Moody Blues

It was 3:25 PM.

Bucciarati, Fugo, Narancia, and Abbacchio arrived by car at a tourist town nestled at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.

While called a town, it was actually part of the outer districts of Naples.

Backed by the still-active Mount Vesuvius, it boasted countless natural hot springs utilizing geothermal resources and was adjacent to Pompeii, a city with a two-thousand-year history. Its tourism potential was undeniably exceptional.

As expected, such a place was never short on visitors.

But when Bucciarati and the others reached the scene, it had devolved into a tragic spectacle:

Houses were collapsed, roads were cracked, damaged cars were piled haphazardly, and the black smoke from lingering embers curled up from the ruins, painting a desolate picture as far as the eye could see.

Tourists and passersby had long since fled amidst the chaos. All that remained were firefighters struggling to clean up the aftermath and American soldiers sifting through the debris.

"What in the world happened here?"

Abbacchio couldn't help but ask.

His first mission as a mobster seemed to be on a much larger scale than he had imagined.

"About half an hour ago, an American fighter jet crashed here."

"Then, for some reason, a rather severe riot broke out."

"According to reports from our organization's street informants, about twenty minutes ago, that bald man with Eastern features, our target, appeared at the scene of the riot with another blond kid in a school uniform."

"Whoa, whoa. If you put it that way..."

Fugo grew nervous. "All this chaos, was it caused by that bald guy?"

He swallowed, looking at the devastated landscape around them.

"Is this something even a Stand User could do?"

"What kind of monster are they having us hunt?!"

"It's possible."

Bucciarati nodded cautiously.

"Everyone, be prepared. That bald guy must be very strong."

"After all, the bounty on this guy's head is—"

"A seat as a Capo!"

At the very top of the Passion organization was the Boss, akin to an emperor. Below him was the General Staff, comparable to a cabinet. Further down were the local Capos, equivalent to regional governors, overseeing specific cities.

These local Capos managed the gang affairs of a city, maintaining subterranean order for millions of people, their power undisputedly immense.

Bucciarati's dream was to become one of these high-ranking Capos.

"I'm a bit nervous, but..."

Narancia, like Fugo, was sweating, but he forced himself to overcome his natural anxiety.

"As long as you give the order, Bucciarati, I'll follow you to the end, no matter who the enemy is."

"And, most importantly..."

The fifteen-year-old boy, his face still carrying a childlike innocence, looked at Bucciarati with hopeful eyes.

"If we can kill that bald guy, your dream will come true, right?!"

"That's right."

"But it seems like the Capo seat is secondary now."

Bucciarati stared at the still-warm ruins, his expression grim.

"This guy destroyed Naples like this and laid hands on innocent tourists and civilians. No matter how strong he is—I, Bucciarati, will not let him leave here alive!"

This impassioned declaration wasn't some mob boss's empty platitude to project benevolence; it was entirely genuine.

Because Bucciarati was, at heart, a good person.

He assisted Polpo in managing the Passion organization's affairs in Naples and had committed many bloody and violent acts during gang conflicts.

However, he had never inflicted this darkness and violence upon the ordinary citizens of Naples.

On the contrary, Bucciarati had always used his authority as a low-level mobster to do his utmost to maintain peace and order and help those in need.

The public's eyes were discerning. To the ordinary citizens who had repeatedly benefited from his kindness, The Bucciarati Team was essentially a public service group, fulfilling multiple roles like those of a neighborhood committee, resident council, police station, and Red Cross.

The reason Bucciarati so desperately desired a Capo position was precisely because he wanted greater power within the organization to better safeguard Naples' peace and well-being.

"Alright."

Bucciarati took a deep breath and turned to Abbacchio.

"Abbacchio, your 'Moody Blues' should be able to track where that bald guy went, right?"

Moody Blues was the name of Abbacchio's Stand.

Its primary ability wasn't combat but rather the capacity to replay events that had occurred at a target location, much like rewinding a videotape.

Although this Stand isn't suited for combat, it possesses powerful intelligence-gathering abilities.

With the appearance of this Stand that can "see the past," works like "Sherlock Holmes" and "Hercule Poirot" could all be concluded within the first three minutes.

"Should be fine."

"My Moody Blues can 'rewind' to a specific point in time based on the 'memories' of a location and 'transform' into a person who appeared at that time and place, replaying their actions."

"As long as we have 'time' and 'place' as elements, nothing can escape its replay."

Abbacchio knew his main purpose for being invited here and explained without hesitation:

"This place has been quite heavily damaged, which might have a slight impact on Moody Blues' replay."

"But that bald guy couldn't have destroyed every single piece of terrain he passed through. As long as we put in some effort to investigate, we'll definitely find his tracks."

"Alright then."

Bucciarati wasted no more words, "Let's start quickly!"

"Mhm."

Abbacchio nodded slightly, and a blue humanoid Stand slowly materialized behind him.

This humanoid Stand named Moody Blues had nothing particularly strange about its appearance. The only noteworthy feature was the time counter on its forehead displaying "::**".

"Moody Blues!"

Based on the eyewitness information provided by the surrounding thugs, Abbacchio roughly located a position that hadn't been damaged and began searching for traces of the target's past:

"Rewind 20 minutes!"

"Beep beep beep."

Moody Blues emitted a faint beep, and the timer on its forehead rapidly changed from "::**" to "00:20:00".

Then, its appearance rapidly shifted, as if it had used a transformation technique, changing from a blue humanoid Stand into a teenager wearing a black student uniform with three swirls of blonde hair piled on his head.

"Not this one, change."

Abbacchio commanded, and Moody Blues' appearance changed again.

This time, it transformed into a bald man with East Asian features.

Moody Blues could only replay the appearance and actions of a person at that location in the past; it couldn't restore the surrounding scenery and objects.

Therefore, when Moody Blues transformed into this bald man, it was suspended in mid-air not far from the ground in a very strange riding posture.

"That's right, it's this bald guy!"

"He must be that Li Qing we're looking for."

"But..."

Abbacchio took a closer look at Moody Blues, which had transformed into Li Qing's likeness: "In this appearance, was he riding a motorcycle at the time?"

"Never mind what he was riding!"

Fugo urged impatiently, "Hurry up and play it, what exactly did that guy do twenty minutes ago?!"

"Mhm." Abbacchio responded unhurriedly, "Start the replay, Moody Blues!"

As soon as he spoke, the timer locked on '00:20:00' on Moody Blues' forehead abruptly jumped to "00:19:59".

Like a video that had just had its play button pressed, the Li Qing it had transformed into began to move and speak:

"Hey, hey..."

"Giorno, are you ready?"

Li Qing's voice and expression from 20 minutes ago appeared through Moody Blues' replay.

The roaring sound of a motorcycle engine also echoed.

"I'm ready."

Although Giorno's appearance wasn't replayed by Moody Blues, his voice was recorded on this "Li Qing" tape: "How about you, Li Qing?"

"Hahahaha... Of course!"

Li Qing laughed heartily:

"Although it sounds a bit chuunibyou, the very thing we're doing now is foolish, so..."

"Giorno Giovanna, let's save the world together!"

With that, the roar of the motorcycle engine suddenly amplified more than tenfold.

Moody Blues, in its replay state, just like Li Qing twenty minutes prior, sat on the motorcycle that didn't actually exist at this moment and abruptly "drifted" into the distance.

"Save the world?"

Fugo and the others watching the replay were somewhat taken aback:

"It seems different from what we imagined..."

"Could it be... this bald guy wasn't causing destruction at the time, but was fighting something?"

The four fell into silence, and finally Bucciarati made the decision:

"Let's follow his movements for now."

"Abbacchio, your Moody Blues should be able to replay the enemies he fought at that time, right?"

"No problem."

Abbacchio replied, "Whether it's a person or a Stand, as long as I pinpoint the time and place, I can replay it."

"Then replay his enemies as well."

"I want to know what exactly this Li Qing was doing then."

Bucciarati instructed as he led the team forward.

About half a minute later.

"Moody Blues, change target!"

Abbacchio followed Moody Blues to the appropriate location and, following Bucciarati's orders, commanded it to replay Li Qing's enemies from that time.

And then...

"Huh?"

"Why did the sky get dark?"

Narancia asked, scratching his head with a confused look.

"No, the sky didn't get dark."

Abbacchio's face, which had been calm as still water from beginning to end, finally broke at this moment:

"It's because 'that thing' is so large it's blocking the light."

PS: Stand Panel

Stand Name: 「Moody Blues」

User: Leone Abbacchio

Destructive Power: C

Speed: C

Range: A (Playback State Only)

Durability: A

Precision: C

Growth: C

Ability: A humanoid Stand. It can replay the actions of a specific person or Stand like a movie. Although it can perfectly recreate their appearance, it cannot recreate Stands that can instantly move. It can use the appearance of the person being replayed to deceive enemies, but its weakness is that it enters an defenseless state where it cannot attack or defend.