Chapter 22
Polnareff, Clanne and Framme all rushed to Diamant to question them about the safety of the Divine Dragon. "I made sure to leave 10 of our finest units on the Somniel before we came here, just in case something happened. You have nothing to fear, the Divine Dragon is safe under our care like we promised 1000 years ago." the red-haired prince answered.
"Just 10!? Why not 100? What if something happens to her? I should be there." Framme argued.
Diamant was about to answer before someone else spoke up "You have nothing to worry about, young miss. Behind the Iron Walls of Brodia, the Divine Dragon is safe. Our nation is one that understands battle more than any other, being in a constant war for 1000 years. I don't mean to be rude, but you're still young. Can you honestly say you're better equipped to guard the Divine Dragon than those soldiers up there who grew up fighting on the battlefield since they were younger than you and are now twice your age?" argued a woman with silver armor and hair.
Framme looked at the woman and opened her mouth to say something in response but had nothing to say so she quickly closed it when she recalled the events that landed her in the hospital. The silver haired woman looked at Framme's frustrated face and then looked towards Joseph. "You must be the famous Joseph Joestar. I am Saphir, the captain of the Royal Guard." She said as she extended her hand to Joseph who shook it. Before Joseph said anything she motioned to the other Brodian soldiers that came with her and Diamant. "These are Amber, Jade, Lapis and Citrine; They are the retainers of our two princes, Diamant and Alcryst. We will all be under your care." Saphir explained.
Joseph looked surprised. 'That brat that kept apologizing about every little thing was a prince?' thought Joseph before he plastered on a grin and let go of Saphir's hand after a firm handshake. "Wonderful, all of you are just in time for the first lesson. As I'm assuming you all know, my name is Joseph Joestar and I'll be your Hamon instructor."
"HERMIT PURPLE!" the Brodians suddenly shouted which got surprised looks from Polnareff, Jotaro and Joseph.
When they noticed that they were looking at them funny, Alcryst spoke up "d-d-did we do it wrong? Your world's chant that is? I'M SO VERY SORRY!" shouted the prince before he got down on all fours before slamming his forehead into the sand.
"Chant? What is he talking about?" Jotaro questioned.
"Is it a custom from their world?" Polnareff asked.
"That can't be right… He clearly thought it was from our world but why would he-" Joseph was stating before he recalled his last interaction with Alcryst and grew embarrassed as realization hit him. Joseph facepalmed before he explained the situation. "Listen, Hermit Purple is… was my stand. At the moment I thought it would simply be easier to play off me saying Hermit Purple as some good luck chant. I just thought it'd be better than you guys looking at me like some senile old man." Joseph explained to Alcryst and everyone else.
Alcryst bowed his head again "I'm so very sorry for the confusion."
Joseph sighed "Look you don't have to apologize for every little thing. Besides, I was the one that gave you guys a false impression."
"I'm so very sorry!" Alcryst screamed out and Joseph groaned at this.
Choosing to move everything forward Joseph turned to the entire group "Okay everyone fall in!" Joseph shouted as everyone lined up to listen to the older Joestar besides Jotaro who was waiting for his cigs to dry. Joseph scanned the group "Okay, now before I begin Hamon lessons I need to check your aptitude for it. Like I've stated before, not everyone is capable of learning Hamon. For this I need a volunteer."
"I volunteer!" shouted Vander before anyone else could respond.
Joseph adopted a thinking pose as he rubbed his own beard. "Okay, are you sure?"
Vander smirked, "Certainly, if a riff-raff like you can learn this art then it certainly will be easy for a knight like me, who was chosen by the Divine Dragon herself to be her Steward."
Joseph was clearly annoyed by this "Riff-raff huh?"
"I mean no offense." Vander said mockingly.
"Yeah… sure. Oh, can you remove your armor?" Joseph said with a devilish smirk.
"Why should I?" Vander asked, not trusting Joseph.
"It's required for me to test your… aptitude." Joseph said with a grin on his face that looked a little too sweet for him.
Vander narrowed his eyes "Why don't I believe you?"
Alfred spoke up "Sir Vander, this is holding up the training if you don't want to do it then I'll volunteer in your place." the prince said not noticing Joseph looking dissatisfied by Vander no longer being the volunteer.
Vander decided to stop Alfred "No, that won't be necessary, Prince Alfred." the knight said as he began unfastening bits of his armor. "I'll remove my armor." Vander said as his heavy armor fell to the sand. Vander turned to Joseph who had a gleeful smile on his face. "You better not pull any funny business."
"Me? Of course not." Joseph said with a false air of innocence as he approached Vander. Joseph looked Vander up and down before he suddenly hit Vander in his lower chest with his little finger.
The 32nd steward of the dragon doubled over in pain and dropped to his knees "You- rapscallion- I knew- I shouldn't hav- trusted- " Vander said with all the wind knocked out of him, barely able to speak.
Everyone rushed over to check on Vander while Joseph chuckled. "Sir Joseph, that was highly unprofessional. I expected better from you." Said Diamant, who was angry for Vander.
"I concur, I understand you and Vander don't see eye to eye but that is no excuse for sucker punching him." Alfred added as everyone was giving Joseph odd looks.
Vander who had managed to catch his breath, slowly started to get to his feet. "Have you no honor!? Why am I even asking when I know the answer. I challenge you to a duel! Hand-to-hand on equal footing!" Vander shouted
Joseph tried to calm everyone down "Look everyone; this is just a big misunderstanding." the old joestar said with a sigh "If you just give me a moment to explain."
Vander put his fists up "You had your chance to explain yourself, now put your fists up unless you are… afraid to face me in a fair fight."
"Fine, I accept your challenge. It'll make a good test anyway." Joseph relented. The two old men got closer to each other with their guards up. Vander threw a punch but Joseph dodged it and hit Vander in his jaw. The knight backed away to nurse his jaw but Joseph didn't give him enough to do so. The Old Joestar quickly closed the distance and hit the knight in his cheek. The knight fell to the ground "Come on, focus on your breathing." Joseph said before sparks of electricity covered his hands.
Joseph swung at Vander who was still down on the ground but the knight quickly rolled out of the way. "You'd even attack a man when he's down? You truly have no honor!"
"Tch, like DIO's men would care if you're down or not" said Joseph before he went for a chop that Vander dodged again causing Joseph to hit the sand. Vander tried to counter attack but upon hitting the sand Joseph managed to kick some up, creating a sand cloud with a few sparks of electricity in it, which got in Vander's eyes.
Vander backed away "Even applying hamon to your attacks to throw sand in my eyes? You bastard, you know very well that I can't use it." the 32nd steward said, trying to recover from the sand in his eyes.
"That's what I'm testing for you old brat. When I hit you with my pinky earlier it was to correct your breathing. Call it a little adjustment I did to your Diaphragm." Joseph said as he allowed Vander the time to recover.
"I confess I have no idea what you're talking about. However, it sounds to me you are trying to sloppily justify your actions. You clearly took glee in sucker punching me!" said the 32nd knight before he rushed at the other bearded man.
Joseph easily dodged him and hit Vander in his jaw using his metal hand, breaking the old man's jaw. "Whoops… maybe I went too far." Joseph said with genuine guilt in his voice as he looked to see Vander was out cold. Joseph looked over to the crowd "Hey, kid, John or whatever can you come check up on him?"
Jean realized that Joseph was talking about him and quickly grabbed his rod before running over. "Right!" Jean said before he put his rod over Vander but Joseph stopped him.
"Wait, don't heal him quite yet." the old Joestar said which got Celene angry again.
"Sir Joseph, the high amounts of respect for you that I had are dropping fast. Just let Jean heal him." said the princess.
"Hold on! Everyone, calm down, Jean check to see if he started healing naturally."
"Naturally?" Jean asked before he analyzed Vander's jaw.
While Jean did so Joseph took the time to explain himself. "Listen, like I said before, I struck him in the Diaphragm to correct his breathing to make it 'special' like mine. If he's capable of hamon it would trigger his accelerated healing when I broke his jaw."
"Amazing! His jaw really is healing on its own. At this rate it'd take a week or two to fully heal instead of eight like it would normally." Jean said, amazed by this.
Joseph folded his arms "I see… so he was capable of hamon, but barely… if it's going to take him a whole week to heal up." Joseph concluded which got an odd look from Jean "I know taking a week to recover from that sounds amazing but for a capable hamon user it should take a few minutes. Go ahead and heal him up." said Joseph, causing Jean to nod before he used his rod to heal Vander.
Diamant sighed. "I see, sorry we misjudged you."
"It's fine. I was going to explain all of this before I did anything, but that man pissed me off so I omitted the details. Was planning to explain what I did after I corrected his breathing too, but he wouldn't listen and challenged me to a duel. I just saw it as an opportunity to let both him and I work off a bit of steam and test to see if I was successful in awakening his Hamon. Did try explaining during the fight but… he wouldn't listen to that either. In the end it was my fault, I let him get to me and then antagonized him to a point that he wouldn't listen to me." The Joestar said.
"Well he kind of had it coming anyway. That guy was far too uptight and kept picking a fight with you." Polnareff added.
"That was so cool! You knocked him into next week!" screamed Framme who enjoyed seeing Vander knocked out since she wasn't able to do so yesterday. Chloe reacted to this by quickly scolding both Polnareff and Framme.
Joseph sighed "I'll apologize to him when he wakes up. So… who's next?"
1 hour later
"Well, that's that. I'm actually surprised more of you are capable of Hamon than I thought." Joseph said while scanning the group with his eyes. The old Joestar cleared his throat. "Because of this I think it's faster to say who's incapable of Hamon instead of listing those that can do it. I am sorry, but if I call your name you will no longer be joining us for Hamon training: Louis, Saphir, Diamant…" Joseph said as Diamant tightened his fist in frustration causing Alcryst to apologize to him. "... and Ivy." Joseph finished as Ivy sighed. "Furthermore, there are a few that while capable of Hamon displayed a lower level of it. For them there will be a bit of a learning curve. I'm sorry since I'm just one man, I may have to put more attention towards those more capable of Hamon before I can give you the attention you need. Those of a lower level are as follows: Chloe, Alfred, Polnareff and… sleeping beauty over there, Vander." The Joestar finished as he pointed towards Vander who was still knocked out.
"Wait! Can't I get a re-test? I'm sure I can do better next time!" Alfred pleaded.
Joseph shook his head. "It's simply not that kind of test. You should be glad you can do it at all." The Joestar explained.
Chloe put her hand on Alfred's shoulder. "Think of it as a challenge, like working out. What is it you always said? No pain, no gain?"
Alfred grabbed her hand "You're right! I may start at the bottom but I, Alfred, will rise to the top!" the prince shouted.
Everyone suddenly started to hear a groan and turned to see Vander starting to stir awake. Jean moved to help him up but Framme stopped him, still holding a grudge. Diamant decided to go over to help Vander up instead. Diamant put one of Vander's arms over his shoulder and helped him to where everyone else was. Joseph walked over to Vander "Look I know we didn't get off on the right foot and-" Joseph said before he was sucker punched in the gut by Vander who suddenly moved away from diamant and stood up on his own two feet.
"That… makes us even." Vander said before he walked away causing Jotaro to chuckle.
Diamant moved to hold back Joseph who tried to retaliate while Jean and Clanne held back Framme who also wanted to attack Vander. "I was going to try to 'make nice', but you can forget that!" Joseph said before he took a deep breath "Okay, I'm calm. You can let go of me now Diamant." The Joestar said before Diamant released him. Joseph walked over to Framme and grinned "I appreciate you getting angry on my behalf, but he simply isn't worth it." the Joestar said to the young girl which calmed her down.
Vander was shocked he'd say something like that to his family. He wanted to say something in his defense, but he thought of Lumera and decided to stay quiet.
Suddenly Polnareff asked a question. "Wait, didn't Jotaro do this too? You said you tried to teach him Hamon before."
Joseph looked a bit annoyed when he recalled something. "Yes I did awaken his Hamon. However, he said he 'didn't need any fancy breathing to kick someone's ass'"
Jotaro suddenly spoke up "So, you're omitting the part where I hit back when you hit me with your little finger?" said the teen while checking to see if his smokes were dry yet and smirked when he noticed they were.
"Jotaro, show some respect for your grandfather would you!"
"Good Grief." the 17-year old said as he started to gather up his cigarettes.
Joseph sighed "Anyway, for now I'll focus on training those that are highly capable of Hamon. For those that are incapable or need a bit more attention you are dismissed."
"Wait a minute? You still haven't tested me." Vander argued.
"He did, you idiot! That gut punch is how he tested you. You're capable of it… barely, so take a hike!" Framme screamed at him.
Vander decided to put his foot down. He wouldn't tolerate any more disrespect from Framme. "Listen here! You-" Vander said before he was cut off by Polnareff putting his arm around him and dragging him away.
"We'll just leave you to it then!" shouted Polnareff as he dragged Vander into town. All the others that weren't highly capable of Hamon aside from Diamant followed him.
In Town
Vander broke free from Polnareff. "How dare you manhandle me!"
"Sorry sorry, but I was getting tired of seeing you argue with everyone." Polnareff stated.
"What should we do now?" asked Alfred
"Well, I'll be heading back to Brodia to report back to the King." answered Saphir before she realized something. "Wait, where is Diamant?" she asked before Diamant came running with Jotaro right behind him.
"I've caught up to you guys." said Diamant who was out of breath while Jotaro remained unfazed with the same composure he always has.
Saphir raised an eyebrow "where were you?" she questioned.
Diamant pulled out a stone along with two rings. "Well, I needed to borrow the stone again to get back to Brodia plus I had Lady Veyle awaken the ring of the young lion and the ring of the holy knight."
"Ring of the Holy Knight? Wait when did you-" Vander asked to be cut off by Diamant's words.
"Veyle sensed it in your armor after she awakened the ring of the young lion." Diamant said, causing Vander to remember that he left his armor on the shore. The red-haired prince's face grew serious "The Vander I knew and respected wasn't this careless and hot-headed. Please, pull yourself together." Diamant said before handing the emblem ring back to Vander.
"I apologize, my behavior hasn't been…" Vander said before Diamant cut him off.
"I don't want your apologies. I want you to be better."
"...yes." Vander said before he finally took the ring back.
"Well then, I guess we'll be off then. Alfred, would you like to tag along? I don't want to accidentally hold onto the Firene stone for another night." Diamant asked the Firene prince.
"Certainly, it'd be nice to visit Brodia again. It'll allow me to get some training in before Sir Joseph is ready to train me." Alfred responded.
"Actually, can I tag along? I want to check up on the Divine Dragon." Asked Polnareff which got the attention of both Ivy and Vander.
"Hold on… Why would you want to check up on Lady Alear?" Vander asked.
"I swore to protect her as her knight." Polnareff answered with confidence.
"What!? It is my duty to protect her, not yours."
"Oh like you protecte-" Polnareff started to say before he held his tongue before he said something he'd regret.
"Like I what?" Vander said as his rage flared.
"...Nothing. I'm sorry." Polnareff responded.
Vander calmed down as he replaced his angry face with a more sorrowful one. "I know you were about to say… like 'I protected Queen Lumera' right?" Vander asked, which made Polnareff feel terrible for reminding him of that.
Polnareff recalled the time back in his original world when he thought he got Avdol killed. "I know how you feel. Way back in a place called India-" Polnareff started to say before Jotaro interrupted him.
"You're not still on about that are you? Good Freaking Grief, to put it in simple terms Polnareff fucked up and thought he got one of our allies killed by being a hot head. However, he survived, but we used the enemy thinking he died to our advantage. Though with Polnareff being Polnareff we knew he wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut so we kept him in the dark about our plans. What flat-top is trying to say is you fucked up, but when he did the same he didn't waste time by feeling sorry for himself or throwing tantrums." Jotaro said.
"Geez, blunt as always," said Polnareff, a little annoyed by Jotaro's choice of words.
"Anyway, who's this Lady Alear you two were yapping about earlier? You got me curious."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to have you tag along with us to the Somniel. Plus you can visit Brodia too." Diamant stated.
"I didn't exactly ask to go with you, but does this Somniel have a nice quiet place to get some shut eye? If so I'll tag along."
"Umm… Do you mind if I tag along as well? I'd like to meet the Divine Dragon too." Ivy shyly asked.
Saphir spoke up "You? Why should we allow the Elusian Princess who has worshiped the Fell Dragon her entire life even breathe the same air as her holiness."
"That's not true!" Ivy shouted which took everyone aback. "Actually, I've prayed to the Divine Dragon in secret for years. It started as a small act of defiance because I hated my kingdom, but overtime I became a devout follower of the Divine Dragon." the princess explained.
Saphir looked at her and then Diamant before sighing "It's your call. I'm too old to deal with this." Saphir said to Diamant before she walked towards the pedestal.
"Well… I suppose it'll be okay. How about you two? Would you like to join us as well?" Diamant asked, looking towards Chloe and Louis.
"Meeting the Divine Dragon!? Ooo what a treat" Chloe said excitedly.
Louis sighed "I appreciate the offer, but we have our duties here in Firene to take care of" the man stated, causing Chloe to look distraught. Louis, noticing this, decided to correct his words "Actually, I could take care of both our duties by myself. So, why don't you go with them Chloe."
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Chloe said as she hugged Louis.
Louis smiled with his eyes closed like he always did before saying something else "I'll be sure to let Princess Celene know where everyone went as well." said the smiling man before he saw everyone off as they used the pedestal to warp to the Somniel.