On a deserted road in Italy, a cargo truck rolled along at a slow pace.
The driver hummed a tune, relaxed. Beneath the passenger seat, a turtle with a jeweled key embedded in its back lay quietly.
Through the jeweled key, several figures could just barely be seen talking inside.
"Hey, you. You wouldn't happen to be an enemy, would you?"
The little plane, Narancia, watched Dawn warily. Before Dawn could answer, Mista spoke up first. "Narancia, Dawn probably isn't an enemy. He took care of those two pursuers and saved my life, too."
Giorno sat on the sofa, his hands clasped together, fingers twitching slightly. A fly that had once been a button landed on Dawn's clothes.
Dawn didn't notice. He only gave Narancia a knowing smile. "Don't worry. I'm not your enemy. In a sense, our goals are the same."
"So, are you someone sent by the Boss?"
Bucciarati hadn't let his guard down just because Dawn had saved him. Dawn's sudden appearance had left a deep impression on him.
On the train, he and Prosciutto had both fallen from it. At the last moment, Bucciarati had grabbed a rivet and escaped death. Prosciutto, on the other hand, had been crushed beneath the speeding train.
As for Pesci, the user of Beach Boys, Dawn had scared him so badly that he had dropped dead on the spot. Bucciarati had been at a loss for words.
Faced with everyone's suspicion and distrust, Dawn smiled without answering and simply lay back on the sofa to rest. Just then, Trish moved closer.
Clearly, Trish wanted to learn something about her father from Dawn.
"I'm not one of the Boss's people. There's no need to keep testing me, and I won't tell you anything about the Boss."
Dawn drawled lazily, "My appearance was arranged by fate. Everything will unfold as expected."
Hearing the word "fate" again, Bucciarati instinctively recalled Rolling Stone, which had foretold his death. His heart grew heavy.
No one said another word. After assigning Mista to keep watch outside, they all settled down to rest.
Mista stood there, quietly watching everything outside.
Dusk was settling in when a loud crash startled everyone. Like a startled bird, Bucciarati hurriedly asked Mista what had happened.
Mista awkwardly rubbed his face. The driver had spotted them, so Mista had knocked him out with a punch. The truck had then hit an obstacle and overturned.
Dawn knew how the story went. Next, the group would need to find a vehicle, and they would make a snap decision to send Giorno out with the others to steal one.
Giorno led the group to a parking lot. To avoid having the pursuers notice a missing car and grow suspicious, he summoned his Stand, Golden Experience, and unleashed a barrage of punches that wrecked every car in the lot.
Outside, Giorno was still pummeling cars with ORA. But something strange was happening inside the turtle.
Trish had gone to use the bathroom, but in the blink of an eye, she vanished. Bucciarati panicked and was about to search for her when he, too, turned into cubes and disappeared into thin air.
In an instant, Dawn was the only one left in the sealed room.
In response, Dawn unleashed his full intimidation. The thunderous sound of his blood pumping filled the room. He spoke slowly, his voice chilling. "Are you ready to face the consequences of attacking me?"
Baby Face, hiding in the shadows, broke out in a cold sweat. Just as it stood there, at a loss, Giorno noticed something was wrong outside.
Golden Experience slipped into the sealed room, enduring the oppressive presence of Emperor Engine. Giorno looked around, saw that the others had disappeared, and instinctively turned his attention to Dawn.
Giorno was about to ask what had happened when Dawn stood up. "It's a Stand attack. Bucciarati and the others have been attacked by a Stand."
Giorno was shocked. Baby Face attacked him at once. It didn't dare attack Dawn, but it had no qualms about going after Giorno.
Baby Face had taken Giorno's tongue and one of his eyes. He wanted to alert his nearby teammates for help, but couldn't make a sound.
At the critical moment, Dawn shouted a warning to Giorno.
"Take the key off the turtle's back!"
Giorno did as he was told. The sealed room immediately collapsed, and Dawn and Baby Face were forced out, landing on the grass.
Giorno launched an attack at once. Baby Face turned itself into countless tiny cubes to dodge, then seized the opening between Giorno's attacks to tear out his throat.
Unable to breathe, Giorno's eyes gradually lost their light.
"Goodbye."
Baby Face didn't want to stay another moment. It revealed itself, shot Dawn a wary glance, then turned and mounted its motorcycle, ready to flee.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Dawn knew Giorno was about to unlock a new ability of Golden Experience and become the team's strongest healer. But for now, he had to buy Giorno time. Otherwise, Trish really would be taken away by Baby Face.
"I don't want to attack you. Please don't get in my way."
Baby Face's voice sounded rather childlike. In truth, it had only been born recently.
It had been created from Bucciarati's blood by Melone, a member of the Assassination Squad, and was a born killer.
In a sense, Bucciarati was its biological father.
Baby Face started up the motorcycle. Vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around the rear wheel. Not far away, Giorno slowly climbed to his feet, his wounds already healed as if they'd never been there.
Giorno removed a ladybug button and used Golden Experience to turn it into the eye Baby Face had dug out. Then he put it back in place.
"Your ability inspired me, and my Golden Experience has grown because of it. Could this be fate? Or is there some kind of attraction between us that brought us together?"
Giorno watched Baby Face expressionlessly. After hearing the news, Melone immediately ordered it not to act rashly, and to find a chance to ambush and kill the enemy.
Since Melone wasn't there, he didn't realize just how much pressure Baby Face was under.
Cold sweat kept trickling down. Baby Face turned back into cubes and vanished. It wanted to run, but had no choice but to obey its orders.
Giorno had a plan. He went in and threw a punch.
Baby Face thought it was a perfect opportunity. It dodged the attack, reappeared, and tore off Giorno's other arm with a punch, absorbing it into its body.
Seeing this, Dawn had assumed Baby Face would be defeated just like in the original story. But nothing happened.
"Giorno, that arm of yours just now—?"
Giorno was just as puzzled. He had turned a motorcycle into an arm and deliberately offered it to Baby Face to absorb, planning to turn it back into a motorcycle afterward and burst Baby Face open from the inside.
But with Dawn there, Baby Face had become more cautious. It chose to attack Giorno's real arm instead, throwing off his plan.
"Ah... Is it already past midnight?"
Dawn's words eased the tension of the battle. He glanced down at his watch as countless Chinese characters began to appear above his head.
"Mr. Dawn, um... is that your Stand?"
Giorno watched Dawn gravely. Baby Face did the same, and fear of its impending death already showed on its face.
What were those profound symbols, constantly changing? Was this unfathomable man finally going to attack me...? Damn it!
"Are you kidding me? I'm not dying here!"
Baby Face shouted in panic.
"Hurry! Let me go back! I don't want to fight that man!"
Melone was completely baffled. The killing machine he had created seemed to have malfunctioned. It was actually trying to avoid a fight.
Under their gazes, Dawn calmly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, the sound sharp and clear.
The characters froze in place.
A line of purple text appeared quietly.
[Stand: Beyond Imagination: Dragon Tamer]
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