"Satoru Gojo," Dio spoke first, his voice ringing unusually clear across the empty woodland. "Did you become this strong through effort, or were you born the strongest?"
"There's definitely no such thing as being 'born the strongest.'" Satoru Gojo casually rolled his wrists and ankles, his joints cracking softly. "Growth, fighting, thinking-all of those matter."
"Did you know? It's been less than three months since I first encountered cursed energy.
"In other words, I didn't spend years honing myself and growing-I was already strong from the beginning.
"And through fighting and growing in India, I became even stronger."
Dio spread his arms and lifted his chin slightly, his tone abruptly turning inflammatory and oppressive.
"So hand the world over to me.
"After all, humanity is as blind as a flock of pigeons. As long as one leading pigeon resolutely flies right, the whole flock will follow without thinking.
"And I intend to be even more grandiose than that-I will stand elegantly and utterly above this flock, rule them, and lead them in the direction I deem right!
"A Philosopher King-that is the most efficient order!"
"I'm already prepared for bloodshed and sacrifice," Satoru Gojo said, his voice cooling. "But only for the necessary purge of Japan's Jujutsu Society.
"If the entire world were handed over to you to 'remake' your way, how many innocent people would die?"
"What kind of clown are you playing?"
Dio mocked him without mercy.
"Creatures you also consider 'people' die like weeds in the Middle East, in Africa, in every corner of the world. Have you ever cared?
"Every year, humans kill far more humans than cursed spirits do. Can a society like that ever eradicate curses?
"There will only be endless fear and endless hatred, nourishing even more terrifying cursed spirits that have yet to be born!
"But you don't truly care whether those at the bottom live or die. You even look forward to the 'powerful enemies' that might emerge, don't you?"
Dio stepped forward, his presence bearing down like collapsing mountains and surging seas.
"The culmination of humanity's deepest fears over ten thousand years-a great cursed spirit embodying curses themselves-is about to be born in this era!
"Are you ready? No, you aren't.
"Some fools at Jujutsu Headquarters are even dreaming of returning to the Heian Era, when jujutsu sorcerers stood above everyone else! How can you govern a country with vermin like that?
"Granted, everyone in this world has their own ideas. So when we impose our will, conflicts with what others demand of the world are inevitable.
"Ordinary people, whether through lack of ability or lack of resolve, usually agree to disagree. Some give up before conflict even erupts, never reaching the point where a fierce clash becomes necessary.
"But the strong should be different. The last things any strong person should lack are the resolve and power to defy reality.
"And look at Jujutsu Society now-rigid, conservative, endlessly consumed by infighting, with new blood struggling to breathe beneath an outdated framework. That is nowhere near 'prosperity.'
"If it were me... I would act immediately. I would change things immediately!
"Waiting won't make corruption cleanse itself. Compromise won't make a chronic disease heal on its own!
"Only by tearing it down with your own hands can you rebuild a new order!"
Dio's voice suddenly rose, his imposing presence swelling further.
"If cursed spirits didn't exist, perhaps your strategy of slowly nurturing successors and waiting for change would be fine. But what about reality? In reality, they do exist!
"Your strategy fundamentally places the importance of 'future people' above the suffering of 'people in the present'!
"But between the future and the present, between one life and another, what justifies such a cruel order of priority?
"Those being devoured by curses at every moment-should their 'present' naturally become a stepping stone toward your ideal vision?
"This human world is such a boundless sea of suffering that even the Buddha might weep tears of blood if he looked upon it with his discerning eyes!
"You walk the front lines of Jujutsu Society. Haven't you seen enough death and tragedy?
"Those living souls torn apart, devoured, and twisted by curses-aren't their despair and fear enough to pierce any comforting illusion?
"If you still believe, in circumstances like these, that tears, admonitions, and limited violence are enough to maintain peace, you're far too naive!
"Mistaking your own limitations for truth, dressing up your own flaws as motivation-the most pitiful thing about the weak is their refusal to admit they're wrong.
"Before I came, you were the strongest of the modern age, weren't you?! Yet with or without you, the misery underlying this world never fundamentally changed-you never truly changed anything!"
His words stabbed straight to the heart like shards of ice.
"In the end, you're a superhuman born in the hothouse of capitalism. Deep down, you lack the courage to remake heaven and earth.
"Do you know the words, 'Sacrifice strengthens our resolve; we dare to make the sun and moon shine in a new sky'?
"Ultimately, you don't think I particularly 'love' people, do you?
"I've grown tired of watching this grotesque farce of humans oppressing and trampling one another.
"If I had no supernatural power, I would choose to accept reality. But now-"
Dio raised his hand, loosely curling his five fingers as though he meant to grasp the entire world before him in his palm.
"I will remake it.
"What you can do but refuse to do, I will do. What you have the power to do yet fail to accomplish, I will do as well.
"If I become that flawless, blazing sun in the sky, then even if its light belongs to no one, there will be nothing cruel about it.
"The stars seem cruel only because they never share their warmth with the masses, burning fiercely for themselves alone in the cold void."
He looked at Satoru Gojo, his eyes blazing with almost divine ambition and absolute confidence:
"Watch me. I will overthrow the entire old world! I look forward to the day you become a 'comrade.'"
"Hmm..." After a long silence, Satoru Gojo suddenly smiled. "Power can solve a lot of problems. But what if you encounter a problem that even power can't solve?"
"Then increase your power until it can solve the problem."
Dio answered almost without thinking, his words decisive.
"The strong don't worry about questions like that. Pooling everyone's wisdom and effort is good, but in the end, there must be someone who can shoulder responsibility and make the final decision-and that person can certainly be me!
"There cannot be two suns in the sky, so how could the stars be permitted to shine in broad daylight? If necessary, I will strike down those out-of-place 'stars,' one by one."
He stared directly into Satoru Gojo's eyes, hailed as "the reason he was the strongest," and delivered his final verdict: "You're strong, Satoru Gojo. But your heart is too weak!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha-" Satoru Gojo suddenly covered his face with both hands, tipped his head back, and burst into almost maniacal laughter. "There cannot be two suns! Ha ha ha ha ha-there cannot be two suns!"
Countless images flashed through his mind amid his laughter: the dead Yu Haibara, the unfamiliar sorcerers and non-sorcerers whose names he had never remembered, killed on missions, and Suguru Geto's lonely figure as he walked away...
Some people were closer than others, and love was never equal.
His protection had limits after all, and beyond those limits lay the abyss he chose not to look at.
"So that's it... You're right. You're so damn right!"
Satoru Gojo lowered his hands. The wild smile never left his face, but something deep in his eyes had been utterly ignited and reshaped.
"I will soar into the sky and become the sun above.
"The masses will flourish in my light, and all evil and injustice will have nowhere to hide.
"As long as I can keep burning, wherever I stand will be a 'torch,' not 'ashes'!"
In the distance, Suguru Geto called out, "Hey-how long are you two going to keep debating philosophy?"
"All right, Geto. Don't worry." Dio didn't turn around, his voice filled with absolute confidence. "No one is going to die. I'm just going to... give Mr. Gojo a thorough beating."
"That goes for you too!"
Satoru Gojo pointed forward with one hand, assuming that classic pose that declared a challenge, his smile brilliant.
"Although I'm really grateful that you saved my one and only best friend, the title of 'strongest' is ultimately something we have to settle with our fists.
"You seem to have misunderstood something, so let me make this clear-"
His voice rang clearly across the wilderness:
"You're the challenger here, you know?"
"Ha ha." Dio's laughter was low and resonant. "After today, the title of 'strongest' will belong to someone else!"
The instant his words fell, two torrents of cursed energy powerful enough to tear the heavens apart collided with a thunderous crash!
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