"What the hell?!" Joanne shouted, shooting up from her seat. "What do you mean you're my goddamn father?!"

"I know it's difficult to believe, but-" Giorno started.

Joanne leapt over the glass table in the center of the room and grabbed him by the front of his suit, holding him up and glaring at him.

"No, I believe you," she said. "Why the hell do you think I'm so pissed?! You completely ditched Mom- you didn't even stick around long enough for me to be born! You'd better have a really damn good excuse, asshole!"

Giorno calmly removed Joanne's hands from his collar and sat back down.

"I can assure you that I do," he said. "Now sit back down. There's a lot I still need to tell you."

"I'm not sitting down until you tell me what the fuck your problem is!" Joanne yelled.

Scorpion Queen, who had walked forward to stand beside its user, looked like it was just barely containing its own anger, but it grabbed Joanne by the shoulder and firmly pulled her back to her seat.

"Do what he says, Joanne," it said. "We should at least hear him out."

"Fine," Joanne groaned, plopping down in the seat. "Alright, explain away."

"You see," Giorno began, "I never knew my father either. For the first fifteen years of my life, I knew nothing about him. However, in 2004, I was contacted by a man named Jotaro Kujo, who claimed to be my great-great-grandson, or something like that."

"Your what now?" Joanne asked, confused.

"Yes, that was pretty much my reaction too," Giorno said. "Jotaro asked me to visit him and his grandfather, Joseph Joestar, in New York City. When I came here, they told me about my father. His name was Dio Brando, and he was Joseph's great-uncle, though not by blood."

"How was your father someone's grandfather's great-uncle?" Joanne asked. "None of this lines up at all. Make some goddamn sense!"

"Let me finish," Giorno said. "Dio had made himself immortal using an ancient stone mask, and then killed his brother and stole his body. He was trapped in a coffin below the Mediterranean Sea for 100 years or so, but when he awoke, he had several children, myself included, before Jotaro killed him in 1988."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense?" Joanne said, somewhat questioningly. "I mean, knowing about the existence of Stands and stuff, I suppose it's not too hard to believe all this. But what the hell kind of point are you trying to make?"

"What I'm saying is that, due to the blood that flows through your veins, it's fated that you won't be able to live a normal life," Giorno explained. "From Johnathan, you've inherited a strong sense of justice and a powerful fighting spirit, while from Dio, you've inherited his ruthless nature… as well as your Stand.

"My… Stand?" Joanne asked, now thoroughly confused. "You're saying Scorpion Queen was born because I'm Dio's granddaughter?"

"That makes more sense than any of the theories you suggested when you were a child," Scorpion Queen teased her.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," Giorno confirmed. "All of Dio's children and grandchildren inevitably develop Stands of immense power. For example, I've heard that a son of his named Ungalo who lives in Florida possesses the ability to bring the characters from any work of fiction to life, which he calls Bohemian Rhapsody. Another example would be my Stand."

As he said this, Giorno's Stand materialized standing behind the couch, its right hand on its hip. Joanne felt a strange force from its sudden presence, emanating out from it.

This…. This feeling! she thought. It's totally unlike anything I've ever felt before! Is all that really coming from his Stand?

"GER, would you mind introducing yourself?" Giorno asked.

"Of course," the Stand said. "I am Gold Experience Requiem. I possess the ability to grant life to inanimate objects."

It picked up one of the small throw pillows off the white couch Giorno was seated on and held it up. Its hands glowed yellow, and the glow flowed into the pillow, causing it to transform into a frog, which hopped off of the Stand's hand and landed on the couch. The frog jumped again, landing on Giorno's shoulder, and he placed his hand over it, transforming it back into a pillow and causing it to fall to the floor.

"The thing about being a Stand user," Giorno continued, "is that there's a force that connects all Stand users and brings them together. This 'gravity' between Stand users results in them encountering each other by chance far more often than should be the case."

"So that's why you left Mom?" Joanne asked skeptically. "Because you didn't want to involve her and me in all this or whatever? Bullshit."

"No, that's not it," Giorno said. "I'll be honest with you, I didn't even know you existed until your mother died a couple years ago. Once I learned about her death, I found out about you as well, and I've been keeping tabs on you since. But I only realized you had developed a Stand about a month ago, and that's why I came to find you."

"So then this is just, what, a heads up?" Joanne scoffed. "Like, 'hey, by the way, I'm your dad, and also you're gonna be running into a bunch of assholes who are gonna try to kill you, bye, have fun'?"

"That's not all I'm-" Giorno started to say, but Joanne wasn't done.

"Well, guess what, Dad?" she said, standing up from her chair. "You're a little late on the warning! Some asshole already tried to kill me on the elevator ride up here! And what's with-"

Giorno stood up as well, shocked.

"Someone tried to kill you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Joanne replied. "Where the hell were you then, huh? If you suddenly care so much about me after 18 years of not giving a shit."

Giorno stepped forward and grabbed his daughter by the shoulders.

"Joanne," he said, his tone hardening noticeably. "This person who attacked you. What happened to them? Are they still here?"

"Yeah," Joanne said.

Giorno's sudden change in tone put her off, and she almost forgot how angry she was at him. His body language was different, too- much more rigid.

"Tell me everything you know about them," he demanded.

"Well, he was a dude, and he had those black eye tattoos," Joanne said. "And then he had this long black hair…"

"Don't forget the other tattoos," Scorpion Queen interjected. "He had tattoos of words under his eyes, remember?"

"Words under his eyes…" Giorno muttered. "This is important. Were the words under his eyes 'SLIP' and 'KNOT'?"

"I think so?" Joanne said. "But why is that-"

"And how did he attack you?" Giorno continued. "Did objects appear out of nowhere? Like ropes, knives, and guns?"

"Yeah, but who-" Joanne tried to say again.

"Joanne, you need to listen very carefully," Giorno interjected. "We're dealing with an incredibly dangerous man here. I need you to stay here and not leave this room, no matter what happens, until I get back."

He let go of Joanne's shoulders and turned away toward the door to one of the bedrooms.

"Trish!" he yelled. "Come with me. And call Mista and tell him to come back to the hotel and be on his guard. And Polnareff, stay here and make sure my daughter is safe. I'll send Focaccia back to the room as well."

"Got it!" Trish said, walking out of the bedroom carrying…

Wait, no, that can't be right, Joanne thought. There's no way.

Trish was carrying a turtle with a golden key embedded in its back, which she sat on the glass table. Then she and Giorno left the room before Joanne could even protest being left there without any context for why, closing and locking the door behind them.

Joanne stood up and began to walk around the room, looking at various objects scattered around. She picked up a vase and looked under it, then set it back down and moved to the glass table, crouching down to look at the turtle.

"Hey, little buddy," she said in a soothing voice. "What's a turtle doing here, anyway?"

"'Little buddy'?" the turtle scoffed. It had a distinct French accent. "Please, I'm at least three times your age. There's no need for any of that kind of talk."

Joanne stared at the turtle.

"...Scorpion Queen, did that turtle just fucking talk to me?" she asked.

"Yes," Scorpion Queen replied, equally dumbfounded. "Yes, I think it did."

"Ah, that's right," the turtle said. "Giorno didn't introduce me to you. My name is Jean-Pierre Polnareff, and although I have inhabited the body of this turtle for some 21 years, I was originally human, just like you."

"What?" Joanne asked.

She didn't really know what else to say.

"You see," Polnareff continued, "In the year 2001, I was killed by a man named Diavolo- or at least, my body was. However, due to circumstances involving a certain arrowhead, I was able to remain alive, albeit with my soul contained within this turtle."

"Well, uhh…" Joanne said awkwardly. "Good for you, I guess? Or… maybe not? Anyway, I'm just gonna go now."

She began walking towards the door.

"Hold it right there!" Polnareff shouted. "Your father instructed you to stay here until he returned. For your own safety, do as he said."

"Fuck that," Joanne said, continuing to walk toward the door. "He can shove his stupid 'instructions' up his ass for all I care. I've heard enough, I'm out of here."

"Then you leave me no choice…" Polnareff said. "Silver Chariot!"

His silver-armored Stand materialized in front of Joanne, holding its rapier out to the side to block her path.

"I'll have to keep you from leaving by force!" Polnareff shouted.