The inside of the turtle's strange Stand was a small but comfortable lounge with a closet, a few couches, and a coffee table. On the far wall there was a desk covered in computer parts and several laptops open to various spreadsheets, programs, and webpages.

More importantly, in front of the desk there was a familiar man sitting in a wheeled office chair.

Dio stared at Polnareff. Polnareff stared back. The silence stretched.

Dio raised his hand and pushed at the metal plate covering the key. It rattled against the latch but did not move.

"Merde alors!" Polnareff's face contorted with confusion. "You're NOT a ghost?!" Dio took a deep breath and stared off into the middle distance as Polnareff began to rant. "How on Earth? How could you possibly be here right now? And alive? What the fuck!"

Dio let out the breath he had been holding as a sigh. "Polnareff."

"Don't you say a damn word," Polnareff spat. "Shut up. Shut up." His chest heaved as he struggled to calm himself.

Dio lifted his hands with his palms out. Polnareff pointed at him and scowled. "Don't even try anything. You can't hurt me anymore, you know that?"

When Dio narrowed his eyes in confusion, Polnareff laughed helplessly. "Want to know why? Because I'm a fucking ghost! I'm already dead!" His panic solidified into fiery determination. "You're trapped in here with me, not the other way around."

"Polnareff." His tone was firm but not unkind. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Ha ha fucking ha." Polnareff glowered at him, but his eyes flashed with a sudden fear. "How did you get in? What did you do to Giorno?"

"He's perfectly fine." He waved a hand towards the computers. "You can contact him, can't you?"

Polnareff squinted at him, but he turned to one of the laptops and typed out a brief message.

Outside of the turtle, Giorno's phone buzzed. The screen lit up with a preview of the text: the pixels spelled out a simple WTF?

In the midst of pigeon-based chaos, Giorno pointed at his phone. "No texting and driving. Mista, would you reply for me?"

"Hey, make yourself useful and give us some cover fire," Mista said over his shoulder to Hol. He then peered down at the screen, read the message, and snorted. "What should I say?"

Giorno frowned thoughtfully and swerved to avoid flaming debris. "Judgement," he finally answered, and Mista tapped at the screen.

Polnareff read their response and folded the laptop shut. He turned in his seat and stared imperiously at Dio. "Alright. You get to talk. I determine when you get to leave. You better be convincing, because if you break your way out of here, they'll know, and it won't end well for you." He crossed his arms.

"What, should I be worried about a Stand that can kick bullets around and another that's a glorified radar?" Dio restrained a sneer and watched Polnareff's reaction closely.

Polnareff had grown better at hiding his tells over time. He only frowned at Dio and shook his head. "You're not off to a good start with this convincing thing."

Dio let his expression soften. He took a seat on the couch, crossed his legs, and bounced his heel against his shin. "Alright, then. Let's catch up. So, you work for my son now?"

"He's not your son," Polnareff spat. "Not in any way that matters."

He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Is that so? He looks an awful lot like me. There's no overlap in personality at all?" Polnareff narrowed his eyes and Dio laughed. "You're a real family man, Polnareff. I honestly do respect that about you. How do you know him so well? What, did you find him and raise him after Cairo?"

"No. We met very fortuitously ten years ago. We work together as allies." He smirked. "Unlike some people, he can actually persuade others to join his cause without putting a cancerous meat spike in their head."

Dio stared at him blankly and considered what to say. "I only did that to you," he finally stated, "because I could recognize you were a good man."

"No, you did it because you wanted me to be able to work in a group that included the same man that murdered my sister," Polnareff retorted.

"Both statements can be true," Dio replied. "Here's another truth: you came to me because you wanted a purpose and I gave you one."

Polnareff shook his head slowly. "You are so damn full of yourself, you know that?" He reached over to the laptop with a sigh.

"Wait." Polnareff glared at him, but Dio kept his expression carefully calm. "Polnareff, I…" He trailed off and Polnareff looked at him expectantly. "I need your help, but I want you to do it on your own terms."

Polnareff went wide-eyed and at first he was silent, but he let out a strained wheeze that turned into a loud guffaw. He threw his head back as he laughed and Dio felt hot rage accreting in the pit of his stomach.

Polnareff let out one last cackle before his face grew deadly serious. "Fuck no."

"Don't do it for me, then." Dio crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch. "Do it for Giorno."

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

Dio pulled the folded up papers out of his pocket. "He has siblings."

Polnareff shook his head in astonishment. "Are you serious?"

He waved the printouts and shrugged. "At least three."

"At least?! You don't know?"

"They're in danger," Dio stated. "So is Giorno. Do you remember Enrico Pucci?"

"Kind of." Polnareff frowned in confusion. "Cairo. Priest guy. I met him like, once."

"Let's just say that he's trying to pick up where I left off," Dio said. "He will want to bring all of my descendants together. It will not be safe for them if he does so."

"What do you mean?" Polnareff furrowed his eyebrows, his expression taut with concern. "What would happen?"

"The end of the world," Dio answered.

"You're bullshitting."

"I'm not."

Polnareff frowned and turned towards the computer. "Is this… this is why Jotaro's in the hospital?"

Now Dio had his turn to be confused. "What?"

Polnareff quirked an eyebrow at him. "You didn't know? He's in some sort of weird coma right now. The Speedwagon Foundation is being cagey about his location, but I figured I could find a way to locate him. That's the whole reason I wanted to come to Florida."

Dio pursed his lips. "Kujo's in a coma?"

Polnareff tilted his head. "You know, the fact that you're surprised is actually kind of promising."

Dio fell silent and Polnareff watched him, his expression slowly souring into a vague disgust. "Did Jotaro ever talk to you about Morioh?" Dio finally asked.

"That whole thing with the serial killer," Polnareff replied. "Only barely. Jotaro is a very private person and I was deep undercover when that was going on."

"Jotaro can vouch for me," Dio bluffed. "I helped him catch that serial killer." Well, that was at least partially true. It was low on his current list of priorities but Dio was hoping to show the killer the meaning of pain when he made it back to Morioh.

"Oh, shut up." Polnareff rolled his eyes. "You don't think he would have said 'oh yeah, by the way, Dio showed up in Japan and now we're best buds' to me at some point?"

He shrugged. "You said it yourself, he's a private person."

"Not so private he'd keep quiet about," Polnareff gestured wildly at Dio, "this."

If Jotaro hadn't told Polnareff, his future self must have given him a pretty good reason. Or, Dio realized with worry, he never made it back to Morioh and Jotaro had written off his reappearance as a strange fluke.

Polnareff's expression grew doubtful and he looked away. "But maybe… I don't know. He practically dropped off the face of the Earth for a few years and the last time he spoke to me… And his family... I think I have a more active social life and I'm a ghost stuck in a turtle."

Dio sighed at him. "Are you willing to explain the ghost comments?"

"Not much to explain. I'm dead. My soul is stored within the turtle's Stand," Polnareff replied.

Dio pressed a hand to his temple in annoyance. "Yes, but how did that occur?"

"Let's just say that we've had bad prior experiences with a child meeting their estranged parent," Polnareff said drily.

Dio was quiet for a few moments, but his expression grew curious. "Do you still have Silver Chariot?"

"No." He glanced away. "Silver Chariot no longer exists."

If ghosts didn't have Stands, what was going on with the killer's father and his photographs? Perhaps something else had also happened. Dio frowned. "But you can still use the computer?"

"Yeah, duh." Polnareff flipped the laptop open. "I just have to focus. But enough about me being dead. How the fuck are you alive?"

"Did you know that you could use Stand Arrows on yourself more than once?" Dio laced his fingers together and set his hands on his knee as he leaned forward. Based on Polnareff's current tense expression, he did know. "Imagine if in Cairo I had just…" he waved his hand sharply, pantomiming an arrow piercing his heart. "Perhaps a few dozen times. There is a version of myself with such power. He has decided to use that power to… toy with me, essentially. I think he intends to kill me at some point, after using me to become even stronger."

"Tu t'es foutu dans la merde." Polnareff blinked at him. "I'd tell you go to fuck yourself, but it sounds like you already have."

Dio looked at Polnareff, his expression as open and honest as he could manage. "I don't expect any sympathy. Not from you. But I do want your help, if you will offer it."

"I will help Giorno as best I can. If he wants to find his siblings, I will help him with that, too. But you're on your own beyond that," Polnareff answered. "And Jotaro…" His expression grew melancholy. "He's caught up in all of this, too, isn't he? I want to help him." He typed on the laptop and sent off a message. "There. I let them know my decision. I'll open the door for you, but know that I'll be watching every damn move you make," Polnareff said. "If I see just one sign that you're up to something, it's over." He let out a sigh. "Believe me, I'd love to avenge Avdol and Iggy right now. Once this is all over, I'll still be considering it. Even if that other version of you has dibs. The second Giorno is safe, you should be watching your back."

"Thanks for the heads up," Dio said flatly.

The lock on the metal plate whirred and Dio heard the latch pop open. He stood and approached Polnareff, holding out the printouts. "These should have enough information to allow you to find them," he said, and Polnareff pulled the papers from his grasp. Dio lifted an arm towards the ceiling but paused and grinned at Polnareff, who furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh, by the way, Hol Horse is here, too."

"What!" Polnareff nearly dropped the papers. "That bastard?!"

Dio smirked and exited the turtle. He slipped out of the gem and landed on a seat covered in feathers and blood. He glanced around in confusion and saw Hol to his left, covered in scorch marks and spitting out fluffy down. In the front, Giorno had the steering wheel in a death grip and Mista was wiping blood from his face with an expression of annoyance.

"The pigeon is dead?" Dio asked.

Giorno shot an exhausted look at the rearview mirror. "It better be."