Ouroboros

March 27, 1999, 8:21 PM.

In the heart of Rome, inside the ancient Colosseum.

Polnareff sat on the second floor, holding Bug Arrow.

He had just spoken on the phone with his long-lost best friend, Jotaro.

Jotaro has arrived in Rome and is on his way to the Colosseum.

Giorno and Mista stood on the first floor, waiting for Polnareff to explain how to use the Bug Arrow.

None of the three people present noticed that Diavolo was hiding in the shadows of the Colosseum.

Diavolo is also waiting, waiting for Polnareff to reveal the final secret of the Bug Arrow.

After a long wait...

Polnareff's final answer was:

How to use this Bug Arrow

"I won't tell you yet."

"Huh?" Diavolo, hiding in the shadows, cursed inwardly.

You promised to deliver the Bug Arrow! How dare you go back on your word!

But Polnareff still shamelessly said:

"It's indeed embarrassing to say, but..."

"Since Jotaro is nearby, we won't need this arrow this time."

The Bug Arrow possesses the power to change the world.

Given the choice, he would naturally prioritize Jotaro over Giorno and Mista, two relatively unfamiliar boys.

Giorno and Mista could barely tolerate such a change of heart.

But Diavolo, who was waiting impatiently in the shadows, could no longer hold back.

"You bastard—"

After waiting so long, all I got in the end was "nothing below"?

Diavolo, having reached his limit, decided to seize the Bug Arrow directly.

"King Crimson!"

Let time fly by!

Time is easily erased like a soft block of butter.

Diavolo entered his own timeline.

The straight river of time was stirred up by him at this moment.

Diavolo himself never noticed, nor was he able to find out.

The time that was cut off became a buoy fixed in the long river of time, an anchor point that disturbed the stability of time.

Guided by this Time Anchor

Diavolo has arrived.

"Where am I?!"

Diavolo was horrified.

Just a second ago, he was desperately surrounded by Li Qing and others on that still wet cement road.

The instant after being pierced by the arrow, he suddenly appeared in a completely different place.

The sky was dark and the lights were dim, clearly indicating that it was nighttime.

Looking at the building I'm in now... Hmm, why does this building feel so familiar?

Wait a minute, isn't this the Colosseum of Rome?

How did I end up in the Colosseum of Rome?!

Diavolo's expression immediately became incredibly interesting:

He activated the arrow's power and was then inexplicably Italy to his hometown in Italy on the other side of the world.

Could it be that the power he awakened is something like spatial teleportation or instantaneous movement?

Diavolo was thinking just that.

Suddenly, a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar echoed through the arena:

"Hahaha."

"With such a crippled body, you think you can take the Bug Arrow back from me?"

"Useless trash should stay in the garbage dump!"

Diavolo peered out from the shadows where no one was watching, following the sound towards the second floor of the Colosseum.

Although the light was dim, he could still vaguely see

At this very moment, on the second floor of the Colosseum.

A middle-aged man with pink hair, wearing black stockings and a see-through corset, was shouting arrogantly and recklessly.

"Why is this guy dressed like me?"

Diavolo, looking bewildered, took off his coat and touched the same black see-through corset he was wearing:

Lightweight and breathable, form-fitting and shaping, and also very discreet.

He wouldn't attract attention walking around a small place like Morioh like that; no one could tell he was Stand User from his clothes.

I never expected someone to have the same taste in clothing as him; great minds think alike.

Same ghost!

"Isn't that me?!"

Diavolo was horrified to discover that the pink-haired middle-aged man standing on the second floor of the Colosseum was himself!

He then saw Polnareff, who was still disabled, and Giorno and Mista, who stood there in shock and tension.

"This happened in the past."

"It was at the Colosseum of Rome, the scene when I stole the Bug Arrow."

Diavolo quickly recovered from his shock:

"The ability I awakened isn't spatial teleportation at all, it's time travel!"

"I went back in time, back to the night of March 27th!"

As soon as this idea popped into Diavolo's head, a wealth of knowledge suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Stand User can immediately learn the name and ability of their Stand after awakening it; this kind of ability, which originates from the soul, usually comes with its own instruction manual.

At this moment, Diavolo also learned the true nature of this ability:

"King Crimson - Third Ability -"

"The Ouroboros!"

"Ouroboros"—that is the name of his ultimate ability.

The ability allows the user to use Diavolo's memories as a timeline and the time that Diavolo erased from the past as Time Anchor, to travel back in time to their past self.

Each time Diavolo travels, he can spend up to one hour in the past.

After each use of "Ouroboros", you need to wait 10 minutes before you can activate it again.

At the same time, Diavolo could also clearly perceive:

His spiritual energy was as blazing as a red-hot furnace, and the King Crimson's basic abilities were enhanced in all aspects after his awakening.

Its power, speed, and endurance have all increased dramatically to an exaggerated degree.

Diavolo even had a vague feeling that the King Crimson was now strong and fast enough to be on par with Li Qing Sin.

Normally, such an unimaginable improvement in basic abilities would be enough to make him ecstatic.

But now, Diavolo's attention is entirely focused on the power of the "Ouroboros" ability itself:

"Travel through time and space, back to the past"

"This is simply an invincible ability!"

It was like a sudden downpour on parched land.

Diavolo, who had fallen into utter despair, suddenly saw boundless hope:

Li Qing can only fight, Jotaro can only stop time, but he, with his "Ouroboros", can freely travel through the river of time!

With this ability, why worry about not being able to reverse the defeat?

Thinking of this, Diavolo suddenly raised his head again:

He gazed at the second floor of the Colosseum, at himself on March 27th.

He thought he could easily win the Bug Arrow, but he was ridiculously defeated by Giorno and Mista.

It was this defeat that completely kicked him out of the poker game.

He was driven out of Italy and fled in disgrace to Morioh, on the other side of the world.

"That was the original past."

"But I'm here now."

"As long as I take action, I will definitely be able to win before those Bug Arrow are destroyed!"

Diavolo was itching to try it.

One Diavolo was enough to nearly kill Giorno, so two Diavolo would obviously drive Giorno to despair.

He instinctively wanted to make a move, but he also instinctively became cautious:

"Let's take a look at the 'Epitaph' first."

"Why can't I watch it?!"

Diavolo then realized that his "Epitaph" was no longer valid in the past.

That ability was meant to glimpse the future, but it was ineffective in the time turmoil caused by time travelers from the future.

"Thankfully, at least 'Time Reduction' still works."

Diavolo soon discovered an even more interesting place:

When he used the Time Erasure, he was the only one who arrived at his own unique timeline, which even the Diavolo of the past could not detect.

Correspondingly, when the Diavolo of the past uses the Time Erasure, the Diavolo of the future will also fall into an unconscious state like an ordinary person.

The two sides do not interfere with each other and each does their own thing.

The only problem is that the time periods cannot overlap; a period of time can only be eliminated once.

Therefore, when Diavolo used the Time Erasure in the past, Diavolo in the future will be kicked out of the Time Erasure state.

"Interesting."

"Then let me help my past self!"

Diavolo felt even more restless.

He could already picture himself easily seizing the Bug Arrow during the Time Erasure, and his past self only realizing he had it after a moment of stunned silence.

He wanted to change the past in this way, to directly and fundamentally erase the despair and pain he had experienced these past few days.

However, just as Diavolo was about to step out of the shadows...

His body suddenly began to tremble.

An unprecedented sense of terror gripped my heart.

It seems that some great power has descended from the river of time.

If Diavolo takes just one more step forward, something terrible will happen.

"A paradox. It's a paradox!"

A cold sweat suddenly broke out on Diavolo's forehead:

"If I had gotten the Bug Arrow on March 27th, I would never have gone to Morioh."

"If I hadn't gone to Morioh, I wouldn't have been able to get the 'Kira's Arrow,' let alone gain the ability to travel through time."

"This ability to travel through time is based on my memories as the axis and the time I have erased from the past as the anchor point."

In other words...

"I cannot change what happened in my memory."

"I also can't let my past self know about my existence as a person from the future."

"Otherwise, the axis of memory will become disordered, the anchors of the past will collapse, and the 'paradox' of time will occur in my life!"

Fear, horror, helplessness, disappointment.

These emotions constantly shifted within Diavolo's heart:

If you can travel through time but can't change the past, what's the point of that ability?

Does he have to go back in time and watch his past self relive that painful failure?

Wouldn't this ability then become a useless "live replay"?!

On the second floor of the Colosseum, Diavolo was laughing wildly in front of Polnareff.

In the shadows of the Colosseum, another Diavolo sighed in despair:

Ouroboros

"Why did you send me back in the past?"