Butterfly Effect
Hello again, we're continuing the story. With Polnareff on board, the crusaders are almost completely assembled. The last member won't join this chapter, though they'll meet another ally. Well, ally is maybe too praiseworthy, replace it with travelmate.
I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Chapter 8: Worst matchup
With Polnareff on board, the crusaders went on a boat trip to Singapore, their next station on the way to Egypt. Things were going without any worry until two people made some noise.
"Let go of me! Hey! Let go of me, you jerk!"
"Shut yer trap, ya li'l brat!"
"Dammit! Let me go, I tell ya!"
The crusaders looked for the source of the noise and found a sailor and a kid arguing.
"Hey, what's this? We agreed there'd be no other passengers!" Joseph complained, annoyed at the disturbance.
"I'm really sorry, Sir! We got a stowaway." the sailor apologized, tightly holding the kid. "This brat was hiding in the lower compartments."
"Lemme go or I'll break your balls!"
"A stowaway?" the old Joestar repeated, not knowing what to do with this information.
"We'll just hand him to the coast guard." the sailor decided, alarming the child.
"Huh? The cops? No, please… I'm just going to Singapore to see my dad. I'll work for the ticket!"
"I don't know 'bout that, kid! Is it a good idea?" the sailor teased, pulling the kid's cheeks and ears. "Is it? Is it a good idea? Nope! I don't think it is!"
Having enough of the man's teasing, the kid bit his arm, making him howl in pain, and subsequently using the opening to jump off deck.
"Whoa, this kid has got guts!" Polnareff remarked in surprise.
"Guts? No, this is just recklessness, Polnareff. That's foolish and dangerous!" Marco voiced his concern. As a father, this action bothered him.
Jotaro seemed to worry the least about the child. "Pft! Forget it! He wouldn't have jumped if he wasn't a good swimmer."
Despite being the one hurt, the sailor worried the most about the kid. "That idiot! He'll never make it, these waters are infested with sharks!"
It was no coincidence when the crusaders spotted the outline of a shark swimming below the child.
"Hey kid, come back!" Joseph shouted with worry.
"A shark! There's a shark!" the frenchman called after the kid.
The kid looked back at him, spotting the shark fin. "Huh?"
And the fin came closer and closer. "Ah!"
Just as the child thought it was over, the hungry shark was launched into the air, its consciousness gone.
"Ora!" [Star Platinum] cried, punching the lights out of the large fish.
Confused at the dangerous fish suddenly flying away, the kid was pulled back into reality and full awareness by the savior, who didn't appear all so content. "Give me a break, kid!"
Grabbing the child by the chest, the young Joestar intended to return onto the deck as two. He was surprised when that chest felt a little too round. "Huh? You… are a girl? A bratty little girl?"
"You creep! How dare you feel me up like that!" she complained while blushing as her hat fell off, revealing her long brunette hair.
"Yare Yare Daze…"
Slightly away from the two, the shark from earlier suddenly split in two, having its guts revealed. Caesar was the first to notice.
"Hey, look at the shark!"
Looking at it like he said, the crusaders on the ship noticed that the bifurcation wasn't a natural cause. In fact, it was the doing of another sea predator.
"Jo-Jotaro! Look out!" the old Joestar exclaimed, alarmed about another danger. "There's something in the water and it's trying to ambush you! It's not a shark but it's fast!"
"Jotaro, quick! Swim back to the ship!" the Zeppeli yelled, very concerned.
"Allow me to handle this!" Kakyoin summoned his Stand, intending to lend the young Joestar a hand. "[Hierophant Green]!"
[Hierophant Green] pulled both Jotaro and the girl out of the water, saving them from the creature below. The Stand made it possible by uncoiling and thus extending its limbs.
As soon as the two were rescued, the creature disappeared.
"It's… It's gone!" Joseph observed, unnerved about it.
For Polnareff, the disappearance made one thing clear. "That was definitely a Stand!"
"An underwater Stand… I've never heard of anything like that before…" Avdol told.
"Uhm, what about my Stand?" Marco casually reminded despite the alarmed atmosphere. "Have you forgotten about [Mental Overdrive]?" While this Stand was a land Stand in nature, it could very well be an underwater Stand too, having the ability to supply its master with oxygen when submerged.
"…Okay, I might've forgotten about yours." the egyptian admitted. "But don't be so relaxed, Marco!"
Still being one of the most sharp-witted members of the crusaders despite his age, an idea came to the old Joestar's mind when shifting his gaze onto the wet girl, currently heavily breathing in and out. "This girl… maybe she…" Nevertheless, he hated to just accuse.
"Do you guys think she could be the Stand user?" the frenchman asked, cautious about her.
"Perhabs she jumped into the water knowing that JoJo would try to save her." Noriaki theorized.
The girl heard his accusation and was offended. "What's your problem?! Staring at me like that… I don't know what's going on or who you are, but if you want a fight…" She pulled out a knife from her pocket, holding it protectively in front of her. "Then you've got one! Come on, I'll take you on, one on one!"
Each crusader sweatdropped, finding this threat to be pathetic. They communicated with the others over Stand telepathy.
"I bet she's just playing dumb. Let's throw her back into the sea!"
"Wait, what if she isn't the Stand user? If we throw her into the sea, another shark will come to eat her!"
"Then we have to trick her into spilling the beans."
"I know what to do!"
Avdol cleared his throat, then staring at her with intent of intimidation. "How's DIO doing?"
"DIO?! Who the hell's that?" she snapped, raising her brow.
"Don't play dumb with us, little girl!" Polnareff snapped back.
He got to her head. "What did you just say?! I don't know what you're talking about! Do you want to fight or talk?!"
"My knife is crying for the blood of its 340th victim!" she bluffed, prompting the old Zeppeli to snicker.
"Wha- what are you laughing at, sucka?" The girl went into the defensive now that people stopped taking her seriously.
"Sucka?" Caesar chuckled, though still having a sense of humour. "Geez, youth today is rude everywhere… I don't think she's the Stand user, not that I could know."
Him and the other crusaders were having a laugh, at least until another muscular man approached them.
"Is that the one who snuck aboard my ship?"
He then firmly grasped the girl from behind with his gloved hands.
"Captain…" the old Joestar spoke, eyeing his cap. Meanwhile, the younger Joestar lit up a cigarette.
"I am very strict when it comes to stowaways. Even though you're a girl, I've got to make an example out of you. If I don't there'll be more and more kids sneaking aboard my ship."
"Ow! Let me go!"
As her knife dropped to the ground, the man was about to carry her away. "I'll lock you up in the cellar until we reach the harbour."
"Captain, I'd like to ask you… there are no errors in the background checks on the sailors, correct?" Joseph asked.
"Of course not. All of them have been working on the vessel for 10 years. I don't know why you're so insistent about it."
The next thing the man did was taking the cigarette away from Jotaro's mouth. "Excuse me!"
Moments of silence followed as these two stared at each other. "Please refrain from smoking on the deck. What were you going to do with the ashes and the butt? Toss them into the beautiful ocean? You are a guest on my ship, you must follow my rules, young man."
He put it out on the golden button on the young Joestar's hat, who didn't budge one bit. Jotaro's eyes indicated his irritation, though. The other crusaders preferred not to say a thing.
"Do you understand?" the man warned before turning and walking away.
Jotaro waited a few seconds before voicing out his frustration. "Hold it! If you had just said so earlier, I would've put it out myself. Who the hell do you think you are, you bastard?"
"Hey, Jotaro! You're the one at fault here!" the old Joestar lectured his grandson. "Don't be rude to the Captain!"
"I know that was rude…" the young Joestar admitted. "But I just figured out that this man is not the Captain at all. He's the Stand user."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" the crusaders exclaimed in surprise together.
"A… 'Stand'?" the man repeated, appearing to be confused. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Wait a second, Jotaro! I can understand you being agitated about an enemy Stand user, but for god sake, you can't just accuse someone without evidence!" the Zeppeli pleaded for manners, gesturing with his palms.
"I've discovered a way to distinguish between Stand users and regular people." the young Joestar claimed, speaking calmly as if he perfectly knew what he was saying. "When Stand users inhale smoke from a cigarette, the blood vessels on their nose will show through their skin."
"Really?!" Everyone but Caesar and the girl touched their nose.
"You're kidding us, right, Jotaro?" Polnareff figured as he felt nothing.
"Yeah, that was a bluff." Jotaro confirmed, narrowing his eyes in conclusion. "But I seem to have found the idiot."
Upon becoming aware of the mistake he made, the fake Captain's eyes widened and jaw dropped.
The fake Captain was cornered, now that his disguise was made obsolete. He calmly took off his cap, his eyes twitched while doing so, further discarding his disguise.
"Jotaro, how did you know it was him?" Joseph inquired.
"I didn't." the young Joestar told. "This is why I used this method to test him. He failed."
"Not bad…" the enemy Stand user wryly chuckled, admitting to his crime. "You're a smart one… That's right. I'm not the real Captain Tennille! I disposed of him and left him resting at the bottom of the ocean!"
"Then I'll leave you…" Jotaro pointed at the impostor in his cool manner "resting at the bottom of the depths of hell!"
Suddenly, the arm of the fake Captain's Stand grabbed the girl's leg. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Damn it!" the other crusaders shouted in unison.
[Dark Blue Moon] finally revealed itself. A humanoid blue fish-like Stand with 4 red eyes and many other red spots.
"I didn't expect there to be 6 of you, so I attempted to hide myself and take care of you all one by one. However, the current situation forces me to take you all on at the same time." the fake Captain spoke. "To even the playing ground, I'll be taking her as a hostage. I'll just jump into the ocean with her in tow! You'll have to jump in after me to save her! My Stand is suited to the water, so even one on 6 is nothing to me."
"You'd take a child hostage to threaten me? Do you really think that's going to intimidate me?" the young Joestar said, fiercely glaring at the impostor.
"Wow, that's sad." Marco commented, unamused about the man's action.
"Hmph! Regardless, I will be the one to defeat you here! That is my prediction." the man proclaimed. "I heard that your [Star Platinum] is incredibly fast. But [Dark Blue Moon]'s speed in the water is unmatched! Why don't you see who's the faster one? My Stand swims faster than any fish in the world!"
"Hmph!"
"Come, follow me! If you wish for a swift, watery death!" He jumped right into the water along with his Stand, taking the poor girl with him, who couldn't move due to a reason she couldn't understand.
Jotaro didn't follow suit. He manifested [Star Platinum], quickly punching the fish Stand in the face, and retrieving the girl.
"Y-you attacked faster than I could land in the water!" he pointed out, baffled by [Star Platinum]'s speed.
"The only one who's getting a swift, watery death is you." the young Joestar calmly stated before turning his attention to someone else. "Hey Avdol, why don't you say something?"
"Trying to predict the future in front of a fortune teller?" the egyptian said with a neutral expression, addressing the fake Captain.
"Isn't that rather foolish? Hehe!" the frenchman laughed, enjoying a smirk.
The fake Captain was swimming away.
A few seconds passed but the girl still wasn't on board. "What's the matter, Jotaro? Why aren't you pulling the girl up?"
He wanted to, but Jotaro couldn't move his arm. "That bastard… He's still attacking!"
"Huh?"
"What did you say?"
Leaning over the railing, the crusaders saw what was wrong. A swarm of barnacles covered [Star Platinum]'s arms.
"He still wants to fight! These things stuck to me when I hit him. They're multiplying too and sucking away my strength." the young Joestar explained, his body visibly tense due to fighting the barnacles. "He's trying to drag me into the ocean!"
Jotaro eventually lost the fight of strength due to the parasites constantly sucking it away. He fell into the water, alone. [Hierophant Green] managed to catch the girl.
"JoJo!"
"Jotaro!"
"What should we do?" the old Zeppeli asked.
"To be frank, I don't know. But I'll go save him!" the redhead rashly declared, sending down his green Stand without hesitation. The moment its hand breached the sea's surface, it had to retract its hand. [Hierophant Green] brought back a few objects, stuck into its Stand skin.
"Ack!" the cherry boy let out in pain. His own hand bled. "These are scales! The Stand's scales, and they're razor sharp!"
"There are tons of scales in the water!" Polnareff observed, recognizing the danger.
"He wasn't bragging when he said he could take us all on at once!" Avdol acknowledged his underestimation of the enemy. "It's like quicksand!"
"If any of us jump in, we'll be killed!" the old Joestar spoke, 100% sure of the outcome. And exactly due to that, all the more worried about his grandson.
"I have an idea!" the Zeppeli courageously announced. "Here's what I'm going to do: I'll jump down the other side of the ship and swim over to Jotaro. From there on I can avoid the scales."
With his Stand, Marco would have the best chances. His allies acknowledged this.
"Be careful, alright?"
"Don't worry, I will." the Zeppeli reassured, going for the jump.
Splashing clear water around, Marco landed inside the water. Due to the nature of [Mental Overdrive], he was the best swimmer among the crusaders. The Hamon master could swim as fast as an olympic swimmer, having won countless competitions and awards back in school. That way, it didn't take long for him to arrive in the vicinity of his nephew and the enemy.
"…Uncle?" the young Joestar said in surprise. His Stand was covered in even more barnacles than before.
"I'm here to take care of this mess." the Zeppeli spoke. "Stand back for now, [Mental Overdrive] is in its strongest environment now."
The impostor eyed the blue Stand with interest. "Another underwater Stand, eh? Let's find out who has the better Stand!"
Confidently, DIO's man sent underwater currents filled with both parasitic barnacles and razor-sharp scales at Marco and [Mental Overdrive]. The blue Stand floated protectively in front of its master and made a few hand movements, as if grabbing the ocean itself. Only using these few movements, the Zeppeli bent the lethal currents back at his enemy.
Getting hit by his own weapons, the fake Captain screamed out in pain. He had tried to redirect the currents again with [Dark Blue Moon] but failed. That never happened beforehand.
"UUAAAAAAAACK!"
Blood spraying out of dozens of cuts, barnacles sucking energy from places that weren't cut, things looked grim for the impostor. He was dying.
"If you're wondering why you're losing to me after only one move, let me explain. My [Mental Overdrive] has the power to control liquids. This also means taking control of liquids, no matter the volume." Marco informed, causing the fake Captain to widen his eyes to the maximum extent, in utter disbelief. "Judging from your reaction, you know what this means. Fighting me inside the ocean means fighting the ocean itself."
'Holy shit!' Jotaro reacted at the revelation, gaping in absolute astonishment. 'My uncle is Neptune and Poseidon!'
As far as pure combat goes, Marco Zeppeli was like a god inside the ocean. He had control over something that covered 70.7% of the planet. Inside the water at least, that meant perfect offence, perfect defence, and perfect control.
Due to the immense difference of possibilities, the impostor might as well have given up completely before his watery death. He promised it to the young Joestar but turned out to be the recipient in the end.
With [Dark Blue Moon] gone, the parasites on Jotaro and the sharp scales in the water also disappeared, allowing him to dive up. His uncle followed with a short delay. The crusaders were happy to see him alive and well.
"Jotaro!"
"JoJo!"
"Marco!"
Caesar and Joseph extended their hands to their younger relatives respectively, pulling them up.
"Thanks, uncle." the young Joestar thanked, showing gratitude and awe. "It's damn cool how stupidly powerful you can be."
"Hehe!" the Zeppeli laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "I try to be cool in fron-"
His voice was interrupted by loud and numerous explosions. Coming from their own ship.
"Damn it! The Captain, he planted explosives on the ship beforehand!" the old Joestar yelled, outraged about the impostor endangering unrelated sailors.
"That bastard…" the frenchman furiously snarled.
"Everyone, just get on a life raft!" a sailor instructed. It was his job to look out for the passengers' safety. "And send out a distress beacon!"
With their ship sinking, the crusaders and the girl got onto a life raft, drifting away in the sea for some time.
XXXXXXXXXX
Over half a day passed, but no one really got to sleep well. A lack of fresh water, salty air, rough waves at night and scorching sun at noon. The crusaders and sailors really needed water, sleep and a shower.
The girl travelling with the crusaders chugged down water from a bottle given to her by Joseph. "I don't really understand what's going on here… But who the heck are you guys?"
"Travellers like you." Marco answered. "Though girl, if you ask others who they are, you have to introduce yourself first."
She didn't feel like giving her name. "No, I won't tell you my name. I don't trust you all enough."
Trust. It comes with time. The Zeppeli wanted to be nice, but if the girl didn't trust them enough, he could simply try again at a later time.
Suddenly, she spat out the water like a fountain.
"Hey! That water's valuable! Don't spit it out like that!" the old Joestar scolded.
"N-n-no!" the girl stuttered, her eyes wildly flickering and moving around. "E-e-e-every-everyone, l-lo-look!"
Given that she pointed at something behind the crusaders, they around to see what she meant. It appeared to be a large and dark grey metal-colored vessel with lots of heavy and metallic machinery. That vessel casted a shadow over their raft.
"A ship!" Kakyoin pointed out, wide-eyed. "We didn't even notice it… and it's this close already!"
"We're saved!" Polnareff cheered. "The stairway's even lowered!"
"We're in luck!"
Were they really? Jotaro narrowed his eyes in distrust. He felt something was wrong.
"Why are you narrowing your eyes like that?" the old Zeppeli curiously inquired. "Are you trying to figure out the possibility of enemy Stand users being on the ship?"
"…No. I'm trying to figure out why there weren't any people nearby when the staircase was lowered." the young Joestar replied.
Caesar thought about that for a second. Jotaro was a sharp thinker like Joseph, he could attest. But the younger Joestar was much more suspecting of things. A good or bad generational development?
"It's here to save us! What are you on about?" the frenchman called. "'There are no people on board'? I'll ride this ship even if everyone on board is a Stand user!"
Perhabs a better generational development. Better to be overly suspecting than naive like Polnareff.
The old ship's sailors got to board the new ship first, the crusaders only followed afterwards. On deck, they looked around, went inside the cabin. Even the cabin turned out to be devoid of any souls beside their own.
"What the… We haven't been able to find any captain or sailors!" the old Joestar stated, wondering how this ship operated like that.
"There's no one on deck at all! But somehow, all the systems are functioning normally!" Noriaki got an odd feeling.
"Maybe they're all taking a dump?" the frenchman supposed, trying to stay away from the paranormal for now.
"Heh, you're funny, Polnareff!" the Zeppelis chuckled with amusement. "You used to say dumb shit like that last year too. Not even DIO can change you, huh?"
With how much they had checked at that point, there really was no sign of anyone on the vessel. The crusaders hadn't checked all rooms though. The girl travelling with them was more explorative though. "Everyone, here… Check out this room!"
They followed her into the room she found. There was a cage with a monkey inside. A larger, brown monkey. An orang-utan to be specific, which the redhead pointed out.
"If there's an animal on board, someone must be feeding it." Joseph reasoned, scratching his beard. "Let's try and find them."
"Agreed."
When they tried to head out the door and leave the monkey alone, a crane hook slammed into the back of an unsuspecting sailor's head, breaking right through it and followingly lifting up the corpse. Completely out of the blue, without a warning.
"Waaaaaah!"
Acting quickly, the young Joestar covered the girl's eyes. The sight of the poor man's mouth getting completely ripped from behind, teeth flying everywhere, could've traumatized her. "Not really a good way to welcome a little girl onto a ship, is it?"
Having witnessed this gruesome death, the crusaders were on alert. The surviving sailors however had more sensible nerves. "No-no one touched it!"
"No one touched the controller, but the hook moved!"
"Th-the hook killed him by itself!"
"What's going on here?!"
The crusaders used Stand telepathy to communicate.
"Careful, there might be Stand users here…"
"No, there ARE Stand users here!"
"But I didn't see anything…?"
"I'll use my Stand to look for him. Come, [Hierophant Green]!"
[Hierophant Green] flattened its own body and moved through a tiny gap. The cherry boy didn't forget to pose.
"I have no idea what's going on here…" the girl nervously murmured, half-hiding behind a door frame. "But I'm pretty sure it's happening because of you weirdos!"
Again, trust. If normal people witness invisible phenomenons caused by Stands, they can't trust Stand users. Trust has to be build up. Like, say, through protection.
"Girl, we are your friends, alright? In any case, we'll protect you." Marco gently promised, making the girl feel a fatherly warmth. He kneeled beside her and held his index finger in front of her face.
"Alright, let's all split up!" the old Joestar ordered, acting as the group's leader. "Let's find the enemy before nightfall!"
With that, the crusaders all looked for the enemy Stand user on their own.
XXXXXXXXXX
Hours later, after the late afternoon sun painted the sky golden, the crusaders met again at one spot. They had found no clues about the Stand user.
"I don't understand… [Hierophant Green] looked through everything, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary." Kakyoin reported, holding his chin in thought. "Inside all the pipes, cracks, every inch of the ship and still, nothing…"
"KYAAAAAAH!"
That shriek belonged to the girl, and she sounded extremely scared.
"Ah, the girl must be in danger!" the egyptain said with a worrying voice. "We must help her!"
"Right, I did promise to protect her." the Zeppeli added. "Is-"
Jotaro quickly running past him interrupted his sentence. He believed that she screamed because of the Stand user. Thus, the young Joestar had 2 goals. Saving the girl and defeating the enemy Stand user.
Leaving everything aside, he followed the source of the sound. Thanks to the ship's various metal walls, the echo guided him. Encountering the other sailors' bloody corpses on their way only added further reason to either beat the shit out of, or kill the enemy.
A few corners and doors later, Jotaro arrived at the girl's location. His eyes briefly widened in disbelief as he saw the monkey from earlier acting creepy inside the shower where the girl was standing, nude and wet at that.
Though the young Joestar's eyes quickly narrowed again in disgust. "Hey!"
The monkey turned around. Jotaro expressed his disgust by slamming a metal lock on top of the monkey's head. "This is your lock, isn't it?"
"JoJo!" she exclaimed, grateful about his presence.
Recovering from the blow, the orang-utan grabbed the young Joestar by his collar. "You're not a normal monkey, aren't you? Are you the Stand user?" Jotaro questioned, unfazed by the monkey's violence.
Enraged about getting whacked and actually hurt, the orang-utan attempted a kick. As a creature, he was physically stronger than the human. But speaking about physical strength, [Star Platinum] was far, far stronger. The Stand easily blocked the kick that would've broken its master's bones.
But the monkey didn't think about giving up. He had loads of other tricks to show off. A metal ceiling fan randomly broke off and came flying at the young Joestar. It hit the target, causing a deep gash in his shoulder.
"OOH! OOH!"
"This bastard… he really broke off the fan?" Jotaro muttered in irritation, keeping quiet about the pain. "So this orang-utan really is the Stand user… But where is the Stand? Why can't I see his Stand?"
For some reason, there was no humanoid figure or other unnatural object near the orang-utan.
While wondering about that, the young Joestar tried to pull out the fan from his shoulder. Unexpectedly, the fan blades bent away from his hand.
"Hm?" Jotaro observed with unease. "The blades of the fan are moving by themselves!"
In the end, the fan removed itself from his shoulder. But on its way out, a fan blade slapped the young Joestar. "Oof!"
"OOH! OOH! AAH! AAH!"
"What… What the hell is going on?!" Jotaro shouted in disbelief, knocked backwards. That was still not the end. Without any explanation, a mirror broke and its shards came flying at him.
"UKYAAAH!"
This was all too weird for the young Joestar. "Again, this time the glass broke with no sign of the Stand!"
"[Star Platinum]!" Those sharp mirror pieces were dangerous, Jotaro had no choice but to summon his Stand to defend himself. The purple Stand easily caught all the shards between its fingers, all by one.
"Ora!" Having control of the sharp parts now, it was time for revenge. The bulky Stand prepared to punch the monkey, but then something unexpected happened. The orang-utan phased through a wall, mocking the young Joestar in monkey language.
With this, the threat was gone for now, but not gone for good. "Hey! You saw what happened too, right? Get close to me, things aren't looking good!" Jotaro commanded to the scared and confused girl.
'What the hell? That monkey just phased through that wall! It disappeared through that wall like it was nothing! It has to be the Stand user… I'm sure of it! When I made contact with it earlier, I could feel the presence of a Stand. But it could be hiding! If not, why can't I see it?!' the young Joestar thought, trying to make sense of the circumstances.
'Or maybe… I'm already seeing it!'
Above him, on deck, the other crusaders all slowly sunk into the floor like quicksand, without a warning.
"W-what's happening?!" Caesar yelled in disbelief, this attack happening far too quickly for him. "T-this is…"
"The ship…" Joseph said, clenching his teeth. "Is it possible that the freighter itself is…"
"…A Stand attack!" Noriaki finished for the old man. "The entire ship has to be a Stand! Think about it! That's how that monkey was able to kill that sailor earlier! He moved the hook with only his mind!"
"B-but how is that even possible? The girl, Zeppeli-san and the sailors can all see it!" Polnareff reminded.
"It may be hard to believe, but this kind of energy is unmistakable! It must be a Stand!" Avdol figured, that being his only explanation. "My Stand has been restrained, I can't send it over to Jotaro for help. What about yours?"
The redhead shook his head. "No, my Stand has also been restrained. I suppose that's true for all of us." he assumed.
"Huh? No, not for me." Marco spoke. "It hasn't restrained my Stand yet. In fact, it's more likely that I can restrain the enemy Stand now."
"Care to elaborate?" the egyptian requested, speaking for everyone present. Such a claim needed substance to back it up.
"[Mental Overdrive] can control liquids. This includes taking control of liquids, no matter the nature of the liquid. As long as it liquid, anything works." the Zeppeli explained. "If this ship really is the enemy Stand, then I can take control of it. Because as of right now, it has liquid properties."
"Oooh!" the crusaders reacted at the explanation in awe. "Holy crap, that's a cheat-tier power!"
"Cheat-tier?" Marco repeated with a chuckle, grinning sheepishly. "Well, I guess that's right. Because as I'm speaking, I have taken control of the vessel."
Subsequently, the group of 5 were released from the metal floor, regained control over their Stands and could walk again without being swallowed.
"I think we should help Jotaro now." the old Joestar said, implying his command.
"Yeah, we've wasted enough time."
Back down with Jotaro, he was currently held captive by the orang-utan. His arms and legs were restrained by metal bars, same thing for [Star Platinum]. Marco didn't know about the young Joestar being restrained like that, so he couldn't have released him, even though he 'possessed' the enemy Stand.
Noticing that the crusaders freed themselves on their own, meaning something interfered with his Stand ability inside his domain, the monkey didn't like that, he hated that.
"OOH! OOH! AAH! AAH!"
Jumping around in fury, the orang-utan desired to vent out his anger. And there was a person right there for him to ease his rage. The girl travelling with the crusaders, the monkey could use her to satisfy his lust.
When the creepy orang-utan approached her, she screamed out in fear for her life. "IYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With the monkey focused on the girl, Jotaro had a chance, an opening. He perfectly understood how foolish it was to exclaim attack names when attacking from behind. The young Joestar held back his voice, despite the fact that he had wanted to use this new attack earlier on the fake Captain Tennille. His uncle stole the kill.
'Star Finger!'
Focusing Stand energy into two fingertips of [Star Platinum], just these two fingers extended considerably, aiming for the back of the orang-utan's head.
Despite his Stand having been taken over, the monkey noticed the Stand attack from behind. Though he had nothing to defend himself with. When Marco took control of the orang-utan's Stand, he explicitly manipulated it so that everything would stay in its place. That way, the monkey would lose a considerable amount of power on the ship.
And that was right. As soon as the orang-utan found out he could no longer phase through walls or detach objects to defend himself with, he was forced to take Star Finger head on.
"HYAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Just then, Jotaro's allies all arrived at his location.
"JoJo!"
"Jotaro!"
The Zeppeli immediately released the young Joestar from his restraints.
"So that monkey was the Stand user all along, eh?"
"AAH AAH!" the orang-utan roared in fear, showing his belly as a sign of surrender. Jotaro didn't accept the capitulation, not forgiving the monkey.
"They say freightened animals show their bellies as a sign of surrender. You've done far more damage than any regular animal would, and yet you're asking me to let you go?" the young Joestar lowly growled at the orang-utan, eyes narrowed in contempt. The monkey would've done hideous things to the girl if it weren't for Star Finger. This animal deserved death. "HELL NO!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA… ORA!" [Star Platinum] cried, finishing off the non-human Stand user for good.
Due to the Stand user dying, [Strength] left the world of the living very soon after, losing its effect. The Stand was active before, taking the shape of a freight ship. As the ability deactivated, the ship fell apart, leaving the surviving passengers with only the life raft they arrived on.
"Unbelievable. The ship doesn't look anything like it did before…" the girl remarked. "That tiny old ship is the same one we were on just a moment ago? It's almost as tiny as this raft."
They had to ride this tiny raft until reaching Singapore.
Whew! Even though I have another Stardust Crusaders fic to take lines from, this chapter was excruciatingly tiring to write. I had to find the perfect balance for character roles this chapter, not an easy thing to do. Jotaro's the protagonist here, but I thought it'd be good to involve Marco in fights so that you have an idea on how his Stand works. That said, I only included him this chapter because those watery fights fit his Stand ability. He's just a side character and won't be involved in too many Stand fights from now on. Next chapter you'll know about his true role. As for Jotaro, I'm not going to skip his development. Star Finger was proof of that, no?
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