Butterfly Effect

Today we go on with the next chapter. It might be long because it'll cover 2 canon arcs. But you won't have anything against that, will you? Enjoy!

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure


Chapter 11: Standless Victory

The crusaders were taking a bus ride from Calcutta to Varanasi, the 'Eternal City'.

Outside the window, they could see some indian men partially buried alive, some assuming uncomfortable Yoga positions, some balancing on needles, some with needles in their skin, and one even meditating on a metal plate with fire burning beneath it.

"It seems they're enduring extreme training." Kakyoin remarked, hoping his Hamon training wouldn't turn into something extreme as this. "I've heard of such things, but seeing it is something else."

"Don't worry, your training won't go that far." Marco reassured as if he'd read his mind. He then turned his head towards his father. "I will take care of the training, you go see a doctor."

Caesar had a problem. A red fleshy mass formed on his arm since the day the crusaders captured Hol Horse. And it was only getting bigger. "Yes, I just hope it's nothing serious."

"It looks like it's got a face!" Polnareff joked. "Hahaha!"

Joseph shot him a stern glance. "Be quiet, Polnareff! This is serious." he reprimanded.

Very soon after this, the bus arrived at the station.

XXXXXXXXXX

Not wasting any time, the old Zeppeli went to see a doctor, the best he could find in this city.

"Hmm… I'll have to remove it." the doctor assessed, examining the malady. "It looks like a bacterial infection. I have to cut it out. If I don't, it'll just get worse. I'll administer a local anesthetic, it won't hurt at all, I promise. Now, if you'd just lie down please…"

Trusting the doctor, Caesar did as he said, patiently waiting until the doctor put on his surgical mask and surgical gown.

"Now, let's begin." the doctor said, a sharp scalpel in his hand. The old Zeppeli looked away, not desiring to see the act of removal.

For about a minute, the doctor didn't say anything.

"Is it over yet? Are you finished, doctor?" Caesar asked, turning his head back as he found that silence strange.

When his eyes fell on the doctor, the old Zeppeli's eyes widened in shock. The doctor was dead, his face had been mutilated in an exceedingly disturbing with that scalpel, also stuck in his bloody face.

"What… what just happened?!" Caesar uttered in disbelief, sweat running down his face. Why was the doctor dead all of a sudden?

The answer itself spoke. "Hmph! This doctor tried to get rid of me! What a moron!"

Searching for the source of that voice, the old Zeppeli discovered it was on his arm. The red mass infecting it just spread further and had a genuine face with eyes, nose and mouth. Seeing that thing, Caesar reacted in disgust.

"W-what the hell?!"

"I am the [Empress], old man! And you, Caesar, will be the first to die!" it told, spitting something at the old Zeppeli.

Caesar managed to dodge the spit. "Yuck!" he spat, revolted by this being. He wanted to remove it immediately.

"Bastard!" the old Zeppeli growled, grabbing another scalpel from a metal tray. He attempted to stab the red mass, but it stopped the sharp surgical knife with its teeth.

"It has teeth?! It stopped the knife!" Caesar called in surprise, trying to pull out the scalpel. he struggled hard, but [Empress] wouldn't let go. "Argh! It's so strong!"

"Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee!"

"Damn it! It's got the knife!" the old Zeppeli cursed, retracting his hand after being overpowered by the parasitic Stand. A good choice, otherwise his pinky would've gotten cut in half.

"Do you want to cut yourself?! I am part of you, old man Caesar! You can't escape me now!" it tauntingly explained. "Be happy, old man! You have a Stand now!"

'Crap… this has to be the worst Stand one can get!' Caesar thought, flustered about his unfavorable situation. But the old man still had some fight in him.

"Let's see how you'll deal with this! Hamon!" the old Zeppeli exclaimed, letting his bright power of the sun surge thoroughly through his infected arm. Sadly, it didn't help.

"Hee Hee Hee! You idiot, only Stands can harm other Stands! And even if your Hamon was a Stand, I'm part of your own body, remember?!" [Empress] mockinly reminded, proceeding to barf in Caesar's direction.

"Ack!" the old Zeppeli let out, barely dodging the repugnant mass of filth. This parasite was a big, big problem.

"D- damn it!" Caesar snarled, wanting to leave the premises immediately.

"Hee Hee Hee! Trying to go back to your friends?!" it scoffed, reading his mind. "You're trying to get back to where Joseph and Marco are staying, back to the hotel! But Caesar, do you really think you can just leave?!"

Without a warning, a nurse opened the door. She had a message for the doctor. "Doctor, your next patient is waiting."

Her eyes then fell on the dead doctor lying on the ground, bathing in his own blood. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, horrified by the corpse. "DOCTOR!"

'Uh Oh…' the old Zeppeli thought, sweating unpleasantly. That sight would lead to bad accusations, he had to defend himself. "Uh… Hey! This isn't what it looks like! I'm not the Killer!"

"The killer is me! My name is Caesar Zeppeli! I'm from Italy and staying at Khulak's hotel!" [Empress] spoke, framing Caesar.

"However, Miss, I like young nurses like you a lot!"

Scared of the man she thought of as a a killer and creep, the nurse turned around and ran away in panic. "Murderer!"

"Hey, wait! I didn't do it!" the old Zeppeli defended himself, though that was utterly futile. At that point he could only run away. 'Damn it!'

XXXXXXXXXX

Outside in the streets, police cars were parked everywhere, responding to the nurse's call for help. Caesar had to watch his step, he couldn't afford getting caught and arrested.

"Hee Hee Hee! Now you're being chased by the police! You can't go back to the hotel now, can you?" the parasitic Stand taunted. "Now the others can't get in the way! I can kill you now, prepare to die!"

[Empress] was even more annoying than disgusting. The way it spoke made the old Zeppeli absolutely livid.

"Y… You… BITCH!" Caesar snarled, losing his composure! "I'll crush you!"

He attempted to slam the parasite onto a wall in order to squash it with brute force. Unexpectedly, [Empress] grew arms, stopping the impact with its little hands.

"What?!" the old Zeppeli reacted in disbelief, his eyes widening.

"Hey! This is your own arm! You can't just hurt your own arm! You have to treat it nicely, old fart!" the parasite mocked.

Caesar was getting more and more uneasy with this development. [Empress] became increasingly more problematic. 'It's grown arms… It's growing constantly!'

It then grabbed a steel bar attached to a building. The old Zeppeli tried to get away, but the parasitic Stand wouldn't let go.

"Hey! Let go!" Caesar yelled, struggling to set himself free. "Why are you holding? Let go!"

"Hee Hee Hee! No!" [Empress] laughed. It had a plan, one that involved a police officer standing in the distance with his back facing the old Zeppeli.

"Mr. Policeman! The killer is right here! He's over here!"

Hearing the voice, the officer turned around. He pulled out his gun and aimed at Caesar. "You! Don't move!" he warned. "If you run I'll shoot!"

'Uh Oh…' the old Zeppeli thought, silently gulping. 'This is very bad…'

He knew that his Hamon didn't work on Stands. But was he just going to do nothing and get arrested? No, he had to find a way out.

'Think, Caesar, think! What would Joseph do in this situation…?'

Creativity was the first thing that came to mind when thinking about Joseph Joestar. Caesar would have to use creativity.

Hamon didn't work on Stands, but that didn't mean Hamon would be totally useless in the situation the old Zeppeli was in.

'I got it!' Caesar thought, finding a solution. 'Takes me back to old times…'

The old Zeppeli made some minor movements with his body, preparing for an attack.

"Bubble Cutter!"

A single UFO-shaped bubble with rotating edge rose into the air, flying towards the steel bar in the parasite's hands. The sharp edges cut through the parts directly integrated into the wall, setting Caesar free. With or without the bar, he could freely run away.

"Whaaaaaaat?!" [Empress] shouted in shock at being outwitted, not expecting this move.

Free, the old Zeppeli started running, ignoring the police officer's warning. He fired his gun but the bullets missed. Caesar was confident in his athletic abilities despite his age, his stamina was nothing special but it sufficed to outrun the policeman.

'Phew! People say I'm fit for my age, but this much running is already making me tired! And the enemy Stand on my arm just keeps growing!' the old Zeppeli thought, sweating. Those thoughts were complaints, though not everything was bad. 'At least I proved that I can outwit this thing. Just you wait, I'll eradicate you!'

Running through back alleys, Caesar found his way to another hidden corner behind some buildings. No police in sight.

While he was running, the parasite secretly ate food it secretly stole from the market. When the old Zeppeli focused on the parasitic Stand again, he was visibly surprised in the negative sense. "What the…"

[Empress] grew into another state, having an actual head and torso instead of just a face. It looked like a true little monster now.

"Guh!" Caesar exclaimed after the parasite suddenly punched him in the face. The hit hurt, blood poured out of the fresh injury on the old Zeppeli's right cheek.

"Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee! I'm bigger now, but I still need you to feed me, Daddy!" [Empress] smugly provoked.

"This ugly monster…" Caesar scornfully scowled at it. "I'll have you know that I, Caesar Zeppeli, have much more fighting experience than you do."

"So? Your bubbles won't surprise me a second time!" the parasitic Stand claimed. "And you still don't have a way of harming me, while I have plenty of ways to kill you!"

"Like this!" [Empress] yelled, unleashing a flurry of tiny but disproportionately powerful punches at the old Zeppeli. Caesar was blocking the fists with his left palm, but this turned out to be quite difficult, his hand was turning numb. "Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee!"

'Ah shit!' the old Zeppeli thought, not even feeling pain anymore. 'I don't have a way to restrain it, much less kill it!'

'Wait… restrain?' Caesar got an idea after thinking for a few more seconds. 'I think this might work.'

Like earlier, when he freed himself from that metal bar, the old Zeppeli made some special movements, albeit with some hindrance. These movements were to release the soap water hidden in his clothes. Due to the parasite's interference, the soap water spilled onto its body.

That would turn out to be even worse for [Empress]. Using his body as a conductor, Caesar let Hamon flow into the soap water.

"Hee Hee Hee! Another Hamon attempt, old fart?!" the parasitic Stand taunted, having stopped the punching due to the inconvenience of getting wet. "Looks like I have to show you again how futile this is!"

"Go on then, punch me!" the old Zeppeli ordered, his voice calm but hateful.

It gladly accepted his invitation. "Hee Hee Hee! Don't regret it later, you… AHH?!"

As a result of Hamon hardening a liquid, [Empress] became unable of moving. The parasite couldn't move a muscle, shocked at how vulnerable it became.

"You… you used Hamon to solidify me?!" it asked in disbelief, fearful of the consequences.

Caesar's expression changed into a real strict one. "Before I finish you, I wanted to show you the difference in our experience. Opponents always get confident when they feel like they're winning, when in fact, they've already lost." he told in disdain. "Now, I admit that I can't eliminate you, a Stand, myself. But now that you're all frozen like a statue, you won't make it hard for me to get back to the hotel and find my Stand user friends who can easily kill you."

The parasite gulped in dread. It was game over for it.

Eventually, the old Zeppeli made it back to his allies. Jotaro did his best to dispose of [Empress].

Meanwhile, somewhere in India, an ugly woman using the body of a beautiful woman as a meat suit disguise collapsed to death.

With this enemy Stand user gone, the crusaders had to leave the city immediately. Killing the enemy didn't erase Caesar's status as a wanted man.

XXXXXXXXXX

Done with their stay in Varanasi, the crusaders left the city by train. The train went as far as Delhi, from there on they had to rent a car and drive themselves.

They were near the Himalayas on a mountainous path, a bad place to drive recklessly. Polnareff did it anyway, overtaking a slow red old car and flinging pebbles at the other car's chassis. "Heh, it's good to have four-wheel drive! I can drive on roads like this very easily."

"Hey, Polnareff! You're driving recklessly!" Kakyoin complained in annoyance.

"And did you just fling those pebbles on purpose?" Joseph asked, not approving of rude driving. He wanted to avoid legal trouble as much as possible to protect Caesar.

"Ah!" Suddenly, the frenchman abruptly hit the brakes. The old Joestar was knocked on the back of the front row, not having worn a seatbelt.

"Uh! I already told you not to get into any more accidents! Don't you pay attention when you're driving?!" Joseph snapped at Polnareff.

"To be fair, that's your own fault." Marco stated, rolling his eyes. "Follow the road safety rules, Uncle Joseph."

"No… look! Right there! Look who's standing there!" the frenchman justified his sudden stop. He had good reason to stop.

Anne, the traveller girl the crusaders supposedly left behind back in Singapore was there, hitchhiking. She grinned widely when recognizing her former fellow travellers through the windshield giving them a thumbs up. "Hey, so we meet again! You boys wanna give me a lift?"

"…Yare Yare Daze." Jotaro muttered, not wanting to deal with her bullshit again.

"Ah! You're that girl we left back in Singapore!" Noriaki remembered in surprise. "I thought you were supposed to meet up with your father!"

"That was kind of a lie… I'm just a little girl who ran away from home." Anne casually confessed, hopping inside the car through an open window.

"Hey, hold it! Who said you could ride with us?!" The old Joestar wasn't amused about her attitude. He also had a ton of valid questions to ask as a responsible adult. "Why are you in India?! How did you even get in this country?"

"Why did you even run away in the first place?" the Zeppeli questioned, raising a brow. "Your parents must be worried about you!"

She didn't feel like giving answers, putting up a joyous and bubbly impression. "Why does it matter? Who cares about that stuff? Let's just travel together!"

"No, throw her out! She'll only slow us down and it'll be dangerous for her!" Polnareff didn't want the girl inside the car.

The frenchman vehemently protested, though ignoring thinks she didn't like was one of Anne's primary activities. "Hey, wanna see some porno photos? I stole them from India! You like this kind of stuff?" the girl babbled, taking out a deck of photos.

"Hey! Kids aren't allowed to have these!" the old Joestar scolded.

Responsible as he was, Marco immediately took those photos away from her and threw them outside the window. 'If only Avdol was here, he could burn them effortlessly.'

Joseph and Anne then went on to have a loud arguing session about coming along. Loud and irritating.

"NO!" -Joseph

"Please!" -Anne

"NO!" -Joseph

"Please!" -Anne

"NO!" -Joseph

"Please!" -Anne

"Shut the fuck up! All of you!" the young Joestar loudly shouted, annoyed at the irksome noise.

Yakamashi was law. Everyone became silent, whether they wanted to or not.

"When we get to the border, get her a plane ticket and some money at the airport and we'll ship her to Hong Kong." Jotaro decided, thinking that'd be the ideal thing to do.

No objections.

For quite some time after that, the ride went on smoothly. Though the girl began speaking about herself while almost no one cared.

"Well, you know I'm a girl, so I'll have to wear a bra soon and look good for the boys… I would look pathetic traveling around the world at that age. That's why I'm taking the chance right now, to run away from home and see the world." she explained her motives. "Don't you think so?"

"Nah, I don't think so." the Zeppeli disagreed, giving her a lecturing glance in a friendly manner. "Personally, seeing the world together with your loved ones is better. You're still young, so you'll have more than enough time to travel. And no, pathetic is the last thing you'll look like when traveling the world. People who travel the world are seen as cool, courageous and educated. Where do your misconceptions come from?"

"Huh?" Anne never thought that way. She was young and had lots of misconceptions. But what he said seemed right to her, especially the first thing. The girl had a crush on Jotaro, imagining to travel the world with him and him only made her all dreamy and euphoric inside. 'So romantic!'

Soon, another attention-grabbing driver appeared, or more accurately, reappeared. The once slow car Polnareff passed was tailgating them now.

"Just let him pass." the old Joestar mildly spoke, wanting to avoid conflict. The frenchman reluctantly agreed, letting the red car pass. But as soon as the other car drove in front of them, it slowed down.

"Hey! What are you doing? I let you pass by, so hurry up and go!" Polnareff complained with irritation. Out of all crusaders, he was by far the most prone to road rage.

"Polnareff, maybe they're so mad because you were so reckless earlier." the redhead theorized.

Jotaro thought that driver was suspicious. "Did you see the driver's face?" he asked.

"No. The windshield is pretty dirty, so I couldn't see him." the frenchman replied.

"You too? Maybe that's a Stand user after us." the young Joestar voiced his concern.

'Wouldn't it be inconvenient to fight out of a car?' Marco thought, considering the possibility nonetheless.

The old car's driver rolled down his window, giving a hand sign to let them pass. It didn't look like he was trying to start a fight.

"He must've realized how shitty his car is and that he can't drive that fast for too long." Polnareff mockingly assumed, preparing to overtake. "You should've stayed behind me, you dumbass!"

When the frenchman swerved to the other lane, him and his passengers were confronted with a nasty surprise. There was actually a large truck coming their direction. "What?!"

"Yaaaaaah! It's a truck! We're gonna crash!" Anne panicked.

"[Mental Overdrive]!" the Zeppeli called forth his Stand, taking action. The blue Stand poured enough water beneath the wheels of their car to make it slide to the side, avoiding the oil tanker. They barely made it through.

"Hahh… Hahh…" everyone exhaled, recovering from the averted prospect of getting crushed. Their sweat glands worked magnificently.

"Motherfucker…" Polnareff lowly growled, boiling in anger. "Now I'm sure he's an enemy!"

Pressing his foot on the gas pedal, the frenchman accelerated the car to speeds illegal for even highways. They passed the car that almost doomed them to death.

Multiple car lengths ahead of the red old car, Polnareff hit the brakes and turned the steering wheel, parking sideways on the road. The other driver would have to stop.

Him and his fellow crusaders stepped outside their vehicle, summoning their Stands. A confrontation was unavoidable.

"Oh! I recognize that car!" Hol Horse suddenly let know. "It's [Wheel of Fortune]!"

"Eh?! You're only saying something now?!" the cherry boy exclaimed, baffled about the cowboy's personality.

"How the hell were you silent until now?! Don't you have a big mouth?!" the frenchman loudly questioned in bewilderment, raising both brows.

"Shut up, at least he said something useful." Jotaro commanded, pulling down his cap. "When that Stand user gets close, we all know what to do."

However, [Wheel of Fortune] only got closer after halting midway, shifting in reverse gear and driving backwards. There the red old car transformed into a road monster. Sharp spikes grew from its tyres, capable of grinding everything unfortunate enough to land below its wheels to mince meat. The chrome front bumper also grew spikes, which looked more like fangs to rip away anything ahead of the bumper. This transformation done, the car accelerated forwards again.

"What the…" the crusaders reacted in disbelief, taken aback by the harmless looking car turning into a metal beast.

"How are we supposed to stop it?! It's going to run over all of us!" Hol Horse yelled in fear, scared of being on the receiving end of DIO's forces.

"This looks hard, but…" the young Joestar said, concentrating "let's all face him head on with our Stands."

"Jotaro, are you nuts?!" Joseph called, not liking this idea. "That's too risky!"

"We have to protect the girl, don't we?" Jotaro talked back.

Right he was, they couldn't allow [Wheel of Fortune] to harm Anne in the slightest.

"[Star Platinum]!"

"[Silver Chariot]!"

"[Hierophant Green]!"

"[Hermit Purple]!"

"[Mental Overdrive]!"

The cowboy didn't care about the girl as he didn't know who she was, but he also joined as he had to save his own skin. "[Emperor]!"

Those Stands stood guard. Some close range ones waited for the right opportunity to strike with all their power, the long range Stands attacked immediately.

"Emerald Splash!" Kakyoin shouted, shooting his trademark attack. The emeralds flew towards the windshield, shattering it.

Hol Horse was next. He shot a few bullets from his Stand gun, aiming at the driver.

With many strong Stand users backing him up, although they were forced allies, the cowboy felt confident. And with confidence in his abilities, the gunslinger was truly dangerous, not missing. His first bullet alone killed the enemy Stand user.

Like that, the threat disappeared on its own. [Wheel of Fortune] was not a car itself, it only upgradedand weaponized existing cars. The original car behind the Stand was a pathetic shitbox. With the Stand upgrade gone, the car decelerated, coming to a halt before it even entered the range of [Star Platinum].

"Good job." Marco spoke, patting Hol Horse on the back. The Zeppeli swung his hand a little too hard, the cowboy's eyes briefly bulged out and he lost his breath. "You're doing well already. Keep it up!"

"He… he…" the gunslinger awkwardly forced a laugh, shy about his new role. It had never been his decision, though he'd have to expect more situations where he's another target of his former colleagues.

"I have to say, now that the trouble is over, this enemy didn't really feel like a huge threat." Noriaki remarked.

"…Right. I think we can continue." the old Joestar spoke. Everyone got back into their car.

XXXXXXXXXX

Crossing the border from India to Pakistan, the crusaders immediately drove to an airport. Anne had to take a flight back to Hong Kong. She protested, but the crusaders simply told her to be grateful that they paid her ticket.

At the airport, it was time to say goodbye. Male and female were parting ways. She really didn't want to go, but Joseph convinced her in the end, talking openly about why she should fly home.

"To tell you the truth, we're not vacationing here. My daughter, Jotaro's mother is in grave danger at the moment. We're on this journey to save my daughter's life, not to put yours at risk." the old man gently said, in the best way to make the stubborn girl freely give in. "Forget this running away business and start heading home. I'm sure your parents are worried sick wondering where you are."

"…Fine, I suppose so." Anne spoke, selflessly giving in. She turned to Jotaro once more, having developed a crush on him. "Goodbye, JoJo. You better save your mom, I'm counting on you! I'll be cheering you on!"

"Working on it." the young Joestar coolly replied. "Get home safely."

Anne got on the plane, watched by the crusaders until her plane took off and disappeared in the clouds.

Jotaro had moments where this girl had really annoyed him. He wished her well regardless. He wouldn't forget her, and she wouldn't ever forget him.


For me, this was a mixed chapter. I enjoyed writing Caesar getting infected by [Empress]. To give him an idea on how to deal with Stands, and to let him briefly possess a Stand himself. I also made him finally do something worth noting, I won't just make him a mundane passenger character.

The fight with [Wheel of Fortune] however was so joyless and anticlimatic for me to write. In my other pure JoJo fic I also wrote about this part. I mentioned in the Author's Notes how much I despise this useless mini arc and character. I do even more after having to write about this a second time. Let's be honest, does anyone actually like this character? Just one person? Let me know if you do, because in my opinion this is the worst enemy in Stardust Crusaders.

Well, at least Hol Horse did something cool. People really underestimate him when he isn't a joke character. More about him next chapter, see you until then!

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