"In my hometown, there's a kind of fungus that attaches itself to insects. When the insects head downhill, it starts multiplying and kills them.
"We call the thing that grows inside the bodies of those dead insects Cordyceps."
Dawn explained, "The enemy's Stand attack must be something with the same properties. The dead bodies keep spreading the fungus, which is why the entire town was wiped out. For now, our only chance of dealing with the culprit is to head uphill."
Giorno understood. Dawn's decision matched his own thoughts, and he immediately waved to summon everyone in the hideout.
"Everyone, move to an area lower than where you are now. It should temporarily slow the fungus down."
Everyone did as he said, but outside, Narancia was already on the verge of giving out. Fungus completely covered his ankles, and they were about to snap.
"Narancia! Climb onto the shore!" Mista shouted anxiously.
Narancia tried to obey, but his already overburdened ankle snapped with a crack. The joints throughout his body were gradually being corroded, making a sound like rusty gears.
"Narancia, throw the turtle onto the shore!" Bucciarati roared.
Tears welled in Narancia's eyes. His mind was in a fog, and the fungus had corroded his body so badly that he couldn't move at all.
"Damn it! We're all done for!"
Abbacchio pressed himself against the corner of the hideout, bracing his body like a spider. His eyes were full of frustration.
"Mista, snap out of it!"
At this critical moment, Dawn pointed at the speedboat's fuel tank and yelled to Mista.
"Shoot it! The explosion could send Narancia and the turtle flying onto the shore!"
Before Dawn could finish, Mista had already pulled the trigger. He'd understood Dawn's plan as soon as he heard "fuel tank."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Five bullets shot out. All of Sex Pistols sprang into action, each kicking one of the bullets off course and sending them straight into the speedboat's fuel tank.
Boom!
The tremendous explosion sent Narancia, who'd been on the verge of death, flying onto the shore along with the turtle.
"Did it work?!"
As soon as the explosion ended, Dawn checked Narancia's injuries. He was in critical condition, but none of his vital organs had been injured.
Giorno brought Narancia into the turtle's hideout. After treating him, he said he could only stabilize his condition temporarily.
"There's still a large amount of fungus multiplying inside him. My Golden Experience can't cure it completely. All I can do for now is keep it from spreading."
Giorno laid Narancia down on the sofa and bandaged him.
"Dawn, Mista, I'm coming out to help you. The rest of you stay in the hideout. Too many people will draw attention."
Bucciarati climbed out of the hideout, and the three of them began heading uphill.
Inside the hideout, Trish seemed troubled.
"Is Bucciarati too coldhearted? In that situation, he ordered Narancia to throw the turtle first. I don't understand..."
Hearing her, Narancia, who'd been resting nearby, struggled to sit up and said earnestly, "Trish, Bucciarati didn't do anything wrong. This isn't a children's game. There's no room for family ties or friendship in a fight.
"If we fought based on our feelings, we'd all have been dead long ago. We wouldn't have lasted this long."
Trish lowered her head. She'd never had that kind of resolve, or even been in a proper fight, so she couldn't understand Bucciarati's seemingly heartless order.
Outside, in Rome.
Dawn and the others climbed the stone steps, carefully avoiding the corpse fragments covered in fungus. The locals had already been corroded beyond recognition.
Suddenly, a can slipped from a corpse's hand and vanished strangely as soon as it hit the ground, as if it had never existed.
Then the entire stone staircase began to slowly sink. The ground was like a swamp, swallowing everything around it.
"Another Stand attack! Quick! We have to get higher!"
Just then, Secco emerged from beneath the ground, wearing a yellow-brown bodysuit. The earth rippled around him like water as he raised a video camera and began filming.
Mista didn't hold back. He raised his gun and fired, startling Secco into diving back underground and disappearing.
The three made it safely to a platform. Corpses covered in fungus stretched as far as the eye could see, but Dawn noticed vehicles traveling along a distant mountain road. That meant the fungus hadn't spread very far yet.
"We can steal a car and get out of this area. Then the enemy won't be able to do anything to us."
Bucciarati made the call, and the three immediately started looking for a vehicle.
Rumble, rumble...
The sound of rotor blades grew louder. A black helicopter slowly rose in the distance, barely visible against the night sky.
Someone seemed to be watching them from inside.
"There's no way anyone else is still alive at a time like this. The one in the helicopter has to be the culprit."
Mista muttered to himself and raised his gun at the black helicopter.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sex Pistols kicked the bullets to accelerate them, but the helicopter was too far away for the shots to do any real damage.
Bucciarati ran straight toward a car and called back, "Dawn, Mista, get in! This car still runs!"
Dawn didn't get in. He stared fixedly at the black helicopter in the sky. If they left it alone, all three million people in Rome could be wiped out.
Polnareff at the Colosseum wouldn't be spared, either.
"Cloud Dragon, take it down."
High among the clouds, Cloud Dragon let out a low growl. Hundreds of meters long, its massive body used the cover of night to dive down.
It opened its mouth and exhaled a blast of icy wind, sending Notorious Big surging out with its claws bared. It slammed into the side of the helicopter, scattering a shower of metal fragments.
The helicopter's fuel ignited. It spun wildly through the air before finally exploding in a dazzling burst of flames.
"You might be safe if you hide, but flying up there is just asking to die."
Dawn calmly took out a cigarette and was about to light it when he suddenly froze.
Why hadn't the fungus on his hand disappeared?
"Something's wrong... Something doesn't add up."
Dawn put away the cigarette and looked around. The fungus was still there.
"That bastard Cioccolata isn't dead. No one could survive a helicopter exploding like that. So there's only one possibility..."
"Cioccolata wasn't on the helicopter. They know about Cloud Dragon. The helicopter was just bait!"
Thinking of Diavolo, who hadn't appeared on Sardinia, and Risotto, who'd suddenly attacked him, Dawn figured it out.
"That bastard Diavolo must have turned Risotto against us on Sardinia and witnessed Cloud Dragon for himself. That's how Cioccolata got my information. Tch, this is troublesome."
The ground began to ripple again. Dawn looked down at his feet. It was a sign that Secco was about to attack.
Before you continue