"Habits? You mean you read my horses habits? Oi Oi, what does that even mean?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow as Diego looked over his shoulder.
"Everything has habits, for yours it's every eighth breath your horse leans and slows down, all I need to do is speed up and surpass you, however yours…. Isn't showing me anything at all, telling me that it can go even faster but your keeping it at its current pace." Diego said to him before looking at me.
And as he said at the eighth breath Gyros horse leaned to the side and now Diego was a full horse lengths ahead of us as we were coming upon the bridge of the three thousand meter mark.
As we began to cross the Bridge and neared the middle I leaned back on my horse and removed my hands from his shoulders and repositioned them onto his hindquarters while Gyro right beside me unclamped the steel balls on his sides.
*BANG BANG*
"?!?!" Diego was confused by the noise as the bridge began to shake while both me and Gyro suddenly appeared way ahead of him.
"I, or maybe I should say, we don't need to fix our habits for this race jackass!" Gyro couldn't help but say to which both me and him reached the end of the bridge before I began to fall apart behind us.
"Damnit!" Diego couldn't help but shout out as he now had to backtrack off the bridge while losing a lot of time with everyone else using the dried riverbed instead to get around the now broken bridge leaving only us in the lead.
I only looked at him before letting myself fall back on purpose making him look over his shoulder at me with a raised brow.
"I know you got your reasons for this race, and I don't mind letting you win this part of it only if your willing to talk that is, after all when I was last in Naples no one who knew of the Spin wanted to tell me anything about it as I was a foreigner even if I'm a master in its sister technique from the far East being the Spiral." I said to him as his eyes widened as I knew where he was from and had been to his homeland.
But what was more surprising that he never knew there was a sister style to the Spin known as the Spiral as while he could see the similarities in their techniques, there was still several clear differences.
But while he was suspicious, he had a general good read of people and didn't feel any hidden intent nor maliciousness in his words, and if he had been in his homeland and knew of the Zeppeli's such as him there's a chance someone let it slip that he was in the states and was in this race in particular, though that could also cause different troubles down the line the guy before him he felt in his gut that his words rung true.
So he grinned while flashing his golden grilled teeth at me, "Alright I'll bite then, you let me win this part then will talk and we can go from there in the next part." He said to which I nodded and we both suddenly turned and headed towards the tree line and into the forest proper as it was a shortcut that shaves off an entire hour of the full race.
"I don't mind letting you win this Gyro, but I hope you don't mind if I show off some of my techniques skills!" I said with a grin before whispering in ShadowRunners Ear.
"Wha?!" Gyro was surprised at what he saw as I leapt from my horse and began to jump from tree to tree while keeping up with my horse the entire time all while ShadowRunner kept moving at its speed and taking the easiest path across the forest.
"What the hell?! Am I seeing shit or is that guy literally running across the trees like Tarzan or something?" One man, Poco Loco was his name, couldn't help but say at the sight of what I was doing with Johnny Joestar being surprised at what he was seeing as well.
'No it's not just that! This guy is using the same power that Gyro is using! But it feels…. Different and at the same time they are similar as where ever he lands the bark of the trees begin to spin from his landings!' Johnny couldn't help but internally exclaim at this sight.
"Out of the way assholes! Hifumi! You better get your ass back here!" Both Poco Loco and Johnny couldn't help but hear a woman's voice to turn and see a woman dual wielding swords in her hands running right into the forest as she expertly cut apart all the branches and brush in her way surprising the two even more as they decided not to follow behind the pissed woman who seemed after the guy jumping from tree named Hifumi.
"Yo Yo Yo! No matter what I got the 1 in 50 million luck here! I'm gonna be the one to win this race!" Poco Loco couldn't help but say as he entered the forest with Johnny not far away.
'This race, might be more interesting than I thought, now it's not just Gyro but this Hifumi guy as well….' Johnny couldn't help but think as he continued on his way through the forest.
******
"They came through folks! That shortcut has given those who have taken the forest shortcut a 800meter lead on the rest who decided to take the longer and safer route! And its Gyro! Gyro! Gyro Zeppeli has taken the lead! And not far behind him in comes Hifumi Yamada! The surprising Dark Horse of this race folks! The excitement is palpable, can you believe it!" The announcer was saying to all of those that were currently watching from the VIP section of the train of the events that were all unfolding.
"Find out who this Hifumi Yamada guy is!" One VIP said to his men who went to what he asked all while Steven Steel, this race's organizer was rubbing his chin all this time as he watched this race as he remembered the conversation he had with the main backer of this race earlier on.
*Earlier on, before the race begun*
"Pay attention to this Hifumi Yamada for me will you? I feel as if he's an unknown variable for this race as a whole."
*******
'What did the president mean by that….?' He didn't understand all of the presidents motive for this race and why he was willing to advocate it so heavily as is, but for him to call out one man in particular then it meant he was meant to focus on them.
The unknown to Steven the reason why the President had such a large focus on Hifumi was one thing and one thing only.
He felt as if an anomaly had appeared in this world and the more he looked into Hifumi Yamada the more that feeling became clearer, but he couldn't be a hundred percent certain and it was just a hunch on his part he came to realize something about him.
His existence was foreign to Funny Valentine and he couldn't see through him and the possibility was high that someone like him only existed in this point in time because he decided as such.
But these were all just assumptions that didn't have any basis as while he had the power within him to travel to worlds next to his own it didn't mean he could see through every single one at the same time and thus he couldn't be certain on his assumptions.
As these thoughts swirled through his mind the race continued and the winner of the first part of the Race was in fact Gyro Zeppeli, but as the bet was made by Hifumi was predicted Gyro penalized for interfering with another racer, that being second places Sandman, and thus he was placed instead in 21st place for his penalty with Sandman being first, Hifumi Yamada being Second, then Poco Loco 3rd, Mountain Tim 4th, Panty Anarchy 5th, Johnny Joestar 6th, Diego Brando 7th, Hot Pants 8th and everyone else after that.
"This man…. He could be a major ally or a major threat to my goals…." Valentine couldn't help but say to himself as he realized Hifumi's bet was completely spot on in his predictions and easily won himself a hundred million dollars from that bet alone.
But only time would tell if he could be useful or if he would be an obstacle in his goals, but no matter what he was going to set the precedent for the future of his country and make it one that will last for a thousand years to come.