DeathlyJazzHands55: Thank you! As for Eri learning the Spin...it's a possibility, I might have to look into that.
Kosaku Valentine: Thank you! Truly. I don't think I'm going to upload chapters as frequently as I used to, although my dedication to this story isn't shaken in any way. Your ideas have always been an immense help, and I don't think this story would've lasted this long without you.
Your ideas and help are always welcome, feel free to send them over any time!
TheSBRdude: Imagine how painful it was when Gyro started to spin them.
JoudNicholas: Great stand idea! I'm definitely going to use it!
Euphoria: The reason I made Hol Horse Gyro's villain is because Araki said that if Hol Horse became a crusader, he would be just like Gyro. Gyro is a younger, better version of Hol Horse, and the clash of two very similar people is just fascinating to me. That doesn't mean Gyro's father won't show up at some point though.
Tenma Kirin: You got it!
"Gyro you blockhead!"
*BONK!*
"OI! The stand user blabbed, I didn't do shit!" Gyro exclaimed, rubbing his head where Kyoka had hit him. "Look I'm just as down about this as you are."
"No wonder Yaomomo didn't want to talk to me today...I suppose she has every right to be mad."
"I would refrain from using violence in the future, young Jiro." Toshinori said, rubbing his forehead. They were in the middle of the teacher's lounge, having a meeting about One For All. "While young Yaoyorozu's feelings are an important matter, we should dicuss how Santana is after OFA."
"He took over the League of Villains, he clearly has access to some of All For One's plans. He knows about One For All, he just doesn't know who has it." Johnny said, crossing his legs. "And considering that my mother found out about it easily, I think it's time we take some...preventative measures."
"He's been sending stand users here, putting our classmates in danger, just to come after me. Maybe it would be better if I just left and hid myself somewhere." Izuku said, looking down in shame.
"That is the most terrible idea I have ever heard." Johnny replied matter of factly. "If you ran off by yourself, it would be easier for him to catch you, not to mention the stress that would come with it. Besides, we would miss you."
"...I know, but...I don't want anyone to get hurt..."
"Don't be a fucking idiot Deku, I can handle myself!" Bakugo said with a dirty look.
"That could've been worded better, but he's right, young Midoriya. Everyone in this room is capable of standing on their own. Now more than ever, it's important to stick together." Toshinori said.
"You're being selfless as usual Izuku, but take it from a guy who has gone down that road...isolating yourself will put you down a dark path, no matter how selfless you are. Remember when I stopped talking to you guys during the Steel Ball Run? Keeping secrets? Remember how worried you were?"
"Yeah..."
"I almost lost my humanity Izuku...I almost abandoned my morals and became a cold blooded killer. My intentions were good...but my actions were...questionable. The only reason I hung onto all that was this blonde asshole." Johnny gestured towards Gyro.
"Awww, that's sweet. But he's got a point Midoriya, I saw what was happening to him...our teammates, our partners, they help keep us grounded."
"You guys are right, I know better than to doubt what you two have been through. It was a stupid idea."
Toshinori nodded. "Which is why I have a better one. The four of you are aware of the secret, and I'm sure you are all dedicated to protecting it. So I suggest that you four keep an eye out, search the dorms if you have to, and this includes Jotaro and any other Joestar that might be there at the time, and protect young Midoriya at all costs. As for you young Midoriya, you have my permission to defend yourself from these attackers, as long as you don't try to tough it out by yourself, got it?"
"Yes sir!" Everyone except Bakugo said.
"Young Bakugo?"
"I'll help, but only because this idiot can't be trusted with this shit."
"Then that settles it. The five of you will continue with your schoolwork as usual, and look out for each other when the time comes. Now, I believe you have class in ten minutes, and I doubt Aizawa will accept your tardiness. Run along now!"
As the five students who knew about One For All exited the room, the former number one hero hung his head. I'm sorry young Midoriya, when I gave you the quirk I had no idea you would run afoul of a Pillar Man. A Pillar Man with an unknown stand no less...
Toshinori thought back to the bright smile Izuku had given him when he first told the young man that he would give him his power, how the previously quirkless kid broke down into tears at his renewed hope for the future. The shining heroic eyes of the boy who would later become a son to him.
I never meant to put such a heavy burden on your shoulders...
"Hello?" Joseph answered his cellphone as he rubbed his side, nursing the phantom pains from his battle with Susan.
"Hey Mr. Joestar."
"Gyro my boy! What do you need?"
"You've fucked up your love life before...how did you fix it?"
Joseph sighed at Gyro's bluntness, but it was a trait that most Zeppelis shared, so he decided to roll with it.
"I think it's better if we talk about this in person. Get your hero costume on, that way you have an excuse to be going out."
"But Mr. Aizawa gave us time off from hero studies after the Yakuza raid."
"Shhhh, just put it on."
"...Buon Dolore... "
"Well, in my opinion, she was being unreasonable too." Joseph said. "She doesn't need to know every little thing about you." Joseph slurped up a noodle from his squid ink pasta, causing Gyro to cringe at the American's improper way of eating pasta.
"It's not that...I think she feels as though I don't trust her. I mean, my life is in danger, and I've been keeping it from her. I'm the one who fucked up...I think."
"I think you both did. She should have been more understanding, while you should have been more open. What we have here is a lack of communication, and one of you is finally going to have to start sharing. I get it Gyro, you broke her trust, but she also broke yours by letting her personal grievances with the situation cloud her judgement. "
"But how did you fix it?! Somehow you managed to patch things up with your wife, even after breaking her trust in one of the most relationship destroying ways possible. How did you and Suzi Q repair something like that?!"
"I wouldn't compare cheating to trying keep someone out of danger, Gyro. But to answer your question, we talked. We came to understand each other, and she had every reason to want to leave me. But love and forgiveness won out in the end, and I will be forever humbled by the whole ordeal. You two need to forgive each other, but you can't do that if you don't talk it out."
"Okay...talk it out...what if she doesn't want to talk?"
"She will, this isn't nearly as big of a deal as you think it is, mostly just teenaged hormones running their course. Yaoyorozu is a reasonable person, I'm sure she wants to patch things up as soon as possible."
"I sure hope so..."
"Yaomomo."
Momo sighed. "Hi Jiro."
Kyoka sat down beside her friend and hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry...really. There was just so much going on, and we didn't want to get anyone else involved just in case something happened to them. Yaomomo...I trust you more than most, and it was a HUGE mistake to keep this from you. If you hate me now, I understand completely."
"I could never hate you." Momo said, closing her book. "I'm hurt, yes, but you are always going to be my friend. I know you Jiro, and I know that you had a good reason for keeping this a secret. I...I only have one question."
"What is it?"
"If it came down to it, and you were at the mercy of one of these stand users...would you trust me to save your life?"
"Yes." Kyoka said without hesitation. Finally, Momo smiled.
"Good, that's all I needed to hear."
"We cool?" Kyoka spread her arms out, and the two girls hugged. "Yes Jiro...we're cool."
"Excuse me."
Gyro looked up from his meal, only to come face-to-face with He-Man. He had the Dora haircut and everything. The only difference was the Hawaiian shirt and the handlebar mustache. The man narrowed his eyes.
"Are you from UA by any chance?"
"I'm a foreign exchange student, but yeah, I am."
Joseph, who's beard was currently covered in the black pasta sauce, slurped down a noodle before chiming in. "He's doing hero studies with me."
"Ah, I see...which class?"
"Uh...1A? Why are you-"
"Okay, that's all I needed to know." The man said, before grabbing Gyro by the shirt and flinging him across the street. Gyro quickly applied the Spin to his body, slowing himself down before he crashed into innocent civilians.
"EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" He screamed as people quickly fled the scene. Joseph stood up and unleashed his stand.
"HERMIT PURPLE!"
The man staggered back as the purple vines whipped him across the chest, but he didn't falter in his attack, charging Joseph and swatting the old man aside. Joseph quickly used Hermit Purple to grab onto a street lamp, and lowered himself to the ground to face their opponent.
"My name is Macho Man! One of you UA students defeated my cousin Muscular, and I want to see your strength for myself! Show me what beat my cousin, UA student! SHOW ME YOUR POWER!"
With that, Macho Man slammed his fist into the ground, causing a quake. Gyro threw his steel balls onto the ground and stepped on them, and they began to spin under his feet.
Joseph was keeping Macho Man busy with Hermit Purple: Flail Mode, clubbing the musclebound villain over the head, before ducking out of the way. Macho Man looked up, only to see Gyro coming at him at an incredibly high speed, Ball Breaker at his side.
BOOM!
Ball Breaker made impact, sending Macho Man flying into the side of a building. Macho Man grinned and wiped blood from his mouth.
"That's good kid, that's REAL good! I actually felt that! You see, my quirk is similar to my cousin's, my muscles can harden in response to physical trauma! You might be the guy I'm looking for!"
Macho Man charged at Gyro, and the Italian quickly zipped to the side as Ball Breaker grabbed hold of his arm, swinging the villain around and hurling him towards the sky. Joseph then used Hermit Purple to grab him and slam him back into the ground. The vine stand wrapped even tighter around Macho Man's throat, trying to cut off his airflow. However, the burly man's neck grew even larger, and snapped the vines.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU OLD MAN?!"
Macho Man lept from the ground and slammed back down, sending Joseph flying away along with tons of debris.
"OH NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Macho Man proceeded to launch himself at Gyro, but the Italian was too fast with his new rolled blade technique. Macho Man roared, furious with his inability to catch Gyro, so he picked up a car and hurled it in Gyro's general direction.
BOOM!
The car blew up on impact, and Gyro barely managed to get out of the way. This guy is just going to get angrier and angrier! It's time to use my REAL superpower...
Making him feel bad about himself.
"You muscle-bound meat head! I'll get the secrets of Castle Greyskull if it's the last thing I do!" Gyro said in the most nasally voice he could manage.
"...what? What are you...?"
"I'll destroy you, He-Man! Eternia will be mine!"
Macho Man's face contorted in rage. "You...you DARE?! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE MOCKING?!"
"You bumbling beefcake! Prepare to face the might of Skeletor!"
"I AM NOT HE-MAN! THIS HAIRSTYLE ISN'T EXCULSIVE TO HIM!"
"You beefy boob!"
"ENOOOOOOOOOOUUUGGHH!"
Macho Man swung his arm blindly, and caught Gyro in the chest with a lucky strike, knocking him off of his steel balls and into a building. Gyro's body flailed around as he crashed through the wall, coming to a stop beside a bathroom sink.
Gyro attempted to get up, only to feel a sharp pain in his chest. He had broken a few ribs, and they were dangerously close to puncturing his lungs. The heavy footsteps of Macho Man came from behind him.
"You fool...you CHILD. You should know better than to mock a MAN."
"You...*cough* aren't a MAN. You're a follower. A real man...is someone who's willing to fight...and kill...for what they believe in. To protect...the people they care about. You're not being mature about this at all. You're just some hyper-masculine bastard who thinks POWER is what makes you STRONG...in reality..."
Gyro pointed upwards, spitting out blood while wearing his signature grin. Macho Man looked up as realization dawned on his face.
He was surrounded by spinning soap bubbles. Gyro had LURED him into the bathroom.
*Now I'm not SAYING that Gyro inspires Soft and Wet...*
"It's brains...and HEART. That's what makes a man...what makes a HERO. MR. JOESTAR, NOW!"
A gold steel ball smashed into Macho Man's side as Joseph stood behind Macho Man holding his bowl of squid ink pasta. "Sorry I'm a bit late, didn't want the food to get cold."
"Oh for the love of...Bubble Launcher 2.0!"
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
Macho Man went down like a sack of potatoes, blood flying from his ruined face. As Muscular's cousin crashed to the ground, he heard Gyro say one last thing:
"I have finally won, He-Man! Now SKELETOR is Master of the Universe!"
Eri looked up from her drawing as the door to her hospital room opened up, and Johnny stepped into the room with a small smile on his face.
"Hey Eri."
"Hi JoJo."
"Just wanted to check up on you, how are you holding up?" Johnny sat down beside her and peered at her drawing.
It was of Chisaki and Izuku fighting. And he guessed the little red splat on the ground was him. Clearly, the events of the raid had taken a toll on her.
"Hey...do you want to know why I wanted to become a hero?"
Eri's eyes widened with curiosity. "Yes!"
Johnny laughed. "Well, it was actually because Susan was mean to me. You see, she made me feel really bad about myself."
"Like you couldn't do anything?"
"Yes...like I wasn't good enough, no matter what I did. One day...I decided that I didn't want anyone else to feel that way, so I became a hero."
"That's why you fought so hard to save me, right?"
"Right, and that's why I'm going to try my hardest to help you find your smile again, and I'm going to protect it, protect you."
Clearly, Eri took that to heart, because the next thing he knew the little girl's arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. She wasn't letting go anytime soon.
Johnny smiled and put his hand on the back of her head. I promise...I'm going to protect you with everything I've got. If anyone even tried to hurt you...
Well, they wouldn't be able to do it again.
"Y'know Dad, I'm kinda recovering from my own injuries at the moment." Josuke said as Crazy Diamond pulled it's hand away from Gyro. He gestured towards the crutch that he had been shackled with in exasperation.
"Sorry Josuke, I wouldn't of called if it wasn't an emergency."
"Do you know how hard it was to convince Rohan to drive me up? I had to give him 2,186 yen!"
"That's NOTHING! I'm not your chauffeur Higashikata! If you require my services, then you should compensate me for my time!" The manga artist yelled from his car.
Joseph chuckled and patted Josuke's shoulder. "I'll pay you back Josuke."
Gyro groaned and rubbed his side. "I just wanted lunch...was that too much to ask?"
"I noticed you used Caesar's Bubble Launcher. The way you blew up his face would've made him proud."
"Well it wouldn't have done anything if you hadn't forced his muscles to relax with that steel ball. Besides...I put my own SPIN on it, Nyo Ho!"
"Heh heh heh! Good one!" Joseph lent a hand to the third Zeppeli, and Gyro graciously accepted it, and at that moment, Gyro remembered why he chose this path.
Why he abandoned the life of an executioner for the life of a hero.
Why he surrounded himself with the Joestars, people his father explicitly told him to avoid.
It's because they respected him, and they loved and cared for him for simply being who he was. Johnny, his best friend and sworn partner ever since the Steel Ball Run, Joseph, his mentor and surrogate father, Jotaro, who treated him as if he were part of the family...
Screw it, they were his family.
He fights for them, and for the future.
Hol Horse stared in disbelief as he watched Macho Man getting carted into an ambulance. He recognized Joseph Joestar instantly, how could he forget the man he had tried to kill so long ago?
But that kid was there too...
The same kid that had defeated his previous partner had beaten his new one before Hol Horse even got there. Plus, it was clear that the kid was close with Joestar, making it even worse.
There was no way he could attack them now, not alone. He needed a partner, he needed someone to take the lead.
Always number two, that was his motto.
Hol Horse spat out his cigarette and walked away, taking out his phone and dialing his superior's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey Grim, Macho's a no go, they beat him before I even got here."
"SHIT! And also, please stop calling me the Grim Reaper, I raise the dead. Let me guess, one of those damn kids beat him?"
"And Joseph Joestar."
"SHIT! SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT! Lord Santana is NOT going to be happy when he hears that the old man is still stirring up trouble. Listen Hol Horse, if you don't start killing a few of these bastards, I'm going to have to get involved."
"Don't worry...I will, although I need a new partner."
Hol Horse heard a long, drawn out sigh. "FIIIINE! Just try not to get this one captured too."
"I won't, this one better be an actual living person though, not one of your stupid little puppets."
"Fuck yo-"
Hol Horse hung up, grimacing. The last thing he needed was for the Necromancer to be involved. When that guy decided to get his hands dirty, the streets would be running with blood.
He had to kill Gyro Zeppeli, otherwise these kids would have to deal with someone much, much worse.