"Hey, Dio! Over here—my egg fried rice!"
It was another rainy day, and a middle-aged man was shouting inside the bustling Ian's Restaurant.
A tall young man came over with a bowl of egg fried rice, greeting him cheerfully as he handed it over.
The man took it casually and was just about to strike up a conversation.
BOOM!!
A tremendous thunderclap rang out from outside.
Startled by the thunder, the man lost his grip, and the bowl dropped straight toward the floor.
Before he could react, something seemed to shift before his eyes. The bowl that had been falling through the air was now sitting securely on the table.
Meanwhile, Dio, who was working as a waiter, had already turned toward another table.
The man's hand hung in midair as he looked around in bewilderment, unable to work out what had happened.
Leaving the confused man alone, a golden silhouette slowly vanished behind Dio, unseen by everyone else.
Indeed, Dio had just activated the ability of his Stand, [The World], and stopped time!
Dio calmly calculated how long that time stop had lasted.
About 0.5 seconds. No change from yesterday. The cooldown is still one minute, too. And...
With a thought from Dio, [The World] appeared out of thin air, its golden body still covered in countless cracks.
But compared with the Stand he had seen a few days earlier, when he had still been lying in bed severely injured, it was in much better shape.
If its strength and speed were both A at its peak, right now they're C and B at best.
It's weaker than I am. Its speed is decent, but if I have to fight someone, I'm better off doing it myself. After all, [The World] can't use Hamon to recover.
Dio could sense that, without any external stimulus, [The World] would probably still need a great deal of time to repair itself.
As [The World] was now, attacking with the Stand itself would be of little use. Its offense and defense were both inferior to his own, and it couldn't use Hamon to speed up its recovery.
While anyone who wasn't a Stand User couldn't attack a Stand, [Nen] was also a power that incorporated mental energy. Who knew whether it could hit one?
As a Stand User, Dio shared any damage [The World] took.
If he used his Stand for a sneak attack, for instance, and the other person broke its leg with a wild, flailing punch, the Stand User's leg would break too.
Although his Stand's repairs were far from satisfactory, Hamon fortunately proved incredibly effective. In just a few days, it had brought his own body from bedridden with severe injuries to almost completely healthy.
Even Ian had exclaimed in disbelief at how quickly he recovered.
Charlotte, who was going through her adolescent fantasy phase, had even assumed he had some kind of superpower. Over the past few days, she had kept pulling him aside to tell him about her past.
In truth, Dio could have simply left by now. On the very night he woke up, he had thoroughly sorted through the memories in his head and learned everything about the body's original owner.
Two points stood out to Dio. First, Diego, like him, had been an orphan since childhood.
He had gotten into the National Medical University entirely through student union funding and a full university scholarship, which meant he was actually facing a fairly serious shortage of savings.
The second was his university mentor, whose name was-
Cheadle Yorkshire!
An executive of the [Hunter Association], the world's foremost assembly of experts, the [Dog] of the [Zodiacs], and a Triple-Star [Diseases Hunter]!
In his memories, this mentor had taken good care of him and often wanted to help arrange his future employment and such.
As an unquestionable expert in Nen Abilities, Cheadle was also Dio's best option now that he wanted to learn a Nen Ability.
But over the past few days, he had tried calling and writing to her without managing to make contact at all.
By rights, Dio should have headed straight back to the university.
But...
Dio glanced toward the kitchen. Charlotte hurriedly looked away from where she had been sneaking peeks at him and pretended to busy herself chopping a radish.
Ian, meanwhile, had just dished up a plate of food and called Dio over to take it to a customer.
"Sure!"
Dio took the plate.
The care Ian and his daughter had shown him over the past few days had reminded him of when Jonathan saved him.
If he simply left, he would certainly be fine, with a bright future waiting for him. But what about Ian and his daughter?
Without him, could those police officers who had no Nen Abilities guarantee their safety?
Dio didn't consider himself a good man who had to stamp out every evil he saw, but he didn't want the innocent people who had saved him to be murdered.
Feeling the Hamon surge inside his body, Dio sensed danger drawing closer than ever. And on top of that...
Dio turned to look at the thunderstorm outside the window, weighing his options.
This weather was all too perfect for a serial killer to be out prowling!
He couldn't wait any longer.
After much deliberation, Dio silently made a decision...
Before you continue