Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi while Jojo's Bizarre Adventure belongs to Hirohiko Araki. None of the elements used belong to me, even the Stands that appear that Araki has never bothered to create. Feel free to use them.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6.1: Dark Passion Play

VIII) Master Passion Greed

It had been two weeks since Jotaro had regained his male form. In the meantime, the two Amazons had rebuilt their restaurant. Or to be more precise, Shampoo had rebuilt it. Cologne had spent a week at the hospital, then she had mostly directed Shampoo. Since they had taken the precaution of depositing money in a bank, they had had the means to rebuild it. However, since they hadn't predicted that the restaurant would be brought down to the ground, they had had to resort to just buying the materials and building it themselves, otherwise they would be even more in the red than they already were.

Truthfully, they hadn't expected to stay in Nerima. However, the Amazon council had all but exiled them. They had been ordered to watch Jotaro and to regain the most they could of their artefacts and scroll. It was such an impossible task that it was an exile order in disguise.

Jotaro meanwhile had perused through the scrolls and the artefacts. He had left the artefacts away from now since he didn't know what they were for. However, he had struck gold with the scrolls. It would take him a year to learn all of the techniques. He had already seen the Bakusai Tenketsu and in a week had learnt it. In truth, he had learnt it in a day but had spent a week faking its learning since it gave him an increased toughness.

The normal training for the Bakusai Tenketsu involved suspending the trainee in the air with only one arm and finger free and hurling boulders at the trainee so that he learnt to find the fault lines in the boulder and struck the necessary point with his finger to make the boulder explode. Since the trainee didn't know how to find the Breaking Point of the boulder, he was struck quite a number of time by said boulder. It toughened the body instinctively, rerouteing the ki paths to protect the body. When it reached a peak, at which point the body was tougher than stone, the ki pathway reached the vision and allowed the trainee to see the fault lines in the boulder, leading to the discovery of the Breaking Point and the mastery of the technique.

Jotaro had improved the technique. Knowing its real use, he had decided that hurling himself at walls was at least as effective, especially since he used the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken on his whole body, propelling himself at high speed. It allowed him to accelerate the training. He didn't even bother with trying to find the Breaking Point since he was so attuned to his ki that he found it after only one try. He did it only once since the shrapnel hurt him quite a bit. He decided to perform the full training so that he could use the technique without the hurtful side-effect. Besides, the advantages of a toughened skin were too interesting to neglect. So Jotaro trained by hurling himself, or herself depending on the hour, into walls. When there wasn't a wall intact from his training in the neighbourhood, he went into the woods to find cliffs and boulders. After two days of intense training he had learnt the basic version of it. However, he knew that the Amazons who had designed the technique only knew of ki, not of vital energy. He thus pursued his training further than normally needed and after five days, his vital energy was coursing unconsciously through his body and had increased his toughness even more than the Bakusai Tenketsu training. His skin could now stop bullets and even explosions. Had he learnt it in his former life, it would have rendered him a lot of service, especially against Yoshikage Kira.

Since he was using vital energy instead of ki to activate the toughness due to the Bakusai Tenketsu, he had started using it to power the technique itself. It had resulted in extremely powerful explosions, at least four times more powerful than with the normal version. It would be extremely useful against persistent opponents. And it probably had applications in shiatsu. He would have to consult Tofu on this.

Akane hadn't learnt the technique, at least not yet. It wasn't that she didn't want to learn it, far from it. It was the opposite actually. However, she didn't have as good a recovery as Jotaro had. So Jotaro had told her that she wouldn't try to learn the technique before the holidays. Akane had agreed. She was eager to learn the technique but still didn't want to miss classes.

Jotaro and Akane were currently walking back home when they were distracted by a cry from above.

"JOTARO KUJO! PREPARE TO DIE!" shouted Ryoga.

And Ryoga's umbrella destroyed the ground next to Akane, where Jotaro had been just a split second before.

"You again," said Jotaro dully. "Haven't you had enough?"

"Shut up, you coward!" snarled Ryoga. "You attacked a poor grandmother and her great-granddaughter! And you even stole from them! You don't have any honour!"

"I see that you met Cologne," commented Akane casually, much to Ryoga's surprise.

"First, this poor grandmother as you call her could wipe the floor with you with only one arm and one leg," detailed Jotaro. "Second, her great-granddaughter altered Akane's memories, so she isn't that innocent. Third, I took their artefacts and scrolls as payment for the trouble they caused me."

"Shut up," growled Ryoga who decidedly didn't like to be contradicted. "She even proposed an alliance to me. That's how you broke her you monster!"

Ryoga then proceeded to punch, kick and slash his umbrella at Jotaro. However, Jotaro evaded all of it.

"FIGHT ME, DAMMIT!" howled Ryoga.

"As you wish, replied Jotaro. And he struck.

Ryoga didn't understand what happened. One second he was trying to pummel Jotaro, the next he was flying and crashing into a wall while coughing blood with a searing pain in his abdomen. What he hadn't seen was that Jotaro had punched him with the normal Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. Two hundred punches had hit his stomach in about a second.

Jotaro moved and seemingly appeared in front of him. He grabbed him by his collar and put a finger a millimetre away from his torso.

"Do you know what this shiatsu point does?" he asked neutrally.

"What?" coughed Ryoga.

"It is called the Full Body Cat Tongue. It renders your whole body extremely sensitive to heat, making it impossible for the victim to even touch hot or even lukewarm water. It also prevents Jusenkyo cursed individuals to regain their birth form," explained Jotaro. "Cologne pressed this point on me and blackmailed me with the only counter that exist, trying to get me to marry her great-granddaughter forcibly. I just took what was rightfully mine after all the trouble she caused me. If I were you, I wouldn't deal too much with them. She might activate the Full Body Cat Tongue on you if you don't help her like she wants."

And with that, Jotaro resumed his road, followed by Akane.

"Damn!" muttered Ryoga despite his wounds. A minute later, Cologne arrived near him.

"So, do you accept my help now, Ryoga?" asked Cologne sinisterly.

Ryoga thought about Jotaro's warning about her, then scoffed at them. He had probably invented them to make the Amazons look bad, the coward.

"I think I will," replied Ryoga.


While Cologne was leading Ryoga in the woods to train him in the Bakusai Tenketsu, a dirty white clad figure wearing round glasses and a white bandanna escaped from the hospital. Genma Saotome had been roused up from his coma three days ago by the doctors who believed that he would be okay from now on. Genma had waited the next three days, only eating and sleeping so as too recover better. Then, two hours ago, he had gotten rid of the casts on his legs and had made his escape.

He had to find his wayward son and get him to drop this Jotaro Kujo nonsense. Then he would beat the boy senseless, bring him back to the Tendos so he could be married and he would have his retirement assured. He didn't even need Soun's help with that. The boy must have won with a cheap spot. Genma actually didn't recall how his son had beat him and he didn't care. He would use his forbidden techniques and cow the boy into marriage.

Had he called Soun before, Genma would have pondered a little on his plan. And probably cancelled it.


Jotaro was currently going back home from school. It had been a rather boring day, like everyone he spent in school in fact. He had forgotten to bring new reading material this time and had resorted to reading a scroll he had pilfered from Cologne. It dealt with shiatsu point. Jotaro easily convinced his maths teacher that he was reading ancient Chinese texts, which wasn't far from the truth after all. He was wondering whether he should try to translate and edit them in Japan to mess some more with the Amazons or not.

It was thanks to having Star Platinum permanently active that he saw Genma appear out of thin air and try to pummel his back while howling: "White Snake Fist!"

Jotaro immediately turned around, surprising Genma, and interrupted all of his attacks.

"Yare yare daze," he said lazily. "Genma. How unfortunate. For you, that is."

"Quit spouting this nonsense, boy, and come back with me!" said Genma imperiously.

"In case you have forgotten, you pathetic waste of human flesh," Jotaro shot back, "I'm not your boy. I thought I made that pretty clear at the Tendos."

"Don't try to bullshit me, boy," growled Genma. "You're my son and nothing is going to change that ('or I would lose all the comfortable retirement I planned on,' he thought). Now come and fulfil our family pledge!"

Genma continued to rain more attacks of the Yamasen-ken, one of the two forbidden schools of techniques he had created, including the Moko Kaimon Ha, which consisted in a strong kick propelled after opening the opponents arm, and the Deadly Embrace, which involved hugging the opponent until his spinal cord cracked. Unfortunately for him, Jotaro evaded all of his attacks. They were soon in the outer grounds of a temple, where several statues were present.

"First," stated Jotaro. "I'm not your son any more. I have my own identity as Jotaro Kujo and have been declared an emancipated minor, so you don't have any authority over me, legally speaking or not. Secondly, you put your honour on the line in making this family pledge and I don't see why it would fall to me, or even to Ranma, to honour your pledge. Lastly, I absolutely don't believe in honour. It's just a tool used by weak people to trick people more powerful than them into doing things for them. You probably did it to gain Tendo's Dojo as a dowry for the marriage."

'Damn, the boy has become more perceptive,' thought Genma. 'Strong too. I have to do something more radical.'

Without preamble, Genma started to fade from view and to reappear at various places to send attacks at Jotaro. Thanks to Star Platinum, Jotaro could detect him visually since he needed to release his technique to attack. It impressed Jotaro that such a sloth like Genma had managed to create a technique that masked all of his vital energy and thus made him invisible to the naked eye. However, soon enough, Jotaro developed a parade. He just had to search for a void in vital energy. It wouldn't work if one was simply looking for ki but everything alive held a small measure of vital energy and Genma's technique drew it to him. Not much, mind you, but it was enough for Jotaro to detect the ripples in the air. Jotaro wondered if it wasn't how his grandfather's Hamon (or Ripple) worked. It would be impressive to learn the technique by himself simply by learning martial arts. Genma soon became frustrated.

"How can you counter the Umisen-ken like that, boy?" he snarled. This battle was becoming harder than he was comfortable with.

"So that's the name of your technique," said Jotaro idly. "It's impressive but it has the glaring weakness of forcing you to come out of it to attack me."

Genma growled and decided to pull out all the stops and to release his deadliest attacks.

"Kijin Raishu Dan!" he howled. A ripple appeared to Jotaro's eyes in the air, travelling at great speed towards him. He evaded it and noticed that it cut deeply into a statue, making pieces of it fall to the ground. It was the most dangerous attack of the Yamasen-ken.

'Reminds me of Okuyasu's The Hand,' thought Jotaro. 'Except that Genma's technique sends a blade of void rather than a chunk of it, so the uses are reduced. Besides, contrary to The Hand, it doesn't make matter disappear.'

Genma tried a couple more time to hit Jotaro with this attack and was becoming quite frustrated.

"How can you see the Kijin Raishu Dan come, boy?" growled Genma.

"I'm not your boy," countered Jotaro. "I'm not even a boy all the time thanks to you. As for how I can see your attacks, it's just a form of vision I developed during your two month stay at the hospital."

Genma was startled by what Jotaro had said. He had been unconscious for two months? It was not surprising that his boy had developed new skills. Jotaro then circled Genma and Genma decided to play his trump cards. Her started to whirl on himself while throwing multiples Kijin Raishu Dan. As expected, Jotaro avoided those but the attacks had destroyed multiple statues.

Genma then used the Shooting Star cloth of the Umisen-ken and started to steal pieces of the fallen statues. He also tried to steal Jotaro's clothes in the process but Jotaro evaded him each time. He also weakened the ground by digging holes into it with the Umisen-ken's attacks. Jotaro eyed him curiously, wondering what he was preparing. Genma thought that Jotaro hadn't noticed anything but Jotaro had seen all. Genma stood proudly in front of Jotaro.

"What's wrong, boy?" taunted Genma. "Too scared of your father to attack?"

Jotaro realised that Genma wanted him to attack, probably to release a counter attack he had spent much time to prepare. He summoned Star Platinum fully.

"You seem to want me to attack," said Jotaro idly. "Why should I oblige you?"

Genma started to sweat. He hadn't predicted this reaction. His son would normally have jumped at the taunt. This wouldn't do.

"Why, boy, you sounded like a little girl, too cowardly to attack," boasted Genma.

"Girls aren't too cowardly to attack," countered Jotaro. "They're just sneakier and more vicious at it than men. But if you really want me to attack you..."

Jotaro then drew his Desert Eagle and pointed it at Genma. Genma was utterly shocked.

"Have you lost your mind, boy?" he shouted outraged. "Weapons are a weakness and now you're using one." What Genma wasn't saying was that he couldn't avoid a well-aimed bullet and that his counter-attack wouldn't work against a gun.

"I think that you're just too scared of losing because of a gun," replied Jotaro. "Unlike me, you don't know how to dodge or stop bullets and you're too vulnerable to them. But this time, I'm going to indulge you."

He then put back his gun into Doorspace, much to Genma's relief and put his hand in a position that made Genma's eyes widen. He wouldn't dare...

"Kijin Raishu Dan," said Jotaro calmly before he performed the attack.

Genma's eyes widened, bigger than saucers. Jotaro's attack was bigger than his own, at least seven times bigger and at least that more powerful. Jotaro had seen him execute the attack only a handful of time and he had replicated it. Even though he was extremely good, he hadn't been able of doing that before. He definitely had changed, and it scared Genma.

However, the fact that his attack was so powerful played in Genma's favour. The fact that it was a Kijin Raishu Dan helped him even more. After all, he had readied the perfect counter for it.

Genma jumped in the way of the attack and, just before it touched him, unrolled the cloth that he was carrying and where he had stored the pieces of statue. He howled "Nocturne Pack!" and the ground under Jotaro collapsed.

It was impressive, Jotaro had to admit it. The ground raised around him as he himself collapse with the patch of grass he was on and the blocks Genma had gathered were preventing his retreat above. He was literally trapped as the ground buried him.

Genma looked at the result of his attack with satisfaction after he had waited for a minute. The boy had been extremely hard to fight but Genma's techniques had prevailed. He prepare to dig the earth in order to find his wayward son and bring him back to the Tendos by the scruff of his neck.

"Foolish boy," said Genma satisfyingly and condescendingly. "I'm your father, I taught you all you know. You're a decade away from beating me."

"I don't think so," said a voice from around Genma.

Genma jumped in the air and whirled, trying to find the source of the voice. However, wherever he looked he couldn't find anything.

"You didn't teach me everything I know, you fat tub of lard," said the voice calmly.

Genma' eyes widened and he looked at the ground he had just destroyed. He recognized this deformed voice but it should be impossible! The boy should still be buried underground! The Nocturne Pack was impossible to avoid. How had he done it?

Jotaro suddenly appeared from thin air in front of him, making him jump in fright. There was only one way the boy could have done that...

"However, your Umisen-ken technique is impressive," said Jotaro idly. "It took me four tries to get it right. Even then, you didn't teach me. I learnt it by myself after seeing you do it."

The boy had learnt the Umisen-ken! It should have been impossible to learn it just like that! And given his confidence he probably knew all of its arcana. And he knew the Yamasen-ken as well. For the first time since the beginning of their fight, Genma knew fear. He had nothing left to attack Jotaro with since he had used all of his trump cards. Worse yet, not only had the boy countered all of them but he had also learnt them as well. Genma had no way to win now, except dumb luck, and he knew for a fact that luck had never been on his side.

Jotaro eyed Genma intently. As much as he despised the man, he had to admit that he was an excellent martial artist, probably one of the best in the world if the techniques he had used were of any indication. The Nocturne Pack would have been Jotaro's downfall, hadn't he used Star Platinum's Time Stop to gain time and used the Bakusai Tenketsu repeatedly to dig a tunnel that had allowed him to escape.

However, Genma didn't hold much respect in Jotaro's eyes. The panda was a manipulative greedy, conniving, lazy excuse of a father and only did something if it would profit him in some way. That was the only reason he had trained Ranma after all. He wanted to put his greedy paw on his dowry to live a comfortable retirement. He also professed a lot of things he didn't believe in. He had bothered Ranma on Honour when he had none himself. The best example was the Umisen-ken. He had said he had sealed the technique but had to have use it many times if he was that successful a burglar.

Jotaro saw the fear in Genma's eyes and decided to enact some revenge on Ranma's behalf.

"It's time I showed you what exactly I have learnt since your coma," he said threateningly. "First, the Bakusai Tenketsu."

He then jumped in front of Genma who jumped in fear and touched the ground with his finger. The ground instantly exploded. It should be noted that since the ground was a non-homogeneous volume of matter and that the Bakusai Tenketsu aimed in that case at separating the different parts of the ground from each other. The energy needed to force an explosion was greater than the one used on an homogeneous matter like stone. However, it could be done. Jotaro had mastered the attack on such a degree that he could perform it on sand.

Genma was showered by the shrapnel created by the Bakusai Tenketsu. It tore his clothes and gave him cuts an bruises on his whole body. He recoiled in shock under the unconventional attack. He looked panicked at where Jotaro was but didn't see him and it scared him even more.

"Second, the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken," said a voice behind him.

Genma didn't have time to react as Jotaro pummelled his back with more than four hundred strikes in one second, as he had used all of his limbs in what was to be known as a feat of order and coordination. Genma flew in the air due to the immense kinetic transfer that had occurred between Jotaro's limbs and him. His back screamed in agony as he felt that several of his vertebrae had been cracked. He pushed himself up with much difficulties and felt a terrible aura he hadn't felt for a long time. He slowly turned around.

"Lastly, the Neko-ken," said a demonic voice.

Jotaro was able to enter into the Neko-ken without the presence of a cat. It however took him twelve seconds of intense meditation. Genma gulped.

Ten metres away from him stood Jotaro, his body enshrouded in a blackish purple aura that streaked all over it. His nails were prolonged some even more blackish purple claws and his eyes exuded bloodlust. What terrified Genma the most was the fact that Jotaro wasn't hunched down on all four like he usually was under the Neko-ken. He was standing tall and menacing, not displaying any feline behaviour. That was the worst of it. He had managed to control the Neko-ken. With the insane power at his disposition, Genma could only hope for a quick defeat. His hopes of wining had totally disappeared since he couldn't even distract the boy since he didn't show any cat instincts. He was screwed and he knew it.

"Time to exact revenge for Ranma," growled Jotaro threateningly. And he struck.

Genma saw Jotaro swipe both of his hands at him and closed his eyes. Then pain took over him. His skin shredded in multiple places. Some pieces of it even fell from his body. His clothes were torn and bloody. He fell on the ground in unadulterated pain, reactivating the pain in his back.

Jotaro eyed him scornfully. He then moved at his side and kicked him strongly in the ribs, breaking three in the process and making him scream. He then grabbed him by his collar despite his grunts of pain.

"Let me tell you one thing," said Jotaro still under the influence of the Neko-ken. "I vanquished an Amazon Elder with three hundred years of experience. Compared to her you are nothing. Leave me alone for now. Each time I see you, I will hurt you more than the last time. Don't bother considering me like your son. I want nothing from you and nothing to do with you. If one of your schemes comes to bother me, I'm going to make you suffer. Remember that."

And with that he deactivated the Neko-ken and went away, leaving Genma to deal with his pain.

Genma remained on the ground in pain for about twenty minutes. He then managed to stand with difficulties and started to limp back to the Tendos. He hoped Soun would still take him despite his failure to bring his son back. The more he thought about it, the less likely it became that he could ever regain some form of control of the said son.


One week later, Genma had become the new family member of the Tendos. Soun had accepted him at his home, provided he worked as soon as he was healed. Genma had accepted with surprisingly little reluctance considering his chronic laziness. He had seemingly lost most of his spirit since his defeat against Jotaro. Akane had reported it to Jotaro who had remained sceptical about it. If he knew Genma, and he thought he knew him well, the man was just trying to plan something to rope him into one of his scheme. He had asked Akane to be careful and to avoid mentioning their friendship in the presence of Genma, lest he tried to marry them forcibly. Akane had taken it at heart and had threatened her father of leaving home from good if he mentioned it to Genma. Her father hadn't dared oppose her. She had also threatened her sisters to send Jotaro after them if they even breathed a word about it to Genma. It had worked better than expected. Her sisters hadn't dared to say anything.

Meanwhile Ryoga had mastered the Bakusai Tenketsu. He was currently hanging from the harness that had been used for the training. He was extremely proud of it. It had only taken him a week.

"Now that you mastered it, it's time for you to learn other techniques," said Cologne as she let him on the ground.

Ryoga sneered at her before scoffing.

"Who need some other training?" he said contemptuously. "With this new technique I'll easily be able to beat Ranma and Akane will be mine. Farewell, Granny."

And with that he was off. Cologne blinked for a second, a bit put off at having been disregarded like that. Then she remembered his terrible sense of orientation and ran after him.

"Wait, you can't hope to defeat Jotaro with just this attack!" she shouted uselessly. "I knew it and it didn't grant me victory."

Cologne screamed at the trees for some minutes, then, after noticing that she wouldn't have any response, she gave up.

"Fine!" she snarled angrily. "Go get yourself beaten! But don't count on me any more for training!"


Two days later, Jotaro was in her girl form in a forest near the place where Ryoga had learned the Bakusai Tenketsu. She had just finished precision training with the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. Her training had involved kicking a hornet's hive and defending herself against the hornets without killing them. For that she had had to grab them gently without crushing them between her fingers and release them away, slightly disorientating them with her ki. It had been difficult since she had to use the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken to fend of the swarms of hornets that were coming at her from all sides. She had killed a great number of them before managing to disorient them one by one using the Amazon technique. She had just finished it. It would have particularly useful uses, notably when dealing with shiatsu point or in conjunction with the Bakusai Tenketsu.

The next thing she planed to do was to use the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken in conjunction with the Kijin Raishu Dan, so as to be able to perform a wall of cutting void. It would be deadly. After that, she would probably try to work out the weakness of the Umisen-ken that obliged the user to shed the protective cloak before attacking. She wasn't sure that it could be done but it was worth a shot.

She suddenly felt a presence come. She had become quite good at detecting presences without her sight. The only ones who eluded her were Cologne, who knew how to prevent her vital energy from flooding an area, and Genma, who she knew could disappear totally, leaving her no choice but to rely on her vision to detect his presence. She identified the presence coming as Ryoga. She decided to wait for him, wondering how long it would take for him to attack her.

"Jotaro Kujo! There you are!" shouted Ryoga once he came in sight of her.

"What's up this time, Ryoga?" asked Jotaro neutrally.

"Today is the day I kill you," boasted Ryoga manically. "I have learnt a technique that will send you to your grave. Prepare to die! Bakusai Tenketsu!"

And with that he plunged his finger on a stone nearby Jotaro. The stone exploded and showered its neighbourhood with pieces of rock. Jotaro had escaped. She nodded appreciatively, noting that despite the terrible state his clothes were in Ryoga's skin was intact.

"Impressive," she commented. "You disrupt the fault line in solid matter, find its weakest point and overload it with ki, making it explode. An Amazon technique, unless I'm mistaken?"

"It is," gloated Ryoga. "And with that technique I'll tear you into little pieces!"

He dashed at Jotaro while pointing his finger at her, hoping to touch her and be finished once and for all with her. This time, however, Jotaro didn't move.

Ryoga's finger touched her skin and he was surprised to note that he couldn't penetrate it, despite the power behind his finger thrust. Worse, Jotaro didn't even explode. Ryoga eyed her aghast.

"Wha-What the hell?" he stammered. "Why didn't it work?"

"Didn't Cologne tell you that this technique didn't work on living moving beings, like animals or humans?" asked Jotaro rhetorically. "The offensive advantage of this technique is negligible in its basic form. The only reason why it is good to learn is the fact that it toughens the one who learns it beyond reason, making his skin extremely hard to pierce. Too bad for you."

"Shut up!" snarled Ryoga angry at having been ridiculed like that. "If I can't kill you directly with it, I will kill you with the shrapnel it creates since I'm immune to it. Bakusai Tenketsu!"

He pushed his finger into another rock besides Jotaro. This time again, Jotaro didn't move and was engulfed into the cloud of debris. Ryoga smirked victoriously. At least until the cloud dispersed and revealed a perfectly healthy Jotaro. Her skin was flawless and there wasn't even the slightest tear on her clothes, contrary to Ryoga's that were getting progressively more and more torn.

"What!" he shouted. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Didn't it occur to you that, since I knew so much about the Bakusai Tenketsu, I might know it too?" answered Jotaro. "I have mastered it to the point that the protection field it creates includes my clothes. And unlike you, I can use it on granular matter, like sand or the ground."

With these ominous words, Jotaro put her finger on the ground, which exploded, showering Ryoga with debris. It didn't hurt him in the slightest but it pushed him back.

"I can also make bigger explosions with it," added Jotaro. And she charged her finger with vital energy instead of ki before touching the ground once more in front of Ryoga.

The ground exploded again but this time it was way more impressive and pushed Ryoga even further. It also dizzied him given the sheer number of gravel that hit him. He coughed due to the dust and, for the first time since, well, ever, he eyed Jotaro fearfully.

"And I'll have you know," said Jotaro with finality. "It's not the only technique I learned since the last time you fought me. Let me show you an improvement I did on the Amazon's Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken."

Jotaro then infused herself with vital energy and moved to where Ryoga was before she started to pummel him mercilessly with her second version of the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. Ryoga might have had the toughness due to the Bakusai Tenketsu training but even then he couldn't resist the onslaught of punches that pummelled him. As all the hits were directed to his stomach, he suffered from four broken ribs and started to vomit blood. He fell on the ground, gripping his belly due to the intense pain he was sustaining. Jotaro loomed over him and he let out a cry of fright.

"I could easily get rid of you once and for all," said Jotaro threateningly as Ryoga whimpered in fear. "It would be well within my rights given the amount of time you shouted threats of death at me and tried to kill me."

Ryoga started to shake out of fear and tried to get away from Jotaro. She, however, would have none of it. Her arms blurred and Ryoga felt his body lock totally, barely allowing him to breath. He was gripped with terror, now. It had never come to his mind that Jotaro could want him dead. Now that he was realising that it was a very real possibility, he was overcome with terror.

"The shiatsu points I locked your body with will dissipate in two hours or when your curse is activated, whichever comes first," pursued Jotaro in a deadly tone. "I want you to stop attacking me with the intent to kill. If you want a normal fight, I have nothing against it. But should you challenge me to another death match, I won't stop until you're dead for good. Remember that. And remember that I know the Full Body Cat Tongue. If you bother me too much, you'll never be able to touch hot water and to unlock your curse ever again."

And with that Jotaro left, leaving Ryoga with his fear for the first time of his life. It was a new state of mind for him. He had spent long periods of time I anger, depression, rage even. But fear was totally new to him and he realised that he didn't like it much.

He decided to avoid provoking Jotaro for now, at least not until he was strong enough to at least defeat him. But given the gap between them and Jotaro's progression speed, it was becoming less and less likely that Ryoga would ever reach Jotaro's level. He couldn't even go back to the Amazons to ask for help. Even he wasn't delusional enough to believe that they would help him again after the way he had treated them. If he really wanted to beat Jotaro and kill him, he was on his own. His only way to be with Akane was to seduce her normally since he couldn't beat Jotaro for now but he hadn't even the slightest idea about how to do that. Maybe he should get some information.

It was a very thoughtful two hours for Ryoga, even when Cologne found him and told him in no uncertain terms that he would be on his own for learning techniques. Ryoga didn't really care for her threats, though, even when she threatened him to use the Full Body Cat Tongue on him. He was way more scared of Jotaro than he was of Cologne.


"So let me get this straight," said Jotaro to Akane. "You were kidnapped by a strange guy on a horse who wanted to marry you. He was a master of martial arts tea ceremony and was to marry a woman he didn't like. Am I right so far?"

Akane nodded.

"You thus had to learn martial arts tea ceremony and when the match with the promised came, it was a monkey" continued Jotaro. "You still tried to beat her even though the guy, Sentaro, was pissing you off by asking you to really marry him. It was a terribly difficult fight for you since you barely knew the arcana of tea ceremony. Still right?"

Akane nodded shamefully.

"You still won by the skin of your teeth and then Sentaro tried to marry you forcibly," concluded Jotaro. "While you were beating him into a pulp, a young woman arrived and revealed that she was his real fiancée but that she was so shy that she had sent her pet monkey at her place for the marriage. Sentaro and her finally decided to elope. Is that all?"

Akane sighed while she nodded. Jotaro eyed her strangely.

"You really should learn to pick your battles, Akane," said Jotaro patronizingly. "Your niceness will be your downfall one of these days. I have to admit that I have never heard of something so retarded. If I didn't know that there is something strange going on in Nerima I would have thought that you had invented it."

"Tell me about it," groaned Akane. "I though I was having a really fucked-up dream. At least I got to learn a few interesting things, like how to move with only your toes."

"Extremely useful," replied Jotaro sarcastically. "I can see a lot of occurrences when it will be of the utmost utility."

"Shut up," she growled. "I'm trying to find a silver lining to all this crap I went through."

Jotaro his usual neutral face but Akane could see the shadow of a smirk there.


A.N: After the monstrous chapter I posted the week before, this one seems extremely short. Oh, well. For those who were wondering, Shampoo's collar in the previous chapter is indeed from Battle Royale. And since some asked, I will tell you that it will be quite a while before the next Stand is seen. As for Stand battles, some will occur, mostly at the end, but I'm planning one or two for the middle of the story.