What is the strongest Stand in the Jojo world?
Although viewers in his previous life always joked that there were no useless Stands, only the invincible Star Platinum and the most useless Hermit Purple.
But in reality, even Star Platinum had suffered setbacks in multiple battles and was even almost killed.
Jotaro's continuous victories were not just due to Star Platinum's incredibly high stats, but more so to Jotaro's own strong luck.
In Takatsuki's mind, the Stand abilities of past villains were all overpowered.
Whether it was the nine-second time stop, or Killer Queen, which only created bombs, or White Snake, which erased time and successfully ambushed Jotaro.
And now, apart from The World's ability, the abilities of the other Stands were all in Takatsuki's hands.
Dealing with just two members of the assassin squad, he completely defeated them by relying solely on the abilities of White Snake and Killer Queen.
Prosciutto's eyes widened as he looked at Fugo, who had walked up to him: "Did you do this? Fugo!? How is that possible, your Stand ability isn't…"
"Purple Haze?"
Looking at Prosciutto, whose limbs had been blown off by Killer Queen on the ground, Takatsuki held an ice cube to his cheek to maintain his body temperature.
He watched Prosciutto, unable to move due to missing limbs, and Grateful Dead, then released his own Stand.
"This… isn't Purple Haze… You're not Fugo!?"
Takatsuki did not answer Prosciutto's somewhat terrified voice, merely mercilessly extracting the Disc from his body.
He watched the Disc emerge from his head and the gradually vanishing Grateful Dead.
"This ability... cannot... be touched..."
As the Disc was extracted, Prosciutto's voice grew weaker and weaker until he completely lost consciousness.
Watching Prosciutto fall to the ground just like Pesci, Grateful Dead slowly disappeared as the Disc was extracted, and the passengers who had aged due to its Stand ability began to return to their original states.
Heaven's Stairway retrieved a phone with a lit screen from Prosciutto's pocket.
"I'll be waiting for you in Venice."
Takatsuki placed the phone, which was still on a call, in front of him.
"..."
The other end of the line was silent for a moment, choosing not to utter any threats, but simply hanging up the call.
"As expected of you, Prosciutto. Even in this situation, you managed to convey my information to your comrades. I must say, you are a competent gangster."
But that was just to help me gather them.
Without the battle from the original story, this train wouldn't stop, so it was likely Melone, who should have been encountered here, wouldn't be met.
However, it doesn't matter; the assassination squad won't give up tracking Trish.
After destroying the bodies of two members and seeing another 2000 crystals credited to the system, Takatsuki hesitated but ultimately gave up on the idea of drawing cards.
Originally, he had planned to use Formaggio's ability to shrink the drawn items for easy portability, but due to Bucciarati's distrust, he lost the chance to obtain his Stand ability. In that case, anything drawn would be very difficult to carry.
Drawing ordinary items would be useless.
Looking at the sapphire that had appeared in his hand, Takatsuki casually stuffed it into his pocket.
That's how the item pool works; as long as it's considered an item, it can be drawn. Fortunately, the prize pool has a minimum, so things like rocks won't be drawn, and there will always be a certain value guaranteed.
When Takatsuki returned to the turtle, everyone else instantly looked over.
"Have the enemies been dealt with, Fugo?"
Bucciarati looked over.
"Yes, two enemies, both dealt with."
Bucciarati: "Good work. Next, we'll wait for the train to arrive in Florence, then transfer to Venice."
The Boss's orders ended there, and there were still three hours until this train reached its destination.
This express train's journey was three and a half hours, and Takatsuki finished this battle in less than ten minutes.
Under the intelligence and ambush, everything ended quickly.
Bucciarati looked at Takatsuki, seemingly wanting to get some information from him.
"Next, we need to get something, but that's not the main point. The assassination squad still has three people: Risotto, who can control magnetism and manipulate iron elements within the human body; Ghiaccio, who can create ultra-low temperatures to instantly freeze the air; and a Stand that can use blood to create a long-range automatic operation, with the ability to decompose and reassemble life into inanimate objects."
Takatsuki thought for a moment and still revealed the assassination squad's information, as he couldn't be entirely sure if they would come after him.
If they avoided him and only engaged in guerrilla warfare, it would be quite troublesome.
After all, to avoid being discovered by Diavolo, who also possessed time erasure, Takatsuki had not used his time erasure ability until now.
He was sure that, like time stop, users of time erasure also shared the same time interval.
Because ever since he came to this world, he would occasionally experience a time erasure.
It seems Diavolo is often restless, and likes to use time erasure when he has nothing to do.
Of course, it could also be to hide his identity.
"However, this is far from over. You understand what I mean, Bucciarati?"
Takatsuki didn't know how much Bucciarati had told the others, and he didn't care.
"I know, but completing the mission now is our top priority. You agree, right?"
"Indeed."
...
Just as Takatsuki had said, they soon received the Boss's next timed email.
Though it was said to be 'soon,' they were already on their way to Venice after disembarking and making several transfers.
Because Takatsuki had altered the plot, the assassination team temporarily lost track of the Bucciarati Squad, but it was predictable that... they would surely be waiting for them in Venice.
This email's instruction didn't directly tell them where to go, but rather a command that only the Bucciarati Squad could decipher.
Use Moody Blues to rewind more than fourteen hours to view the records that were once here.
"It seems someone was in this turtle before us."
The others gathered around the chair, but Takatsuki didn't pay much attention, as he already knew what would happen next.
As Moody Blues began to rewind, he instantly transformed into a small, elderly figure and stood on the back of the chair fixed to the wall.
And this old man was none other than Pericolo, whom they had met three days ago on Capri Island, who had handed Trish over to them.
"Bucciarati and his team, I have a final order to convey to you."
As Moody Blues began to replay, Pericolo also began to convey the message he had intended to deliver fourteen hours ago, and in his words, a hint of something amiss was detected.
"I chose this method to convey the instructions to prevent information leakage. This is the most important matter that absolutely no one can know: the method of handing Trish over to the Boss."
Pericolo's words made everyone's hearts pound, and Giorno and Bucciarati's eyes widened. The information about the Boss, whose true identity they had been trying to ascertain, would be revealed here.
Because it was a prerecorded message, Pericolo merely conveyed the information to himself, unable to interact with anyone else. After providing the information for the next location, everyone watched in shock as Pericolo pulled out a revolver and committed suicide in front of them.
This old man, who had dedicated his life to the organization, died right there.
No... he had already died fourteen hours ago. What was here was merely the record he left behind.