- A/N -
NOTE: I have changed some parts of the final chapter to improve it from what it was. I thank everyone who gave their input in how the final commentary should have been handled. I wrote some new stuff in the bottom A/N for anyone who just wants to read my explanation.
And so, here it is. Again, it did take quite some time to do.
I'm not one to give out excuses, especially since it's going to sound like I'm just making them up, but for one of my final exam reviews, my teacher just gave out a several page google doc and said it had to be done by the end of this month, and that in order to complete it on time, we would have to do at least ten pages a week. I think I did at least two through three pages a day because I actually completed it the day of releasing this.
Besides that, I might as well say this before I start. The next chapter will take more time for me to complete due to other things, so don't worry if it takes a while for a new chapter.
- Reviews -
Greer123: Oh, they do. And thank you, hope you're doing well also.
Nemonobody001: Thank you! I hope I do as well. *sweating*
Kept123: No problem.
123ABIR123: Hopefully, I made it live up to it's moment.
Henry Townshend1: Here it is.
Colt Cobra: It is playing in the background. It's just that I didn't write about it. I'll be sure to mention the music in the future. Don't worry, they'll notice in future chapters.
DeathlyJazzHands55: Thank you.
Wendel Santana and Zero: Will do!
Guest on May 3: Koichi's monologue is probably the best thing since it naturally reveals Jaune/Giorno's relation to the Joestars for the cast. I didn't get to touch up on it this time, but the next chapter will.
Opaale: Haha, I'm sorry. I was at that point after two weeks+ when everyone was concerned if I had gone away.
X3runner: Thank you. Some members of the cast are going to be thinking about types of Stands. And Neo, she's one of the best girls, it's only fair she cheers on one of the best Joestar members. Ruby is definitely not going to have a good time with this show. And thank you for that, smooth and organic dialogue is something I put effort into achieving.
STUPIDHORMONE: You are right, it does intrigue me. However, I generally plan for Bruno's gang to be as they are in the show. Mostly because they are the ones that we'll be seeing throughout the entire show. But I do plan to have some of the members in Passione or side characters be faunus.
Awesomenessomar5: Thank you.
CGOLChris: A muda rush is always the cherry on top of a good fight scene. Oh, if I ever- -at she feels at hea… What?
Guest on May 4: The way I see it, is that she would feel almost fearful, that someone fated to die will die. But as another guest said, she would still continue to do what she feels at heart.
RandomSonOfDorn :
Giorno: *Looks at Jolyne* dam she thic.
Pyrrha watching from the theater: :(
Jotaro: You're related to me, and she's my daughter.
Giorno: :o
Pyrrha: :O
Laharl-chan: I do agree though, I want to remain focused on this story. The story really kicks off around episode 5 - 6. When that part happens, I'll try to keep it natural.
Nobody: Hello again! A reaction fic, in my mind at least, wouldn't be nearly as entertaining if everyone thought the same. Oh boy, Jaune really flipped the table on them with what he's going to do. About Jaune/Giorno's new background, I definitely had it in mind by wanting a tragic backstory similar to other members. For the Fugo comment, I had the same thing planned. I mean, it makes sense with how prone to violence he is.
ILikeitIReadIt: Thank you!
Guest on May 12: You know, you bring up a really good point. Part 5 only gets worse (graphic-violence wise). And I do not want to have FF take down my story. So, I'll do it, I'm changing the maturity to K for kids.
Ok, no, I'm changing it to M for mature. At least that way, I can get away with characters saying some cuss words.
Guest on May 13: Bang
Netapel: Thank you. I do agree that Cardin is still a kid who got into a prestigious Huntsmen academy. However, the reason why most fans of the show hate him is because: he's the stereotypical bully character, and because he blackmailed Jaune into doing things against his will.
Gofan: Ooh, yeah, I agree with you on that. It's just strange that there aren't really any consequences for some character's actions. But in Blake and Yang's defense. Blake got off because no one really knew she was White Fang beside Adam. As for Yang, I assume that Junior didn't really report it to the police since they would investigate his club and find out he's an information broker for criminals.
Amarosasuke09: Thank you, and no worries, the translation is all correct.
Aguirresulises469: Thank you.
TheCommonCold: I checked it out, and it was pretty good. Dio pulling out that UNO reverse card on Diavolo was pretty clever, not going to lie. But in terms of this fic, I'm going to pass on that. But thank you!
Guest on May 20: I agree with your statement.
123ABIR123: Sorry for the wait!
A gold coin, embossed with a ladybug and a revolver and outlined with silver with "GIOGIO" marked around it, spins quickly. The coin stops at the left side before revealing Polpo's Stand, the coin itself revealing data marked with letters.
[Stand Master] Polpo
[Stand Name] Black Sabbath
Power: E
Speed: A
Range: A
Durability: A
Precision: E
Growth Potential: E
"Power, speed, range..." Glynda read out what's shown. "Is this a grading system?"
"What is this?" Ren questioned no one in particular, but received an answer.
"This is information about the Stand." The Entertainer spoke through the speakers. "Stands' traits are measured in these six categories and graded from A to E. All of which w- I have been gathering from the viewing."
"Its name was Black Sabbath, seems fitting." Qrow acknowledged.
Koichi gasps as the sun continues to set. "That arrow… The fact that the Arrow is also in Naples means that there'll be even more victims!"
Koichi ran down to the nearest payscroll and urgently dialed.
"I need to hurry up and tell Jotaro!" As he continued to press the buttons, Giorno placed his finger down to cancel the call. Koichi turned around surprised. "Wh-What are you doing?"
Giorno looked at the student nervously. "Did you just say there'll be more? We defeated Polpo's Stand, which had the arrow. You saw it for yourself."
"Defeated? You've got this all wrong!" Koichi eyed the blond thief. "I'll admit that we managed to escape its attacks because of you, but that Stand only stopped attacking because of the sunlight. The user isn't hurt at all. They're perfectly fine!"
Nicolas was the first to snap his eyes toward the screen in surprise. Polpo is still alive?
"Wait! I-Is that true?!" A light of hope shone in Pyrrha's eyes.
"So, Jaune would still be innocent?" Nora looked to her teammates as well as the other students.
"So Polpo's alive?" Giorno sounded relieved.
"Not only that, but long-distance remote-controlled Stands basically don't affect their users at all." The camera shows areas where the fight took place. "He probably hasn't even realized there's been a battle here."
"He's innocent?!" Nora wrapped her arms around Ren, surprising him as he got choked. "Our leader's innocent!"
"And his cover isn't blown." Blake comments about the situation, almost smiling at how well this turned out for him.
"Yes!" Ruby cheered on with the rest of the students.
While Nicolas was very glad that his son is safe and hasn't committed murder, he still hoped that Jaune would change his mind about being a gangster.
Ironwood looked intrigued about the concept of remote-controlled Stands. 'Being able to send out autonomous Stands with little to no harm to the user. There's a lot of applications available for that.'
"What?" Giorno couldn't believe it. "So he has no idea at all? He doesn't know I'm a Stand user, either?"
"Chill out, would you? If he noticed anything, it was probably that his hand felt a bit heavier, but he'd have no way of knowing that you and I are Stand users."
Giorno had a thoughtful look to him before Koichi called out to him. "Hey, could you move your finger?"
"Sorry, but I still can't let you make your call." Koichi was caught off guard as he watched him. "I'm begging you… This isn't just one enemy. They're an organization. If you tell someone, the organization might find out."
Roman gave a huff at that. 'No doubt they have the entire communication network tapped.' The extent of power that Passione has is quite terrifying.
"Enemy? Organization?" Koichi questioned him.
"I'll tell you and only you, Koichi."
The Next Day
"We don't even get to hear?" Nora looked slightly disappointed.
"It's probably just things we already know about." Weiss told her.
"Yeah… But I want to see his reaction!"
It was the afternoon outside of the prison holding Polpo, an iron gate could be heard sliding open. The scene changes to Giorno placing the lighter onto the door's tray.
Giorno looked at it before turning back to the glass. Walking over, he looked through the glass only to not see the large capo.
"How does he even hide in that tiny cell?" Blake asked the same thing that was on everyone's mind in the room.
"It's probably his semblance!" Nora said to her.
"Would Stand users even have their semblance?" Ren leaned forward to grab the group's attention. "I thought maybe it would get traded off along with aura for a Stand."
"In that case, he used his Stand to hide himself in the shadows!" Nora sounded like she already made up her mind.
"I don't think that's how that works." Deadpanned Ren.
"Someone gifted me a special-order pizza." A deep sounding voice said. The camera shifted to a soft dough being devoured to reveal the capo's mouth. The capo took another large bite separating it into two points.
The capo then proceeded to slurp down the large pizza before taking one big gulp to send it down his stomach.
"Couldn't he just eat a normal meal?!" Weiss held a hand to her mouth instinctively. Many others in the room felt uncomfortable with how fast that went down.
Saphron looked away from the screen in mild disgust.
Blake's eyes furrowed slightly. "No doubt paying off the guards to have that."
Giorno did not look like he wanted to be here.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's see, you were..." Polpo struggled to open the fridge door. "Giorno… Giorno, uh..." But once opened, he grabbed several fruits.
"Giorno Giovanna." He informed Polpo.
"Ah, yes. Sorry about that." He began to peel a banana. "My head goes blank when I eat. Perhaps it's because all my blood goes to my stomach." He says while trying to eat food.
Mercury started to smirk to himself. "I'm surprised blood's even able to circulate." Emerald simply stared at him.
Giorno turned his attention away from the capo and looked at the inside of his fridge.
"This might sound sudden, but are you a religious person, Giorno?" He asked him as he poured himself a glass of wine.
"I'm not sure… but I'm not very passionate about it." Giorno told him as he hummed in acknowledgement.
Ozpin's gaze drifted just slightly upward as he started to recall the task given to him before being reincarnated. To reunite the world, and the only person stopping him is Salem.
"What I'm about to say may contradict God's teachings, but I'd like you to listen carefully." He looked up as he held his glass. "If the most important thing in this world is trust, the most despicable thing you can do is insult someone."
"Listen well… To insult or betray someone's trust not only hurts their reputation, but puts them in a very sticky situation."
Roman quirks an eyebrow, interested in what the capo had to say.
Both Weiss and Winter understood this concept. Being one of the richest families on Remnant meant having a sizable reputation.
"We will not fight others or risk our lives over money, power, or having our seats taken at the theater or on the bus. Fighting is truly foolish. Only idiots bother with it." He raised his hand dismissively.
"What?" Yang looked incredulously at the capo. "Fighting's the best part!"
"That's not really a good reason to use, Yang." Pyrrha looked over to the blonde fighter.
"Well, fighting is necessary to protect others from grimm." Ruby said. "I don't see how he could see that being foolish."
"People who say that are usually the ones that like to stay well within the protection of a town or kingdom." Nicolas informed them. "Don't worry too much about it."
"But..." He pointed to Giorno. "I will risk my life over being insulted. I believe that God forgives even murder." A sickening mood fell upon Polpo's face as GIorno looked at him in a stoic expression. "Don't forget that."
There was silence among the younger members of the cast. Jaune is now in the criminal underworld. Even saying something about someone could be their downfall. Especially so when Jaune doesn't even have an aura.
The mood changes drastically. "Congratulations! I will allow you to enter the organization. You did bring me the lighter still lit, as I trusted you would." He reached into his coat to withdraw something. "You pass."
Polpo flicked an ornately engraved gold pin onto the door's tray for Giorno to receive.
"That's our Passione organization's badge. It proves that you passed. You'll be working under Bucciarati for a while." Polpo went to take a sip from his glass.
For the Arcs, seeing their family member officially being welcomed into the gang gave them a sense of worry. For Nicolas however, he couldn't help but feel guilty.
"Heh, trust." Qrow dryly chuckled. "There was hardly any trust in that test."
"Congrats, kid." Roman said from his corner, along with Neo who was giving a light applause.
Giorno reached out to claim his badge but suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked up before reaching out for something out of view.
Polpo enjoyed his drink, oblivious to Gold Experience's arm reaching for something.
The scene shows Giorno's outreached arm toward Polpo's stash. The faint sounds of an object being given life could be heard.
"Uh, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as though she would expect him to answer back.
"Did he do something?" Sun also asked as the students looked at one another.
"He definitely did something with his powers." Blake told them as she had better hearing.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he took one of the weapons Polpo has." Winter stated. "If other Stand users really don't have an aura, then a simple handgun would be more than enough to stop them."
With the glass of wine being empty, Polpo huffed to himself in joy. "How about it? Why don't we celebrate your..." He picked up a bottle of wine, only to see Giorno on his way out.
He leaned against the glass, watching him. 'Did that brat actually protect the flame for 24 hours? Or did he relight it and become a Stand user?'
"So it was rigged!" Ruby shouted out.
"With how seemingly impossible the test is, it was designed to guarantee a Stand user succeeds the test." Ozpin concluded about the test.
"It's ironic that a test of trust on the basis of a lie." Glynda said
He blew out at the thought of it. 'I couldn't care less about that. Young clueless guys like him are easy to use.' Giorno could be seen taking the body search process to exit the facility. 'Either way, we can use him however we want.'
"He's the only one who's clueless." Saphron commented while Nicolas' eyes hardened toward the capo.
Polpo went to pour more wine into his already filled glass when he noticed the refrigerator door open.
"Oh? I could've sworn I closed that…" He peeked in to see if something was missing. "The blood does flow to my stomach after I've eaten..." With that, he shut the door as the view shows Giorno leaving the prison.
Giorno stopped in his tracks, giving the place a look before resuming his departure. Koichi was also there, watching Giorno leave the prison.
"You met him again?" The view changes to the office of Jotaro Kujo.
"I'm sorry, Jotaro. But I can't help thinking-"
"-that he, Giorno Giovanna, isn't as dangerous as you think he might be." Koichi informed him from a payscroll near the prison.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well..." Koichi paused as he remembered the fight against Black Sabbath. "Well, I'll tell you that in person. Is that all right?"
Jotaro remained staring at the scroll in his hands. "All right. If that's what you want to do, then that's fine. I'll be waiting."
"Thank you. I'll talk to you later." Koichi hung up the scroll.
"At least he kept his word." Nora noted.
"Or…" Roman leans forward. "He just doesn't want to catch the attention of the most infamous gang on Remnant?"
"Quiet, Torchwick!" Ruby casted her finger toward him.
'Jotaro, back then, I really did think… Does this Giorno kid really admire that? Is he sane? But I can feel it. I can feel that he has a righteous heart.' The scene changes to the day before, Giorno kneeling down before the janitor's body.
'I can tell… Because I observed three members of the Joestar bloodline back in Morioh. The three who exude righteousness from their hearts, as if it were their life energy. I can see the same thing in his eyes.'
Giorno looked up with that same, unrelenting stare.
'Without a doubt, the blood that flows in his veins carries the will of the Joestars.' As Koichi spoke, from the shoulders up, a Mistralian student adorning a pompadour appeared, followed by a slightly younger Jotaro, wearing his white outfit with his signature hat, and finally Mr. Joestar who looked to be the age from the photo appeared.
'Joestars?' Nicolas took notice. 'What does my son have to do with the Joestars?'
"I recognize Mr. Joestar and Jotaro," Weiss told the others. "but I don't know who he is."
"The one with the pompadour?" Ren questioned. "He said he observed three members of the Joestar bloodline. I'm assuming he's related to Mr. Joestar and Jotaro?"
"Morioh." Oobleck stared off in the distance before snapping back to the others. "If I recall correctly, Morioh is a town located in western Mistral. It's a nice and quaint town."
'So I'm going to keep this to myself for a while, like he asked...' Koichi looked up as the angle moved upwards as well, a faint image of Giorno appearing. 'The golden dream that Giorno Giovanna possesses.'
"Well, then, maybe I'll go do some sightseeing." Koichi stopped his inner monologue as he ran briskly down the sidewalk.
"Try not to get robbed." Emerald said sarcastically, though everyone took it at face value.
"I doubt so considering how often crime occurs in that place." Weiss said dismissively.
"Ah c'mon!" Sun gave a cocky smile to the group. "What would life be if it wasn't dangerous? Besides, the city's beautiful."
"The Joestar bloodline?" Ozpin looked puzzled for a moment.
"He makes it sound as though they're larger than life." Glynda said
"Besides the fact that their company rubs shoulders with the Speedwagon Foundation and SDC, what else have they done?" Qrow turned to them to give his two cents.
The Next Day
To the surprise of most, the viewing wasn't over yet.
"Hmm?" Nicolas looked at the screen. "There's still more?"
"I thought it was over." Pyrrha said.
The badge that Giorno had received was presented in his hand. Both Giorno and Bucciarati had met up where their battle had ended, and where they agreed to find the boss' identity.
"Come with me, Giorno Giovanna." Bruno walked away, prompting Giorno to walk after him.
The sounds of Polpo sighing could be heard as the view focused on a pair of bananas and apples.
"Please tell me he's eating something normal." Weiss held her hand to her eyes. "I'm tired of seeing a disgusting amount of food."
Polpo peels a banana in his cell peacefully. No one was around to disturb him. As he peels the third flap, a distinct click echoed in the room.
Polpo stopped what he was doing before looking around his room.
"What was that noise?" He kept quiet, for a moment, to hear if there would be anything. There was nothing.
The ribbon on Blake's head twitched slightly. Her eyes focused on the screen.
"Was that a gun?" Mercury cocked his eyebrow.
"I… don't think so? I mean, where's the gun?" Ruby looked alarmed, but was otherwise calm.
"Kids, he might be right." Qrow placed his flask in his chest pocket.
"That was definitely the sound of a gun." Nicolas' eyes sharpened to the screen.
"Well, whatever." He goes to take a bite out of his fruit. The scene changes back to the two mafiosos walking down the street.
'When someone insults you, even murder is forgivable?' Giorno had a hardened face as he followed Bruno down the streets.
'I see. What you told me is very important.'
Almost everyone's eyes widen after hearing those two lines together.
"Jaune, what are you doing?" Saphron stared at the blond student on screen.
'N-No. He wouldn't, would he?' Cardin felt a shiver on his back.
'You insulted that innocent old man's life.'
"No Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled out. Followed by other shouts of denial by the other students.
"Don't murder him!" Nora looked to the back of Jaune playfully.
"He's in a cell in a protected prison, you'll be thrown in jail if you do!" Sun looked shocked at what he might be planning.
"Wait, he's not going to the prison right now! T-There's still time for him to reconsider!" Ruby sounded as though she's grasping at straws.
Polpo's teeth bit into the banana, but felt hard metal between his teeth. His eyes widened in utter shock as the banana that he wanted to eat formed into a primed revolver from his secret compartment.
'So I changed one of your guns into a banana.' Giorno stopped in his tracks to turn around. A cold-blooded and calculating glare was all to be seen. 'You should savor your last meal as best you can.'
The criminals, including Cinder and her two followers, were very surprised at the turn of events that had happened. While they might not know who this Jaune person is, he's definitely made an impression on them.
Pyrrha couldn't believe what was happening. This couldn't be happening. Nora squeezed Ren's hand in worry.
Weiss placed a hand over her mouth as Yang snapped out of it, rushing over to cover Ruby's eyes. Blake's ribbon stood on end. Though her eyes were on screen, all she saw was memories of the past.
Some of the teachers of Beacon looked away in shame. Jaune could've been a promising student, but now is no more than a killer.
The Arcs were the most distraught. Saphron was horrified by the scene, that her little brother would do this. On the other hand, Nicolas couldn't express it.
The hammer fell forward, blasting a bullet into Polpo's mouth. Black Sabbath appeared for a split second in a failed attempt to save its master.
The result of what happened was the mess of blood smeared all over the ceiling. Followed by Polpo falling over forward, the bullet ripping a hole straight from his mouth to the other side of his skull.
For a solid moment, his body laid there, unmoving, until the scene changed to the arrow, shattered on the ground beside him.
Though Yang tried her best, she was a moment too slow. Before her hand could shield Ruby's eyes from the screen, Ruby saw the moment Polpo died. An image that would forever be ingrained into her memory.
Pyrrha's hands shook, this could not be happening.
'T-This isn't real.' Her mind struggled to put together a coherent thought.
Else where in the room, the Arcs couldn't believe that Jaune committed murder. Saphron started to tear up, before grabbing her father. Nicolas tried his best to comfort her, but he also struggled to come to terms with his son's actions.
Mercury was quite surprised, he started to see himself in Jaune. Fathers who taught them how to fight a young age, no semblances technically, and having what it takes to murder.
To the side of him, Cinder was quietly fuming. Aside from the surprise of Polpo being shown dead, she was also shown the destroyed arrow. Even though she was on the fence about it, the guaranteed chance at potentially obtaining a Stand is now closed off to her.
"Ah! AHHH!" Everyone was shook from their thoughts as they turned toward Cardin. "H-He's going to kill me! That freak is actually going to come and kill me!"
"Mr. Winchester! Calm down."
"C-Calm down?! He set that banana gun up for an entire day!" His mind started racing with the many ways Jaune could take him out.
"You!" Cardin swung his finger to point to the Arcs. "What fucking monster did you raise!?"
Before Nicolas could respond, the Entertainer called for their attention.
"Please settle down. Just a bit more of the viewing before you all are free to talk." Though emotions were getting high, each of the members silently agreed to watch a bit more.
Cardin sat back down hesitantly.
"So… Where are we going?" Giorno asked his new employer as the camera looked through the streets. Until a green door of a red brick building showed on screen.
"I'll introduce you to my team." Bruno's voice told the blond as the scene transitioned.
A man with long white hair wearing headphones was shown. Followed by a man, wearing a blue shirt and a red cap, each having diagonal lines on them, who seemed to be waiting for something. Then finally, two others, the first in a green suit filled with holes, and the second in a leather top. The former seems to be tutoring the latter.
The four sat at a table in a restaurant, minding their own business. Bruno's voice informed Giorno. "They're all Stand users."
To Be Continued
The episode ended, and for a moment, the students and teachers of Beacon still were in disbelief. The events and actions of Jaune felt so unreal, more so than the existence of Stands. Could someone they knew well enough resolve to murder?
Ruby decided to break the silence among the students. "I can't believe Jaune did it..." They all knew what she was referring to.
"Students, I know you are all in shock." Port tried to calm them. "But, you must understand that people change. People you meet again after a year might not be the same person. It might just be better that you forget about Jaune."
"What?" The students looked toward Pyrrha. "We can't just forget about Jaune. He's still our friend and leader."
"Miss Nikos, he's no longer your team's leader." Glynda told her. "You understood that the moment we informed your team of his expulsion."
Oobleck agreed with her. "He's changed since he left Beacon, the Jaune you all knew is different now."
"Look, I know. I don't agree with what he's done, but he's still Jaune." Pyrrha argued.
"Pyrrha, you can't honestly defend his actions. He killed him in cold blood!" Weiss couldn't believe Pyrrha took the side of Jaune on this.
"He might be Jaune, but he's no longer recognizable." Blake said with slight fear in her voice. "He's no better than him."
"Who?" Sun asked her, causing Blake to look at him fiercely, as though she were a cornered stray.
"...A very misguided individual. When someone starts to do immoral actions for the sake of a 'noble cause', they're no longer reasonable."
"Students." Ozpin calmly called for their attention. "It might seem that his actions are rash. I believe that this is the only choice that he has."
"Ozpin, you can't be serious?!" Yang said incredulously.
"Yang, you need to remember," Qrow explained to her. "that Polpo's not in a prison, he's in his own personal castle where he can send out an invisible drone to do his bidding. The legal system won't be there to stop him."
"Alright, alright. Before tensions get any higher, let me ask all of you to stay calm." The Entertainer kept his voice level, in hopes that the cast would follow suit.
Meanwhile, Cardin was hyperventilating, Jaune murdered Polpo with a gun he disguised as a banana for an entire day.
"Entertainer! Get me out of here!" He shot up, screaming at the top of his lungs. "He's going to want to get even with me!"
"For once, I actually agree with him." Yang said as she kept a hold on Ruby. "We're done here, there's nothing more I want to see."
"I'm afraid that won't be happening." The Entertainer told them. "Not until everyone here sees the entire situation of Jaune."
"And why is that?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow.
"I can't say just yet, but I can't let any of you leave until then. I guarantee your safety as long as you cooperate with me."
The cast grew suspicious at his statement, but with no way out, they're just going to have to do as he says.
"Look, guys. I'm shocked as well, mostly by how he took him out, but Polpo was a capo of an organization that ran our Kingdom for as long as I could remember." Neptune told them.
"What do you mean, 'as long as you could remember?'" Weiss asked him.
"Well, I mean, they've been around before I was born, the same goes for all of us. If there's anything crime related, it always involves them."
While the students mulled over what Neptune informed of them, Roman lit his signature cigar.
"You know Neo, I got to give the kid credit. That has to have been the smoothest hit I've seen." Neo responds by nodding her head, raising her bowl to give a toast for Jaune.
"I should hire the kid." Roman felt a light punch from his side. "What? I know it's your job to tie up loose ends, but the kid's efficient... Why are you looking at me like that?"
Cinder kept her face neutral, but thought about something.
'How likely is it that other capos have a Stand arrow? If there's more, then chances are that I might have to face Giorno. He's going to prove to be an obstacle.'
"Cinder? What did you think?" Emerald asked her warmly. Prompting Cinder to stare at her.
"It was quite eye-opening." She said in her suave monotone voice, before assuming a more quiet tone. "Tracking down Giorno's exact location will be both of your jobs."
Mercury didn't look too confident. "Are you sure? We're watching him right-"
"Yes, ma'am!" Emerald cut him off.
As the others went into their own discussions. The Arcs were thinking of Jaune.
"I can't believe that he did it." Saphron was still shocked. Nicolas went to console her.
"I understand how you feel. In a perfect world, I'd rather have him fend off grimm from cities and towns. It would be more ideal." He said to her, "But the duty of a huntsman is to protect the people."
"But… about what his teammate said." She referred to the red haired student. "Do you think he's still Jaune?"
Nicolas took a moment before answering. "Yes, I believe so."
Ozpin's group went to talk privately.
"I'm eager to see what else Stands could do. Though, I'm disappointed that the arrow got destroyed after all that." Ironwood said.
"Don't tell me you're planning to start a division of Stand users." Qrow commented
"Passione is able to run the kingdom of Vacuo by the sheer fact that every member is a Stand user. Evident by the fact that only those who pass the lighter test can be a member." He replied back.
"Stand users seem to be powerful, but it's the lack of aura that's getting me." Glynda mentioned.
"Now, that could be quite easy to fix." Ozpin said to her. "Having one or two Stand users per team of four could be enough to cover for each other."
- A/N -
After revision: I kept some aspects from before the revision, such as Blake comparing him to Adam and being scared, and Yang being angry at Jaune's actions, because I think that realistically that is how they would act, being sheltered children after all. But for the most part, I revised sections of it. I'm hoping that it's, at the very least, more passable or better than the previous.
Some people point out that some of the adults acted slightly out of character, in that they should've understood his actions. Others said that I should focus on working on the next chapter.
For the former, I would agree, and that was most likely why I didn't feel too great about the commentary.
For the latter, I started work on revision as soon as I sent out the Question for the readers on May 22. So it didn't really take up that much time.
For those who said that I should just learn from it and move on. I definitely will, I learned many things after initially releasing this chapter. The whole reason why I considered doing a rewrite of this commentary is because of the way I write. What happens in the previous chapter I continue based on that. So if a has someone acting out of character, then it means that I would be working off of a poor foundation. So I might as well fix it before it gets any worse.
I had Neptune's line about explaining that Passione has always had a hand in crime in his kingdom originally there when I wrote it, but removed it, that mistake is on me.
Things I added are Roman and Neo's discussion, fleshing out Cinder's thoughts instead of narrating it, as well as adding some interaction between her and her subordinates. I noticed that I removed any lines from the Arcs, so I gave them a small section. And I went back and stuck to the original plan of Ozpin's group talking about Stands.
Before revision: And so, episode 4 is completed. If I were to criticize myself, it would be that the ending commentary by the cast didn't have that much of an impact. Or I don't know, maybe it's because I spent a lot of time rewriting it.
There were a few things that I didn't get to do in this due to how lengthy the final commentary was getting, but I'll continue it in the intro chapter when I upload.
- Log -
Transcript started on May 6, 2021
Transcript finished on May 9, 2021
Cast Comments started on May 10, 2021
Cast Comments finished on May 20, 2021
Published on May 20, 2021
Revised and Republished May 24, 2021