This is kind of late I apologize but you can't be mad at me because I stayed up till 4am just to post this so enjoy!
As the the crusaders followed the frenchman, who had recently introduced himself as Jean Pierre Polnareff, Haru couldn't help but think about what she had just witnessed. That man not only caught coins with his Stand's sword, but actual fire that came from Magician's Red. What's the point of teaching kids physics if stuff like this is just going to decide to exist?
Their walking came to a halt when they noticed Polnareff stop at the top of some stairs and turn to look at the travellers.
"Wh-what is this place?" Joseph asked and as he did, Haru looked around in amazement. It was so colourful and there were many odd shapes and designs around.
"It's the Tiger Balm Garden," Kakyoin announced, which would explain the giant tiger statue to his right.
"What?" Joseph questioned as he turned to look at Kakyoin and as he did so, Polnareff began walking again and Haru, along with the rest of the group, took that as a sign to keep following.
Kakyoin began explaining to the slightly confused Joseph that the Tiger Balm Garden is the number one bizarre zone in Hong Kong, which the eavesdropping Haru didn't find too hard to believe, due to all the unique shapes and colours that currently surrounded them.
"I will make a prediction here. First, Avdol, you will be destroyed by your own Stand's powers," Polnareff stated as he halted yet again, this time bringing out Silver Chariot.
"Avdol…" Jotaro spoke, as if telling him he's ready to step into battle. Haru sent Avdol the same message with just her stance and the look on her face.
"Jotaro, you need not interfere," Avdol reassured him, then put an arm in front of Haru, causing her to give him a surprised look as he continued. "Neither will you, Haru. With such and open space, I can control my Stand as freely as I please."
With that said, Avdol immediately brought out Magician's Red, readying himself for battle. Haru stared in awe as the Stand roared. She couldn't help but envy almost everyone else's Stands. They were much more fit for battle than hers. Why was her Dark Glycon so scrawny?
As she was lost in thought, Haru almost didn't even notice Polnareff begin to attack, as he shouted "Come on!" over and over again while Magician's Red just kept dodging Chariot's blade.
"What's wrong? You're not going to use your precious flames to your heart's content?" Polnareff teased as he noticed Avdol didn't look like he was going to fight back anytime soon. Even Haru was a little curious as to what in the world he was doing. "If not, I'm going to take my turn."
With that said, Silver Chariot continued to swing his fencing sword, even faster now, in Magician's Red's direction while Polnareff resumed his string of "Come on!"
Magician's Red finally attacked, sending flames Silver Chariot's way, though it easily retaliated by swinging its sword, deflecting the flames with its sword, causing the flames to come in contact with a bird statue nearby that caught fire then crumbled to pieces.
Avdol was the first to give a surprised look then the rest of the crusaders followed as they watched the pieces of the broken statue hit the ground. But once they looked up, they noticed that the statue hadn't actually been broken, just re-shaped.
"That bastard. He's mocking us," Joseph cursed. "With repeated stabs, he carved a statue that looks just like Magician's Red."
"You know," Polnareff began, as he tilted his head and began to smirk. "You fit quite well in this garden, Magician's Red."
That seemed enough to provoke Avdol from what Haru saw. Avdol closed his eyes and seemed to focus. Flames surrounded him as Magician's Red began sucking in as if preparing to charge.
"Here it comes," Polnareff spoke. "You're ready to show your true power? Sounds like fun. I'll take what you dish out."
Haru just stared at the two wide eyed. This was getting serious and she wasn't the only one who thought so.
"Hey, hide behind something," Joseph warned and both Haru and Kakyoin brought their attention to him. "Avdol is going to use it."
"It?" both Jotaro and Haru questioned in unison as Joseph already began to retreat.
"Crossfire Hurricane!" An abundance of flames were now being gathered by Magician's Red and Haru found herself taking cover under the end of Jotaro's school jacket, not caring about his complaining and him scolding her about how that wasn't even a proper way to shield herself from flames.
The flames gathered by Magician's Red were soon shot directly at Polnareff but he didn't seem the least bit worried.
"Is that all you got? I told you that my swordsmanship can create gaps nothingness and nothingness can blow away flames!" Polnareff was true to his words and blew the flames away with a single sweep.
Haru and the other three didn't fail to show their disbelief, especially when the flames were blown back to Magician's Red, setting it and its user on fire. Haru's brain could barely process all these things happening at once she almost didn't hear Joseph call out to Avdol.
"The flames are so strong, he's being burned as well," stated Joseph. As Avdol's flaming body fell to the ground, Haru came out from her hiding spot and got a clearer look, though she didn't quite understand why she wanted to lay her eyes on a burning man. That was when she realized something.
"It's just as I predicted," Polnareff said with a snicker and another smirk. "You will die, burned by your own flames!"
In a moment of desperation, it seemed, Magician's Red yelled out and sprung forward for one final attack.
"Oh, good, good grief! You're still going to come at me? How unsightly!" exclaimed Polnareff as his Silver Chariot swung its sword, slicing Magician's Red. Even though he seemed to have successfully sliced his target, Polnareff was now shocked by something
"What is this odd resistance?" Polnareff questioned right before Silver Chariot caught fire. "Impossible. How could flames come out from the body I severed?"
Magician's Red fell to the ground. No. That wasn't Magician's Red.
"That's not the Stand," Joseph voiced Haru's thoughts. "It's the statue!"
Polnareff's eyes widened as he realized he had just been tricked.
"Go, go, go, Avdol!" Haru cheered, as she pumped her fists in the air while Avdol was in the middle of explaining Polnareff's error to him.
"You are the one defeated by your own Stand's powers. And now, face this again!" Avdol exclaimed right before sending another Crossfire Hurricane Polnareff's way, this time hitting him directly and sending him flying back.
"I believe it's ten years too soon for you to fight me," Avdol began with a slight smirk while pointing at his fallen enemy. "a fortune teller, with predictions."
"Cool, cool, cool…" Haru muttered as she watched, fists clenched near her chin and a sparkle in each of her eyes.
Avdol's so cool! He really did it!
"Since his Stand took that head-on, it must have melted," Joseph began as he popped out of his hiding spot. "It's done for!"
"That's one hell of a burn," Jotaro commented and Haru just nodded in agreement before he continued. "Yeah, he's dead. If he's lucky, he'll be in serious condition. Actually that'd be bad luck."
"Wait, but what if he's not bad," Haru began, causing the other three to look her way. "Y'know what if he's got the fresh buddy thing," she explained, pointing to her forehead.
"Either way, he won't be able to stand for three months," Kakyoin concluded as he began to turn and walk away. "His Stand is destroyed and unable to fight."
As Avdol turned to rejoin the group, Haru walked a little toward Polnareff's direction. Maybe he wasn't like the elder man on the plane. Maybe he was like Kakyoin.
Haru started to notice something. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination but she thought she heard movement coming from Polnareff and his Stand.
Am I imagining things? she thought to herself before she heard her name being called out.
"Haru, hurry up! We're leaving," Jotaro shouted, sounding slightly annoyed.
"But Jota-" Suddenly a loud noise was heard and Haru turned back to Polnareff and saw the armour on Silver Chariot fly right off.
"Wh-what? His Stand is breaking into pieces!"
BANG!
Haru began to step back.
"What in the world?!"
"He flew into the air while still lying down!" Kakyoin stated. Haru witnessed this exact statement but still couldn't believe it was happening right before her eyes.
"Bravo! Oh, bravo!" Polnareff clapped in mid air.
"H-he's…"
"I don't believe it!"
"He's perfectly fine!"
"What in the world?!" Haru repeated.
"But why is his body floating in mid air?" Jotaro questioned, seeming to be the most calm out of the five. Polnareff laughed in response.
"Take a good look with your inner eye." The instant Polnareff finished speaking, Avdol gasped in realization.
"That's…"
Polnareff shot himself higher into the air and flipped a few times before landing perfectly on his feet and striking a pose with Silver Chariot, who now seemed a bit more naked.
"Yes, this is it. My Stand with its armour off: Silver Chariot." Avdol's eyes widened, causing Polnareff to grin. "You seem shocked, and it wouldn't be honorable to defeat you without explaining my power first. You could even call it a surprise attack. Would you give me time to explain?"
"Very well." Avdol smirked and nodded as he began to walk closer. "Let's hear the explanation."
By this time, Haru had already stepped out of the way and took her spot back in the spectators corner. Polnareff began to explain how less armour would make his Silver Chariot significantly faster in battle and how the armour had helped in making sure he was only lightly damaged.
"I see," Avdol responded. "So you're saying that because its armour was so heavy, it had to take my Crossfire Hurricane head-on. But that also means it's naked now. Now that it doesn't have its protection, if it were to take that attack again, it wouldn't survive."
Polnareff crossed his arms but kept a grin on his face before answering. "Oui, precisely. But that would be impossible."
"Impossible?" Avdol repeated. "I'd like to test that theory."
"Because I'm going to show you something astonishing."
Uh oh. Haru decided from this point on, if she ever heard someone say something along those lines, she should be worried. This was the type of journey she had decided to join in on.
Soon enough, Haru's worries proved to be necessary.
"Wh-what?" Joseph exclaimed yet again. "His Stand multiplied into six… no, now there are seven of them!"
"I-impossible!" Kakyoin added. "There should be one Stand to each user."
Haru just held her head and whined. "What are we gonna do?"
"It seems you are astonished," Polnareff commented on Avdol's surprised look. "These shadows are clones. Shadow clones of my Stand that confuse not only your eyes, but your senses. Your senses can't follow its movements."
Haru noticed Avdol almost frozen in place.
What are we going to do? This time thinking to herself. All she could do was stand from afar and watch, just hoping for the best.
"I told you," Avdol began, while on one knee. "I can break apart my flames and them fly in as many places as I wish."
Haru watched as the man on fire attempted to get back up, shaking in the process only to fall right back down. It was finally over, but something didn't feel right.
Avdol stood back up and pulled out a dagger. Polnareff looked up at Avdol before the dagger landed right in front of his face.
"Burning is a rather painful way to die." Avdol turned his back towards Polnareff and began to join the group again. "Use that dagger to kill yourself."
Polnareff lifted up the dagger and seemed to be aiming it at Avdol while his back was turned.
"Avd-" Haru cut herself off from her warning once she realized the burning Polnareff had now lowered the dagger to his own neck.
Again, Polnareff seemed to have changed his mind, brought the dagger to his side and fell completely onto the ground. He began mumbling something that Haru couldn't quite make out.
Once Polnareff closed both his mouth and eyes, Avdol turned right around, facing him again, and snapped his fingers, causing the flames that were once surrounding Polnareff's body to disappear.
"Even now, you remember to be chivalrous," Avdol spoke as he approached Polnareff. "And you did not throw your dagger when I had my back turned." Now Avdol had bent down and held Polnareff's body, turning him over. Haru couldn't tell for sure, but she assumed Polnareff was at least unconscious by now. "Despite having orders from Dio, your proud honor shines through." Avdol lifted Polnareff's head up before continuing. "It would be a shame to kill you. There must be a reason behind his actions..."
Haru noticed Avdol moving his hand towards Polnareff's forehead and as soon as she caught wind of what he was doing, she jogged over to him and rested on her knees to see if her hunch was correct. She wasn't disappointed.
"I-I knew it!" she exclaimed, setting her sights on the flesh bud that was buried in Polnareff's silver hair.
"You were right, Haru," Avdol agreed before turning to Jotaro, who was now right behind them. "Jojo!"
"Yeah," he simply nodded in response right before bringing out Star Platinum. Haru was confused as to what was going on as Jotaro stepped closer to them.
Realizing she might be in the way, she looked up at Jotaro and stood up, backing away.
"S-sorry," she apologized and he just ignored her, now getting on his knees and getting to work, whatever that was.
Jotaro held Polnareff's face carefully as Star Platinum reached for the flesh bud. As soon as it did, tentacles from the flesh bud removed themselves from Polnareff's forehead and waved around like crazy.
"Ugh. Those tentacles are so gross!" Joseph whined as he cringed and Haru felt herself begin to laugh uncontrollably.
"Oh gosh, tentacles are not a good sign!" she managed to spit out during her laughing fit.
Hopefully, none of them would catch wind of her dirty thoughts and if they did, at least not mention it.
"Jotaro, hurry up and get it out." Joseph's comment just made Haru laugh even harder that she had to kneel down and hold her stomach.
"That sounds terrible," she said while trying to catch her breath.
"Hurry! Hurry!"
Haru's laughing did not die down one bit after that.
"Shut up, you two!" Jotaro spat right as Star Platinum managed to successfully and safely remove the flesh bud. It instantly crumbled after making contact with the sun and was no more.
Joseph leaned down and held Polnareff in Jotaro's place, completely recovered from any trauma he felt towards tentacles and now had his usual goofy smile on his face.
"Good! Now that the flesh bud is gone, we can be buddies. Ta-da!" Joseph snicked at his own joke and Jotaro just sighed.
"Kakyoin, Haru, don't guys like him who make stupid puns seriously piss you off?"
"Well, judging by her reaction," Kakyoin said with a tiny smile growing on his face as he pointed at Haru covering her mouth and snorting to avoid another laugh attack. "I'd say Haru would think the exact opposite, actually."
Jotaro laid his eyes on her, giving another sigh and his signature "Good grief".
"The boat that we had chartered from the Speedwagon crew yesterday should be at the harbor by now," Joseph informed the group as Haru skipped slowly behind them.
Although the battle they had just witnessed was quite frightening for her taste, she was glad they ended up sparing a somewhat innocent life. She also had a feeling that if she showed too much fear towards stuff like that, Joseph would insist that this mission was too dangerous for someone like her and have someone from the Speedwagon foundation escort her home.
Suddenly, everyone's walking came to a stop and she took this as a sign to stay still herself. She looked up in front of her and noticed why everyone had stopped.
"What's wrong? Is there something else you needed, Polnareff?" Avdol asked Polnareff who was now standing in front of them.
"I haven't thanked you for freeing me from Dio's spell yet," he replied.
"For that, you need to thank Jojo."
"Don't need it," Jotaro declined.
"It appears there's no one to accept your kind thanks," Avdol told Polnareff with a friendly smile.
Polnareff seemed to be taken aback before speaking again.
"All right. I don't like to be pushy either. But there is something else," Polnareff stated as he walked towards Joseph. "Monsieur Joestar, I'd like to ask you a very bizarre question."
"A bizarre question?"
"Forgive my curiosity," Polnareff warned. "But even while eating, you didn't take off your gloves. Your left arm wouldn't happen to be a right arm, wouldn't it?"
Even though the question wasn't directed towards her, Haru tilted her head in confusion.
Aren't left arms supposed to be… left?
"What? My left arm, a right arm?" Joseph questioned while looking at both his hands. "That is indeed a bizarre question. What do you mean?"
Polnareff's face looked dead serious and Haru was now sure this was no joke, no matter how ridiculous his question seemed.
"I'm looking for the man who killed my younger sister." All five grew shocked almost immediately. None of them expected something so silly to turn into this. "I don't know his face. But he has two right arms."
After some silence, Joseph finally began to remove his glove, revealing a prosthetic but still left hand.
"I lost it in battle 50 years ago," he explained.
Haru looked at the metallic hand in amazement. She had no idea that Joseph had been involved in battles, even in the past. It set her imagination running wild, trying to guess what exactly happened.
"I apologize for my rudeness. Please forgive me," Polnareff apologized.
"If you don't mind, tell us what happened," Joseph suggested.
Polnareff began to explain that three years ago, his younger sister had been walking home from school with a friend of hers on a rainy day on a country road in France. Apparently there was a strange man standing on the side of the road that seemed strange and out of place. Suddenly, his sister's classmate was sliced open right in front of her and as soon as that had happened the man had taken advantage of her and murdered her right after. Her classmate ended up surviving and testified that both of the man's arms were right.
"No one believed her testimony, but I understood it!" Polnareff exclaimed. "Because I believe that man may have a similar power to the one that I had been keeping a secret."
"He's definitely a Stand user," Joseph agreed.
"I swore!" Polnareff continued. "That my sister's soul would not be able to rest until I atone with his death. I will use my Stand for retribution! Then a year ago, I met Dio."
Polnareff now explained of when he met Dio and how he manipulated him and used his strong feelings to avenge his sister against him and that's when Dio had planted the flesh bud on him.
The more Haru heard about Dio, the more worried she became. What if she let her guard down and he persuaded her somehow? She's probably much easier to trick, more naive. She then immediately erased these doubts from her mind, not wanting them to cloud her thoughts any longer. That'd only make them more likely to come true.
"According to what you just said," Kakyoin stated. "It would appear that Dio has found the man with two right arms and has joined forces with him."
"I've decided to go to Egypt with all of you!" Polnareff announced. "If i go after Dio, I'll be able to find the one who took my sister's life!"
"What should we do?" Kakyoin asked the group.
"Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!" Haru chanted. Hearing Polnareff's story, she wanted him to get a chance at avenging his sister, it seemed like the right thing to do.
"I have no objections," Avdol added.
Jotaro just let out a simple "Hmph" while his granddad just said he was sure Polnareff would follow them, even if they declined.
"It's an honor," Polnareff said with a smile.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome," Haru greeted him with her hand puppet that no one had really seen her pull out of her pocket.
"Good grie-"
"Excuse me!" Jotaro was cut off by a female voice. He looked to the side and noticed two girls approach him, one holding a camera. "Would you mind taking our picture?"
Before he even had a chance to answer, they already started thanking him and notifying him on where they wanted the picture to be taken. Haru couldn't help but grin at this scene, especially when Jotaro looked beyond pissed.
"You're annoying! Ask someone else!" he snapped.
"Now, now, now, now…" Polnareff interrupted. "I'll take your picture for you. Come, come."
He began complimenting their legs, saying that they should get a full body shot as he lead them towards the end of the docks to get a good view of the ocean.
"I don't quite understand his personality," Avdol admitted as the five of them watched Polnareff flirt with the two tourists.
"That was a very sudden change of mood," Kakyoin added.
"Ah, so he's a casanova type of dude," Haru thought aloud.
"Like his head and his lower half are very clearly separated," Joseph stated.
"Good grief," Jotaro finally let out.
OK, so this is actually shorter than the last chapter, has less Haru and may be little less interesting but I didn't want to just cut out this whole thing. Also, I tried my best to add Haru in places but didn't want her to take over everything at the same time. Next chapter may be a little more interesting. Also, the blog is up! Please check it out it's thejigisupthere on tumblr (it's also written in my bio) please follow me so I'm not a loser. And review if you'd like it helps a lot!
