[Current World: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]
[Main Quest: Eliminate Dio]
[Player Zuke's Synchronization Level: 30%]
[Please continue advancing the main quest to unlock further synchronization]
After awakening his Stand, "Blackbird," Zuke's synchronization rate immediately reached 30%.
Clearly, the system deemed that with Zuke's newly awakened Stand, his chance of defeating Dio had risen significantly, hence a sudden 20% boost in his synchronization rate.
Back in the Dragon Ball world, his synchronization rate had only been increasing incrementally by a fraction of a percent each time, so getting this much at once in the JoJo world left Zuke a bit unaccustomed to it.
With his Stand now in hand, Zuke's first step was to test its power, as it would be crucial in his eventual showdown with Dio.
Testing indoors wasn't a good idea, as it could disturb others, so Zuke made his way to the alley behind the inn—though he was starting to get tired of alleyways.
But it was unavoidable; there were few people in alleyways, after all.
"Let's test Blackbird's strength… starting with a punch!"
Zuke summoned Blackbird, a pitch-black humanoid Stand that appeared beside him. Under his command, Blackbird picked up a brick from the ground and gave it a light squeeze.
Crack!
The brick crumbled in Blackbird's hand as effortlessly as a piece of green bean cake, showing just how strong it was.
Yet… something didn't feel quite right to Zuke. This power of Blackbird's felt oddly familiar.
"Could it be…"
He turned to the nearby wall—an abandoned, makeshift barrier of stacked bricks slathered with cement, with no special purpose.
In other words, it wouldn't matter if it was destroyed, making it a convenient test dummy for his strength.
"Let's try punching the wall together with Blackbird!"
Zuke took the right side, while Blackbird took the left. In the next moment, both fists smashed into either side of the wall simultaneously, their terrifying force reducing the structure to rubble, scattering stones everywhere.
Zuke squinted at the debris on the ground, quickly realizing something.
"So, Blackbird's strength doesn't actually come from its own power; it's a perfect sync with my own physical strength."
Zuke clenched his fist firmly, and Blackbird did the same—it was now clear to him that both his fist and Blackbird's were brimming with immense strength.
This was certainly good news for Zuke. If Blackbird's strength were limited like other Stands in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, its maximum power would barely be enough to tear down a building.
While the "Star Platinum" Stand is regarded as the pinnacle of Stand power in JoJo, it wouldn't fare well in the Dragon Ball world—it wouldn't even make it through the first arc.
If Blackbird's power was capped at that level, it would essentially serve as an extension of Zuke, able to attack spiritual entities but not much else.
In JoJo, a Stand that merges with its user usually grants enhanced abilities, but that's not necessarily true for Zuke.
But now that Zuke understood Blackbird's power synchronized perfectly with his own, it meant that as Zuke's strength grew from the Dragon Ball world, Blackbird's strength would increase in tandem.
Blackbird had become a near-perfect duplicate of his own strength. As long as he had Blackbird, Zuke was practically fighting with double the power, a massive advantage in same-tier battles.
In the hands of an ordinary person, Blackbird's stats would be low, matching their modest physical capabilities.
But with Zuke, Blackbird's potential was vast. As long as Zuke's power continued to grow, Blackbird's power could follow suit.
"This way, at least when it comes to strength, Dio and his Stand 'The World' aren't an issue anymore. I just need to avoid his time-stop and land my punch on his head."
Turning back towards the inn, Zuke began to contemplate how to approach Dio.
To Zuke, Dio's vampire regeneration was nothing significant; if he could damage Dio's brain enough, he could shatter his consciousness, leaving him unable to recover in time.
Once Zuke's punch connected with Dio's head, it would likely shatter most of his brain, and whether he could recover from that was questionable.
Compared to Dio, Zuke was more concerned about Dio's subordinate, especially his disturbingly loyal follower—Vanilla Ice, whose Stand "Void Miasma" had bona fide spatial powers.
In many stories, spatial powers are truly terrifying, often bypassing any defense. Even Zuke couldn't take him lightly.
"…"
At this thought, Zuke stopped short—the entrance of the inn he had checked into was just ahead, but something felt off.
Through his Ki perception, Zuke sensed an anomaly—when he left, there had been numerous Ki signatures inside, but now the inn felt completely empty.
Having honed his Ki perception to perfection over the past few days, Zuke was certain he wasn't mistaken. It was as if all qi signatures within the inn had vanished.
Either everyone, including the innkeeper, had left in the brief time he'd been away, or…
Everyone was dead.
Cairo was home to Dio, and Zuke had recently bought an arrow from Dio's subordinate, Enya… In the original story, Yoshihiro Kira managed to leave Egypt with the arrow, but it seemed things wouldn't go as smoothly for him.
"Blackbird."
At Zuke's call, Blackbird appeared instantly, picking up a rock from the ground and hurling it forcefully into the inn's slightly ajar door.
With Zuke's replicated strength, Blackbird's throw created a fierce friction sound as the rock flew, disappearing midair inside the inn…
Seeing this, Zuke immediately understood who his opponent was and quickly sidestepped.
The next moment, a wave of force grazed past him, leaving a smooth, hemispherical indentation in the spot where he'd stood, as if it had been designed that way.
"Speak of the devil…"
Zuke examined the smooth indentation—this type of attack could only result from someone erasing a spherical section of space from the area.
And the only one capable of such a feat was the one he had just been on guard against—Dio's subordinate, Vanilla Ice.
And his spatial-erasure Stand, Void Miasma!
To be continued…
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