Butterfly Effect
Okay, welcome to Chapter 13 of this fanfiction. Before even beginning with the story, I have to tell you about something important. We're gonna skip a lot this chapter. I know it sucks, but there are some reasons to why it's necessary. Remember how the crusaders wanted to buy a plane in the desert and there was only one available? With more members they need more seats, thus more planes. The crusaders can't just leave half of them behind. That's why it's unavoidable for me to skip this fight. Other reasons for skipping follow in the Author's Notes at the end of the chapter.
I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Chapter 13: A fearsome enemy
Following the Steely Dan fight, things were extremely calm and peaceful for a while. Joseph bought 2 small private planes to fly over the Arabian Peninsula. No enemies attacked. After the flight, they took a boat ride to a small island in the Red Sea. The reason was to meet Avdol, the egyptian had recovered a few days ago and left India. And he was freely visible, standing on the beach.
"Avdol!" Polnareff called in joy, jumping out the boat the instant it landed on the shore. The frenchman directly ran over to the egyptian to embrace him. "I've missed you, buddy!"
"Whoa! Take it easy!" Avdol reacted, his eyes widening suddenly. "My back is still a bit stiff, that hurt."
"Ahh, my apologies!" Polnareff dramatically apologized, letting go in slight embarrassment. His cheeks were a little red.
"But nevertheless, I'm glad to see you again as well, my friend. I've missed you too." the egyptian forgave him, showing the frenchman a warm and kind smile.
The others proceeded to welcome Avdol and be welcomed by him next.
"Hey Avdol."
"It's been a while."
"How are you?"
Smirking, the egyptian gave his friends a light hug. "Fine enough to continue the journey."
Speaking of the journey, he'd have to continue the journey with Hol Horse, the man who shot him. Said cowboy felt uneasy, shy and guilty. The gunslinger's expression was conveying that he wanted to hide.
"Oh, and you…" Avdol began, hardening his voice and gaze when focusing on Hol Horse. Everyone else focused on the cowboy too. The egyptian pulled up his headscarf, revealing a scar on his forehead. "Thank you for this, asshole."
It was rare for Avdol to speak in a sarcastic way and curse. Despite getting informed about the entire situation regarding the gunslinger, the egyptian held a grudge against him.
"Sorry about that…" Hol Horse nervously apologized, averting his eyes in shame. There was no way he'd ever make up for that incident unless he died for him or at least risked his life. It was actually awkward enough to continue the journey even though the role of substitue wasn't needed anymore, but he actually needed to be part of the crusaders to survive. "It's good that you lived."
"Good for you…" Polnareff remarked in disdain, a warning underlying in the tone.
Marco did not like the current atmosphere. "Enough." he calmly but firmly interjected, standing between them. "Now's not the time to duke it out. If you wanna do so, do it after DIO's defeat."
He was right, the reasonable Zeppeli. Avdol was there for a special mission in the first place. Joseph gave him money to buy something quite conspicuous, so the egyptian had to keep his identity a secret.
"Where is it, Avdol?" the old Joestar asked, referring to the surprise.
"It's almost here." Avdol let know in a grand tone, gesturing at the sea.
Some seconds later, an armored submarine emerged from below the surface. It was fairly large and expensive looking to say the least.
"Whooooah!" the frenchman exclaimed, impressed by big things."A submarine?! You actually bought this?!"
"This is how we're crossing the Red Sea." Jotaro explained, knowing of the U-boat beforehand.
"That's certainly impressive… but is it necessary to go so far? How much did this thing cost?" Polnareff curiously asked.
"Now, get in." Joseph commanded, opening the hatch. "We don't want to waste time here."
"Can any of you even steer this thing?" the cowboy inquired, raising his brow. He too had been surprised by the submarine's appearance.
"Avdol and I can both do it!" the old Joestar answered, taking pride in his many skills and capabilities. The last plane ride went smooth and without issues, so he was going to steer.
With that, after everybody got in the U-boat, the undersea vehicle dove under and made its way to Egypt.
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Marco, Stand user of the extremely versalite [Mental Overdrive], monitored the water around the submarine. Even below the sea they could be targets of enemy Stands.
He then detected something coming at the U-boat at high speeds, like a torpedo. The Zeppeli didn't know what exactly that was, but he registered it as a threat and pressed water currents together to crush that object.
'Wow, that was easy.' he thought, totally unaware that he just crushed [High Priestress] of Midler, an enemy sent by DIO. Midler, the Stand user, was crippled as a consequence.
XXXXXXXXXX
The submarine perfectly surfaced off the coast of southern Egypt. The trip literally went perfectly.
Egypt, what an important and remarkable checkpoint on their route. And the homeland of one crusader. The egyptian was the first to climb out the hatch.
"Ah, we're finally here…" Avdol said, smiling and staring at the blue sky.
"In Egypt…" The others took some time to process their progress, they'd travelled half the world, experiencing dangerous battles and unforgettable moments. Even with hordes of enemy Stand users they fared well, that's why they came here.
Though this was also DIO's direct domain. Things were going to become a tad more dangerous here. While more people can provide more protection, more people can also mean more targets and more casualties. But the crusaders, they weren't scared of the vampire. They were willing to fight the demon on his own turf.
"Anyway, we're finally in Egypt!"
"It usually takes 20 hours to get here by plane, yet it took us 30 days."
"I'm not mad about it."
"Yeah, me neither."
Chatting and reminiscing about the past month where irreplacible bonds of friendship had formed, the companions walked north and inland, heading closer to their destination.
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Soon, but on another day, the crusaders met out in the desert of southern Egypt, close to the border of Sudan. It was windy, though that wasn't the weather. A helicopter was landing in front of them.
"They're here." Joseph spoke.
"Who?"
"The Speedwagon Foundation." Caesar replied. He wasn't only a Hamon teacher, the old Zeppeli also headed the italian branch of the Speedwagon Foundation. His son also worked there and was to be his successor.
"Are we going to ride in that helicopter?" the young Joestar asked.
"No. As much as I'd like to, the crew isn't made up of Stand users. It wouldn't be good for them if we were to be attacked." the old Joestar answered, considerate of the lives of the organization dedicated to helping his family.
"Then why is that helicopter here?" Kakyoin questioned. His hair noodle was loosely flying around.
"They are bringing help." Marco informed, his lips curling into a very narrow and dry smile.
This information greatly surprised the other crusaders. "Help?"
"He has a few personality issues. That's why it took a while to bring him here." the old Joestar explained.
The egyptian knew of those personality issues. "Joestar-san, it's not possible for him to travel with us! There's no way he could be of any help!"
"My concerns exactly." the Zeppeli added.
What Avdol said implied that he knew about this individual. "Do you know him, Avdol?"
"Yes, very well." the egyptian told, sweatdropping.
"Hold on. If he's 'help', then that means he's a Stand user, right?" Jotaro figured, raising a brow.
"He's a Stand user whose Stand is named after the card 'The Fool'." Joseph stated, also sweatdropping.
"[The Fool]?" the gunslinger repeated, proceeding to sneer with a dumb grin. "Heh heh, sounds like an idiotic Stand. Much unlike my [Emperor]!"
Avdol shot a cautionary glance at Hol Horse. "Just be glad he's not our enemy. You can't beat him."
It ticked off the cowboy how casually the egyptian made that statement. "What makes you so sure of that?"
"Try and see."
The helicopter then landed. The rotor blades were decelerating and the dust was settling. Eventually the windiness ceased and the doors opened.
Two men in Speedwagon Foundation attire stepped out of the helicopter, approaching their contractor. "Mister Joestar." they greeted in english, shaking his hand. "Good to see you."
"Thanks for coming out here. I appreciate it." the old Joestar thanked.
After that they moved on to greet the Zeppelis.
"Which one of you is it?" the young Joestar suddenly asked seriously, getting down to business. "Who's the Stand user?"
Neither one seemed to take offense, though they looked at him without answering.
"I'm asking which one of you is the Stand user." Jotaro repeated. He hated repeating himself.
"Neither of us." one of the two finally clarified. "He's in the back seat."
On the back seat the Speedwagon Foundation worker was referring to, there was only a jacket, not a person. Jotaro and co. were confused.
"The back seat… There's no one there."
"Nope, he's there." the other worker insisted.
Thinking of the words of these men as a joke, the gunslinger got closer to the back seat. "Hey, hey! You say he's there, but where is he? Is he really short or something? Come on, get out now!"
Patting the seat, Hol Horse accidently touched something white. "What the? What's this sticky stuff?"
"Please, be careful! The helicopter ride was rough, so he's not in a good mood!" one worker warned in a concerned tone.
"You don't want to get close to him. I told you he has personality issues!" Joseph warned.
"Hmph! Don't say we didn't warn you…" Avdol huffed, secretly wanting to see the cowboy getting embarrassed.
"Oh?" The younger crusaders all mused about this mysterious individual. Who was he, that he could be a danger to the gunslinger?
Suddenly, a dog shot out from below the jacket, jumping onto Hol Horse's face. This dog was a small Boston Terrier, typically colored black and white.
"OOAAAAAH!" the cowboy yelled out in shock, taken aback from the sudden surprise. His eyes bulged out and his head reflexively kicked back. This dog was dribbling quite much. "H- h- h- h- he's…"
"A dog!" Noriaki finished for him in disbelief.
"Are you telling me this dog is gonna be helping us?" the young Joestar questioned in a disbelieving manner. bearing a doubtful expression.
"Yes, he's [The Fool]'s Stand user. His name is Iggy." the old Joestar introduced Iggy, trying to sound serious. "He loves to tear out people's hair a lot. We don't know where he was born. When the dog catchers in New York couldn't get him, Avdol stepped in and finally captured him."
"Oh yeah, I just remembered. When he's ripping out hair, he likes to fart on your face. Vulgar little bugger…" Joseph went on.
Over there, the gunslinger got to suffer the mutt's habits. His hairdo was ruined and his nose let in stinking methane without his consent.
Polnareff laughed at the misfortunate man in sheer amusement. The openly ridiculing frenchman took it further than the subtly grinning egyptian. "Hahahahahahaha! Lil' Horsy gets bullied by a lil' doggy!"
Hol Horse was too busy with the little troublemaker to react to Polnareff making fun of him. "You dirty little fuck!" the cowboy cursed in an angry way, gritting his teeth. "You're gonna pay for that!"
[Emperor] had been summoned to punish the misbehaving dog. But Iggy wasn't a normal dog, he was a Stand user like the gunslinger, so he was familiar with the concept of taking out one's own Stand to defend oneself.
[The Fool] was a weird quadruped creature. It had a tribal mask with 9 white and red feathers sticking out its head. The Stand also had a mechanical appearance, with red and blue cables running up its front legs and literal wheels replacing its back legs.
"So that's [The Fool]…" the redhead and young Joestar reacted, a little impressed. This was the second animal Stand user, after the orang-utan before Singapore.
"You stupid mutt! Don't make me turn you into swiss cheese!" Hol Horse shouted, firing a couple of bullets at the sand Stand.
Though [Emperor] failed, as [The Fool] partitioned into sand the second it'd been struck.
"Ah! What the hell?!" the cowboy exclaimed in disbelief. "It's turning into sand!"
The free sand flowed through the air and accumulated around the gun and the gunslinger's hand. [The Fool] subsequently took shape again, solidifying the sand and restraining the pistol.
"I… I can't aim! Now it's becoming solid and swallowing up my gun!" Hol Horse observed, struggling in futility as he couldn't release the aim the gun and only shoot straight, at nothing.
"To put it simply,it's a Stand made of sand." Avdol spoke, hoping this display of abilities was enough to explain.
"Ahaha! You're pathetic to lose against this Stand!" Polnareff mocked.
'Polnareff, you'd lose against it as well.' the egyptian thought, sweatdropping. Him and Marco were really the only ones whose Stands countered [The Fool]. Not even [Star Platinum]'s raw power could beat the sand Stand.
Meanwhile, the gunslinger lost. Iggy was back to eating his hair again while Hol Horse fell on the ground in defeat. "Hiaaaaah! Help me! Do something about this dog on my face!"
As much as everyone liked to banter with the cowboy, that dog had to stopped before he turned the gunslinger bald. Avdol asked a Speedwagon Foundation worker to give him Iggy's favorite treat.
Smelling his favorite treat, coffee-flavored chewing gum, the Boston Terrier left Hol Horse alone and joyfully sped towards the egyptian. Iggy then jumped high in the air, stealing the entire pack of gum with his snout rather than taking just the one piece the egyptian offered.
"Ah! Damn it, he took the entire box!" Avdol complained, irritated at being tricked by a dog.
"Wew, I think I dodged a bullet there. Thanks, Hol Horse." the frenchman chuckled, realizing that he should be careful around the dog. If not for the cowboy making fun of Iggy, he would've done it in his stead and get punished for it.
"He may love coffee-flavored chewing gum, but he still won't let his guard down for anyone." Joseph sighed.
"At least take the wrapper off first!" the egyptian reprimanded, his patience running low. As if the mutt would listen to him.
"Yare Yare…"
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With Iggy brought over, the job of the 2 Speedwagon Foundation workers was done. They could start flying back. One of them unloaded a couple of bags before that.
"Mr. Joestar, we'll be leaving now. Here is some food and water for your trip. There are also medical supplies and a change of clothes in there as well."
"Before you leave, I also want to ask about my daughter…"
The young Joestar turned his head in their direction. This matter was of utmost importance to him also.
That worker talking to them began sweating. He was awfully quiet, evident that he didn't want to share bad news.
"How is she? Be honest with me." Joseph insisted with a calm yet stern voice. Beads of sweat began forming on his face too.
Not having any choice, the man reluctantly spilled the beans. "Well… This is difficult to say, but she's not doing very well… Her energy is steadily decreasing and her life is still in danger." he slowly reported, averting eye contact. "According to the Speedwagon Foundation doctors… She can only last for 2 more weeks."
Jotaro's eyes shadowed at that. This piece of information was a huge and grave blow for him. He had to hurry.
Marco too, also quite close to Holly, became distressed, proceeding to sweat. "Holly… Damn it! We're running out of time…"
"We also have some more information for you. We've been trying to scout and find out where DIO could be in Cairo. According to our sources…" the worker continued, invoking the crusaders' attention "Two days ago there were 9 mysterious men and women who gathered in a building where DIO is suspected to be hiding in. And then they all left together."
"DIO… and 9 other people?"
"We don't know who they are. It is not possible for us to track them down because we are not Stand users." the worker excused. "It's even dangerous for us if we tried to take pictures from a distance."
"Were they new Stand users?!" the frenchman asked.
"Hold on…" the cherry boy suddenly said, realizing something. "The only other remaining tarot card that a Stand could be named after is 'The World'. I think that could be DIO's Stand."
Everyone turned their focus to Hol Horse, formerly under DIO's command. They expected him to know about these people. Problem was, the cowboy didn't. As he got kicked out of the faction, he logically stopped receiving information. "Don't look at me, I really don't know."
"DIO… apparently he hasn't gotten used to his new body yet. DIO is a very proud man, he isn't going to run away from Cairo any time soon. It looks like he wants to stop us from reaching Cairo." the old Joestar nervously stated.
"Yare Yare… Only 2 weeks left and there are 9 of them… This is gonna be rough." the young Joestar muttered, bracing himself.
His friends could only agree.
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The helicopter was gone now. With one more and final member, the crusaders were driving towards Cairo in their new vehicles for Egypt. Their way was far, many hundreds of kilometers.
Barely a few kilometers further, Joseph abruptly hit the brakes of his car. Caesar, trailing behind him in the other car, was forced to do the same.
"Why did you stop the car all of a sudden?" the old Zeppeli questioned, half-stepping out of his door.
His face covered in sweat and his eyes wide in shock, the old Joestar proceeded to explain himself. "L- Look! Over there!"
Getting out of the vehicles, everybody saw the reason for the abrupt stop. The Speedwagon Foundation helicopter had crashed. Various parts were bent and the windows were all broken.
"Th- That is… the helicopter!" Caesar observed in disbelief, nervously pointing at it. "The Speedwagon Foundation helicopter that took off a while ago is down in the sand!"
"There is no sign that it was attacked by a weapon." Avdol pointed out.
"It's like it just fell to the ground!" Kakyoin spoke.
"Be careful!" Marco warned, turning his head to everyone. "It was most likely the work of an enemy Stand."
Jotaro discovered something on the other side of the crashed helicopter. "Look, it's the pilot."
That pilot was lying dead on the sand. His hands were stretched out, leading to claw marks on the side of the helicopter. This alone was pretty strange, considering he'd clawed that with his own strength. One thing stranger than that were the fact that both his eyes and mouth were wide open and filled with horror. Horror and water.
"He's dead. There are marks from him clawing the side of that helicopter." the young Joestar said.
Being a water expert, the Zeppeli carefully got closer to the deceased pilot. When he touched the corpse's head it snapped to the side, tons of water leaking out. Few seconds later, a fairly large puddle formed on the desert sand. Even a small fish swam in the puddle.
"Hm? There's a lot of water coming out from his mouth… no, his lungs." Marco remarked, correcting himself. "There is even a fish."
"He suddenly drowned! In the middle of this desert! What the hell?!" the Zeppeli concluded, placing his palm on his face out of astonishment. This kind of death should technically be impossible.
A few meters further, Polnareff discovered the other Speedwagon Foundation worker, calling for his friends. "H- Hey! The other one's over here! He's still alive!"
"W- Water…" the man weakly let out. He appeared to be severely dehydrated.
"What?! You want water?!" Joseph repeated, finding this reasonable given the dehydration. "Polnareff, hand me that canteen."
The frenchman gave him a metal canteen lying on the ground. The old Joestar picked it up and placed it near the lips of the Speedwagon Foundation worker. "Here's some water. Try to drink it slowly."
Little did they know that a lack of water was better for the man than contact to water. He yanked back in fear. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaah! Get it away! The water's going to attack us!" the worker screamed in such a frightened way.
Everyone reacted with great surprise in the negative sense at what came next. "What the…?!"
Out of the canteen's bottleneck, a blue watery hand shot out, swiftly grabbing the man's face. Even more quickly, it ripped out his head and pulled the entire thing back in the canteen.
"It's an enemy Stand!" The crusaders warily jumped away from the canteen, which also landed back on the ground. It landed sideways, so the now dead worker's blood oozed out.
For some seconds, silence. Just a little time to regain composure.
"D… Damn it!" Joseph cursed, obviously upset. "The Speedwagon Foundation had nothing to do with this, but they were still attacked!"
"Unforgivable…" Marco murmured, gripping his fists.
Binoculars in his hands, Jotaro looked at the far dunes in order to search for the Stand user. 360°, but no sight of the enemy. "I can't see anything." the young Joestar admitted. "I think the enemy is controlling it from a distance. The Stand should be small, that's probably it."
They knew the Stand was inside the canteen, though no trace of the user. The Stand itself was unknown and mysterious, but there were some ideas.
"I believe this is a water-based Stand." Avdol said, frowning.
"Why exactly is this guy using such a Stand in the desert?" Noriaki wondered, raising his brows. "Shouldn't this place be a geographic disadvantage?"
"Really don't know…" the egyptian spoke, rubbing his cheek in thought. "Anyways, about the enemy…"
"If the Stand is water-based, then leave it to me." the Zeppeli suggested. "I'll take control of the water and hold it still, while you guys can go search for the Stand user."
"Good idea." Avdol acknowledged. "But who's gonna search for the Stand user?"
"I can do that." Jotaro volunteered. "Ready when you are."
"Right…" Marco took a deep breath, deciding to approach the problem with care. After manifesting, [Mental Overdrive] slowly stepped closer to the canteen, waiting for the enemy Stand to react.
Suddenly, the wristwatch of the dead Speedwagon Foundation worker started beeping. A watery hand shot out of the canteen, completely ignoring the humanoid blue Stand and instead hurrying over to that wristwatch. The hand of water destroyed said watch by slicing it along with the wrist of the dead man.
Everyone reacted in shock.
"W- what the hell?! It attacked the pilot's body!" the gunslinger called in disbelief.
"No, you're wrong. Not the body, the watch." the young Joestar corrected him, calmed down a bit. "It attack the alarm of the watch."
"So it attacks by detecting the sound? I see…" the Zeppeli said, rubbing his chin. "Then I'll just have to lure him…"
"…WITH THIS!" he yelled out, invoking the Stand's attention. It automatically turned around 180 Degrees, attacking the source of the voice.
'Ha, that's right! Get in my range so [Mental Overdrive] can control you!' Marco thought, confident in his plan.
Closing in enough, the hand leaped in the air, revealing its sharp and wet claws. It went for the Zeppeli's face.
'Now!' Marco thought, activating his Stand ability. His ability allowed him to take control of any liquid, even other Stands. With this ability he could just redirect the dangerous hand to completely miss him.
Had the Zeppeli left the water alone, it would've shredded his face, killing him. He avoided that outcome, though not entirely. Marco received a light gash on his left cheek as the hand forcefully steered past his head. Surprised, his eyes widened and he smeared the fresh blood away with his fingers, staring at it. The other crusaders shared the same expression.
"What the…"
For the first time since discovering his secret power as a child, the Zeppeli was met with resistance. His ability to be exact. For the first time since the beginning of the journey to Egypt from Japan, Marco didn't have total control over a fight he was directly involved in. Oh, this fight was going to be tough.
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A few kilometers further in the desert, a blind yet dangerous man sat on a dune. He was muscular and attractive, traits most people didn't expect from a blind person. He was hardly normal though, N'Doul, Stand master of [Geb] and member of the [Egypt 9 Glory Gods], DIO's Stand user force purely for Egypt.
"Che. Judging from your abilities, you must be Marco Zeppeli." N'Doul calmly spoke. "Your power to take control of liquids and possess liquid-based Stands is impressive. But [Geb] isn't weak like the other liquid Stands you've faced, you'll discover it soon enough."
This blind assassin possessed tremendous Stand energy. More than enough to partially resist the superior ability of [Mental Overdrive]. This was part of the reason DIO wanted him, even the vampire was impressed by the skills N'Doul possessed.
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"So… uh… Do you need help?" Polnareff asked in worry, ready to summon [Silver Chariot] any moment. "This enemy is deadly."
"Yeah, that's why we need to incapacitate the Stand user as soon as possible." the Zeppeli told. "Jotaro, you said you'd find him, right?"
"Mhm" the young Joestar nodded, on his way to fulfill his part of the mission. "Kakyoin, Hol Horse! Can you come with me?"
"We can." the two accepted his invitation.
"Alright, then let's get going!"
With that, the three ran off, heading out to hunt the enemy. Jotaro also picked up Iggy by surprise, as the dog had the capability to smell the enemy. Without the Boston Terrier, the search would last considerably longer, the young Joestar wasn't stupid. "You're coming with us, too!"
"Arf! Arf!" the mutt loudly barked in protest, drawing [Geb]'s attention. It no longer focused on Marco and instead started chasing the search party crusaders.
"Oh no, you don't!" the Zeppeli hissed, trying to stop the hand from slashing at the running crusaders' legs.
[Mental Overdrive] partly took control over the water, barely stopping [Geb] from seperating Jotaro's legs and feet. It didn't even manage to leave a scratch.
"Thanks!" the young Joestar thanked without stopping in his tracks.
"No sweat!" Marco replied before giving his attention to the hand again. "As for you, you're not going anywhere!"
Similar to how [Geb] was a tough opponent for [Mental Overdrive], the same was true vice-versa. The natures and Stand energies of these two Stands clashed, neither one would have it easy.
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"Tch!" N'Doul was seriously annoyed at how things were playing out. His enemies were hunting him, though he couldn't defend against them because his Stand was already occupied with another threat. He couldn't even summon back [Geb], because [Mental Overdrive] would slow it down. N'Doul still had some control over his Stand, so he could decide in which direction the water would go. However, the Zeppeli would heavily slow down the hand's advances by counter-directing in the opposite direction. The blind man had no choice other than fighting his currently greatest hindrance.
"How much longer can you keep this up, Marco Zeppeli?!"
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Switching its target again, [Geb] attempted a low slash at Marco's legs. His Stand just redirected the slash.
"Damn, this Stand's persistant!" the Zeppeli complained, under stress from the pressure. Little did he know that the other Stand master was under even more stress.
"Marco, if you need help, just let us know!" the egyptian insisted, wanting to join the battle as his friend was clearly facing difficulties.
"Everyone, stay back!" Marco shouted towards the vehicles where the others stayed, at a safe distance from him and the lethal water. "You all can't beat it, the nature of the Stand doesn't allow it. Don't even let it notice and target you, stay away and stay quiet!"
'I can't possess, much less injure that Stand.' the Zeppeli thought, conflicted about something. While it'd be beneficial for Jotaro and co. not be chased by the hand, he himself was endangering himself the longer battled this opponent. 'Maybe I shout try involving Hamon.'
Taking a deep, clear breath, Marco channled Hamon into both his own body and [Mental Overdrive]. The goal was to force his Hamon onto [Geb] and see if this strategy would improve his control over the water hand.
"Come at me!" he loudly taunted the enemy Stand, making it attack him. [Geb] aimed for the center of his chest. The Zeppeli both redirected the water with his control ability, and swatted it with [Mental Overdrive]'s Hamon palm. That move was extremely difficult due to how fast and agile that hand was, but the objective had been fulfilled. A portion of his Hamon latched onto [Geb].
'Yes! I did it!' Marco thought, eager to find out how much better his liquid possession would get. Normally, it would improve significantly, though with an enemy Stand as powerful as this one, he couldn't just assume that. He had to carefully make sure, keeping his guard up in the process.
'Now to test it out…' The Zeppeli eased the control his Stand exerted over the dangerous water, giving it some free movement. [Geb] didn't let that freedom go to waste, trying out another shot at tearing him to pieces. [Mental Overdrive] stepped in early enough, and Marco was totally content about the results. Yes, the fact that he didn't have absolute control over the hand didn't change, but now with the assistance of his Hamon, he could redirect and avoid hits much easier and at lower risk of getting injured.
"Everything okay?" the frenchman inquired from near the cars.
"Under control!" the Zeppeli reassured, smiling and giving a thumbs up.
Little did he know, that was only an illusion. On the other side, N'Doul was growing impatient. Jotaro's party came closer and closer, while he himself was having more difficulties maintaining control over his own Stand due to the unwanted inclusion of Hamon. The blind man really couldn't afford to waste more time, so he devised a plan. An illusion to make Marco think he was winning.
[Geb] stopped moving entirely. It didn't try to wrestle control away from [Mental Overdrive] anymore.
The Zeppeli was a little confused at this development but didn't complain. From his point of view, this development was favorable. "Weird… Did I attain perfect control over it, but with a delayed effect?" he theorized, pensively tapping his cheek. "If so, that's fantastic. I won't have to worry about it, then."
Too bad for him, he let his guard down. Marco had advantages over his enemy in more than one way. His Stand's nature directly countered the enemy Stand's nature, hard at that. Beyond that, his Hamon also worked on the enemy Stand due to its nature, so this was a double hard-counter. But exactly because he let his guard down that moment, those advantages and counters lost their meaning. Within just the fraction of a second, the deadly hand executed a sneak attack. Its target? The Zeppeli's eyes.
Slash!
"A-!" everyone instantly reacted, their jaws dropping. And all but one widened their eyes.
Like a spring, blood sprayed out of Marco's sclera. It was too sudden for him to feel pain.
[Geb], the culprit, promptly retreated. It was summoned back by its defenseless master.
"What the…!" Marco's allies rushed over to him, in disbelief about the sudden wicked surprise. "MARCO!"
Fallen on the sand, the Zeppeli clutched the upper half of his face, rolling around. "MY EYES! AH! UH! MY EYES! AH… IT GOT MY EYES!"
What a defenseless position. The water hand could technically return and kill him, but there were more pressing matters for the Stand master. He had no choice but to ignore Marco.
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"400 meters, 1600 meters."
"300 meters, 1200 meters."
N'Doul was measuring the distance Jotaro's party and his own Stand needed to reach him. "Damn you Zeppeli, you held me back for a long time! After I'm done with these idiots, you're next!"
One thing was clear, though. That this battle would soon find its conclusion.
"200 meters, 800 meters."
"100 meters, 400 meters."
The blind man was sitting behind a dune, so the crusaders couldn't see him. They still knew where he was thanks to Iggy's sense of smell.
"50 meters, 200 meters."
"25 meters, 100 meters."
He wondered when the crusaders would notice [Geb], it was closing the distance faster than them, and seeing it would tell them that Marco had been defeated.
"10 meters, 40 meters."
"5 meters, 20 meters!"
Reaching the top of the dune, N'Doul was clearly visible for the group of 4. At last, they managed to reach the enemy.
"There he is, that bastard!" Hol Horse exclaimed, summoning [Emperor]. Instead of being tired after running like 2 kilometers straight, the cowboy was quite energetic. "Jotaro, should I blast him already?"
"…Try it." N'Doul challenged, unafraid. His defensive plan was unfolding now.
"Gladly!" the gunslinger arrogantly called, underestimating the blind man. "If you want some, then ha-"
"Watch out!" the young Joestar yelled, punching Hol Horse in the head. The punch made him take flight for a few meters.
Jotaro took a slash to his shoulder. The deadly hand was back for trouble. Had he not punched the cowboy away, the latter would've become a casualty.
"Gah!"
"JoJo!" Kakyoin shouted in worry, manifesting [Hierophant Green] in fighting pose. 'What on earth… Did Marco lose?!'
"Heh, I know what you're thinking." the blind man told, smirking confidently. ""What?! How did Marco Zeppeli lose?!" and maybe "Is he dead?!""
That was quite similar to what Noriaki was thinking.
"Seeing as my Stand beat his, you get the idea of how strong I am, right?" N'Doul calmly and coolly asked. "It doesn't matter that there's 3 of you here, if I notice that one of you tries to attack me, I'll attack that one instead. One of you will try to save him, which leaves me occupied with 2. The remaining one will have another chance at attacking me, but I will just attack that one instead! My Stand is fast, fast enough to deal with 3!"
Excellent thinking from the blind man. Given that he'd obviously defeated Marco and [Mental Overdrive], the crusaders didn't doubt that he was strong and fast enough to deal with 3.
But could he deal with 4? While explaining his defensive strategy, N'Doul assumed there were only 3 enemies. The 4th one was the Boston Terrier. So, what about this misconception? When the young Joestar left to search for the enemy and took Iggy along as a surprise, the dog was protesting a lot, barking and dribbling. Though noticing that he couldn't win against Jotaro, Iggy gave up resisting and piped down, supporting the crusaders with his nose, and only his nose.
"…I see." the young Joestar chuckled, finding that opening. "Despite being blind, you've been our by far most difficult enemy so far. I can respect that. Though in the end, being blind is still a disadvantage."
"What do you mean?" N'Doul questioned in slight confusion, not knowing what to do with these words.
"Sorry for the bad joke, but… you can't see this coming."
From the beginning until now, Jotaro held Iggy in one of his hands. What he did next was animal cruelty, but the mutt was tough, so he wouldn't really be harmed. The young Joestar threw the dog at the blind man with force. Due to the short distance, N'Doul couldn't avoid it.
"Ack! Wha-!" he let out, utterly perplexed by the revelation. 'The hell?! Was the damn dog with them all along?!'
He'd been tricked. But now that he knew about the extra presence, the same trick wouldn't work a second time.
"Not bad, but now you're done for! As if a pesky dog can tip the scales!"
"Oh, it can." Jotaro calmly refuted. Iggy's part was only a diversion. Him, the cherry boy, and even the gunslinger who recollected himself surrounded him, standing only 1 meter away from him.
"…" N'Doul noticed this after all, his mind was sharper than the claws of [Geb]. Because he was blind, he had a walking stick with him. That walking stick, he let go of it.
"There doesn't seem to be any need for this walking stick anymore." N'Doul mumbled, waiting for it to hit the ground. "But when I return, I'll still be useful."
3
2
1
As the cane hit the sand, the blind man used one last ditch attack to try and win. In a circular motion the water hand spiraled around with the intent of slashing everything around N'Doul.
The crusaders didn't forget their part either. This obviously was the signal to attack.
"ORA!"
Bang!
*Emerald Splash*
"…"
This was the end for N'Doul. If he wasn't blind already, he'd see his vision blacken. Yes, he did manage to injure the three and draw blood. But the combined power of [Star Platinum], [Hierophant Green] and [Emperor] totally overwhelmed [Geb], even though they didn't go for the killing blow, hoping to make him talk. Unable to say any parting words, death embraced him. His body limply collapsed on the dune.
"…Damn." the cowboy huffed, sweating although he could be at ease now. "What a guy."
"Is this what we have to prepare ourselves for?" Noriaki asked, still shocked about this enemy's strength. "We could've died for real this time, he was no joke."
"Yeah…" the young Joestar agreed, not saying anything further. He then started digging.
"Eh? What are you doing?" the gunslinger inquired, baffled by the sudden change of action.
"Don't tell me…" the redhead began, surprised by his friend's decision.
"Yes, I'm gonna bury him." Jotaro said, bearing a neutral expression. "For pushing us this far, I believe he deserves this respect."
His respect went far enough to not use his Stand to dig for him. The cherry boy and gunslinger even joined him in preparing that grave.
Once the grave had been dug, the blind man's corpse was gently placed inside. His cane as a tombstone.
With that, the menace of N'Doul and [Geb] was over.
Chapter end. I mentioned in the upper part of the Author's Notes that I'll name other reasons for skipping fights, so I'm gonna do it now. The reason as to why I skipped the Cameo fight is because that fight was to highlight Polnareff's regrets and guilt about Avdol's 'death'. In this fanfic he knew Avdol survived the entire time, because he would've killed Hol Horse who'd been forced to act as Avdol's substitute, had Polnareff been under the impression that Avdol died. I also reduced the Midler fight to something instant because it makes perfect sense for Marco to monitor the water, it's his power. I swear I didn't plan his Stand to be this convenient! I never would've thought liquid control could be this overpowered. Well, at least N'Doul was a rather tough opponent for him. And for everyone else too on that matter. Now that he'd out for some time, taking Kakyoin's place in canon, I can finally focus more on other characters.
About Hol Horse, I really wanted to develop him as a character, but the skipping sadly made it impossible. That's why I can only say that he'd learned a lesson of respect and humility after the Steely Dan fight.
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