! I never want to be a guest speaker again for as long as I live."

"Oh come now Jojo, I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Caesar admonishes him, his arms crossed. "You didn't even stumble over your words more than once or twice. Considering how much you hate speaking Japanese, I'd call that an accomplishment."

"Oh my God, it was terrible!" Joseph groans, sliding down the pillar until he's practically sitting down against it. "I've never had to spend so much time speaking nothing but Japanese. It's such a weird language! And I felt like I was boring them to tears; they didn't react at all to anything I said! They just all sat there, quietly nodding and taking notes. It was agony."

"I suppose there's not much else you could expect from an auditorium full of business students," Caesar offers. "I'm sure they're all very dedicated to getting their degrees."

"At least you came to keep me company," Joseph says. "Thanks for that, by the way. I don't think I'd have been able to stand it being out here alone with nobody to talk to. I thought this would be a good way to get my mind off of... you know... but, all I've done is submit myself to cruel and unusual punishment. Good grief."

Caesar nods. "Of course, Jojo! I'm never too busy to help you out, after all. Goodness knows you need all the help I can offer."

The blond man adjusts his tie a bit, looking around in a cagey manner. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish to return to New York soon, however. I'm getting some reports from my pupils about signs of possible vampire activity in the city. It would be beneficial for the both of us to return as soon as we can."

Joseph's eyes widen at the news, as he was hearing it for the first time. "Vampires... not many of those miserable bastards running around any more, these days. There can't be more than a handful of Stone Masks left floating around, and there are more Hamon practitioners around the globe than ever. You don't think it's..."

"Straizo?" Caesar finishes, knowing exactly what his friend is thinking. "No way of knowing for sure. The signs are still too few to even be sure we're on the trail of a vampire at all. I'd like to think that cagna took a wrong step at some point and got himself killed, but there's no way of knowing unless he shows up again..."

Caesar's features soften. "But enough about that," he says, changing the subject. "How are you holding up?" he asks. "It's only been a month since Suzi passed. Are you... managing okay?"

"As well as I can," Joseph mumbles, looking away. "I just still can't believe it. I always thought I'd have Suzi forever. I guess it was silly of me. Our Hamon keeps us young longer. To not have seen this coming was just stupid."

Caesar nodded sadly. "It's... why I never married, after all. I couldn't bear the thought that I'd take a wife, just for her to die when my own life is only half over. You know I'm always here, if you need me."

"Of course, Caesar," Joseph says, still not meeting his eyes. "And I'm really thankful that you-"

"Excuse me?" a feminine voice says in Japanese, interrupting him. Joseph looks up for a moment, before scrambling to a standing position at the sight of a young woman clutching a binder. She looked to be in her early twenties, and was giving Joseph an odd look.

"You are Joseph Joestar, correct?" she asked. "I wanted to ask you some questions about the guest lecture you just gave, if you have the time. I was thinking of incorporating some of your points on the US real estate market into my thesis, and wanted to get some further information from you."

"Oh! Uh..." Joseph begins, looking to Caesar for guidance. His old friend chuckles and shakes his head, before taking over for him.

"Of course, signorina," he says. "Joseph isn't in a hurry at all. He'd be glad to speak with you."

"Uh..." Joseph repeats, not sure what's happening. "But you just..."

He catches himself, clamping his mouth shut before he says anything stupid. He couldn't exactly remind Caesar about the impending vampire problem back home with a young lady standing there. Besides, if Caesar thought he had time to entertain the student, then it probably wasn't a big deal.

He sighs, scratching at his brown beard a bit. "Yeah, sure. I can... discuss things with you, miss..."

"Higashikata," the student replies. "And thank you. I think this will help me quite a bit."

=====February, 2014====

"...with all factors accounted for, we've narrowed down the list of potential applicants to four young Stand users."

Jotaro sat with his chin propped up on his fist, listening with only mild interest as the rep from the Speedwagon Foundation (whose name just kept on escaping him, no matter how many times Caesar had reminded him) continued his presentation to the UA staff. His eyes kept drifting around the table, finding more interest in observing the various Pro Heroes that made up UA's faculty than in actually listening to what the Foundation rep was saying. He'd already heard the whole spiel, and knew who the Foundation's four nominees were ahead of time, so his time was much better spent examining the people he'd soon be working with anyways.

As he did a mental lap of the table for the umpteenth time, his eyes spent just a moment looking over the familiar face of his grandfather's lifelong friend Caesar. It felt odd, being here with his grand dad's friend without the old man himself being around, but Joseph didn't really have a place at this meeting. It wasn't a bad thing; Jotaro had known Caesar for over a decade now. They'd fought side by side back then, during that awful "trip" to Egypt, and saved each other's lives more than once. It was just different.

The next face he spent more time examining: Nezu, the school's principal. Looking at him sent subtle pains through Jotaro's chest. The intelligent animal reminded him of Iggy, and thinking of Iggy made him think of Avdol, and Kakyoin, and...

He moved on to the next face before his thoughts could continue, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of All Might. The man looked ridiculous, wearing a suit far too small for his massive frame, and constantly fidgeting to keep from falling out of the seat that was also too tiny for him. His beady blue eyes didn't notice Jotaro at all, rather the towering man listened to the Speedwagon Foundation rep with rapt attention. If nothing else, Jotaro figured that All Might was very enthusiastic about teaching the new students, even the four young Stand users who would be applying for enrollment. Jotaro had admittedly been worried about that: how all these Pro Heroes with their Quirks would react to Stand users coming into their school for the first time. Jotaro didn't care much for All Might, but at the very least he seemed open-minded.

The next face, on the other hand, was a closed book to him. Shota Aizawa was the perfect facade of sheer boredom. Jotaro couldn't comprehend what, if anything, was going through Eraserhead's mind, though he got the impression of someone who was highly analytical. At least, if what little reputation Eraserhead had was anything to go by. Jotaro had requested information on his soon-to-be coworkers from the Foundation, and while he'd gotten a lot on most of them (barring All Might, whose information even the Speedwagon Foundation had trouble tracking down), there was next to nothing on Eraserhead. Jotaro was suspicious of the lack of information on All Might, but when it came to Eraserhead it just seemed as though there wasn't much of note. He was a skilled hero with a good grasp of tactics and a powerful Quirk, but it looked like that was really all there was to know.

The others at the table Jotaro was less interested in. His eyes quickly passed over Vlad King, Cementoss, Midnight, and Present Mic, and then the only one left was the rep. There were other teachers who'd been left out of the meeting, so it seemed these were the "core staff" of the school and thus were the ones deemed important enough to be present. Jotaro had no idea why any of the teachers other than the homeroom teachers for the Hero course and All Might needed to be present at all, but he said nothing on the matter.

Just as Jotaro's attention returns to the rep, the Foundation member retrieves four folders from his briefcase and lays them out on the table for the others to examine.

"These are the files for our four selected candidates," the rep says. "Chosen from all known Stand users of the appropriate age group from around the world."

He points to each one as he speaks their names and homelands out loud.

"Olivia Bianca, from Mexico," he says, pointing to the first folder. Paper clipped to the front is a picture of a young, tan-skinned woman with a bored stare.

"Martin Daily, from the United States," he gestures to the next, emblazoned with an image of a caucasian boy with blond hair and blue eyes, and a somewhat manic expression.

"Frieda Bachmann, from Germany," is the third, featuring a picture of an auburn haired girl with freckles.

"And Josuke Higashikata, from Japan," the rep finishes, showing a folder whose picture displays a face Jotaro knows well.

"You may examine the files at your leisure," the rep explains. "But these are the four young Stand users we at the Speedwagon Foundation have decided would be the best fit for your school. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

Jotaro sees Present Mic snatch up the folder for the blond haired boy, flipping it open and examining its contents while Midnight peers at it over his shoulder. Cementoss picks up the German girl's file, looking at it with Vlad King, and Eraserhead sluggishly takes Bianca's file. After a moment, All Might picks up Josuke's file.

"The Higashikata boy," All Might begins, looking at the information. "He is Joseph Joestar's son, correct?"

The rep nods. "That's correct, All Might sir. It should be there with the rest of his information."

"I heard about the events that took place in Morioh," Nezu pipes up, glancing at the folder in All Might's oversized hands. "Terrible business, what with that serial killer and all."

"What about it?" Jotaro asks flatly, eyeing the rodent from the corner of his vision.

Nezu shrugs. "Oh, I was just commenting. You ended up being the one to take care of that, didn't you Kujo?"

Jotaro's gaze narrowed. "I finished him off. Josuke and his friends did the hard work."

"Hmm," Nezu hummed. "Well that does show positively for him. I do hope some of his friends try to apply as well, if that's the case. We're opening up applications for any Stand users after all. We just want to make sure we get off to a good start with these four in particular."

Jotaro was about to reply, but a sudden interjection from All Might cut him off.

"So you let the boy and his friends handle it, then? Until the end, when it became apparent that you had to step in."

Jotaro scowled. "I arrived on the scene as quickly as I could. There were plenty of other Pros on the scene already, and I stepped in as soon as I got there."

It was All Might's turn to narrow his own eyes. "Really? I find that hard to believe. I've read your file, Jotaro Kujo. I'd think someone with a Stand that could stop-"

"H-h-hey! This kid's pretty cool!" Present Mic interjected, shifting the discussion away from its collision course. "A motorcycle Stand, whew! How interesting! I'm excited to see what he can do!"

The room was silent for a moment as Jotaro and All Might stared at one another, but a cough from Nezu kept it from dragging on.

"Alright," the rodent said, "I think we're in agreement that these four will make a good first batch of Stand users for our school. This a landmark event, the first inclusion of Stand users among UA's ranks. I'm excited to see how they perform in the Entrance Exam."

He turned to Caesar, who Jotaro noted had been awfully quiet this entire time. The Hamon master's eyes turned to meet Nezu's as the president gave him a thoughtful look.

"Trevor is going to be applying as well, isn't he Zeppeli?" Nezu asked, getting a nod from Caesar in response.

"That's right, signore. It's part of why I accepted the job actually, so that he could apply. He couldn't really attend UA from New York, after all," Caesar replied, giving a wry grin. "His mother and I, we're very excited for him. We've redoubled his training in preparation for the event."

Nezu nods. "Very good. Yes, very good indeed. His application is exciting as well, for its own reasons. He's also the first UA student of his kind, after all. I'll be keeping an eye on him too."

The small animal stands, and despite his short stature the rest of the table turns their eyes to him at the motion.

"With that," he begins, "I do believe everything has been settled. In addition to UA's open invitation to all Stand users, these four from around the world will be definite applicants, to ensure that the school has a good 'first batch' of Stand users to work with. With all of us seemingly in agreement, this meeting is finished."

Jotaro rolls his head a bit, his neck giving a few audible pops as he stands and tries to relieve some of his stiffness. A low ringing sound catches his attention, and from the corner of his eye he sees Caesar place a subtly crackling hand on his shoulder. The subtle stiffness and soreness from sitting for so long washes away, and Jotaro gives a sharp nod of thanks to Caesar. The Hamon master gives a little smirk in reply.

"Don't forget you two!" Nezu exclaims, facing the two of them. "You've got a tour of the campus to take tomorrow! I'd like you both to be familiar with the facilities before you begin teaching here in April."

"Of course," Caesar replies. "We'll be here early, just in case. I'll stop by Jotaro's apartment to make sure he doesn't sleep in."

He casts a cheeky look in Jotaro's direction, and Jotaro's only response is to roll his eyes. Eventually though he nods as well, in confirmation.

"Yeah, we'll be here," is his curt reply.

"Good!" Nezu says gleefully. "See you tomorrow, gentlemen!"

Author's Notes: Just want to clear some things up before we get into the meat of this story. This is, of course, an AU in which Stands and Quirks both exist. Stands, just like in JJBA canon, are VERY rare. Here in this AU, they're kinda sorta common knowledge, because Quirk users can see and fight Stands just like Stand users can, so as the number of Quirk users skyrocketed it became harder and harder to hide Stands. They're still not very well known, and most people will just think a Stand is a really odd type of Quirk. Quirkless people without a Stand of their own still cannot see Stands, but on the other hand Quirkless people are the only ones who can have Stands at all.

This prologue shows some other key differences between JJBA canon and this story. Caesar is still alive, for one, because he was stronger when he fought Wamuu in this universe than when he did so in canon (for reasons I'm not getting into at the moment but I'm sure you can guess anyways). Not strong enough to win, but strong enough to not die. We might flash back to that fight at some point, but I've no plans to do so right now.

Straizo escaped from Joseph, which isn't a big deal right now but will be later. Straizo's survival did have the notable impact of forcing Joseph to keep up his Hamon training, since he's worried about Straizo returning to wreak havoc on him and his loved ones. Caesar being around to pester him also contributed to Joseph's continued training. At this point in the story, it's 2014 and Joseph and Caesar are over 90 years old, but they're both physically in their late 40s. Joseph's physical age isn't even to the point he was at in canon Part 3 yet.

Speaking of Part 3, while Parts 1 and 2 happened at the same time as canon, parts 3 and 4 were pushed back 14-15 years. Part 3 took place around 2002, and Part 4 took place in 2013 mostly. In addition, Josuke and his friends were in their last year of middle school during Part 4, as opposed to their first year of high school. This is because, of course, Josuke is taking his first year of high school at UA. The story takes place in 2014 because that's when the manga was first published. In canon it probably takes place much later but it's what I'm working with.

And that's about it, for now at least. There are PLENTY of other changes that I don't feel like bringing up yet, some of which were even mentioned in this prologue. I just feel like this is necessary background information to understand this AU. Future Author's Notes hopefully won't be this long. Thanks for reading, everyone.