Golden Wind: Fate of Zephyr

Chapter 1: Good Morning, Giovanna

Naples, Italy. The year was 2011.

Giorno Giovanna couldn’t sleep. 

The Don of Passione tried to ignore this small yet noticeable urge inside of him. It was subtle at first and he mistook the bizarre feeling as simply a lack of sleep catching up to him; he wasn’t much of a sleeper already. He then reasoned the weird urge was just stress that was merely building up over time. As he started having more days of feeling these urges grow stronger, however, the feeling telling him to head to Florida became stronger and harder to ignore— to the point where it began to interfere with his work and concentration. He couldn’t figure out why.

He was usually able to handle high levels of stress and exhaustion. Ten years of building Passione to where it is now was no easy feat, but his ambitions and the support of his closest friends-turned-Consiglieri helped him overcome all his trials and tribulations in the end. Yet, Giorno couldn’t help but notice this feeling was less about him coping with the day-to-day challenges of running a criminal business and more about him needing to go to the United States of America. As a man who could still function at five hours and sometimes able to go a full 24-hour day if necessary, going lower than four hours or having too many full days’ worth of unrest was his limit. Something was pulling him towards the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to a country he never stepped foot in so far.  

The leader’s best guess was something involving a situation going on in the United States at the moment that was related to him and the Joestars. A Speedwagon Foundation agent that visited him a few weeks ago mentioned the Kujo family were having some bizarre issues since November— something about Dr. Jotaro Kujo’s health being compromised and his daughter Jolyne getting in trouble with the law. It didn’t take much for Giorno to assume the issues were related to his late father DIO and he paid little attention to the situation at the Speedwagon Foundation’s insistence. While he had previously worked with the organization and the Joestar family during the early years of his tenure, there had been some pushback that remained to this day. He was willing to comply with this policy of him barely getting involved unless necessary and went out of his way to avoid doing so. Despite being a Joestar by blood, there was still a level of mistrust between him and his biological family due to the former’s identity as the son of DIO. No amount of avoiding messengers claiming to have an affiliation with DIO or proactive work to aid the Speedwagon Foundation was enough to take away that mistrust even to this day. It was and still is a prominent aspect of the current relationship and tensions remain the same. 

Despite his position as Don of Passione, the Joestars and their allies left him to his devices yet did not condone the mafia activities he participated in. If Giorno cared to remember the details the Speedwagon Foundation agent told him about the issues, he would have recalled Dr. Jotaro Kujo was incapacitated by someone who claimed to be a devout follower of DIO. Giorno was no stranger to random people trying to have an audience with him for his connection to DIO and the Don of Passione assumed one of those people he turned away was the same person now causing the Joestars trouble. For both his Joestar family’s sake, he would be neutral unless asked to get involved. So far, none was offered. 

Being related to DIO aside, a high-ranking criminal like the Don of Passione wouldn’t be able to do much. Giorno was once told by the Speedwagon Foundation agent that the American police, while just as corrupt as the Italian ones, were not as willing to take bribes and seemed to have more influence in controlling the masses than their other counterparts. Mafia syndicates also thrive in the United States with their customs to abide by, so Giorno entering their territories regardless of his intentions may create more trouble for him than benefit. The first couple of months since November were uneventful; Giorno kept busy with running Passione, maintaining order within his hierarchies, and occasionally listening in on the status of Jotaro Kujo’s health when he heard that he was badly injured. He had offered to send some of his own best, trusted doctors to aid the recovery but was refused under reasons that Jotaro Kujo’s injuries were something a medical professional cannot simply resolve. 

As the urges became stronger, Giorno began speculating about its cause. The inability to sleep or concentrate was starting to drive him insane as days passed and his gut was telling him to head over to Florida as soon as he could. He assumed the feeling had to do with DIO and a few mafiosos he sent out to the United States at first reported three half-siblings found in the state as the prison Jolyne Kujo was incarcerated in. The mafiosos were nothing more than lower-ranking lackeys who wanted to be in the Don of Passione’s graces, willing to send back reports detailing what had happened as a means of calming Giorno’s mind, but the pull ultimately became too much. It began to turn from interest to paranoia when the same mafiosos suddenly lost contact and were reported dead. 

That was when Giorno announced to his Consiglieri during dinner that he was heading to Florida alone first thing in the morning and going there to feed into his urges. As soon as he announced that, the once chatty dinner table fell silent. All three of them immediately volunteered to come along with him on the red-eye but Giorno refused their offers as soon as it was mentioned. He reasoned that the trip would be too dangerous to consider another person to join him. “I need to do this myself,” the pull he had been feeling also told him to go alone. “This may be more dangerous than anticipated and I don’t want to lose my trusted men to get hurt.”

“And that’s why we need to go with you,” the Consigliere named Mista countered as he stood up from his seat at the table. Mista had become Giorno’s third-in-command for years and his most trusted confidant, so disagreeing with the Don of Passione was a rare situation. The mafioso was speaking with food in his mouth when he tried to debate with Giorno and he hastily chewed his food to speak clearer. “Take at least one of us,” he added. “Take me, or Fugo, or even Polnareff. Take all of us if it makes you feel safer instead of going to the United States alone, Giogio.”

The other members of the Consiglieri hummed in agreement. All of them had witnessed Giorno being off ever since he felt that unusual sensation. Giorno had been open to them about feeling unusual but never mentioned it was related to his family drama; none of them knew about his relationship with the Joestars either. Fugo chimed in with his sentiments. All the three men knew was that something was pulling him to a different country and may involve some sort of Stand influence. “You haven’t slept for two days,” he observed. “Your response time has been noticeably delayed whenever we talk and your handwriting looks shakier when I saw you sign some papers this morning. A few days ago, we almost lost you to an assassination attempt in Milan had you not reacted quickly enough.”

“Don’t remind me,” Giorno rubbed his temples; he wanted to sleep more than anything. “I know I haven’t been my best but I need to go alone. I will provide updates to reassure you all that I am okay—”

“I recommend you take Mista with you,” Polnareff interjected as he popped out of the keyhole from the turtle. The second-in-command knew most about the situation between Giorno and the Joestars; he attempted to create a better relationship between the two previously but ultimately stopped at Giorno’s and Jotaro’s insistence. “You don’t have to take all of us,” he explained, “because Passione still needs someone to hold the fort while you’re gone. Fugo and I can handle things while the both of you are gone. But, as we all agree, you cannot go alone.”

Everyone at the table knew that Giorno took the older man’s advice to heart the most and never disagreed with him throughout the years they’d known each other. The two other Consiglieri turned to Giorno to see how he would respond. Giorno only sat down and resumed eating. “It’s settled then,” he relented before taking the first bite. “Mista and I will leave tomorrow morning at sunrise then. We will update you both as best as we can to ensure that everything is well. Thank you all for your counsel; I do greatly appreciate your advice.”

Dinner finished in silence and everyone seemed satisfied with the resolution that Giorno decided on. The Consiglieri retired to their rooms immediately after the last course and went on with their usual nighttime routine. Fugo was the last person to see Giorno for the evening, greeting the Don of Passione goodnight after reassuring the latter that all would be okay. “I’ve arranged a plane to leave for you first thing in the morning,” he reminded him. “One of our fastest planes we have and no need to go through customs or other procedures. That way, you don’t have any delays for your journey. Let me know when you’ll be leaving so Polnareff and I can see you off.” Giorno nodded and thanked Fugo before saying good night. 

However, he didn’t necessarily agree with them at dinner and only claimed to be leaving at sunrise to sneak out much earlier. While everyone slept soundly, the Don of Passione ordered some mafiosos to get him out of Passione’s headquarters undetected. Within an hour, he got on the fastest private jet he owned, much faster than the one Fugo managed to secure, and left Italy without much thought. The sky was still dark when he finally took off to the sky and Giorno watched the night time lights of Naples disappear from the skylines, not thinking it was the last time he would see it the way it was now. The view immediately transformed from the fading city lights to dark cold oceans crashing below. Whether it was due to Giorno feeling more at ease or the pull that tormented him subsiding for just a moment, the Don of Passione finally slept for the first time in a while. The fourteen-hour flight went as quickly as it started, and it was sunny by the time he arrived in the United States.   

Fugo, though an early riser by nature, was someone who had the same wake-up time regardless of his schedule unless the situation calls him to wake at a different time; to experience waking up an hour after Giorno left, which was much earlier than any time he had ever slept, instinctively told him something was off. Initially, he thought it was due to his dinner being off or an intruder was about to come in to sabotage his comrades, but his gut told him to find Giorno first thing. Upon entering the Don of Passione’s mysteriously unlocked bedroom and finding nothing but an apology note for leaving so early, he realized what had happened.

Fugo rushed to wake Mista and Polnareff up frantically and it took a while for the other Consiglieri to calm the former down as a means of avoiding「Purple Haze」from going haywire. Mista, who was someone who valued his beauty sleep compared to the others, didn’t dare try snoozing or taking his time to wake up when he learned what had happened. The Consigliere got to work and found one of the mafiosos that helped Giorno was brought in trying to sneak out of headquarters. A bit of threatening interrogation by him caused the poor lackey to, despite swearing to not betray Giorno, tell them everything. By that time, the Don of Passione was already flown off the continent and they could only follow him in hopes of convincing him to come back as soon as possible. Polnareff ordered the other Consiglieri to take the jet Fugo organized out while Sheila E. was called in quickly to help manage Passione’s headquarters with the turtle.

Fugo and Mista quickly bid the two of them goodbye and both hoped nothing drastic happened before they could find Giorno again. The「Sex Pistols」were surprisingly calm and collected for the sake of their Stand User. 

Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States. Besides being a port for cruise ships and home to 24-miles-worth of undeveloped land, it serves as the home of the famous Kennedy Space Center. 

America was truly different from Italy in several ways. Giorno had never stepped foot in the country, let alone the state of Florida, and he already felt like a sore thumb sticking out compared to even the most obvious-looking tourists. By the time he arrived at the Orlando International Airport, his jet flew in without issue and he got a taxi to drive him to the cape immediately. Aside from a perimeter around the visitor area of the space center mysteriously being shut down and cut off from being accessed at the moment, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to the Don of Passione and he decided to settle down at a familiar green coffee shop nearby the enclosed perimeter to get some espresso. He found himself on the patio under the shade of the shop’s green umbrella with other random strangers sitting at nearby tables chatting among themselves. He tried to savor the drink as best as he could, but the effort felt hopeless.

Even the Floridian heat and humidity that day were a little bit overwhelming for someone who grew up in the warm Italian weather, and Giorno felt his forehead slightly cover itself with sweat as soon as he stepped foot in Florida. The umbrella’s shade barely helped him cool down but he was grateful for its use nonetheless. He had considered visiting the United States as a means of travel but he never expected his first stop to be Cape Canaveral of all places; he was hoping to see Florida for Disney World and it had been a long-running joke between him and his Consiglieri to visit the amusement park in some distant future with Trish Una in tow. Yet, this was where the weird feelings he had felt over the past several days told him to go and it was demanding he heads into the closed-off area. Without knowing why the place was closed down or how to convince the authorities to let him through by means other than traditional bribing, Giorno was stuck here in the closest urban area to the location. The world was as seemingly normal as it was. 

He idled as much as he could while avoiding any confrontation that might make him suspicious. Given that Jolyne was supposed to be in prison at the moment and he was unfamiliar with US customs regarding crime and legal issues, he was just as prepared as the next person to help his many-great niece out. The Don of Passione used the time to watch people and see whether a potential Stand User would try attacking him or if any allies could be spotted. As bizarre as Floridians can be, no one seemed to show themselves as potential suspects or threats to the mafioso, or at least weren’t as intimidated by Giorno’s strange appearance to approach him for menial things like directions. His mind continued to occupy itself in many ways to mitigate the urge’s impulses screaming at his body to move while Giorno debated with himself on whether he should act on them. He then decided to look up at the bright blue sky and watch the clouds float around to ease his mind once more; at least the sea breeze that came with it also helped cool him down further. Giorno noticed how a few of the white clouds resemble animals or objects he could visualize. He mused at how they changed their shape as the sky moved in front of him. 

The sun began to noticeably move to the west quicker than usual, but Giorno didn’t notice it at first. It wasn’t until he noticed a small missing watch that was on the ground, most likely left by the child that was throwing a tantrum in front of Giorno earlier, moving its hands faster. And faster. And faster…

Giorno looked at the sky again and wondered how the sun was suddenly setting down when it was an hour past noon. The moon immediately appeared out of the horizon soon after and rose quickly to the center of the sky. The watch on the ground matched the speed of the moon traveling across the sky and Giorno saw the large digital clock inside the coffee shop move similarly. Eventually, both the watch and clock moved so fast that there was no way to see what time it was. The people around him, either sitting or passing by, began to take notice too. A few gasps turned into screams of fear, and everyone who was sitting on the same patio as Giorno immediately got up to try getting into the coffee shop. 

Giorno wondered how the sun was now nearly setting just when it was barely past noon and then noted how dark the sky quickly became as the moon peaked out. He looked back into the cafe he was sitting in front of, seeing a nearby old clock hanging on the wall now spinning as a means to match the time change. The hands on the clock moved around the numbers until it was hard to read themselves and the sun rose once more. Immediately, streams of people trying to run indoors or away from where they were standing filled the streets and caused some to be trampled over. Cars tried to drive through the crowd and Giorno, despite trying to get away, ended up getting shoved into the center of it all. His eyes remained fixated on the sky constantly changing in a mesmerizing yet terrifying way. The urges subsided, and he wondered whether this was what brought him to the United States all this time. Eventually, he wasn’t as shoved around and the area became barren of passing people trying to leave Cape Canaveral. 

For good measure,「Golden Experience 」was summoned to investigate. Giorno called his Stand to do something, but even the seemingly invisible and wise entity had no clue what to do. The two of them wondered if what they were witnessing was true reality or a sick hallucination by an enemy Stand User who managed to smoke them out. Two familiar voices then called out to Giorno. 

“Giogio!”

Fugo and Mista ran to him slightly disheveled from the crowd of people who pushed against them earlier. They managed to make it on time to meet with him at Cape Canaveral and were just as bewildered at the sky before them as he was. The two Consiglieri were grateful to find Giorno safe nonetheless. 

“How did you find me here,” Giorno asked. It was the first thing that popped into his mind to ask. None of them answered his question. 

“Why did you leave before us?” Mista didn’t mean to be upset when he asked that but he felt a bit hurt when he learned that Giorno left before them. “You promised that we were going together to Florida but you left without saying anything! Why did you do that?”

“Never mind that,” Fugo interjected before he pointed to the rapidly moving sky. “What is going on up there?” 

Mista, with his unusual mind, summoned「Sex Pistols」to shoot toward the sky.「Purple Haze」appeared against Fugo’s will and was panicking. The trampled bodies left over began to be infected, causing Giorno to focus on stopping Fugo’s episode from escalating. 

Giorno concluded that the bizarre phenomenon had to do with something regarding what his father had caused and possibly what Dr. Jotaro Kujo was involved in all this time. Even though he knew that his Stand couldn’t figure out how to solve the issue at hand, he called on it once more. “「Golden Experience」,” his voice immediately felt sore from yelling at the top of his lungs. The world was turning faster, time was moving faster, and Giorno’s Stand punched the air. He called out to use his requiem powers, thinking that the reset ability of「Golden Experience」in requiem can stop the world from accelerating or at least slow down. It initially looked like it was merely an act in vain, similar to what Mista was doing with his Stand earlier, but suddenly a sound of something tearing nearly deafened the three men’s ears. 

Maybe it was a fabric of reality or some sort of dimension, or「Golden Experience」requiem powers were doing what Giorno hoped they would do, but the next thing that happened was difficult for anyone to explain. A bizarre, portal-like tear appeared where「Golden Experience」activated its touch. Contrasting with the ever-changing sky, Fugo and Mista watched as this new dark hole suddenly started sucking everything near it in. By now, everyone else nearby ran off to wherever they could escape, so the only thing it pulled in were the three mafiosos. It closed itself right after the last man entered it. 

The inside looked like a galaxy of sorts full of fractals and odd images— something that the human mind could barely describe beyond terrifying and mysterious. Giorno, Mista, and Fugo found themselves flying and traveling all over what looked like an endless, reflective crystalline as they were pulled towards each other and also apart with no pattern. There were moments when the sporadic lights would be blinding them while there were times when the men were in complete darkness. Mista swore he saw segments of lives flash before him; he saw small snippets of strangers and loved ones during both their past and future moments in life merging as if they existed on the same plane. Fugo was screaming, not wanting to watch and relive his past traumas through the visions before him, and shut his eyes to stop himself from watching further. Giorno was experiencing his version of the same thing. He realized that those scenes he saw allowed the people in them to hear him, although they dismiss them as mere hallucinations or sounds that could be explained, despite him screaming at them to help him and his Consigliere. Whether or not all three saw each other’s visions is unknown but possible. He occasionally felt Mista or Fugo’s arm brushing against his; they tried to reach out to each other but could never truly hold on long enough. 

Eventually, Giorno noticed he was being pulled down by an unknown force and, this time, taken further away from the other two instead of being occasionally pulled back. He tried calling「Golden Experience」again, but to no avail, and felt himself separating from his close friends and confidants of several years. He called out both their names over and over, hearing them yell out to him back in vain as both of their hands tried to reach out to grab him. For the first time in a while, fear overtook Giorno in a way he could no longer control, and he called out to his remaining friends once more before shutting his eyes. He felt his body tremble violently and wasn’t able to stop himself— even as he gripped his arms and curled himself into a fetal position. Like a child, the back of his mind hoped that he was merely experiencing a nightmare and all would be okay once he opened his eyes. 

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“That’s amazing!”

Giorno opened his eyes to find the day bright again and his ear stuck in his canal. As he looked up, he saw two police officers ogle at his bizarre talent. It was more of a party trick, but he remembered that it was more than enough to convince and bribe the two men to let him do his petty crime business at the Naples International Airport. He wondered how he might have been brought back in time, or at least something that looked like it.

“There’s no way,” it was as if they were following some script. “Come fai a farlo? ”

“That’s so fucking gross,” the other guard added. “How did you stuff your entire ear into your head?”

The police officers continued to awe as Giorno tried to hide his confusion and make it look like he was doing everything as planned. He wondered whether he did go back in time to 2001 or if this was some Stand attack that is making him think he was reliving his past. His logic decided to remain as calm as possible, avoiding any signs of confusion or anomaly to the routine he had those years ago to prevent suspicion from whoever was orchestrating this bizarre situation until the timing was right. The digital clock and calendar sitting on an outdoor reception desk near the entrance showed the current date and time confirmed that it was close to noon and he was back in March of 2001. He remembered the wad of cash and cigarettes to hand over to the men just as they commented on him to continue his weird antics. Without much hesitation, Giorno handed the bribery items over quickly, thanked the officers for allowing him to conduct such business without issue, and turned to greet a familiar face he caught at the corner of his eye: Koichi Hirose. 

Giorno remembered this day exactly as it went and performed each task as he remembered it. He convinced Koichi to get into his car, robbed his luggage before experiencing「Echoes Act 3」’s effects, used his Stand to transform the luggage into a frog, and got away with the bribed police officers pretending to not notice his actions. Giorno then went on to inadvertently kill Leaky-Eye Luka as he did before. He noted how Koichi and Leaky-Eye Luka looked slightly different from what he remembered; nonetheless, he brushed it off as just whoever was trapping him in this timeline possibly getting details wrong and was too careless to notice. The two people he encountered had the same behavior as before, but the observations of their appearance and Koichi’s own Stand’s appearance still lingered in the back of his mind. 

He ran into Koichi again after selling the suitcase to the same random thug he did like before and escaped the other Stand User once more. Now, Giorno found himself sitting in the same trolley seat he sat in all those years ago. The trolley itself barely changed; the seats were still hard to push down so he could sit on them and creaked every time he adjusted himself. He felt a bit awful for selling all of Koichi’s stuff to get the money he needed and killing Leaky-Eye Luka again, but he knew that he had to do it. If he could, he could try to find that luggage again and give it back and possibly recover Leaky-Eye Luka’s body and salvage him before he would be killed. He wondered what would happen if an enemy noticed that Giorno was going “off-script” and decided to attack before the latter was prepared to fight. He still wasn’t sure what kind of dimension or reality he was put in if that was the case and how to escape from his current timeline. 

For the most part, everything went almost exactly as he remembered it went ten years ago. Except for the clothes on his back and him still feeling like he’s a twenty-five-year-old stuck inside of a teenager’s body, Giorno was the same as he was at fifteen in appearance— even down to his voice. He confirmed that he was back in his teenage body again while looking at his reflections in the shop windows he would pass by after his second encounter with Koichi, but he decided to not dive into that matter for now. He could only play along with whatever game this was and figure out when the opportunity struck and ask questions later. 

While he was back where he was in 2001 against his will, Giorno couldn’t help but feel excited to wait for the same man that helped him achieve Passione to come at any minute now. Giorno opened the nearby window and put himself into deep thought as he waited for his inevitable encounter with his old ally: Bruno Bucciarati.

For some reason, despite remembering how they met, he felt a bit excited for the impending battle. If things were going the way they should, he would be encountering the same man picking up a dropped coin, getting into a bit of a tussle with him, and eventually sharing his dream and plans again. If this timeline was truly replaying his past and nothing more, Giorno assumed that he would not only reunite with Fugo and Mista but Narancia Ghirga and Leone Abbacchio. Something inside of him wondered whether it would be a good thing to see his old colleagues before they passed away, especially knowing that they will die unless he possibly disregarded his safety to change fate again. Giorno also wondered whether he would be willing to relive the same trauma of losing them once more if everything he truly was reliving his past. For now, the mafioso decided he was just going to enjoy what he could. He couldn’t help but smile when he heard the familiar sound of a coin rolling and then landing near his feet once more and turning his head to finally greet Bruno for the first time in years. 

But it wasn’t Bruno that picked up the coin. 

Giorno swore the stranger looked a bit familiar but he wasn’t sure; his smile quickly disappeared when he realized someone else was staring back at him. He tried to describe to himself what he saw in front of him: a somewhat muscular figure covered up in dark clothes. Black leather boots contrasted with a set of clothes that consisted of dark navy fitted pants and a lapelless jacket; the outfit would have been mistaken as completely black had it not been for the sunlight. Underneath the jacket was a fitted black-and-white striped turtleneck that seemed to zip halfway from the chest to the top. However, where the top of the turtleneck ended was a mystery; A full-face mask was worn over the stranger’s face and covered all but his bizarre eyes. The mask was black and white, with the colors divided down the middle and only slight indentations and elevations indicated where his cheeks and nose would be. A black stretchy band held the mask up from behind and forced white moppy hair to peek over it. It looked as if the mask was the actual face of the man and not an accessory.  

The stranger himself was taller than Bruno, seemed more intimidating, and engimatic, yet gave a flair of elegance as Bruno had years ago. Giorno tried to not react strangely when he saw the stranger’s pale fingers— a rare glimpse of the skin hidden under all those clothes— and saw that his calloused hands were partially covered by black leather fingerless gloves. The stranger held the coin up with his two fingers as if he was inspecting it. Giorno’s blue eyes then locked on the man’s black and red ones. 

“Is this yours,” he asked; he did it, in the same manner, Bruno had all those years ago.

Giorno responded with an apathetic “no” and watched the man proceed to sit in a seat across from him. He realized that the stranger's eyes weren’t just black and red. The irises themselves are a bright red color but the sclera was black. It was a familiar pair of eyes Giorno swore he saw before, but he couldn’t put a finger on it just yet.

Just like Bruno, the stranger responded with a “must be my lucky day” followed by a suspicious chuckle. He gave a playful coin flip before letting it rest between his fingers as he relaxed onto his chair. The ringing of the coin rang in Giorno’s ear and a strange gut feeling grew in his stomach. He initially wondered if, just like Koichi and Leaky-Eye Luka, this was still Bruno but with a different style. However, the appearance of the stranger didn’t convince him enough to completely believe it was possible; Koichi and Leaky-Eye Luka looked different but not enough to not be recognized. He then came to another possible assumption— Bruno might have been planning to meet Giorno but something happened that got this new man to do it instead. Possibly, Bruno was injured or held hostage before he could do the encounter; the worst case is that Bruno was killed by the man now sitting in front of the Don of Passione. 

Giorno didn’t realize that his internal thoughts on the matter caused him to not listen or respond to the other man asking him a question while he was in thought. Giorno asked him to repeat what he said. 

“I asked,” the stranger showed no sign of irritation but it was clear that he didn’t like to repeat himself, “if you were to find a bag full of one billion Lire on this trolley, what would you do with it?”

Giorno tried to respond with what he said previously to Bruno in 2001. “It’s finder’s keepers,” he tried to feign cheekiness with his answer. He had a feeling that the stranger would follow up with the same thing Bruno also followed up with regarding undercover cops and bribery— which he did— and Giorno responded the same thing as before. The man continued with the conversation, although he didn’t chuckle loudly like Bruno did when Giorno said he would bribe him. Just a simple hum, yet it was unsettling for the Don of Passione. The coin glimmered as it began to move more between the stranger’s fingers. 

“You’re an honest man,” he commented, “although, I don’t think I’ve ever met you before. Are you from this town?” That threw Giorno off. Bruno didn’t ask him that question; Giorno remembered that for sure. He wondered why this man in particular was interested in knowing him in such a way. Nonetheless, he responded to the stranger honestly. “I’ve lived here since I was a little kid,” he went on to tell his backstory without spilling much detail to avoid suspicion. “I originally came from Japan and my mother remarried an Italian man a few years after I was born. We both moved to live here since. Why do you ask?”

The stranger looked like he was simply staring back; it was hard to tell with the mask on, but he was smiling. “I’ve just never seen you before,” the man explained his reason for asking, “I make an effort to know the people I oversee in this part of town so I was surprised I didn’t know you enough to not ask such a question out of nowhere— especially given that there is an enemy of La Famiglia running around. Tell me: do you know of a man named Giorno Giovanna by chance?”

Giorno knew that whoever this man was intended to find the murder of Leaky-Eye Luka, similar to how Bruno tried to do so the first time they met, but he wasn’t following the exact script he remembered playing 10 years ago— at least that was what Giorno assumed if this was still some trick being done on him. Bruno certainly didn’t ask for his name. But given that Giorno didn’t know this “replacement” of Bruno or couldn’t recognize him as anyone similar to the stranger in the Don of Passione’s life up to 2011, he couldn’t simply be honest. Meanwhile, the other man had completely made himself comfortable sitting on the chair right across. Giorno noticed that the coin that was rolled to him and picked up by the stranger wasn’t the same as the coin that Bruno picked up many years ago. Unlike the simple silver coin Lire from before, this one appeared to be black and white like the mask of the same stranger— white on one side and black on the other— and seemed slightly bigger than a standard Lire coin of the time. Then again, Giorno couldn’t tell if it was an actual Italian Lire coin from memory completely; Italy had switched to the Euro shortly after he gained power and he had already been used to using that recent currency more than the previous one. He kept his composure and lied that he didn’t know anyone named Giorno Giovanna, hoping that this stranger wouldn’t dare lick him, and gave his original Japanese name Haruno Shiobana instead to introduce himself. 

Usually, hearing a name in a language other than Italian would be enough to distract people into either going into a full-on rant about how “unique” his name was or being too busy struggling to pronounce it. That didn’t work too much for the man, who used it as an opportunity to try and pry more into whether Giorno knew someone that had the previously mentioned name instead.

Even if he tried to keep his cool and answer the stranger’s questions, Giorno couldn’t help but notice the same bizarre Lira coin being toyed around as they spoke. Whoever this man was knew something about coin tricks beyond just flipping them left to right. The weather wasn’t helping Giorno hide his visibly sweating bullets compared to how it was when Bruno interrogated him, and he had a feeling that the other man also took notice of Giorno’s anxious state. Yet, the stranger didn’t make any comments related to that and continued to ramble as the coin passed from his left hand to his right and back. Like butter, it slipped between the man’s fingers and was thrown back and forth as well. The sound of the coin being flicked and moved around was deafening despite how quiet everything inside the trolley was. 

“Forgive me for acting with animosity,” the man continued as the coin weaved between his knuckles, “but I need to know who you are exactly. A valuable member of our syndicate named Leaky-Eye Luka was just found near the airport unconscious and the Father is demanding answers. We don’t think he simply fainted and we certainly don’t want the person who made him unconscious to get away with it. The man suspected of doing this goes by Giorno Giovanna and he sure looks a lot like you.” 

“I’ve never heard of this Giorno Giovanna or Leaky-Eye Luka,” Giorno tried to maintain his lie. “How could I be involved with the man if I’ve never known him?”

He tried to maintain his attention on the man’s words and maintain eye contact, but the clinking sound of the coin now being flicked between the man’s right and left hand caused him to track its movements with his eyes. He also wondered what the stranger meant by Father. He could only assume that he was talking about Diavolo in some way but he wasn’t sure. Then again, he had his fair share of new members admiring Giorno and affectionately calling him a father figure; maybe the new Diavolo is kinder than the original. 

The man continued to speak while the coin moved as if it was a habit he formed for years. “There were many witnesses that described your exact appearance,” the coin was moving faster back and forth, “and those witnesses are saying the same thing: a young blond-haired man of your height and build, among other things, was last seen with Leaky-Eye Luka and he goes by the name Giorno Giovanna. Based on what they said, who’s to say that you aren’t actually him?” 

“And as I said, my name is Haruno Shiobana. I don’t know any Gio-whatever or know what he did to this Leaky-Eye man.” Giorno caught himself almost stuttering. He tried his best to remain calm. 

“Well, people go by different names to get away with things all the time. How could I be sure that you’re not just lying about who you are?” The trolley had already passed Giorno’s supposed station to get off, but it didn’t matter anymore; it wasn’t like the stranger would stop interrogating him if he tried to leave. The coin in hand moved faster. The stranger’s eyes looked as if they hadn’t blinked at all and continued to stare down at Giorno’s eyes. “Because there’s a lot of evidence that points out that you’re THE Giorno Giovanna La Familgia is looking for. Unless you have some sort of twin brother or doppelganger that’s trying to ruin your image. I can help you with that if you’re honest.”

“I don’t have a twin that I know of,” Giorno tried to remain calm. “But that doesn’t mean that I had any involvement in his death.”

They kept on going back and forth about the matter. The coin continued to be flipped around while one side pressed further while the other refuted back. It was causing Giorno to lose some of his attention. 

Flick.

“Just admit you had a role in it,” the stranger pressed further. “I can reassure you the Father will be merciful if you confess. Or provide some sort of proof that you’re simply being framed and I can bring both you and Luka justice. A handsome reward might entail if you're truly innocent and to pay for the inconvenience.” The tension between them felt unbearable for Giorno, but he tried his best to endure it for now. 

“Where were you at 13:00 this afternoon? The airport?” The stranger asked. 

Flick. Flick. 

“I wasn’t there at the airport. How would I know that he died?”

Flick. Flick. Flick.

“Just answer the questions truthfully. You can tell me the truth, can you?”

Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick.

Giorno wondered why the coin was moving around quicker than usual. He tried to maintain his composure and assert his innocence. 

"I am being honest. I’m telling you the truth."

Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. 

Seeing the coin move back and forth, the clink that rings every time the stranger’s finger flicks the coin up into the air begins to drive Giorno insane. Yet the stranger continued as if he didn’t even notice what he was doing at all. 

"Is it? Just tell me—"

"I don’t know anything beyond what I told you so far."

"Surely you know something more.” The stranger seemed unaware of the coin distracting Giorno. “This is a small part of town. You should have gotten word about Luka before I brought it up, right? Even the youngest schoolkid would hear something about the man."

Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. 

"Well, I don’t know how he was struck."

"Struck, huh?"

Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick. 

"I didn’t know how that shovel ended up killing him."

Flick. 

The coin fell out of the stranger’s head and went straight to Giorno’s face, almost as if the man intentionally aimed it at him; it moved almost too fast for Giorno and he wondered whether it was done on purpose. Had he not been quicker, it would have grazed his right cheek, flung past his face, and landed right behind him into the next seat. Instead, Giorno managed to catch it with his index and thumb— impressing both himself and the stranger. He caught himself breathing heavily out of panic. Sweat began dripping from his brows and staining his collar. 

“Nice catch,” the other man commented with an unusual change in tone that indicated satisfaction. Giorno didn’t realize he just revealed that he was lying to the other person during the entire conversation. 

“Seeing how the coin rolled to you and then you caught it flying at your face,” the stranger began to stand up, “maybe you should keep it.” Giorno wanted to give it back, but the stranger insisted that the Stand User kept it; he mentioned something about the thing being a simple coin and nothing more, and that Giorno had every right to earn it. 

“Signorino Haruno, I’m not that desperate to keep a single Lire coin.” He forcibly closed the coin in Giorno’s hand, making the latter's fingers fold shut. 

“Keep it. It's yours. The coin probably wants to be with you.” He emphasized Giorno’s name for some reason. 

After a few back-and-forths about the coin, the strange man claimed he had to go off to the next stop and apologized for taking time out of Giorno for the impromptu interrogation. The trolley had stopped at a station and opened its doors to let other people in the compartment out— including the stranger that just talked to Giorno. The Stand User was unable to remember how the exact conversation went, beyond him continuing to claim his innocence and trying to avoid further conversation; the coin somehow hypnotized him from remembering exact details. He thought it was all over now. 

But, Giorno then remembered what happened last time after his interrogation in 2001. He remembered Bruno eventually came back, licked his face, and used「Sticky Fingers」to force Leaky-Eye Luka’s body parts out of Giorno’s mouth for further interrogation. The encounter with the stranger was stressful enough for the Stand User to the point where he wasn’t sure if he fooled the other man when they talked. Giorno’s heart was beating faster than before, unaware of the fact that he was still clutching that coin as the masked man left the trolley, but mainly due to wondering whether he had to go through that whole ordeal again. Sure, he missed Bruno, but he knows he didn’t miss how their first fight started. Remembering that he was holding the coin, Giorno opened his palms, slightly thankful that it was still there instead of Leaky-Eye Luka’s eye and let out a sigh of relief. He was going to leave at the next stop as soon as he could. 

The coin began to dig itself into his skin. 

Giorno writhed in pain as the black and white object started to insert itself through his palm as if his body was forcibly absorbing it until it disappeared. A trail of blood appeared where it happened but the opening was completely closed. He swore he saw some weird mass underneath his skin traveling sporadically across his arms and almost threatening to dig itself out at any point. Giorno tried to pick the coin out from wherever he saw it rose from his arm in vain; he was scratching himself to the point where he was drawing some blood. The pain from the coin and his scratches were causing him to grit his teeth while he tried to stop himself from yelling in pain. All he could think about was getting rid of the object as soon as he could, not noticing that the stranger had been standing outside watching the whole thing happen. Giorno then heard the other man’s voice again, realizing the latter popped his head into the same window Bruno did years ago. The Don of Passione’s heart dropped. 

“You know, only Stand Users would be able to see that coin I was playing with.”

Giorno turned towards the voice in shock before he felt himself get punched in the face. The pain briefly distracted him from the arm as he fell onto the floor, but only temporarily, and he wondered whether he would have preferred the hit or being licked like before. The punch was enough to get Giorno out of his seat and start stumbling to the center of the trolley. The strange man crawled himself back into the vehicle through the window and then kicked Giorno again— this time, he did it hard enough to send the other man to the other end of the compartment behind him. The few people who remained on the trolley and were sitting on the opposite side dared to not get involved; a young couple moved closer to the exit farthest from the two men that led to a different compartment to watch the scene unfold while others sat down more into their seats. Giorno tried to get up by propping his arms but felt a sharp pain in his right arm before looking down at it with horror. It appeared as if the parts of his limb were replaced with what looked like industrial nuts and bolts leaking oil-like blood. The more blood dripped out, the more pain Giorno felt. Eventually, the coin that he thought was gone popped up from his mouth, forcing him to cough out a bit of blood in the process, and it began rolling itself toward its original owner. 

“I also never mentioned anything about a shovel,” that was where Giorno’s cover was blown, “so I find it interesting that a man claiming to not know anything about the situation would know such a minute detail. Plus, I never said Leaky-Eye Luka died or that something struck him— I only said he was unconscious. That doesn’t matter though. I find it interesting that you said Luka died already when I never told you that he was already disposed of after Father Diavolo deemed his vegetative state useless for whatever beatdown you gave him. Maybe that means you had a role in Luka’s death after all… Or maybe you know too much of La Familgia’s secrets to be ignored.”

Giorno didn’t hide the fact that he was panicking anymore. By now, he knew that Bruno wasn’t going to be coming to save him any time soon or even appear at all. 

The stranger continued to ramble while he picked up the coin and toyed around with it like before. He didn’t seem to care that there was still some of Giorno’s blood and saliva on it. “What you did to Leaky-Eye Luka’s body didn’t seem like something a regular old human would do,” he started walking slowly to Giorno as if to let him taunt him further, “I mean, he wasn’t a Stand User himself, but he was competent enough to not be killed by any regular civilian. Even the most innocent child knew one should never beat Luka despite his lack of Stand abilities, so it must be someone who absolutely was out to kill Luka and attack La Familgia in such a way. I had to tell whether you were worth my time to fight though. With this.” 

He held the same coin up, which Giorno now knew was a Stand the whole time and not just some piece of currency that the stranger picked up. “A non-Stand User would simply wonder why I kept fidgeting my fingers or wouldn’t even notice the coin being thrown at them— or think an insistent bug simply brushed by instead. And by the way…” He pulled out what looked like a business card and passport that Giorno had in his pockets when he was in 2011. Giorno realized that the man had somehow pickpocketed his items during the whole situation.

“If you’re going to lie about your identity,” he stared at the card and looked through the passport book quizzically, “there are better lies than saying ‘C.E.O. of Giovanna Businesses.’ You surely don’t look like a C.E.O. for your age.” He continued to muse about how a 15-year-old could be so careless yet capable of murder, ignoring his new opponent still spitting up the remaining blood that pooled into his mouth. The stranger placed the passport into his jacket’s pocket after commenting on how different it looked from today’s passport designs. 

Giorno was feeling a lot of things. For one, the pain was excruciating despite it no longer traveling up his body like before and the fact that his arm has reverted to normal. For two, he realized he could no longer use his past experience to defeat his new enemy. But, there were more pressing matters to attend to; Giorno couldn’t simply hide his Stand anymore. He initially was against showing「Golden Experience」out of fear that it would end up triggering something unexpected or that he would exhaust himself too early and too quickly. He knew this wasn’t going to end well unless he used his Stand, regardless of what the enemy thinks, for him to survive long enough to get out and hopefully find the current Mista and Fugo he knows. This would have been different if it was against「Sticky Fingers」like last time, but now he was facing a new foe with an unknown Stand with not-so-familiar abilities. He felt his body grow weaker as he stood up. 

“Where are my manners,” the stranger continued to taunt him. He flipped the coin in his right hand rapidly as if it was representing his thinking process. “I claim to be overseeing this area in Naples and yet I never bothered to introduce myself or my Stand to you. That coin that I insisted you keep and was causing you to feel such pain and suffering is my Stand「Black and White」. The only reason why you’re feeling this way is that my Stand has decided you’re the one guilty of something— which is most likely contributing to the killing of Leaky-Eye Luka.” 

Giorno couldn’t believe what he heard. “There was no way there’s a Stand that could determine innocence,” he silently told himself, “right?” He tried to continue hearing what the man was monologuing about but the pain was starting to be more unbearable. “... unless you prove otherwise,” he surmised. “... then my Stand simply didn’t do what it should... although...” 

That was all Giorno caught so far. His body was shaking from the lingering effects of the Stand that still hasn’t left his body yet; he only caught a few words the other man said as he remained in agony. “... valid proof... But,” the stranger refuted himself, “given how much pain you are in, I doubt you are actually innocent.”

Some passengers from a different compartment ahead heard the commotion and entered to try and take a look. The man turned to them with a stern warning. A harsh “do you want to join us?” was enough to make them turn away and mind their business. The compartment the two were standing in quickly emptied itself of the rest of the passengers until only the two men were left. Giorno could taste his blood filling his mouth once more, the smell of iron already filling his nostrils. He had to take「Golden Experience」out now. That was when he heard the man finally say his name. 

“My name is Aglio Nero of Passione’s Hitman Team #47. And you have been sentenced to die.”

Translations:

1. Buon Giorno, Giovanna: The title is a play on the phrase "buon giorno", since Giorno is Italian for "day". It is the first line we hear Giorno say to the police in the beginning of the English dub version of Vento Aureo. 
   
   
2. Come fai a farlo?: How are you even doing that?
   
   
3. La Familgia: The family. In the English dub of Vento Aureo, characters often refer to Passione as "La Familgia" and the phrase can be used to refer to a mafia clan or mafia family. In Passione’s case, it is used in reference to the syndicate as a whole. 
   
   
4. Signorino: a more endearing version of Signore, which is a title or form of address used of or to an Italian-speaking man, corresponding to Mr. or sir. It is. It is subtly used as an insult in this case.

Name Meanings:

• Aglio Nero
  • Aglio: Italian for "garlic". 
  • Nero: Italian for "black". In reference to Risotto Nero.