The Beginning of the Escape

That unlucky seagull would never know why it died today.

It had simply been standing lazily on the eaves, basking in the sun with a gentle coo.

Then, a white, unidentified flying object, larger than the entire bird, suddenly smashed into its face.

Fortunately, the ball of light seemed to have little power. After a frantic flapping and hopping, it managed to regain its balance and tuck in its wings.

However, the good times didn't last long.

Just as it was preparing to fly away from this troublesome spot, it hadn't gone far when a bald head was already closely pursuing it from the sky behind.

"Coo?"

With this seagull's limited brain capacity, it couldn't process such bizarre and complex information.

It merely felt danger instinctively and then desperately flew towards the nearby harbor and the sea.

But that flying bald head was like a male bird whose hormones were exploding during mating season; it was chasing it relentlessly at an incredibly exaggerated speed.

Finally...

As the seagull and the bald head flew together over the bay not far away, they "collided."

The accident resulted in one death and one injury: the seagull was dead, and the bald head, who fell from the sky after hitting the bird, was injured.

Unluckily, he didn't fall into the harbor's seawater but instead crashed onto a small yacht that happened to be passing beneath him.

"Phew."

"So close, so close. I almost died this time."

Li Qing struggled to get up from the hard yacht deck and immediately noticed his blood volume, which had dropped to a mere 3% after falling from a height:

"Seriously, they've maxed out the difficulty right from the start."

"If Diavolo hadn't underestimated me just now, I absolutely wouldn't have had a chance to survive."

"Although I escaped this time, that guy definitely won't let me off that easily. From now on, enemies will keep coming after me."

"The bad news is, I've only watched two episodes of JOJO, and all I know is..."

"Baldy!!"

An angry voice interrupted Li Qing's thoughts.

Immediately after, a middle-aged white man with a bulging belly angrily emerged from the cockpit.

Because he was neither a 'teammate' nor an 'enemy,' he couldn't see the strange blood bar floating above Li Qing's head.

He also happened not to see the terrifying sight of Li Qing falling from the sky, only hearing a deafening crash.

To this ordinary boat captain, Li Qing was just some hooligan who appeared out of nowhere to cause trouble:

"Damn bald guy!"

"Look at what you've done to my deck!"

Before he could even steady himself, he started yelling furiously:

"Where did you come from?"

"Your face is Eastern... are you a tourist from a foreign country?"

"Let me tell you, this is our company's most beautiful yacht. If you want to get on, you have to go to the dock and pay to rent it first!"

"Right... repair costs, and the cost to repair this deck..."

The captain's attitude was aggressive, but Li Qing completely ignored his shouting.

"Too close, the distance is too close."

He muttered to himself:

"I flew about 300 meters in a straight line in the sky just now."

"Assuming a normal adult's walking speed, even considering the winding streets, it would only take Diavolo a minute to catch up."

"No... I still need to keep running."

"Hey, hey!"

The captain impatiently interrupted his thoughts again: "Are you deaf?"

"Listen here, if you can't pay, I'll have to get the police to talk to you."

"Oh..."

Li Qing let out a soft sound.

When he turned back to look at the captain, his face was filled with a friendly smile:

"Captain, I want to rent the boat, right now."

"Captain?"

Hearing the slightly respectful address, the captain's expression immediately improved:

"You're here to rent a boat?"

"Alright, first pay the money and complete the procedures on shore, then pick a boat at the dock."

"No."

Li Qing said in an irrefutable tone, "I want to set off now, I want this one."

"This one?"

The fat boat captain suppressed a displeasure:

"Don't joke, this one won't do."

"There's a problem with this boat's fuel tank, I was just about to take it back to the dock for inspection."

"Can it move?"

Li Qing asked indifferently, "As long as it can move, that's fine."

"Even if it breaks down in the middle of the sea, I want you to take it out now!"

"Kid, are you here to cause trouble?"

The boat captain frowned:

"Don't talk about this boat having minor issues, even if it were in perfect condition, you can't just leave whenever you want!"

"I told you, if you want to rent a boat, you have to pay first and complete the procedures."

"I have the money."

Li Qing patted his bulging pockets, indicating he had the means:

"Can the procedures be waived?"

"That won't do."

"The boat belongs to the company, and according to regulations, procedures must be completed first."

The boat captain instinctively refused, but then immediately put on a greedy expression:

"Unless, you give me a large sum of money privately, hehe."

He clearly intended to make a fortune.

However, Li Qing ultimately used a very reasonable offer to quickly conclude the business negotiation:

"Captain, your offer is good, but..."

"Sorry, I really don't have time to haggle with you."

"You want money, right?"

Li Qing took out a pistol from his pocket and asked kindly, "Is this enough?"

At the dock.

Diavolo followed the direction Li Qing had flown away, all the way to the port.

When he arrived at the dock, he happened to see Li Qing standing on the yacht, haggling with the boat captain from afar.

Immediately after, the boat set off.

The yacht sped up, carrying the mortal enemy who had just escaped from Diavolo, and charged towards the vast sea.

"Damn it!"

"He ran, he got away!"

"Someone whose identity and purpose are unknown, and who also knows my Stand ability, actually got away just like that!"

Diavolo felt defeated, and even more so, angry.

He knew that the veil of mystery he had painstakingly maintained for many years had finally been accidentally lifted a corner today.

A thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant.

If Li Qing were allowed to survive, information about his Stand ability could very well spread.

A large part of Stand User battles is fought with intelligence.

Although Diavolo's Stand ability could be considered invincible, it was not so powerful that it couldn't be overcome.

If the information leaked, countless powerful enemies would challenge his kingly status in the future, and they would design combat plans in advance based on his abilities.

"I must kill him, sew his mouth shut, and then throw him into the sea to feed the fish and shrimp!"

Diavolo thought hatefully.

After that, he began to concentrate and plan the pursuit of Li Qing:

"This bald guy is now on the sea by boat."

"Fortunately, I saw that yacht in time, otherwise it would have been difficult to find him."

"Wait... at sea?"

Diavolo had a brilliant idea:

To consolidate his authority as the Boss, he had specially established a direct "Royal Guard" within the organization that only obeyed his personal command.

Each member of the personal guard was a Stand User who was either powerful in combat or possessed unique abilities, and they were all loyal to Diavolo. Normally, they were scattered throughout Italy, helping Diavolo manage the various affairs of the Passion organization.

To prevent any unforeseen accidents, Diavolo always brought one or two members of his personal guard with him whenever he traveled to protect himself.

The member of his personal guard he had with him this time happened to be someone who was exceptionally skilled at naval warfare.

No.

It wasn't just "skilled." To put it a bit more dramatically...

"He's 'invincible' at sea."

"That kind of Stand ability is just too perfect for fighting in the ocean."

Diavolo thought to himself.

Then, he immediately called the "naval warfare expert":

"Squalo."

"You have a mission."