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Chapter 90. Jolyne: Damn it! Pucci!!
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—Weakness and ignorance have never been obstacles to survival; arrogance is.
Santana, throughout his entire life, undoubtedly embodied the meaning of this phrase.
After all, before he was smashed to pieces by Joseph and his group's plan, Santana still had countless opportunities to win this battle amidst a series of failures.
Indeed, whether it was Joseph's plan to have Santana consume his body, bypass the Pillar Man's resilient flesh, and successfully unleash the Ripple from within Santana, tearing him in two; or Joseph's cooperation with Stroheim to drag Santana—who had lost half of his body and was significantly weakened—out of the laboratory to bask in the sunlight; or Stroheim's self-detonation using a grenade; or leading and luring Santana to jump into what he believed to be an escape route, but was actually a true dead-end—a well;
...All of these efforts by Joseph and Stroheim, except for the last one, were ultimately ineffective against Santana.
For Santana, none of these posed any significant threat! Even after being torn in two, all it took was for him to consume and assimilate Stroheim's flesh to easily regenerate. The injuries caused by Joseph and his group were no exception. Even the last trap—the well—could have been easily avoided if Santana had been more cautious.
Why?
Because Stroheim's hints to Joseph were far too obvious.
If Stroheim had genuinely intended to detonate the grenade and destroy his body before Santana could fully control it, exposing Santana to the sunlight, then shouldn't he have immediately pulled the pin to self-detonate? But why did he choose to say so much instead?
It was as if he was waiting for something!
After watching the latest episode of "Battle Tendency" and seeing the trick Joseph used to truly defeat Santana, the audience naturally understood that Stroheim was deliberately stalling for noon, the time when the sun would shine directly into the well.
To ensure this, Stroheim used exaggerated movements to conceal his purpose of looking up at the sun and, before Santana could completely take control of his body, moved himself to the well in the plaza.
He planted the idea in Santana's mind that, instead of running back to the laboratory, it would be more effective to jump into the well to escape the sunlight.
Of course, the audience could see this because they knew the outcome, which led them to infer the process. But for Santana, who could instantly master a language from a few exchanged words, and after glancing at a firearm, could dismantle it with precision—something that would take others several hours of practice even with the blueprints in hand—how could someone with higher intelligence than Joseph not have suspected Stroheim's true intentions and been led by the nose?
This was no longer a matter of intelligence.
It was that Santana never took Joseph and his group, these "small fries," seriously from the start!
So...
"Why did it turn out this way?"
Jolyne Cujoh, who had already given up, casually browsed through the reviews of this episode of "Battle Tendency." Not only were Stroheim and Santana two actors who brought their characters to life with outstanding performances, but even the battle between Joseph and Santana—which Jolyne had expected to be criticized by the audience due to the many flaws she herself could pick out—had become the hottest video?!
Especially in the scene where many techniques learned from Kamikaze Studio were showcased, placed by the members of Green Dolphin Studio into the battle sequence.
Be it Stroheim's heroic sacrifice or his determination to eliminate the monster, or the seemingly desperate situation, where in reality, under Akiyuki Shinbo's excellent style, all the traps set by Stroheim were seamlessly connected, culminating in Joseph delivering the final blow alongside the dual sunlight that struck Santana's body under his incredulous gaze.
How did it break out of the niche?!
It was just a bit of flashback, a touch of exaggeration, and special effects that made the sunlight resemble the neighboring curry cannon, combined with Stroheim's sacrifice passing on the hope of victory to the next in line...
All these elements, stitched together, might not have been something even Pucci knew how much was added in.
How did it break out into the mainstream?
Seeing even the media being stirred up, interviewing Pucci and other key creators, with Akiyuki Shinbo praising it as all Pucci's idea, while Pucci appeared unfazed, Jolyne Cujoh struggled to suppress her twitching lips and the tears welling up in her eyes, insisting she wasn't angry at all!
Wasn't it just the media doing promotions? And more people starting to pay attention to the works produced by their new studio?
And as time passed and the plot progressed, turning more viewers into fans of their work?
She had just experienced something similar not long ago, right?!
Why make such a fuss?
For her, for her...
—Damn it!凸(艹皿艹 )!!
Jolyne Cujoh, who had been pretending to be happy and satisfied with the success of "Battle Tendency" during the media interview, finally vented her frustration by furiously punching the Pucci-faced pillow on her bed after getting home!
"—Pu↗cci↘!!!"
"—Ora ora ora ora ora ora ora!!!"
…
At the same time, in another place,
Caesar also punched a pillow with Gintoki Sakata's face on it, sending it flying!
"Don't worry, Jonathan, I will avenge you!"
Smiling at Jonathan, who wanted to stop him but didn't know how, Caesar said, "I will explain to this guy with my fists what it means to be a gentleman and what the Golden Spirit is!"
"No, I actually don't mind…"