The Final Act: Earth Split and Sky Shattered 7,342 Days Later

[Part 1 · Three Whiskies]

After the slave trade was banned in 1808, the supply of rum took a heavy blow, giving the American whiskey industry a chance to catch its breath. Amid the raging currents of the era, it gradually found its footing.

Like livestock farming, agriculture, light industry, and weapons manufacturing, whiskey was a hallmark of the times, a moment in history, and an eternal imprint of human civilization. The next successor would be the automobile—no matter the era, if you could find a car in its images and recordings, you could trace the passage of time.

The earliest American whiskey brand came from Kentucky. George Washington himself issued the tax legislation that put an end to the savage era of local uprisings over taxation.

It was bourbon whiskey, named after the French House of Bourbon and also in gratitude to the French who had fought the British on this land during the Revolutionary War. It symbolized freedom, a son breaking free of his father's chains.

Before that, immigrants from Scotland had come to Virginia and distilled whiskey from rye and corn to ease their deep homesickness. This savage land could never compare to the civilized world, or to their old home in Britain.

This bottle of whiskey had crossed through time into a new era, arriving on the shelves of the JoeStar Club's dazzling liquor collection. Among all the bottles in storage, it had earned a familiar name: the Iron Knight.

Let us turn back time to that night beneath a moon scattered with stars, to that red-and-black sky and land.

Three young men, covered in blood, staggered into the Sheep Slaughter Inn. Supporting one another, they panted, exhausted and worn out. Even after lying on the scorching rock platform for several hours, they still couldn't shake