Butterfly Effect

by Dualshock

One little change in the past can greatly influence the future. What if one person survived? Will the future turn out to be better or worse? Read and find out!

19. Chapter 19: Analog and Digital

Butterfly Effect

How are you doing, my readers? After some more waiting time, I'm back with the latest chapter. This one will make you think of Pokémon. "Prepare for trouble, and make it double". Enjoy!

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

---

Chapter 19: Analog and Digital

Getting sucked into a weird black portal by a shady butler sucked.

Everything around them was dark and strange. There was nothing to touch, the void was like emptiness.

"Damn it, looks like we've been taken hostage…" Caesar muttered, assessing the situation. "Who knows what comes next?"

"Why did you jump into the void in the first place?" Joseph asked, giving his friend a flat look. "It was an obvious trap."

"I can't just let you face danger alone, you know." the old Zeppeli justified, returning the gaze. "What happened to our camaraderie?"

"If our positions were replaced, you'd scold me for being too impetuous." the old Joestar countered, about to start another argument.

Looking at each other, the younger three around them decided to preemptively calm them down.

"Don't even start, we have bigger problems at hand." Jotaro firmly stated, making them look at him.

"Exactly, rather wonder about questions like, is this an illusion? Are we underground or above ground?" Kakyoin suggested, keeping his head cool and rational.

"Yeah… Given the circumstances, that's a very good question to ask…" Marco slowly said as the crusaders suddenly found themselves in a new, strange area.

Around them was a bright blue sky with some clouds far in the background, like it was daytime. The sea around the tiny island they found themselves to be standing on, was a darker shade of blue, but no less wide than the sky.

About the tiny island, it was only 15 meters in diameter at most, yet had rocky, sandy and grassy vegetation, with the latter making up most of the center. On that center, there were a total of 2 wooden tables with some chairs around situated. Those aside, as far as furniture went, there was also a wooden shelf, a tiny wooden table on the side to place drinks on, and a wooden door with frames.

Finally, there were 2 people present, D'Arby and another man. This man was a bit older than the former, but bore great similarities to the former regarding the air he was giving off, the look of his eyes, and the shiny metal-like marks on his face.

Remembering how Hol Horse told them that there'd be at least one of the D'Arby brothers inside, they quickly figured out the identity of that man.

"Yare Yare Daze… What's the meaning of this?"

The crusaders were very surprised, but were also guarded, keeping their surprise at a minimum and not overreacting.

Just then, a wind blew past the crusaders. They could smell the salt. And upon closer inspections, there were animals in the vicinity, like crabs and sea urchins.

"…"

All of that felt too real to be merely an illusion.

"Welcome, gentlemen." the butler greeted them anew, bowing politely. "Welcome to our little game room."

"My little brother Terence has surely introduced himself to you." the second man spoke up, comfortably leaning forward. "I'm the older brother, Daniel. Pleased to make acquaintance."

"…We don't care about your names. Just tell us if we're still in the house or not, then get out of our way." Joseph quickly made clear that he didn't want to waste any time, assuming a strict stance against the D'Arbys.

"I see you're trying not to waste any second…" Daniel commented, a conceited and highly arrogant undertone in his voice. "Too bad, I'm going to have you spend many minutes playing games, because that's the only way for me to trade information."

Caesar and Marco exchanged glances for a split second, conveying the agreement that this man was highly unlikeable.

So thought the younger Joestar, who immediately brought out his Stand and menacingly walked up to the elder D'Arby.

"Imma play pinata with you if that's what you like."

Too bad, the man wasn't intimidated in the slightest. For he had a wicked, significant trump card.

"That's a very risky game, boy. Risky enough for me to end up dead."

"What of it?" Jotaro brushed off Daniel's words, narrowing his eyes. Additionally, he made [Star Platinum] raise its fist up to the level of the man's face.

"By doing so, you'll be responsible for dozens of souls getting irreversibly erased." the elder D'Arby coldly informed without batting an eye.

This caused the youth to settle down a little. "What?"

The crusaders then remembered how Hol Horse told them how the brothers stole people's souls.

"Excuse me, can you tell us what you mean by that?" Noriaki joined in, asking for clarification.

Daniel then turned his head to Terence. "Hey Terence, should we show them our collection together?"

"Very good idea, Daniel." the younger D'Arby smirked, a darkness behind those smiling white teeth.

Terence walked over to the wooden shelf, opening it, while Daniel just took out a collection book.

A collection book for poker chips, as the elder D'Arby was a gambler. Though on the other hand, although the shelf was full of detailed, well-maintained and awfully lively puppets, the younger D'Arby wasn't a puppet master. Rather, he was a gamer.

Moments later, the crusaders saw how those poker chips weren't usual poker chips, as they had sleeping human faces on them, and even name tags underneath. Same went for the puppets, who soon began moving on their own, although with limited motions due to their puppet physiology, and making sounds of severe distress and mental agony.

"I think by now you understand what's in front of you, right?" the gambler provoked, smirking callously.

"…!"

Seeing the cruel, inhuman state the brothers have put those people into, the crusaders went almost pale, getting sick and disgusted to the core. Even the young Joestar briefly failed to maintain his usual stoic face.

"Holy… That's going too far…!" the redhead breathed out, cold sweat starting to form on his face.

"I understand… that there are 2 demonic sickos in front of us…" the Zeppeli cursed, narrowing his eyes out of pure, unadulterated scorn for the duo.

"Perfectly put, Marco…" the old Zeppeli agreed, his blood pressure rising from the anger stemming from just looking at them.

United in contempt and disgust, the crusaders both felt fresh resolve in defeating and severly punishing the two for their beyond evil deeds, and a certain sense of danger about the two.

"And that's not all, there's more!" the gamer announced, stretching out his arm and explicitly pointing at Jotaro.

The other crusaders all turned their eyes to the young Joestar, who didn't exactly know why he was singled out.

"Is there… something about me?" he asked with an irritated but low voice, glaring daggers at the younger D'Arby who was pissing him off.

Provoking Jotaro with his eyes, he moved the tip of his finger so that it would point at a certain body part.

"Take a look at where my [Atum] grabbed you earlier, I'm sure you'll be surprised."

Pulling back his sleeve, the young Joestar laid his eyes on the spot Terence just mentioned. Immediately, his eyes shot wide open.

So did the eyes of his allies, since they all got to see a disturbing sight that gave them a very uncomfortable feeling.

"WH- WHAT IS THAT?!"

There was a hand tightly holding onto Jotaro's arm, BELOW HIS SKIN. It provided them a sense of discomfort, because that hand wasn't supposed to be there, it just wasn't.

[Atum] was then summoned by its master, revealing its physique. Though one thing was off, and the crusaders could see what exactly.

"Let me explain" the gamer offered, his smile becoming more crooked. "When someone loses and admits defeat, that someone's soul energy is reduced to almost 0. It's that moment where we take out the loser's soul."

"…"

It became clear to the crusaders how the brothers worked, and how all those people got done in like that. Reacting, they could only show their gritted teeth.

"In Jotaro's case, he didn't admit defeat, but he did get shocked. There was a weak spot in his soul, a little one which enabled me to touch his soul." the younger D'Arby continued, speaking in a calm way as he had a sense of victory and security. "Does that make sense to you, gentlemen?"

Narrowing their eyes, the crusaders hatefully stared at the twisted pair of brothers.

"You're madmen…"

"Anyways, you can clearly see which side has the advantage." the elder D'Arby spoke up again, shrugging off the remark just now. "I mean, you only need 2 wins for us to release Jotaro's arm and make way for you so you can proceed towards Lord DIO, but… won't you consider playing more games?"

As much as the crusaders didn't want to admit it, he was right. DIO was their priority, but they couldn't just leave all the trapped souls in the brothers' collection, as that wouldn't sit right with their morals. And they were making use of those morals by holding all the souls hostage.

"…Alright, but know that this won't have a good end for you two." the old Joestar promised, his eyes shadowed.

Nodding in agreement, the crusaders made sure to show their readiness.

"…I take it you accepted our challenge." Daniel went on, his posture arrogantly loose.

"My brother is a gambler by profession, so with him, you'll be able to play classic, analog games. I on the other hand, am a gamer, who plays video games of tomorrow's digital era." Terence changed the topic, proceeding with the basic information needed to carry out the battles. "That said, you're free to choose who you'll play against."

The crusaders now had to choose who to pick as their opponent. At first glance, they could see which opponent would be more favorable based on the individual crusaders' ages. But the man in the middle, who was neither of the two definitive age groups, wanted to make sure.

"Say, Kakyoin, Jotaro… Are the 2 of you good with video games?" Marco inquired, wanting to know whether they could be an opponent to the gamer or not.

"Me? I'm very good with video games, actually." the cherry boy told, proudly thinking of himself as a gamer as well. "Back home, I'm considered undefeatable at the local arcades. I do have a console at home, too."

"Is that so, Kakyoin? I've actually never touched a video game before…" the young Joestar shrugged, knowing it'd be a bad matchup for him against the younger D'Arby.

"Really, Jotaro…?" Marco scratched the back of his head, surprised that a delinquent teen, from a video game industry country like Japan to boot, had no interest in gaming. "Then I guess I'll play in your stead."

This declaration of the Zeppeli caught Terence's interest. "Oh, do you have interest in video games? You're older than most gamers, that's for sure."

"I'm open for new things, if that counts as an answer." Marco responded, not trying to get too familiar with the man.

"Well, whatever." the gamer shrugged, raising his shoulders and his palms. Frankly, he didn't care much either.

"So, to make it clear, you three will play against me, then?" the gambler questioned again, preparing mentally for the 3 challengers.

"Yes, that's how we'll go." Joseph answered with a nod.

"Then take a seat, we should start sooner than later." the elder D'Arby prompted, gesturing at the chairs after fixing his tie.

His younger brother followed suit. "You two can sit at my table over here."

For different purposes, the two had prepared separate tables.

Nodding at each other, the crusaders went over to the sides of their respective opponents.

"One more rule" Daniel followed up, raising his finger. Everyone turned their heads and looked into his serious eyes. "Once you start a game, please only focus on the task given. Don't interfere in the other side's affairs while you're in a game."

"Though looking and commenting is perfectly fine." Terence clarified, setting the condition.

"…"

The crusaders weren't opposed to this rule.

"Anyways, let's not waste any more time." the gambler said in a slightly assertive tone, indicating the crusaders to hurry up.

"Good luck to you two." Caesar spoke, hoping for best results for the gamer side.

"Likewise, everyone." Marco reciprocated, making a supportive gesture by moving his fingers towards his forehead.

Wishing each other best luck, the respective groups turned towards their opponents.

"Well, then… Which one of you will go first in gambling your souls on video games?" the gamer asked, standing relaxed near the table with his arms crossed. "And what do you want as a prize in case you win? Me releasing Jotaro's arm? Me telling you the exit? Or do you want me to release a random soul of my collection?"

Overhearing the question, the old Zeppeli nudged the old Joestar on his upper arm. "We should be thinking about the same thing."

"Right…" Joseph agreed, feeling the need to coordinate this with his allies. Turning his head around, he called out to his fellow crusaders battling against another opponent. "Marco, Kakyoin, how about you go for the arm? We can go for the exit."

"Noted." Kakyoin quickly responded, nodding.

"The arm it is, then." the younger D'Arby remarked.

"Yes, and as who'll go first… I'll volunteer." Noriaki fearlessly announced, stepping forward.

"Are you sure?" the Zeppeli asked with a slightly uneasy voice. He could imagine the redhead being an excellent gamer, and would believe in his abilities, but there was still an unshakable feeling of concern in the back of his head.

"Don't worry, I have confidence." the cherry boy coolly reassured, his posture unshaken. "Plus, those games on the table are mostly old games many people have beaten, including myself."

Terence was already careful about Kakyoin, whom he felt had an aura of a real, passionate gamer.

Noriaki picked one video game out of the heap without hesitation. "Let's play this F-MEGA game and see who's better."

"…"

"I'll wager my soul."

The words of the redhead were heavy due to having been spoken with a massive resolve. That resoluteness bore a heavy weight which could be felt by everyone in the room.

"…Good." the gamer simply replied, acknowledging the decision.

"That is the line you're supposed to say too, when you want to open the play against me, gentlemen." the elder D'Arby followed up.

"…I wonder if you strive to take others' souls in order to overcompensate for your own soullessness." the old Joestar hurled at Daniel, who wasn't feeling all that insulted.

"What's with the sudden snide remark? Are you indicating that you want to go first?"

"I might as well…" Joseph didn't want to go easy on such a man. No concessions, no backing down. Rather, he'd set the conditions. "In return, I choose the game."

Caesar and Jotaro liked this attitude.

"Fine by me, Mr. Joestar." the gambler said while folding his hands. "I can play anything."

"Gramps, what do you wanna play, though?" the young Joestar wondered, eyeing his grandfather.

"Wait and see." the old Joestar merely uttered, reaching into his shirt pocket.

He took an expensive looking, elegant pen out of his shirt's breast pocket. "Barbie, do you have paper, and also a pen?"

"I do." the elder D'Arby answered, though hinting some subtle fury with his voice. "What do you have in mind? Can I expect a good idea from someone who mispronounces the opponent's name on purpose?"

"We each write something on that piece of paper, without seeing what the other writes. After we're both finished, we guess what the other has written." Joseph explained. "If both guess either wrong or right, it's a draw and nothing happens. But if only one guesses wrong, the winner gets to demand something from the loser."

Daniel stroked his lower chin. "Admittedly, that's a good game you just picked." But he wasn't finished speaking 100% yet. "And don't forget, it's D'Arby."

"That so…?" the old Joestar remarked, not so secretly mocking him.

That way of taunting just prompted the cherry boy to do the same to the younger brother.

"Come on, pick a car already, Doby. What's taking you so long?"

"Pheh" the younger D'Arby chuckled, unfazed by the provocation unlike his older brother. "How naive of you to think my nerves would get touched over such a trivial taunt. If your gaming skill are equal to your mocking skills, then that's rest assured for me."

Unexpectedly to Kakyoin, the verbal effect had no effect, and was even countered. And that counter almost did upset him a little. 'Not bad… Fucker'

Also, the older brother didn't fail to notice that his younger brother just subtly dissed him. And it felt bad, as there was a spat between the brothers, with one of them being on the receiving end far more often than the other.

'Terence, you…'

"I guess talk is cheap, then."

"Correct, actions speak louder, almost as loud as the engine of this baby!"

*VROOOM*

They both had picked the same car model.

"Your car number?"

"28." Noriaki chose. "The winner of this year's season."

"Entered!" Terence confirmed. "My number is 15, as I was born on January 5th."

"Now select a track."

"Track 1."

"Track No. 1!" the electronic voice of the game's commentator narrated in a hyped tone. "After starting, it is a 2000 Meter straightaway followed by 6 turns! After that there's a speed up tunnel! Once you go through there, it's possible to reach a top speed of 850 km/h! If you leave the track, you will explode. The one with the fastest time wins!"

"Are you ready?"

"Stop acting like a gentleman and go already!" the redhead ordered. For him, any provocative speech would be a waste of time, so action over words it was.

*Beep*

"The race is set! 5 seconds to start!"

So the contestants gripped their controllers and set their eyes on the screen.

"4!"

"?!"

The cherry boy then noticed how Terence used his Stand to rapidly and repeatedly tap the gas button.

"3!"

'He's tapping the gas button quickly! It's a trick to boost off of the starting line!'

"2!"

'Damn it! I don't have time for that, he's going to lead first!'

"1!"

As the gaming duel was about to commence, everyone was watching the start with alert mind.

"Go!"

---

And now it turned back to the gamers' business only. The gamblers had to start playing, themselves.

"I'm going to start with our game right now, so prepare yourself!" Joseph commanded, intending to put pressure on the elder D'Arby.

With a few quick strokes, the old Joestar had already finished writing on the paper, then flipped it upside down so his opponent couldn't possibly see.

"I'm done, now go!"

"Alright, alright…" Daniel muttered, readying his own pen to write something down. He appeared very concentrated while doing so, a serious look in his eyes.

"…"

Curious about how this match would go, the Zeppeli and the young Joestar watched intently.

'Come on, Joseph…'

'Win, gramps…'

It took longer than expected, but the gambler had soon also written his piece.

"There, I'm also finished."

Noting, Joseph folded his hands together. "Do you want to guess first, or shall I guess first?"

Both parties intensely stared at each other, their resolution to win awakening a tense aura.

"Please go first, Mr. Joestar." the elder D'Arby proposed, but not out of kindness. The old Joestar never wished for that anyway, not from those, to him, terrible brothers.

"Your choice." Joseph said, letting Daniel know that his decision couldn't be undone.

'What answer do you have to present?' Caesar and Jotaro wanted to know, mind and body feeling a little tense.

A few breathtakingly tense seconds later, the old Joestar was ready to submit his guess. He also made the prelude to that very intense, as he slowly moved his hand forward to point at the gambler.

"Obi, what you have written on your piece of paper…" Joseph guessed, "…is 'VVin'."

''VVin'?' his two close allies then suddenly thought in confusion, wondering why the old Joestar chose those letters.

"…And why do you think so?" the elder D'Arby questioned, his hands folded and eyes half shadowed.

"I watched the way you held your pen, the movements of your fingers while you were writing." Joseph revealed with a strong, confident voice and look. He really showed his sense of security and confidence. "You wanted to make it look like you wrote 'Win', but I saw how you lifted the tip of your pen by just a millimeter after half of the supposed 'W'."

"…"

Daniel's eyes were now fully shadowed, almost defensively. The crusaders were still able to partially read his expression through his lips, and they were obviously expressing his seriousness.

"So, am I correct or not, Obi?"

A repetitive provocation only added to the heavy atmosphere. The young Joestar and the Zeppeli really wanted to grin, but the mood made it hard for them.

"…My name is D'Arby! Not Barbie, not Obi! D'Arby! Don't make that mistake again!" the gambler sharply warned, yet keeping his voice low.

This naturally added to the thrill and intensity of the psychological dual game.

"…Then again, you won't be able to make that mistake at all anymore soon anyway."

That sentence caught Joseph off guard. He defensively retreated his posture a bit and hardened his gaze.

"What's that supposed to mean."

'Yeah, what was that?' Both Caesar and Jotaro felt an uncomfortable disturbance in the air.

"It means you're wrong, Mr. Joestar. I did not write 'VVin'."

The way the elder D'Arby just directly answered with no sort of fear gave the crusaders a bad feeling. To top it off, he showed proof by turning over his piece of paper.

'Win'

'*Gulp* That's bad…'

"You fell into my trap, Mr. Joestar. The answer you gave me was exactly what I had aimed for."

"C-come again?"

Pressing his teeth together behind his lips, the old Joestar felt his security slowly crumbling.

"I know you're a witty person, Mr. Joestar. I already expected you to think of outwitting me, so I just had to outwit your outwitting."

'Crap…' Joseph inwardly cursed, clenching his fists. 'How is THIS happening to me?'

'Is this… the end of times?' The Zeppeli was having frightening thoughts, having previously believed no one could ever outsmart his best friend's outsmarting.

"And now, my turn…" The elder D'Arby's collected attitude didn't give the crusaders any sense of security at all.

'He's looked at my hand movements too, he might guess the damn word correctly first try…'

Stopping himself from showing any more external pressure, the old Joestar tried to maintain some level of composure.

"My guess, Mr. Joestar, for your word is…" With his calculated voice, Daniel raised the suspension even higher.

'Guess wrong, guess wrong!' All crusaders simultaneously hoped, their postures as stiff as candles. Due to the earlier miss, the game's outcome was entirely dependent on the gambler's answer.

"…Nothing."

"…"

"…"

"…"

The following second, the minds of the crusaders went blank. The relief of hearing the wrong word briefly overwhelmed their brains.

'Thank God he missed…'

Taking a deep breath, Joseph dispelled the stress that had been built up.

"Phew… I'm afraid, you're wrong, Kirby. 'Nothing' isn't even similar to the word I've written."

"Then show me the proof, Mr. Joestar." the elder D'Arby merely said, annoyed with the continuous misspelling of his name, but not bothering anymore to call out the old Joestar.

"That I can do." Joseph spoke, moving his finger to flip over his piece of paper. "See it for yourself, your l-"

As he turned over the piece of paper, his eyes went wide out of pure, unadulterated shock. "HMM?!"

"What's wrong?" Caesar and Jotaro quickly asked, before glancing at the piece of paper. One moment later, they also experienced great disbelief.

"Wait, that can't be true…"

"Why the fuck is the paper blank?"

"You even spoke it out for me." Daniel half-seriously joked, rubbing his hands together. "As you can all clearly see, there's nothing written on the paper."

"Bullshit!" the old Joestar exclaimed, slamming his hand on the table. "This shouldn't be! I clearly wrote some text on the paper, I clearly did! Jotaro, Caesar also saw it!"

"Yeah, I did. There's no doubt about it." the young Joestar stated, supporting his grandfather's position. The Zeppeli also nodded in support.

Slowly, the gambler rested his head on the palm of his hand, which was supported by his folded elbow on the table. "Then why is there nothing written on this white, blank paper? I didn't lie, did I?"

"…"

In the heat of the moment, Joseph couldn't find an immediate answer to refute him.

"In the end, I am not wrong. Proof is on my side, as you have all seen. Concludingly, we can say that I am the winner of this game."

"Urk…" The old Joestar was grasping the devious, dishonorable tricks of this man. "Not so fast, you… charlatan!"

"Why are you denying the outcome of this match? Face it, there's nothing you can do about it, so…" the elder D'Arby spoke, his eyes dangerously narrowing during the final part, "give it a rest."

"Nrrgh…" Joseph struggled a little more, but that was the end of it.

The next moment, a Stand phased into view out of thin air, literally dragging the old Joestar's soul out of his body. His soul, while still visible, looked around with bulged eyes in confusion and fear, while his body turned lifeless. And the eyes of his body, turned white.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"GRAMPS!"

Caesar and Jotaro yelled out in disbelief at the theft of Joseph's soul.

'So this is how their Stands work!'

They both realized why Hol Horse was scared of them, the way their Stands worked was sending chills down their spines.

Even Kakyoin, distracted by the commotion from the gambler group turned around, reacting extremely worried at what happened to the old Joestar.

"Joestar-san!"

"No!" Marco suddenly exclaimed, getting behind Noriaki to obstruct his view. "Don't get distracted now, or you'll face the same treatment, I'm afraid! Worry about yourself first!"

Before the redhead could answer, the Zeppeli grabbed him by his head and turned it back towards the TV screen. "Sorry about this, but I gotta make sure you stay focused and win YOUR game."

Marco put on a tough, strict face, but inwardly he was panicking. 'Uncle Joseph… Fuck! How could this happen?'

"Consider yourself lucky, Kakyoin. He just saved you from getting distracted." the younger D'Arby commented, delighted that the crusaders were already getting mentally insecure.

'…' Processing what just happened, the cherry boy quickly shook his head to regain his composure and carefully assess the situation. 'As bad as it looks, they're right… I have to take care of myself first. But Joestar-san…'

Currently, due to Terence's trick to boost off of the starting line, the gamer was leading. Kakyoin was already at a disadvantage, and it could've gotten worse if not for the Zeppeli's timely intervention.

'I have to win this to not end up like him.'

His mentality changing, Noriaki became even more serious.

'Thank you, Marco-san… And D'Arby, how about THIS?!'

Behind the car of the younger D'Arby, who was blocking his car from overtaking, the redhead began rapidly tapping the D-Pad in circular motion. This made his car spin super fast, and also pushed away Terence's car in front.

"What?" The gamer reacted with surprise at the skills of the cherry boy. "This technique… Kakyoin, you're familiar with this game?!"

"Familiar enough to make you eat dust." Kakyoin coolly responded, his sights set on the win.

'That's more like it.' Marco approved, having calmed down a bit. He was now certain that he didn't have to look after Noriaki anymore, but was unsure about the gambler team. 'Father, Jotaro, how's your next move going to be?'

Over there, the mentioned two were staring at Daniel with sweaty faces.

"Just a reminder, don't kill me now, it's too late. If I die, he dies. If you want him back, you keep gambling." the gambler reminded, provoking the 2 with his calmness.

Inspecting his grandfather's now limp body, the young Joestar just found out something more. "He doesn't have a pulse…! He's dead!"

The old Zeppeli couldn't believe his ears. His lifelong friend and partner dying after such a thing, it really hurt his brain.

[Osiris], the Stand of the elder D'Arby, violently pressed Joseph, by slamming its palms shut, into something small: a poker chip.

It landed on the poker table, quickly to be picked up by Daniel, who displayed his new possession to the crusaders. "This is Mr. Joestar's soul. Look at him now, after talking so big. Isn't he pathetic?"

'You bastard!' Jotaro thought, dangerously narrowing his eyes. That man taunting his temporarily dead grandfather made him want to punch him in the face with enough force just enough to leave him alive and conscious.

But before he could do so, Caesar furiously grabbed the gambler by his collar with such force, the poker table almost flipped. The Zeppeli would not just accept his temporarily dead friend getting mocked like that and do nothing.

"YOU SON OF A…" he roared out, his veins showing clearly on his reddened face. "DON'T FUCK AROUND! DO YOU THINK I'LL BUY YOUR 'VICTORY' AS REAL AND FAIR?! THAT PAPER HAD TO HAVE BEEN TAMPERED WITH, YOU CHEATED!"

"Cheating? Didn't you know? If you can't detect when someone is cheating, you can't detect failure." the gambler impudently defended himself. "I think gambling is the same as social relations… It's a game of fakes and cheats. The one who cries is the loser."

'Cunning motherfucker…' the young Joestar silently cursed at the arrogant, arrogant brazen grin appearing on the cheater's face.

"GRRR…" Knowing that he couldn't kill the elder D'Arby, Caesar violently threw him on the ground. "Listen… You won't get out of this in one piece…"

Picking himself up from the ground, Daniel expressed both pain and fury on his face. "Only if you keep gambling and gambling, until you get back Mr. Joestar's soul, that is."

"…"

He hated to admit it, but it was true. The gambler had all the might over his best friend.

"Fine…" the old Zeppeli venomously let out, glaring at the elder D'Arby. "We'll do this your way."

Ready to think of a game, Caesar was energetic and motivated by sheer anger. But someone else wouldn't let him play so quickly.

"Wait, please." Jotaro requested, holding his arm forward, about 90° to the old Zeppeli's chest. "Let me handle him."

"Huh? Do you want to play, Jotaro?" He wanted to go first very much, so he didn't like that move.

"Trust me on this one, because I'm going to beat him for sure." Jotaro confidently declared, surprising both Daniel and Caesar.

"How interesting." The gambler curiously monitored the development.

"Why do you say that?" the old Zeppeli wanted to know, raising a brow due to scepticism.

"Because…" the young Joestar started saying, a cool and menacing aura surrounding him, "I'm choosing a game where can't cheat."

"…!"

This was quite a claim, both for his enemy and ally. Jotaro, who thought one couldn't be careful enough with cheaters, claimed that he knew a game where someone like the elder D'Arby, a gambler who practically lives through cheating, couldn't cheat.

"Now you've really piqued my interest, Jotaro." Daniel spoke, overflowing with excitement. "What game have you thought of?"

"A game where only 2 things are key: power and precision." the young Joestar replied, having [Star Platinum] pick up 2 small stones. "And you can't fake those, can you?"

"Nice thought, Jotaro!" the old Zeppeli praised, letting Jotaro go first. 'How reasonable and clever. Yes, I'll let him handle that bastard.'

A bead of sweat appeared on the gambler's face. That boy, to him, had quite a challenging attitude. Not to mention, that way with the words made the young Joestar appear like a very capable and dangerous enemy.

"We'll see about that…" the elder D'Arby accepted the challenge, much more tense and intimidated than while facing the grandfather.

"By the way, what's with those stones?" Caesar inquired, wondering what Jotaro planned to do with them.

"I'll explain right now." the young Joestar said, receiving attention from ally and enemy. "This is an underground room, so the supposed blue sky and the supposed sea in here can't go on forever. There is a painted wall some meters away from the shores of this island, right?"

"Correct, and?" Daniel was quite curious about where Jotaro was going with the question.

"We're going to skip these small stones on the water and see how far we can go without hitting the wall." the young Joestar revealed the goal of his game. "There are 3 rounds, but only the last one matters. But if you hit the wall, it's an automatic loss."

'Really nice, the odds can't be against you!' the old Zeppeli thought, his temper switching into an energetically supportive one.

"For me, those are quite risky odds." the gambler assessed, looking pensive. "But I'll take them, Jotaro."

The agreement had been made.

"Good. I wager my soul, and you wager my grandfather's?"

"Precisely."

'Wait just a little more, JoJo. Jotaro's going to free you!' Caesar thought, already mentally betting everything on his ally.

"Shall I go first, or will you go first?"

"I think I'd like to go first, Jotaro."

With that, the order had been settled. Round No. 1 of their game could begin.

---

Meanwhile, the 2 gamers had been continuing their race.

Due to Kakyoin's special maneuver, he had eliminated the gap to his opponent. Once they both got back on track, they'd raced with the same speed, on equal terms.

Through various turns and curves, neither side got ahead of the other. Even when driving through the speed tunnel, where only one car fits through the opening, Noriaki used a rarely known trick to drive on the tunnel's inner walls so that both cars fit through.

Even inside the tunnel, where the players had to face 8 turns, a mining zone and a cannon all in darkness, the redhead never gave in and kept pushing.

'That's it boy, show us your will to win! If you continue like this, you'll come out as the winner for sure!' Marco thought, getting goosebumps from all the suspense of the match.

"I'll commend that strong will to win of yours, Kakyoin. Your concentration is something else." the younger D'Arby honestly praised, acknowledging the cherry boy as an extremely difficult opponent. Though at the same time, it meant that he had to win at all costs, leaving no openings.

Through the darkness, once they'd reached the section with the cannon, the beams lit up their screens for a split second, showing the outline of the cars. Within that minute timeframe, Terence's car was seen slightly ahead of Kakyoin's.

"Ah!"

Upon seeing that, the crusaders' nervousness rose.

'Not good! Kakyoin has fallen behind, he's slower!' the Zeppeli thought, fresh sweat appearing on his face. They were getting to a critical phase, where one disadvantage could decide the game.

Indeed, the racers themselves began to sweat considerably. That section was key, and a big reason to get tense.

"I can see the exit! We're leaving the tunnel!"

As they exited the tunnel with high speed, airborne at that, their hearts were also beating rapidly. And now that the visibility was back to normal, the reason for Noriaki to be concerned greatly intensified.

"Aaah! D'Arby's ahead by one car length! Kakyoin, do something!" Marco called, worried that this could lead to the redhead's loss.

"I won!" the younger D'Arby already gloated, ready to land and continue the rest of the course in first place.

"Not so fast!" the cherry boy then called, doing the same spinning maneuver when he first crashed the enemy car. "Look at your power bar, it's going to cost you!"

Briskly and with calculation, Kakyoin spun his car in midair and crashed it against the rival car in such a way that it completely catapulted away. While his own car landed safely.

Seeing this move unfold before his widening eyes, the Zeppeli started feeling both a great sense of relief and hype. "Kakyoin, you just spun out his car clear off the track! And at 850 km/h!"

Imagining how his Hamon pupil couldn't lose anymore after this, he felt like dancing. 'Jotaro, we're going to fix your arm real soon!'

"Real classy of you to celebrate early, D'Arby." Noriaki calmly berated Terence without getting cocky himself. "You thought you had no openings, didn't you? Or maybe you thought I wouldn't notice, didn't you?"

It was then when after a split second dark shadow on the younger D'Arby's face, that he grinned smugly. "What you didn't notice… that I calculated that move."

'…Wait what?'

Upon hearing this, Marco's expression switched into a poker face.

"I did that because I knew you'd push me!" Terence declared, displaying the smuggest smirk of his life.

"?!"

The redhead got a VERY bad feeling as the younger D'Arby talked in that manner.

"Now we'll see who wins! Look at the direction my car is flying!"

All eyes turned to the screens, an unbelievable truth unfolded himself. That truth made the crusaders lose their positive vision.

"No fucking way…"

"W… What?!"

Terence's car flew across the air, above the deep ground below, to the next part of the track.

"You know, it's normally impossible to jump that gap even at 850 km/h." the younger D'Arby told, all sense of stress gone from his voice. "However, if a car got hit at a high speed, then it's possible. I decreased my power on purpose so you could hit me. That was my tactic."

Too baffled by this, the crusaders' eyes got all intense with tiny pupils, vast whiteness due to widening, and little twitches on the edges.

"Now… may we continue, Kakyoin?"

Knowing fully well how he couldn't possibly catch up to the enemy car with that distance, the cherry boy, deep down in his heart, admitted his loss.

Seconds later, his soul was grabbed out of his body by [Atum].

"Kak…yoin?"

The main man's bodily eyes were dead white, but the eyes of his souls were screaming, terrified of being taken hostage.

At that moment, the Zeppeli was overcome with a myriad of expressions. Shock, hate, disbelief, fear, even denial. He wanted to scream and react at the robbery of his student and friend, but also knew he had to keep focus and stop himself from losing his cool in order to be of sound mind if he were to play against the gamer.

"NO! KAKYOIN!"

His facial expression was defined by sweat and bulging veins. Earlier, when Joseph got taken by the elder D'Arby, he'd glanced over there with one eye and overheard the other side with one ear to be up to date with the crusaders' situation as a whale. He'd witnessed his father's outburst and got to know how useless it was, but stopping himself from even briefly lashing out against the younger D'Arby was a challenge in itself.

Not that Terence was having it easy either.

"Damn it, Kakyoin, you were a tough fucking nut to crack…" He was huffing and sweating while recognizing his defeated enemy as a truly formidable foe. "The first one to make me sweat like this…"

In a creepy way, the younger D'Arby even admired him. He had [Atum] stuff Noriaki's soul into a puppet that just looked like the redhead. For Marco, it was disturbing to watch. All his heated emotions from earlier suddenly turned cold.

"This puppet is now the most special one in my collection. He's the only one who played against me without making a mistake mentally." Terence informed, slowly calming down after his exhausting victory both physically and mentally. "I'm going to treasure it so I can play with it for a long time…"

Closely observing the puppet and sharpening his ears, the Zeppeli got to hear faint, stiffened sounds of agony coming from the cherry boy's puppet. Knowing that Kakyoin was going through immense spiritual torture inside of that little vessel, it both made his skin crawl and blood boil. Thus his cold disgust and steaming hatred for the gamer were actually balanced.

"Don't say a word." Marco lowly warned, pointing at the younger D'Arby with his arm not outstretched at all. "I know that I can't attack you. But…"

"But what?" Terence challenged, enjoying his enemy getting so upset.

"All the reasons to pay you back once things go our way, only keep piling up."

What a statement. His intentions had been laid out.

For the gamer, it was a welcome challenge. A new challenge to see who had the right to threaten things and a game to determine who'd get their way.

"There's only one way to find out then, huh? Let's see if you can come close to entertaining me the way Kakyoin did."

---

Meanwhile, the analog enemies were just about to start their game.

"You done with your phone call, D'Arby?"

"I am, Jotaro." the elder D'Arby said as he put his mobile phone in his pocket. His trousers had big and wide pockets, and his phone was small compared to other models, yet it still barely fit inside that pocket.

Such were the times.

"May I ask what you were talking about?" Jotaro inquired with a calm, deep and wary voice.

"You'd know if you were speaking arabic." Daniel merely responded, with provocative intentions.

"Well, I don't."

"Too bad, then." the gambler smiled mockingly.

The next moment, he picked the first pebble to skip on the water. "This game, however, will turn out just too well for me."

With his right hand, he flicked the stone away with carefully estimated low power, letting it skip 3 times throughout 2 meters.

Not saying a word, he simply waited for the young Joestar to take his own turn.

Though Jotaro only stood still, not making any move in over 30 seconds.

This behavior was quite strange to him, so the elder D'Arby decided to ask about that. "Why aren't you moving? Round One has already started."

Staring at him with calm but firm eyes, the young Joestar explained his reason. "You expect me to play with this handicap in my arm?"

"I missed the part where that's my problem." Daniel couldn't give less of a shit about Jotaro's issue.

"It is your problem." the young Joestar dismissed the remark, looking directly into the gambler's eyes with a challenging look. "Because this way, I won't play."

"If you don't play the game you've started, then it's automatically my win." the elder D'Arby just one-sidedly tried to claim victory.

"No, it's not." Jotaro immediately refuted without changing his tone. "It's no one's win until the 3rd round is finished or the wall is hit. There's no condition activated for me to admit defeat, so you're stuck in Round One until you do something about this."

That defiance, it really irritated Daniel, though he decided to not even show hints of it. "You won't get your grandfather's soul back this way."

"You won't get my soul either at this rate."

Caesar was impressed at how the young Joestar forced the gambler into a deadlock. In fact, it was even a minor victory since it was the elder D'Arby who just got obligated into concessions. He could already feel the slowly growing irritation inside a certain player.

"Fine… I'll do something about it." Daniel gave in, lowering his eyebrows.

Turning his head towards his brother, he asked Terence for help.

"Terence, Jotaro needs his hand back. It's crucial."

The gamer brother made the same gesture, though with a different flair.

"Are you serious, brother? You want me to hand over my hard-earned, precious catch from earlier for absolutely nothing?"

So disappointed with his older brother, the younger D'Arby looked down on the elder D'Arby with patronizing air.

Trying not to sweat, Daniel pressed in a humble manner, as it was very, very important for him. "It has to be done, there's no other way."

"Pitiful, just pitiful." Terence remarked with disdain, narrowing his eyes to stress his point. "Think about the way you're presenting yourself, Daniel."

Noticing in the back, in the corner of his eye that Caesar and Jotaro were secretly smirking, made the gambler feel a great deal of embarrassment. And it was the gamer who'd made a fool out of him, like many times before. Rubbing in his superiority…

'Terence, this'll be the last fucking time you've treated me as a joke… You little sack of shit!'

Anger was brewing inside of him, but he had to force himself to appear as humble as possible to get that concession.

"Pl-"

"Okay, that's enough." The younger D'Arby interrupted him. "Alright, I'll let Jotaro have his arm back."

"…"

As soon as the young Joestar's arm was fully restored, he used it skip his stone with a single swift movement. 4 skips throughout 2.3 meters.

"I see, the problem's solved. How nice." Terence sarcastically smiled, turning his head towards his brother once more before focusing back on his own opponent. "Try not to rely too much on me, Daniel."

'Grrrr…'

The elder D'Arby was fuming inwardly, his soft spots had been violated over and over again. Though he had to control his anger, as he had a game to play.

---

Back with the gamer, his opponent just turned livid. He'd calmed down before, but a certain previous action of the younger D'Arby seriously infuriated him.

"Are you serious? What you just did means Kakyoin lost to you for nothing!"

Of course Marco wanted Jotaro to get his arm fixed again. But Terence just handing it over for free after using it as his stake against Kakyoin in their game nullified the reason Noriaki wagered his soul for. To the Zeppeli, that was disrespect of horrifying degree against the redhead.

"Blame him, not me."

And the way the gamer shifted the blame away from himself only made it worse to Marco.

"You know what, I want you to wager Kakyoin's soul in return for me wagering my own. When I get him back, we'll just beat the shit out of you lowlife scum without killing you."

Even the Zeppeli's tolerance had reached his limit. For the sake of concentration during the game he just challenged the younger D'Arby to, he'd shift all his negative feelings to the absolute end, where he'd have won back his friend's soul.

"Oh yes, come at me with the challenge!"

Terence wasn't scared. In fact, it was the opposite. He thought of Marco as less of a threat than the recently defeated cherry boy.

---

Meanwhile, the gambler team just finished Round Two of their game. Daniel had thrown his stone 6 meters away, with 10 skips, while Jotaro had tossed his pebble 6.4 meters away, using 12 skips.

"Great, let's start Round Three."

"…Why are you taking this so lightly, D'Arby?" the young Joestar inquired, suspecting something of the gambler. "You shouldn't be so calm."

"The first 2 rounds literally are meaningless, so why shouldn't I?" the elder D'Arby asked, displaying his palms upwards.

'Yes, he's not making any sense. He should be fully serious during games with souls as wagers.' The old Zeppeli too had the feeling something wasn't right with the way DIO's man carried himself.

Before Round Three, the deciding highlight of the game was about to begin, the air got significantly thicker and more shrouded. Shrouded by claims of cheating.

"You're cheating, D'Arby. I know you are." Jotaro accused in a low tone, his eyes sharply watching the opponent.

"What makes you think that way, Jotaro? This game's simple enough for toddlers to play."

"Simple only for 2 rounds." the young Joestar reminded, accentuating his mistrustful undertone. "In the last round, every ounce of your concentration is required to achieve perfect balance of power and precision. With only 2 'free' rounds, you're supposed to carefully test and prepare to achieve good end results, but you did nothing of that sort."

During the game, Jotaro closely monitored Daniel's movements and behavior. That was the real purpose of the supposed 'not mattering' first 2 rounds, to see if the gambler cheated or not. And the young Joestar certainly deduced that the elder D'Arby was cheating, he was sure of it.

"That especially counts when you have such an overwhelming disadvantage, D'Arby."

"…"

Now Daniel was in on Jotaro's hidden plot. And it made him sweat, ruining his composure a bit. More than expected.

'You thought this far, Jotaro?' Caesar thought, positively impressed. 'Makes good sense to boot.'

"You can't deny it, D'Arby."

"…"

"You're cheating somehow, D'Arby. I know that."

The young Joestar had figured it out, there's no way the gambler could convince him otherwise. And now, even his cheating plan was in danger. The elder D'Arby saw the possibility of losing.

"If you can't figure out how I'm cheating, with concrete proof, then all your talk from earlier will be for naught."

"Round Three's purpose is to find out about that, D'Arby."

Jotaro wasn't intimidated one bit, while Daniel was. For the latter, this was becoming the most serious game of his life.

---

Back with the gamers, the Zeppeli had picked the game he wanted to play.

"Football 88, this is what we're playing."

"Oh, a soccer game. Lucky you, this isn't one of the games I play best."

"It's football." the European corrected the American. How quintessentially European.

"Whatever…"

Putting the game in the console, the starting menu popped up on the screen.

"Alright, let's choose our teams and work on the settings." Marco led the direction. "Though after kick-off, the only changes you can make are substitutions."

"Fine by me."

While the digital side was configuring their settings, the analog side was concluding their game.

"Here goes…" the gambler uttered, stopping himself from trembling. For his own throw, from the beginning, he planned to rely on his own skills, but for his opponent's throw, he had to be very careful about cheating now.

Leaning backwards, after carefully gauging the needed strength to chuck his stone as close as possible to the blue wall he knew the distance of, he released the power built up in his arms. From his throwing stance with his right leg in the air, the knee in a 90° angle, he put his leg back on the ground and threw with a low arm movement.

The elder D'Arby, in his final throw, achieved 16 skips over a distance of about 14.91 meters. His heart was beating like a whole set of drums, as he was closer than 10 centimeters from getting eliminated by default.

'Gahh… I should stick to non-physical games from now on…'

Before taking his turn, the young Joestar gave one last round of slow applause, startling the already nervous Daniel.

"Congratulations on your stupidity, D'Arby. You just revealed me the exact distance to the wall."

There was no doubt that with this precious bit of information, Jotaro could easily pinpoint the exact point where he'd want his pebble to halt.

"Bravo, Jotaro! You sure showed him!" Caesar was extremely excited about what he pictured as Jotaro's unmissable win.

A fraction of a second before the elder D'Arby would have admitted defeat, a new cheating idea popped up in his mind. It came from nothing, but it was his last hope. And every second counted, as if it wasn't done before the young Joestar would make his move, it would be a failure.

Hastily taking out his phone, he dialed a number as if his life depended on it. And the second the person on the other end picked up, he rapidly gave orders in arabic.

Jotaro and Caesar didn't ignore this move, expressing their disapproving opinions.

"Look at you, D'Arby. Desperate now, huh? Trying to cheat at all costs to rob a win?"

"Give it up, cheater. It's too late, anyway."

Adrenaline keeping him sweaty and on edge, Daniel's rhetoric became more aggressive. "Is that so?! Is it really too late?! Then prove it to me, just make your throw! Toss that stone, Jotaro!"

Exchanging glances, the old Zeppeli and young Joestar whispered to each other.

"He's lost it."

"Yeah, time to give him a mental slap so he can get a reality check."

Intending to decisively defeat the gambler and put an end to his cheating pride, Jotaro took a deep, natural breath, eyeing the blue wall he wasn't supposed to hit, but reach as closely as possible. 15 meters is what he deduced from the elder D'Arby's throw. Given that distance, he'd make sure to achieve exactly 14.99 meters.

Concentrating with all his might, he carefully gauged the distance, and by extension the exactly needed power to reach a throw that far, and no further. Once he'd pinpointed and figured out the way to throw, he powerfully extended his arm forward with a slight rotation to the right, releasing the pebble with considerable swing and effet.

It was a throw perfectly performed for this occasion, so the young Joestar was 100% confident in his victory. Jotaro believed it was seconds away, as his stone just passed the total distance of Daniel's second throw at that instant.

Though suddenly, he turned his head in surprise, as without any warning, the gambler was acting crazy. Far crazier than he'd expected when he brought out that desperation earlier.

"Are you actually going mad?!" Caesar questioned in disbelief, unable to tell what was going on inside the elder D'Arby's head.

Daniel had thrown his phone on the ground and was violently stepping on it.

"Grrr, you unreliable-" the gambler bursted out, but interrupted himself all of a sudden, as a faint sound was heard from the other side of the room.

*tick*

"!"

The young Joestar was the first to realize that sound and react to it, immediately knowing where it came from.

"What?!"

Identifying the source of the sound, he turned his head back to where he was originally looking at, the fake sea.

"Hehehehehe… How lucky! How so lucky! Hahahahahahahahaha! It's my victory and your loss, Jotaro!"

While the elder D'Arby was having another mad outburst, though one of another emotion, Jotaro was experiencing visible confusion.

"How…? The stone wasn't supposed to hit the wall!"

"Hahahahahaha, I'm getting your soul, Jotaro!" Daniel was in a rave, laughing uncontrollably while pointing condescendingly at the young Joestar.

"What the HELL is happening…?" The old Zeppeli was even more confused than the former, grasping his head. "Jotaro, wasn't this supposed to be your victory?"

"It was supposed to…" he slowly uttered, incredulous about the events. Somehow, he lost the game, which he sure knew wasn't supposed to happen, as [Star Platinum] was too precise to allow for a miscalculated throw. But in midst that stupefied state of mind, Jotaro identified a possible source. And as that happened, he quickly lost his temper.

"…You meddling CHEATER!" the young Joestar roared in anger at the gambler, suspecting foul play. "You and your phone… That's how you cheated! You used it as a distraction, didn't you?"

Grabbed by his neck by 2 powerful teenage arms, the elder D'Arby's outburst was forcibly interrupted. But he didn't care, as he was too thrilled about soon getting Jotaro's soul as part of his collection.

"Who's going crazy here, Jotaro? How could I have cheated after you made your throw? How could possibly I manipulate that pebble's course when I don't have such powers?"

While almost strangled, Daniel maintained his cocky grin. He saw himself as the winner, and didn't care about anything anymore.

"That…" the young Joestar hesitated, briefly losing focus being unable to think of an answer before returning to his angry self "…is true, but that doesn't explain anything about all the shady shit you did with your damn phone! You used your phone to cheat, and I won't accept any other explanation!"

"My phone isn't the one with super powers… Just blaming an inanimate object for your loss, that's really un-sportsmanship-like and pathetic." The gambler, at this point, was mentally liberated enough to speak his true mind. "Just face it, something went wrong for you. Blaming me or my phone without being able to provide conclusive proof of cheating is just you coping and not accepting reality, namely defeat."

"…"

Thinking there was no reasoning with this man, Jotaro gave up trying to get through with words, instead about to switch to full violence.

But wait.

That giving up, that 'giving up' to reason with words, is what did him in. By this, the young Joestar admitted defeat against the elder D'Arby. Not because of the game, but because of the person.

Though that didn't matter, as the condition for Daniel to claim his soul had been triggered.

[Osiris], the gambler's Stand, immediately pulled out Jotaro's soul from the body, separating soul and vessel. It then, like earlier with his grandfather, pressed him into a poker chip.

While the young Joestar was getting spiritually imprisoned, his expression went from initial surprise to cold, but severe hate. The last thing he wanted to do, was showing the elder D'Arby a scared, struggling reflection of his soul.

"Not you too, Jotaro…"

Seeing Jotaro getting taken away after seeing him getting so close to victory almost devastated Caesar.

And making it worse, Daniel was flaunting his new poker chip around like he won the lottery.

"Kahahahaha! I was lucky, but I did it! I gambled against the odds, but still won!" The gambler picked a very risky cheating method, since the young Joestar had put him under serious pressure. The elder D'Arby had been forced to use a way of cheating that was unusually risky, since it was the only option left for him. Jotaro would've actually seen through any 'safer' method.

"You…" The arrogance coming from him pushed the old Zeppeli's fury to new heights. "How did you cheat, you fraud? HOW DID YOU FUCK OVER JOTARO!?"

Everyone knew Daniel was cheating. The problem was only that they couldn't decisively provide evidence.

"How I… fucked him over, you ask?" Ecstatic over defeating his most dangerous opponent to date, he recognized the young Joestar as such, the gambler decided to blurt out everything. Laughing while looking like a bigger madman than ever. "In my first phone call, I ordered someone to slightly push open the door leading outside during Jotaro's turn of Round Three."

"…So that's how you-" Caesar figured, appalled by the use of such a nasty cheat.

"During the right time, I used my phone as a distraction. I acted like something went wrong on the other end, when I wasn't talking to anybody in the first place." the elder D'Arby continued explaining. "And you know what, it worked for hell's sake! All Jotaro needed to do was looking away from the wall for a second, which he did! Jackpot!"

Livid to no end that this man called himself a gambler while being unable to win without cheating, the Zeppeli's hate levels had reached maximum level. "You're the biggest fraud that has ever lived, D'Arby. You're no gambler!"

"Hey now, that's not true. I felt like a real gambler, returning to my roots again when I made my choice, despite knowing that I could've failed miserably. I made my choice after taking that risk like a true gambler, so you have to give me credit."

"…Yikes!"

That speech disgusted Caesar even more. Daniel acting proud that he behaved like a true gambler when betting on the outcome of his cheat, that was unbearable to hear.

"Scared, are we? I had to improvise and beat Jotaro with a big risk on my behalf, but I followed through with it and got my way! After beating Jotaro, who made me sweat and actually threatened me with the prospect of me losing, I now know I'm the single greatest gambler ever, and there's no beating me!"

Developing something like a god-complex, the gambler made no secret that he was looking down on the old Zeppeli. Hell, he wasn't even fully acknowledging Caesar's presence anymore. Immediately after finishing his sentence, his thoughts entirely drifted elsewhere.

'Now I'm certain I've surpassed you, Terence! Let's play soon, because I'll have you taste the humiliation I had to taste a thousand times back!'

'He's literally crazy now, fully deranged!' The old Zeppeli didn't know if that posed as an advantage for him in the next game, or not.

All Caesar knew, that he was now the last line of defence against this depraved charlatan, and it was win or bust for the crusaders. 'Whatever, that won't stop me from playing against you… Not that there's anything to stop me anyway.'

---

Meanwhile, team digital was ready to start with their game. Teams had been picked, and settings had been arranged. Now it was to see who'd score more goals within the virtual 90 minutes.

"Kick-off… I'm going first." Marco merely said, pressing the button that officially let the clock run.

*Phwee*

As the referee blew his whistle, the Zeppeli made his first pass… and then his first shot.

"What?!" the younger D'Arby called in surprise, not expecting his opponent to go for the goal immediately.

And he reacted too late, as the ball flew right past the goalkeeper's hands into the net.

"Goal!"

1 - 0

"The heck…" Terence uttered as he conceded within the first 10 seconds. It really took him off guard, as such a goal was truly unconventional.

Marco was not responsive, only waiting for the gamer to resume the game. In order to liberate Kakyoin, he had to be completely focused on productive action, no useless talk.

"…"

The younger D'Arby raised an eyebrow for expressing mild annoyance, but decided to accept the Zeppeli's position. Terence instead plotted together a winning strategy that'd make good use of Marco's silence.

"If that's how you want to play, so be it."

*Phwee*

After kick-off, the gamer passed sidewards, playing the ball to his right winger. He then made the winger sprint down the right side of the pitch with the ball. The Zeppeli's left midfielder was chasing down the right winger, and his left back was close to intercepting the right winger.

To evade having the possession taken from him, the younger D'Arby made his winger cross the ball towards his striker. Though before the ball reached the striker, Marco's central defensive midfielder intercepted the ball with his head. The defensive midfielder then hoofed the ball forward to his side's right winger, who ran down the other right side of the pitch.

"…"

Intending to stop the enemy right winger from crossing to the enemy striker, Terence went into the defensive. He commanded his left back and the left center back to catch the ball. But before that could happen, the right winger passed backwards to the right midfielder, who didn't have anyone marking him. That same player then ran towards the penalty box, from where he could shoot a goal.

Not going to allow that player to get a goal shot, the gamer deployed his central defensive midfielder and both central midfielders to block the way and retake possession. Though that didn't work, as he flicked the ball over the trio towards his side's striker, who was inside the penalty box.

Seeing that the Zeppeli just created a golden opportunity for himself, the younger D'Arby, without hesitation, marked the striker with his left back and both center backs. Now that the striker couldn't shoot anymore, he forwarded the ball to the unmarked left winger, who directly upon receiving the ball, performed a curve shot that went past all outfield players and even the enemy goalkeeper, scoring his second goal.

"Goal!"

2 - 0

"…"

Terence, now further behind, decided not to comment. Marco may be ahead of him for now, but in silence, he was creating countermeasures.

'Good, just think you're winning in silence, Marco. When I'm through with counterattacking, you'll be the one to open your mouth and ask me how I'm doing my thing.'

---

Meanwhile, on the analog side, Caesar was trying to start a new game. The decisive game that'd save Joseph and Jotaro.

"On the condition that you can't use any phone calls anymore, I'll play a soul game with you. I'm interested in first retaking Jotaro."

"Deal."

Thinking the old Zeppeli wouldn't even come close to be as big of a threat to him as the young Joestar, given that one was more analytical and rational, while the other was more emotional, the elder D'Arby accepted without a second thought.

Due to Jotaro severely challenging his traditional safe, low-risk way of cheating, Daniel was forced to adopt a more daring, high-risk approach. But he was enjoying it, as it was reminiscent of the thrill of true gambling.

"D'Arby, have you heard of the card game 'Briscola'?" Caesar asked, bringing up a popular game from his home country.

"Yes, I have. Is that what you want to play?"

Nodding, the old Zeppeli gave his answer. "Do you have the necessary deck?"

"I do." Daniel answered Caesar, pulling out an unopened pack of cards from the table's drawer. "Unopened."

"Then please hand me the pack, as I want to be the dealer."

Granting the old Zeppeli's request, the gambler handed over the fresh cards, smirking widely. The elder D'Arby had zero objection to that.

Wary of Daniel, Caesar questioned him as to why he was smiling. "What's so amusing to you, D'Arby?"

"Nothing… Just that it's going to end up the same. You're following the same pattern Mr. Joestar and Jotaro did, which led them to their demise."

"Hm?" The old Zeppeli was actually curious about the gambler's words' meaning.

"Picking the game, making the rules and acting like you're in charge, thinking that alone will give you an upper hand and make you win. See how that turned out for your friends…"

"…"

"But sure, go ahead this way, I won't lift a finger to stop you."

The elder D'Arby was becoming extremely nonchalant and condescending, barely even trying to maintain his façade of courteousness.

"You're doing me a favor this way." Caesar, constantly wary of Daniel's psychological tricks, wouldn't let the gambler's remarks influence his decisions. Soon, he'd unpacked the cards.

In a classic Briscola deck, there are 40 cards in total of 4 different suits: Coins (Denari), Swords (Spade), Cups (Coppe) and Clubs (Bastoni), with their numerical values ranging from 1 to 7, plus 3 additional cards, namely Knave (Fante), Knight (Cavallo) and King (Re). Though point values are different, as Ace-cards are worth 11 points, Three-cards are worth 10 points, King-cards are worth 4 points, Knight-cards are worth 3 points and Knave-cards are worth 2 points.

"Starting now."

Handling the cards, the old Zeppeli first shuffled the cards, then dealt 3 cards each, face down, to the gambler and to himself. He then picked up the next card, and placed it face up in the middle.

Two of Coins

Which means, the suit of Coins would become the trump suit.

"Heh, nothing special." the elder D'Arby commented, as the suit of Coins is widely regarded as the most valuable suit anyway.

As Caesar was the dealer, Daniel had the right to go first.

Two of Swords

Four of Swords

With this, the old Zeppeli technically won the first hand, but gained no points, as save for Three-cards, cards from Two to Seven were worthless. Those cards he won were placed by his side, face down.

"It's more interesting to get rid of the throwaway cards first. Makes it more exciting, right, D'Arby?"

Caesar wasn't trying to socialize here. His intention was to build up tension, as this was his grand plan.

"Be careful what you wish for."

Of course, the gambler was also scheming.

After both took a card off the deck to replenish their respective hand back up to 3 cards, the old Zeppeli was able to go first as the previous hand's winner.

Six of Clubs

Knave of Clubs

This time, the elder D'Arby won the hand. But not for free. He had scored 2 points, which both knew, but counting points was to be done after the game. Still, for the mental battle, this was crucial information.

"Getting rid of the less valuable decks too comes first, eh?"

"Who'd waste a Coin for a worthless throwaway card anyway?" Daniel replied, placing his won cards face down next to him.

Again, one more card each for either one, before the winner's new turn.

Seven of Cups

Five of Cups

Next round

Six of Swords

Five of Swords

Next round

Four of Clubs

Two of Clubs

Next round

Four of Cups

Knave of Cups

With this move, Caesar had put an end to the gambler's winning streak, and also scored his first points. Him and the elder D'Arby were even now.

"Time to get more serious, D'Arby."

"I thought about that too."

Until now, it was only about getting rid of the trash. From here on, the real game would begin. And naturally, the real mental battle would also start off from here, since the ratio of high-risk plays rose simultaneously with the ratio of high value cards in play.

Knight of Swords

King of Swords

In one round alone, almost twice the amount of already scored point had been scored. A vast step forward had been made, which was reflected by the change of atmosphere.

"Here's a taste of what's more to come." Daniel warned, embracing the old Zeppeli's attempt to raise the tension.

"About that, it's important to know who exactly gets the 'more', D'Arby." Caesar countered, glad to know his plan was working.

Next round

Knight of Clubs

Four of Coins

"Really? Pulling out the Coins this early, against such a card? Disappointing, disappointing…"

"Wait and see, wait and see…" the old Zeppeli advised the gambler to not make patronizing remarks about the opponent's play too early.

Slowly, he picked up his won cards and placed them atop his pile of already won cards. It was not much taller than half of the elder D'Arby's pile.

Next round

King of Cups

Three of Cups

"…!"

Caesar's eyes widened slightly, as the first play of a really high value card against him significantly increased the point advantage for Daniel.

"Tick tock, Mr. Zeppeli." the gambler provoked, leaning back on his chair with a confident grin. "At this rate, I won't even need to cheat."

"…"

The old Zeppeli wasn't so sure of that. Even if not at the very moment, he predicted that the elder D'Arby wouldn't complete the game without cheating at least once.

Though Caesar did agree, that something had to be done about the massive difference in points.

Next round

Knave of Swords

Five of Coins

"Drop in the bucket." Daniel chuckled off his loss of the current round, not thinking much of it.

Indeed, it barely made an impact in equalizing the amount of points the old Zeppeli had in comparison to the gambler. He had to do more.

"Just take your new card." he shut up the elder D'Arby, handing over the next cards to fill up their hands

Next round

King of Clubs

Six of Coins

Another score of points for Daniel. Caesar was getting left behind further and further.

"Hahaha! So much luck for me, and so many fails for you! How aren't you panicking yet, Mr. Zeppeli?"

"…"

It was looking dire for him, but the old Zeppeli wasn't going to amuse the gambler by reacting to his provocations. Nevertheless, he greatly needed a boost in points, otherwise…

---

Meanwhile, the first half of the gamers' football game had come to an end. Marco, who had been leading 2 - 0 initially, was now down to 2 - 4. His opponent had managed to pull off a great comeback.

"Aaaand, there goes half of the game."

Currently, the Zeppeli was thinking about why he had conceded one goal after another.

'That guy, I think he's reading my mind…' Thinking this, he was referring to the younger D'Arby's fourth goal, where Terence's striker was in a one-on-one situation with his goalkeeper. As his defenders were coming after the gamer's striker, said striker was forced to shoot. The striker shot to the right, while the goalkeeper dove to the left.

There had been no indication that the keeper would dive to the left for the striker to shoot to the right. And with Stand users, it was very stupid and naive to assume coincidence, so the younger D'Arby's Stand reading his mind was the only possible explanation for him.

Coincidentally, another thought crossed Marco's mind. 'Wait a second… This is extremely similar to the time when his Stand faced Jotaro. How his Stand managed to evade hits from [Star Platinum]…'

Now that the realization had been made, he figured out how Terence upped him in goals.

'What a useful ability, to cheat without actually cheating… Let's see how you can cheat what you can't read'

Just now, the Zeppeli thought of a counter strategy, one he had full faith in. 'Prepare yourself…'

"Earth to Marco Zeppeli" the gamer called out to him, needing to break the silence. "Are you intending to wait 15 minutes to start the second half like it's an authentic match, or what?"

This was not an issue. Marco could move on to the second half any minute, but now that there was a little break, he could use it for some communication.

Turning towards the gambler table, the Zeppeli ignored the younger D'Arby.

"Father, how's your status?"

"Not good, but it will get better." the parent frankly answered.

"So same as my situation, then." the son commented, trying to boost morale. "Let's win together!"

"Yeah, no." Terence dismissed the notion, acting very sneering about it. "In your dreams."

"Then again, once we're through with you, you will be dreaming… about freedom." Daniel joked, smirking at his own joke.

"…Leave those types of lines to me, bro." the gamer remarked, making a subtly cringing expression as he didn't find the line humorous.

"…"

Noticing that attitude, the gambler eyed in that direction with unfriendly eyes.

Of course, the fact that he, again, pissed off his older brother, didn't go unnoticed to the younger D'Arby.

"Well then, gentlemen, there seems to be no problem, so let's continue." Terence spoke, inwardly laughing his ass off. He just enjoyed appearing superior to his brother.

Little did he know, Caesar and Marco were also laughing inwardly.

Their division, their weakness. Our unity, our strength

"Oh yeah, let's continue. Gladly." the Zeppeli said, pressing the [continue] button and turning back towards the game screen.

'This will be your downfall, D'Arby!' he thought, about to implement his new strategy.

Soon, it came to the second half's kick-off, this time by the gamer.

The striker passed to the left winger, who exchanged a pass with the left midfielder, steadily moving forward.

However, the opposing side's right midfielder intercepted the ball, immediately crossing the ball to his side's right winger. Said right winger sprinted down the lane, followed by half of the enemy side's players on their respective left.

'You'll try to shoot from this angle, how predictable.' the gamer predicted Marco's move, grinning confidently. 'I know where the ball is going to go.'

About 10 meters away from the corner flag, the Zeppeli's right winger performed a goal shot with an interesting trajectory, letting the ball spin leftward, away from the goal, while the ball itself was flying to the right, directly towards the net.

'Wait a second… it'll go in?' the younger D'Arby then predicted, his expression changing to one of confusion.

He had read the path from Marco's mind and positioned his goalkeeper accordingly. He believed he was prepared, but the ball went between his goalkeeper's gloves, crashing into the net.

3 – 4

"H- Hey, what the…" Terence gasped out in disbelief, proceeding to shoot a questioning gaze at the Zeppeli, tilting his head. "How did you do that?"

"…"

Marco didn't answer. He was keeping a totally straight expression, ignoring the gamer, who was aware of the ignoring.

Pissed off, the younger D'Arby glared at the Zeppeli, but ultimately did nothing about it.

'Dammit! I don't know what the hell he did to fool my prediction, but that thing just now must've been a fluke!' Terence told himself to calm down, his forehead getting a little sweaty. 'As long as I know his intentions, I can set up counters against them. This time was an exception, but this ain't happening again!'

Hastily pressing the button that led to another kick-off, the gamer would try again.

'I'm not aware what your secret is, but I'll strictly punish your attitude.' the younger D'Arby decided, rethinking his stance against Marco. 'No possession for you until it's time for YOUR kick-off.'

Kicking off for the second time in this second half, Terence made his players pass around and slowly advance forward in a diamond formation.

Striker to left winger, left winger to central midfielder, central midfielder to right winger, right winger to striker. If an opponent player was right in front, a skill move to get past before passing. If an opponent player was mid-distance away, a cross well over his head. If an opponent player was close to the recipient, a low pass to an advantageous place where the other player wouldn't reach.

All this to make the Zeppeli try hard to catch the ball, but fail due to the gamer predicting his every move in advance.

'Stinks, doesn't it?'

Believing to be in total control, the younger D'Arby wanted to toy with Marco a bit more before closing in to attack for a goal.

Next thing he saw was the Zeppeli's striker running toward his central midfielder.

'You… are planning to tackle my player?' he read thanks to the powers of [Atum], ridiculing the intent. 'Go ahead and get carded, giving me a free kick as well.'

But contrary to his expectations, although Marco's striker proceeded to commit a nasty foul, the referee didn't stop the game.

"What?! That's ridiculous!" Terence called, rapidly standing up from his chair in tension.

With the ball at his feet, not surrounded by any enemy player, the Zeppeli's striker then sprinted forward with the ball, approaching the enemy goal.

Before the opposing defenders could get close, the striker, in the midst of sprinting, performed a backheel low shot towards the goal, with nothing stopping it.

"Again, WHAT?!"

4 - 4

Despite the gamer's goalkeeper being where he should've been, the goal hadn't been prevented.

'Now it makes no sense anymore, it's the SECOND TIME!'

"Marco, what the fuck did you do? How didn't you get booked for that tackle?!" the younger D'Arby shouted at Marco, pointing with his finger and trembling from losing his cool.

"…"

Unsurprisingly, the Zeppeli once again refused to elaborate. Marco was upholding his promise to Terence about his silence.

'Motherfucker…' the gamer inwardly cursed, wanting to squash that silence. 'Are you quiet because you're cheating?'

This time around, the younger D'Arby wouldn't have it.

"I asked you a question! Answer right now, or else I'll hold you in suspicion of cheating!"

His stress level rising, he aged not few years in few seconds. Not just mentally, but also physically did his condition worsen.

"…"

In silence, the Zeppeli reacted to this request with a smile. A smile that told Terence 'Fuck Off'

'You son of a…'

Highly irritated, his eyes flickering, the gamer ranted back at Marco.

"That's it! No more Mr. Nice Guy! I'll end you!"

Sitting back down from his stance of anger, the younger D'Arby clutched his controller even tighter.

'Whatever you're doing, it'll be meaningless soon. As soon as I get the chance, I'll shoot. You're finished, Marco!'

Being forced to perform a hattrick of kick-offs, Terence couldn't wait to carry out his strategy for revenge.

---

Back with the card players:

Ace of Cups

'What the…? Why's he throwing an Ace?' Caesar wondered in disbelief, his eyes widening a bit. 'This has to be bait, but I need the points…'

Seven of Coins

In spite of his dilemma, the old Zeppeli played the cards the elder D'Arby probably wanted him to play.

"Hey, D'Arby…" Caesar spoke up in a low tone, his eyes shadowed. "Why did you play an Ace? Why did you practically provide me lots of free points?"

"…Out of pity, maybe? Or boredom, because you can't properly entertain me? I don't know for sure…"

That voice and Posture of Daniel was deliberately designed to taunt, filled to the brim with condescending arrogance.

'You're going to start cheating soon, are you, cheap bastard?' the old Zeppeli thought, suspecting something was off about the gambler's mannerisms. The game was entering the truly critical phase, and now was the best time to cheat. 'But don't be mistaken, I'm prepared against it.'

Next round

Seven of Swords

Three of Swords

With this, the elder D'Arby had almost recovered the amount of points Caesar had won in the previous round.

"Don't think you stand a chance against me, Mr. Zeppeli. I own this game, and I own you. All points I lose or win are determined by my whim."

'Not yet, he's not cheating yet." One way to deal with Daniel's ever-high hubris, was to pay attention to what really mattered.

Next round

Ace of Clubs

'Again! He wants me to play another Coin-card!' the old Zeppeli figured, now aware that the gambler was baiting him to play Coin-cards. 'Now I DEFINITELY know you're about to cheat… I think I know what you're after.'

Knave of Coins

As Caesar played his card and won many points, his eyes transformed. He now appeared more rational and less under pressure.

The elder D'Arby, who was very adept in analyzing his opponents, didn't like the development. 'Is… he understanding my strategy? Did he find out I was baiting his Coin-cards with my Aces?'

Realizing he was getting nervous, Daniel tried to calm down himself. Getting agitated and too worried would create an opening against him, so he stifled his concerns. 'No, he can't know of my TRUE plan, that's impossible. So don't sweat, no sweating…'

Next round

Six of Cups

'What a crap card, can't believe it's still in play…' the gambler thought, about to make his move. 'But nevermind, I can just-'

He suddenly stopped himself from playing the card, when without a warning and no prior indication, he was surrounded by bubbles.

Yes, soapy, round, shiny bubbles. Rising up from below the game table.

"What the…" the elder D'Arby just became very concerned. "I've heard you fight using bubbles! So are you going to attack me now, because you're losing!?"

"…No, I'm not going to attack you, D'Arby. These bubbles aren't infused with Hamon, so they're as harmless as regular soap bubbles little kids play with." the old Zeppeli kindly explained.

"But…" That answer didn't satisfy Daniel, as it made no sense as to why Caesar would create those bubbles near him. "What's the purpose, then?"

"To serve as a warning to you, to play fair…" For the next sentence, the old Zeppeli's eyes turned extremely threatening and bone-chilling. "Don't think I haven't noticed your little… secret plan."

"…!"

Feeling exposed, the gambler's eyes and mouth shot wide open in fear. He even almost fell off his chair, rapidly jerking backwards.

'Bullseye!'

For Caesar, that reaction was proof enough that the elder D'Arby was currently cheating.

'…IMPOSSIBLE! He's bluffing, is he? He can't possibly know about my secret plan! He couldn't have possibly seen through it!'

Daniel then noticed, that his palms were sweaty. With his reaction, he'd basically admitted to cheat.

'…! It's the same thing with Jotaro! Wait, no… not quite. Jotaro KNEW, this one could very much be bluffing, but… I still gave it away with my reaction! Dammit!'

Speculating about the old Zeppeli's mental attack, the gambler was losing his concentration and sanity. He knew his current opponent was less skilled than Jotaro, but this current opponent performed an infinitely more confusing and frustrating attack.

'There's only one way to find out… FUUUUUUUUUCK…!'

Knight of Cups

With shivering hands, the elder D'Arby placed down his card.

He'd won the current hand, but at what cost?

'This is it! This is it!'

After pulling the last remaining card meant for him, Daniel switched that card with an Ace of Coins he'd hidden up his sleeve, in an undetected(?) manner. Should he get through with this, he'd win the game.

"Mr. Zeppeli!" Daniel called with an impulsive, prideful and aggressive voice, putting up a mighty face. "I'm afraid it's over for you! I won!"

"Oh? And how?"

Caesar could smell that desperation and fakeness from outside DIO's mansion if he wanted to.

"King, Three and Ace of Coins, all in my hand! The black hand!" the gambler claimed in grandeur, showing the old Zeppeli his cards. "This is as far as it goes for you!"

"…"

Leaning back on his chair, tapping his foot lightly on the floor, Caesar appeared very unimpressed.

"…?"

The elder D'Arby then wondered why the old Zeppeli showed such calmness in addition to strong contempt.

'Wait, why isn't that old fart nervous? He can't win against my hand.'

"Ace of Coins, huh? Interesting…" Caesar said in a low tone, then revealing his own hand to Daniel. "How did you get the one card from me that I haven't used since the very first hand?"

"…!"

In reaction to the response he expected the least, the gambler's eyes shot open in shock, expanding like an airbag.

"HOLD ON A SECOND THAT MAKES NO SENSE!"

Showing this big of an outburst since forever, the elder D'Arby couldn't believe his ears.

Knowing that Daniel was doubting his own calculations and resorting to denial, the old Zeppeli wanted to put as much pressure on him to achieve an overwhelming mental victory.

"Why not? Why does it make sense for you to have the Ace of Coins?"

By turning around the question, he made the gambler explain himself.

"Because… I pulled the card from the deck!"

"…"

Usually, Caesar would roll his eyes in response to such a terrible, half-hearted lie, but this time, also given his experiences with this man, he'd absolutely destroy the cheater.

"No you didn't, you filthy charlatan. Your real pull was the Three of Clubs you hid up your sleeve."

"…!"

'WHAAAAT?!' The elder D'Arby was experiencing new stress at high levels, he was clenching his teeth and sweating like he was outside in the desert. 'I have performed this cheat more often times than I can count, in way over half the games I've ever played! I have fucking MASTERED this trick, no one has ever seen me do it! He's… he's bluffing, he's bluffing because he thinks he can achieve mental victory over me. But I'm not going to let him, no no!'

"I'll have you know that I've been accused of cheating uncountable times, but no one has ever delivered clear proof of that. Every single one of them was only all bark and no bite, admitting defeat after being unable to provide proof. And you'll end up the same as them, inside my chip collection if you can't prove what you're saying!" Daniel threatened, almost hyperventilating and visibly aging due to excessive stress.

Shaking his head in a slow manner, the old Zeppeli prepared to completely destroy the gambler he loathed so much. "D'Arby, enough is enough. I can clearly see that card through that sweat-stained sleeve of yours. There's no hiding anymore."

"…?"

Oddly enough, the elder D'Arby had underestimated the amount of sweat he'd produced. All that sweat stuck to his clothes. So much, that part of his clothes became near transparent due to the wetness.

"…!"

Upon noticing, it was already too late. Finally, Daniel J. D'Arby had been

Exposed

as a

Cheater

"No…"

Caesar absolutely detested him. He had not a milligram of good feelings for this man. And seeing him so devastated of his failure, his pride shattered and him on the verge of crying salty tears of anger, it really brought a smile on the old Zeppeli's face.

Playing and interacting with this individual, Caesar reaffirmed his notion that one shouldn't be cocky and arrogant, but this time, against that man, he decided to make an exception.

"Shit sure is looking so bad for you, after your massive miscalculation. Pathetic, can't even go ONE GAME without cheating?"

"Grr…"

The old Zeppeli, seeing how mentally struggling the elder D'Arby was, changed his strategy to take full advantage of that mental state.

(And maybe some morbid curiosity, as this strategy included to, eventually, strike massive fear into the subject's heart)

"Hey, how about I offer to end this game in a draw, in exchange of you upping your wager?"

"A… are you serious?"

That sudden generous offer of Caesar truly startled Daniel's mind.

"Yes, in addition to Jotaro's soul, I want to know the secret to DIO's Stand."

"W- WHAT?! YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A STAND!"

His mind was now going all over the place, becoming warped and more emotionally unstable than ever.

"Jotaro has. So does Marco, who seems to be close to getting back Kakyoin, if you haven't noticed. Not to mention the others, with whom we were separated from. Together, we'll take him out for sure."

"You can't be so sure that-"

"Shut up you little pansy and say you'll wager his Stand ability! We sure can kill him, he's not an almighty god!" the old Zeppeli insulted the gambler, getting really rough with his speech.

"You're-"

"Want some proof? DIO is a piece of shit who can never conquer the Joestar spirit, DIO is a piece of garbage who can never win against the Joestar family!" Caesar goofily spat out a childish little song, also mocking the big enemy who was to be faced after the D'Arby brothers.

"…"

Witnessing with broken, disoriented senses the absolute inconsistency of the old Zeppeli's attitude, Daniel's mind was breaking apart in confusion.

"See? If DIO was such a fearful, almighty entity, he would've killed me by now. But he didn't, so there's that."

"A-"

Caesar wasn't going to let him talk. This strategy's ultimate goal was complete decimation of the enemy's will and relentless intimidation.

'If I have to run my mouth as dirtily as it gets, so be it. I'm taking out this plague on humanity.'

"And you're such an embarrassment, scared to death of vermin like DIO? Either stop being such a pussy, or own up to it and play again with a better wager!"

"I-"

"Come on you weenie, I said stop being such a bambina! Either go on or end it!"

"T-"

"Will you quit wasting my time and do it already, you worthless, cowardly fraud?!"

"H-"

"What is it, I can't hear you, slowpoke!"

"…"

"Do I have to repeat myself, shit-for-brains?!"

"…"

"If you're gonna cry, do it afterwards! Just up the fucking wager you peehole!"

"…"

*BZZZZ*

And like this, Daniel J. D'Arby's brain short circuited. His eyes went completely blank, indicating unconsciousness.

"Hahhh…"

This whole deal also wore out the old Zeppeli. The entire thing was all around more tiring than intense Hamon training. At least with Hamon training, the vibes were good. This was something Caesar never wanted to go through again.

"Man, if this doesn't-"

He didn't need to finish his sentence, as just then, the souls of Joseph and Jotaro returned to their bodies.

As life returned to the empty bodies, the old Zeppeli weakly, tiredly smiled, now that his tremendous mental effort paid off.

"Ugh…"

It was understandable that the two were groggy after getting free.

And shortly afterwards, another batch of souls was released from D'Arby's chip collection. The entire stock.

Due to them having being collected up to years earlier, and their physical bodies far beyond recovery, they all rose up to the heavens instead.

'…Beautiful.' Caesar felt relieved as those poor souls, trapped horribly as chips in the collection of a madman, could finally find the peace they deserved.

His job, was magnificently done.

---

And Marco's job, it was also close to done.

The game's score was 8 - 7, and the clock reached 89 minutes, paused so that the two could react to the turbulent happenings ever since the other side got really loud. Possible outcomes were either a win for the second Zeppeli, or an agreement to end it at a draw in return for some concessions.

'…Fuck, how did you lose like that, brother?' the younger D'Arby thought, in a real pinch. Of course he considered himself far more capable than his sibling, but seeing his brother lose EVERYTHING, including his sanity, made Terence feel intimidated, as if the same could happen to him.

'This wasn't even supposed to play out like this, just what is Marco doing to keep up and mess with me?!'

"Hey, D'Arby…" For the first time in a while, Marco spoke to the gamer. "Your brother… got destroyed, hard…"

"Sh- shut up! I can still score another goal real quick, we'll settle this in extra time!"

"No need to get so defensive, D'Arby. I want to make an offer that includes you getting away more lightly than your brother."

"…Huh?" Oddly enough, the younger D'Arby got comfortable hearing that, and secretly wished to hear the details. After witnessing what utter humiliation his brother went through, his pride wouldn't be the same if he were to undergo similar humiliation.

"If you agree to not only release Kakyoin, but also all the other souls trapped in your puppets, then I'll swear to not lay a hand on you." the Zeppeli suggested with a very formal, friendly voice. "Going into extra time might worsen your position here, D'Arby, so please consider. You aren't getting a better deal."

"…"

Ironically, it was Terence now becoming mute, conflicted about what option to choose.

"Actually, wait. I can add one more thing." Marco brought up, having thought of using this ever since he figured out what the gamer had been doing. "D'Arby, you're very frustrated about being able to read my mind, but unable to defend against my moves, aren't you?

"…!"

There was a blink in the younger D'Arby's eyes. The answer he was looking for. The answer he desperately wanted to know no matter what. If he didn't find out about this secret right now, he wouldn't be able to sleep calmy from now on.

"Accept my conditions I just listed, and I'll tell you all about it. How does that sound?"

"…Hmmmm…"

Lowering his head with his palm touching his forehead, Terence was thinking hard about it. Admit defeat, but find out about his biggest weakness yet… And become an even better gamer after fixing his flaw…

"…Will you honor your promise?" the gamer asked, lifting his head to look the Zeppeli in the eyes.

Nodding, Marco reassured him of that. "I swear on the Zeppeli family's honor to oblige my duty of fulfilling my part of the agreement."

"…"

Not doubting the Zeppeli, the younger D'Arby started off with setting free Kakyoin's soul.

Seconds later, life returned back into Noriaki's body, much to Marco's pleasure.

"…The others will follow after you tell me why I couldn't stop you even though I predicted your moves."

"I'm fine with that." the Zeppeli let him know.

As they came to an agreement, their eyes met with leftover tension from the game.

"So… start speaking."

"You know what bugs are, right, D'Arby?" Marco initiated the explanation.

"Yes, I know what they are."

"When the game just doesn't follow its own logic, and there's nothing you can do against the engine… It can be a double-edged sword."

"Double-edged sword?" Terence didn't quite understand, raising his brow.

"Well, yes. Your gameplay is either ruined by bugs… Or you can use them to screw over your opponent's gameplay."

"…!" In a flash, the gamer's eyes shot wide open. "You're meaning to tell me you controlled the bugs?!"

"That's what I did." the Zeppeli confirmed, shocking the younger D'Arby who was in disbelief. "Remember when I tackled your player and got away with it? That's because after I pressed the button to tackle, I switched control to another player, who didn't commit any foul. So during the foul that actually happened, the system didn't detect me as the one 'in control' of the fouling player. According to the system, I wasn't responsible for the foul."

Learning that this is how he was tricked the entire time, Terence felt a great dent to his pride as a gamer.

"What's more, remember that low backheel goal? When you press sprint and backheel shot at the same time, the ball becomes unstoppable. It's utter nonsense and shouldn't happen, but that's how bugs are." Marco explained. "And for my first goal of the second half, I applied an opposite spin to the goal shot. Logically, that spin should counter the ball's trajectory, but it instead makes the ball unstoppable. But hey, in the end, it's the system that decides it."

'…How did I not realize this all along?!' His eyes twitching, the gamer's shoulders dropped. From the very beginning of the second half, the Zeppeli had been using the system against him. Orchestrating plays that were predictable, but unable to counter because they had the engine itself supporting them.

Never in his career had this D'Arby been tricked and fooled this badly. Unable to mentally handle this, his stress reached the boiling point.

"No… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Admitting defeat in his heart, and not because of the agreement, [Atum] didn't have enough power to hold the other souls trapped inside the puppets anymore. The following moment, another batch of liberated souls started flying out, towards the afterlife.

During his mental breakdown, the freed crusaders all got back to their senses, no longer groggy.

Jotaro and Joseph eyed the elder D'Arby, who was out cold and wouldn't be getting conscious again any time soon. They had a bone to pick with him, but not in that state of his.

Someone else had to fill in for him.

"Kakyoin, mind if we join you?"

"No, not at all." the redhead shook his head, already standing behind his target.

The next moment, the D'Arby brothers' former victims were surrounding the younger brother, cracking their knuckles, eyes shadowed.

Figuring out what was about to happen to him, Terence turned to Marco in desparation, feeling betrayed. "You… You liar! D- didn't you promise me not lay a hand on me?!"

"About that… I made the promise, but my friends never joined me on that one… They're acting on their own." he reminded, not feeling one bit of pity. "It's a shame for me, because I really want to take part. But well, I swore on the Zeppeli family's honor, so…"

"Make no mistake, we haven't loathed anyone in our lifetime as much as you two scumbags, you deserve everything you get." Caesar spat at him, giving the gamer a glare of pure scorn. "We have been WAITING for this…"

*Gulp*

For the first time, just before feeling REAL pain, Terence T. D'Arby felt as if he lost to his older brother.

'Getting away more lightly than my brother…? No, he's the lucky one now!'

Ironically, Daniel, for the first time, won against his younger sibling, but wasn't conscious to know of it.

Interrogating the gamer about the exit or anything DIO-related? Not on the minds of the crusaders anymore. All they thought of now, was the massive BEATING that one of the villains was about to receive.

"HII…. HIAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Terence cried out in utter fear, before getting bodied and battered beyond recognition.

"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"

"Emerald Punch!"

"Hermit Stinger!"

And thus, the D'Arby brothers lost absolutely EVERYTHING.

---

This chapter truly was a piece of work. I could've skipped the D'Arbys, but since I consider them to be an extremely important part of Stardust Crusaders, especially Daniel, that would not only have been ridiculously lazy, but also detrimental to this story's depth.

Part of the reason why it took so long to write this, is because I went through exam season. January and the first half of February aren't months where I have lots of spare time for this.

The other reason why it took so long, is because with the D'Arby brothers, the battles aren't simple. Instead of physical fights with strategies and scenarios anyone can come up with, their fights are more realistic and detailed, so you have to pay more attention. I tried my hardest not to contradict myself while writing Caesar's duel with Daniel. So I learned the rules of Briscola and designed the game's course round for round, hand for hand, comparing the cards and adjusting them.

Oh yeah, I also needed the D'Arbys so Caesar could play an important role instead of being a passenger like most of the time.

All things considered, I really hope you liked this chapter.

Feel free to rate and review if you like to.