Grilled Fish

Waves surged, winds howled, and the great shark named "Clash" charged with the force of a mountain, the scent of death filling the air.

Li Qing calmly lit a cigarette as he faced the monstrous maw of the great shark.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

His gaze pierced through the wind, the waves, and the colossal shark, fixing on Squalo's astonished face:

"Instantaneous teleportation with no cooldown, speed that leaves others in the dust. Your Stand is indeed powerful."

"To fight a Stand that agile, wouldn't it make more sense to try and bypass it and attack the user directly?"

"So then..."

"Why didn't I do that?"

"Why?!"

Squalo, playing along, posed the question. He had initially thought Li Qing was foolishly engaging "Clash," but now it seemed things weren't so simple.

"Because I was waiting."

"Waiting for the right moment to strike back."

Li Qing raised his hand, aiming the smoldering cigarette butt at the charging great shark:

"Take a look—"

"Has something been added to your Stand?"

"What?"

Squalo's expression froze, and he hastily looked at the monstrous shark, its form frozen on the sea's surface.

At first glance, its appearance seemed unchanged:

Its mountain-sized body was covered in a hardened, keratinous armor, and within its slightly opened, blood-red mouth, two rows of sharp, bone-white teeth gleamed with a faint, cold light.

A large amount of seawater, unable to fall back into the ocean, clung to its streamlined body, refracting the sunlight into a kaleidoscope of colors.

"Wait..."

"That light... it's not right..."

"That rainbow-like color isn't something seawater can refract!"

Squalo's face instantly changed:

"What's clinging to 'Clash' isn't seawater at all, it's..."

"Gasoline!"

He was plunged into deep shock:

"When?!"

"When did he splash gasoline onto 'Clash'?!"

"I didn't splash it."

"Your Stand just ran into it."

Time subtly "froze" as Li Qing, going with the flow, began his explanation:

"The moment I figured out your Stand's ability was instant teleportation via accumulated water, I deduced from the vastly different air currents generated by your Stand's two movements that its size might change depending on the expanse of the water surface."

"If it teleports into a small puddle, your Stand is only tens of centimeters big."

"But if it teleports into a large body of water, your Stand can even instantly expand to half a meter in length."

"At that point, I started thinking:"

"Seawater is also water. If it teleports onto the sea's surface..."

"Will it transform into a monstrous beast that I'm completely unable to contend with?"

He paused, a confident, strategic tone entering his voice:

"So..."

"From that moment on, I started preparing for that incredibly terrible possibility."

Squalo's face turned incredibly grim.

Li Qing's words were like a Luoyang shovel in the hands of a tomb raider, digging up his deepest fears with each scoop:

"You know, this ship had been leaking oil even before you attacked."

"It might be hard to see from your side, but I know the sea surface behind this yacht was already covered in a thick layer of oil."

"And the reason I deliberately stalled and fought your Stand on the ship was to buy time, to let the yacht leak more gasoline, and to make the oil slick on the water surface even larger—"

"Large enough to 'film' the sea monster!"

From the beginning, he knew that with the vast ocean surrounding them and the enemy capable of infinite teleportation in the water, he stood no chance of bypassing the powerful Stand to attack Squalo directly.

Therefore, Li Qing chose to attack the Stand.

To harm a monster that could seemingly transform into a colossal sea beast, a mere human like himself could only rely on external forces from the environment.

He had intentionally stalled for time precisely to allow a sufficiently large and dense oil slick to form on the sea surface behind the yacht.

Then, Li Qing deliberately fired a Sonically Enhanced Wave at Squalo's main body—

Not to attack Squalo himself, but to force Squalo to command "Clash" to instantly move in front of him and block the Sonically Enhanced Wave's targeting light.

As expected, the opponent had fallen for his trap.

"Actually, if you were quick enough, you, standing fifty meters away, could have easily dodged the Sonically Enhanced Wave's targeting light on your own."

"But you Stand Users, with your overconfidence..."

"Relying too much on that so-called 'invincible' Stand ability, you completely forget about less convenient methods."

Li Qing spoke in a drawn-out tone:

"So, after seeing the Sonically Enhanced Wave I fired, you were bound to have your Stand help block it."

"It's like those nouveau riche returning to their hometowns; they can't resist showing off their unique, splendid attire at all times."

"Damn it!"

Squalo finally realized his fatal mistake:

"I've been completely tricked."

"That area, that area was already covered in gasoline!"

"I commanded 'Clash' to instantly move in front of me to block the attack, but instead, I personally sent my Stand into a trap!"

However, he no longer had any chance to correct this error.

Li Qing had already raised his hand, aiming at the colossal sea beast rushing towards him, and flicked a cigarette with faint sparks:

"Now that I've said my piece, then..."

"Burn!"

Due to the world rule of 'narrative time stop,' Li Qing hadn't actually wasted any time on dialogue, nor had he preemptively warned the enemy about his attack method.

Therefore, by the time Squalo realized something was wrong and tried to command "Clash" to instantly move and dodge...

The cigarette butt, still glowing with sparks, had already, with Li Qing's precise and swift throw, collided perfectly with the thick oil slick covering "Clash's" surface mid-air.

Boom!

Flames erupted.

"Clash's" colossal body, as imposing as a mountain, transformed into a giant torch, its crimson light shooting straight into the sky.

Terrifying heat enveloped Clash; this pure energy instantly damaged the solidified form it had manifested to attack physically.

"Ah!!"

Squalo let out a pained howl.

The damage to the Stand was immediately reflected onto the Stand User's main body.

As the colossal shark burned in the fiery oil, Squalo felt as if he had plunged into a sea of fire, his entire body covered in scorched, reddish-black burn marks.

He instinctively wanted to command "Clash" to instantly move into the sea to extinguish the flames, but the agonizing pain of being engulfed in fire severely disrupted his mind and his control over his Stand.

A Stand is the manifestation of the user's mental energy; if the mind cannot focus, the Stand will soon lose control.

At this moment, the massive "Clash" was like a dying whale thrashing wildly:

Completely out of control, much like its severely writhing master, it began to roll frantically and unconsciously on the sea surface.

Soon...

Squalo's mind collapsed under the pain.

He could no longer maintain "Clash's" existence, let alone its immense size.

The terrifying great white shark that had dominated the sea and consumed everything just moments before vanished without a trace.

All that remained were the surging waves in mid-air, the billowing flames that had yet to completely burn out, and the blue water surface reflecting the fierce red light.

Flames engulfed the sea, turbulent waves raged.

Li Qing's heart remained unmoved; he even considered lighting another cigarette for himself.

Although there's the saying, "Only Stands can defeat Stands," regardless, when Stands perform physical attacks, they always have a definite tangible form. Since a Stand can concretely shatter a brick, then that brick can clearly make tangible contact with the Stand. Moreover, the original work's settings regarding this are inherently contradictory. For example, in Part 4, Josuke could trap Angelo's Stand with balloons, and in Part 5, the various members of the Sex Pistols could be injured by knives. In short, in this book, we will follow this book's settings; otherwise, it won't be exciting (=_=)