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Chapter 56. Destiny
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"Hmm, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah——————!!"
"Arm, move your arm quickly... before the ripple reaches your head... before that...!!"
Episode 9 of Phantom Blood directly follows the events of episode 8.
In the previous episode, with both his heart and body ablaze with courage, JOJO successfully purified DIO's gasification freezing technique with his burning bravery. He then used this intense ripple to completely evaporate DIO's vampire body!
Logically, DIO should be dead by now.
However, at the beginning of this ninth episode, this outcome is entirely overturned!
DIO has not died!
Indeed, DIO was struck by JOJO's ripple. As a vampire, his body dissolves almost immediately when touched by the ripple, just like a snail in salt. This much is true.
But JOJO was supposed to strike DIO's head.
Normal heart weaknesses have no effect on vampires!
Furthermore, DIO had studied the ripple to counteract it and had developed the gasification freezing technique specifically to counteract the ripple. The speed at which the ripple spreads inside him is also much slower compared to ordinary vampires!
Thus, DIO had ample time to separate his head from his body, which was completely invaded by the ripple, creating a false impression that he had been destroyed by JOJO.
Episode 9 of Phantom Blood begins with this shocking plot twist.
Not only does it overturn the plot of episode 8, but it also completely subverts the audience's previous guesses about the story of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The story of this ninth episode becomes increasingly mysterious from the very beginning...
…
"Uh...?"
"Uh...!?"
"No way, I'm the protagonist!!?"
Sakata Gintoki, who had just signed a contract with Green Dolphin Studio, stared dumbfoundedly at the fully revived... well, DIO who had not yet died.
Wasn't it agreed that the next work would be about him inheriting JOJO's will and becoming the new protagonist?
Why is DIO still here?
If DIO has not died, then how can JOJO, whose fate is entangled with DIO, end the story?
Does this mean the next part of Phantom Blood will be the next work in his lifetime?
Recalling famous cases in the industry where actors were buried in obscurity until their contracts ended, and remembering that he was instructed by Pucci to study Phantom Blood more and learn the language of this golden spirit, Gintoki, who had taken on some shady work, was even more anxious.
He didn't notice that other viewers, watching episode 9, saw that JOJO and Erina had finally become a couple and were preparing to go to America for their honeymoon.
A coffin.
A coffin that was supposedly commissioned by an Eastern person to be loaded onto that ship was being carried by four strong men, and this image appeared before their eyes.
A bad premonition spread wildly in their hearts from the title "The Last Ripple!!" to the initial sight of DIO still being alive.
"No, this can't be! This is impossible!!"
Realizing something, and being related to Zeppeli through his uncle, Caesar, who was watching this episode with Jonathan and the Zeppeli family, he tightly gripped Jonathan's shoulder and shouted, "JOJO, tell me! This is all a lie!"
"Whether it's about why you have time to watch Phantom Blood with us or if you want to surprise me after this episode... it's not what I imagined!!"
"Caesar..."
"Stop it, Caesar."
With a troubled expression, Jonathan was eventually interrupted by Uncle Zeppeli, who intervened, "Revealing the content before others have finished watching is not a gentlemanly act."
"Caesar, do you want Jonathan to be unable to be a gentleman just because of you and this matter!?"
"..."
If Uncle Zeppeli had said something else, Caesar would not have let go no matter what.
But if his actions were likely to cause trouble or great inconvenience to others, then no matter how much he wanted to know the truth or hear Jonathan deny his guesses, he could not continue to indulge in his own desires.
So...
"It's okay, Uncle Zeppeli, Caesar. I..."
"Don't say any more, JOJO!"
Caesar interrupted, "If I continue, it's just for my own satisfaction."
Indeed, even though the answer was right in front of him, and he had already guessed it himself, Caesar, dissatisfied with the answer he had guessed, still wanted to hear a denial from Jonathan to disprove the answer.
Wasn't this just self-satisfaction?
Caesar, frustrated with himself, said indignantly, "I will not admit it!"
"...!?"
"To me, only Jonathan deserves the name JOJO! Others do not have the right to inherit this name!"
"Letting them inherit this name would be an insult to it!"
Caesar declared firmly, "From now on, I will use my own actions to prove this!"
"..."
"So, Caesar, you already guessed this. We were actually planning to keep it as a surprise…"
Hearing Caesar's grandiose words and understanding what they meant, Uncle Zeppeli exchanged a glance with Jonathan and helplessly pulled out the actor's contract from Green Dolphin Studio ahead of time.
"Congratulations, Caesar. Although hearing your words made me unsure whether to present this, since this gift was not prepared by me but by someone else, I chose to give it to you."
"—The actor's contract for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part II. If you truly accept this gift and want to participate in this work, just sign your name on it…"
"That sounds simple. No wonder anyone can inherit JOJO."
Caesar, who took the contract and signed it without a second thought, said, "But I will make them change that!"
"..."
…
If Sakata Gintoki and Caesar had already had some answer about the forthcoming second part due to knowing it in advance and showed different attitudes towards this answer, then for other viewers who did not know the answer and could only know if their guesses were correct after the episode aired, their feelings were like those of all test-takers: both anxious and full of anticipation.
"That's right, even if DIO is not dead, so what?"
"Even if DIO has infiltrated the ship that JOJO and Erina are on for their honeymoon, so what?"
"Back then, JOJO managed to beat DIO with a complete body while protecting Poco and his sister."
"Now, facing only DIO's head, it's absolutely no problem for JOJO to again use the ripple to roast DIO!"
"..."
Indeed, they had nothing to fear!
JOJO...
"Broken, broken... something in my body is broken... it's something very important..."
Slowly, as all the viewers anticipated JOJO to muster his courage once more to overcome fate, what they saw was that JOJO, having burned up the last bit of ripple energy within him to protect Erina, fell weakly to the ground!?
"This... this is... this is my life... is this the last ripple of my life..."
"So... so weak... although it didn't completely destroy that zombie... it's enough..."
JOJO smiled with relief.
He felt no sadness about his imminent death.
Instead, he was genuinely grateful that even such a weak self could still protect Erina.
With his trachea pierced by DIO's "Space Ripper Stingy Eyes" attack, unable to breathe or use the ripple, JOJO was filled with boundless joy that he could still save the remaining lives of the three.
"You must be happy... Erina..."
In the fiery inferno, where JOJO had imprisoned DIO and the zombie in the blazing flames, he bid his final farewell to Erina.
He gradually disappeared into the flames.
Everything seemed to replay the fire that happened months ago at the Joestar house.
JOJO and DIO, survivors of that fire, would once again vanish in the flames.
"..."
"...!!?"