Battle Damage | A CaeJose Story

JoJo

"Where the hell is this guy?"

The words were out of his mouth before he remembered that Speedwagon had wandered off some time ago. Although wandered wasn't quite right – Joseph suspected it had been a purposeful errand, and that Speedwagon had explained it to him in some detail, none of which he could now remember. That had been – half an hour ago? An hour? Long enough for the charm of the ornate fountain and the friendly pigeons and the quaint little shops lining the square to wear off. And if he had to listen to much more of the disgusting Italian couple sitting a few feet away on the edge of the fountain, he was going to do something he would regret.

"Signorina," the man was saying. Even his voice was irritating, all smooth, Italian-accented, syrupy-sweet cliche. "A token of my affection..."

Joseph had fixed his attention pointedly in the opposite direction, but he could still see the glint of light out of the corner of his eye. Some kind of jewelry, then. Had this woman seriously not seen this act before?

He tried to redirect his anger toward whoever it was he was supposed to be meeting as the woman behind him fawned over the gift. Who the hell did this guy think he was, showing up this late? And could he possibly be vital enough to their mission to justify this strange Italian torment?

"Every night, before you go to bed, I want you to think of me when you take it off."

"Seriously?" Joseph muttered, a little louder than he meant to. But if the Italian playboy or the oblivious woman heard, neither of them seemed to care.

"Let me put a charm on this necklace, that you will always be under the spell of love..."

"How can he say this with a straight face?" Joseph asked the nearest pigeon strutting around the edge of the fountain. It had ventured within a few inches of his hand. An idea began to take shape in the back of his mind. If only the couple would lay off with the sweet talk for thirty seconds, he could probably come up with a few reasons why this was a bad use of hamon...

"And may your lips be under the spell as well," the man murmured behind him, and Joseph's remaining restraint evaporated. He took a deep breath, feeling the familiar energy stir in his blood, and watched a small spark of orange light jump between his hand and the pigeon. It took to the air with a great ruffling of feathers, and Joseph casually turned his head a few degrees so he could watch it approach the Italian man out of the corner of his eye. He had planned to have it land on his ruffled blond hair, but he was beginning to doubt the man would even notice – he was probably too busy sucking that woman's face off –

Without pulling away from the kiss, the Italian man flipped a coin into the air. Joseph could just make out the crackle of orange energy across its surface in the sunlight before it struck the pigeon mid-flight. The bird straightened out and flapped off with a trill, released from its hamon spell, the coin landed neatly in the fountain behind him, and the man finally broke away from the kiss without so much as a glance toward Joseph.

Joseph was already on his feet, an indignant shout halfway to his lips. What the hell was going on? How could this random Italian playboy be using hamon?

"Ah, Caesar!"

Pigeons scattered as Speedwagon made his way toward them. Joseph's confusion turned to utter disbelief as he realized his eyes were on the Italian man.

"Signore Speedwagon," the man said with a nod, making an eyeroll-worthy show of kissing the woman's hand and murmuring something Joseph was thankful was in Italian before he stood.

"Excuse me," Joseph cut in loudly, "but what the hell is going on? This is the guy we've been waiting for?"

The man shot him an irritated glance, which he ignored as Speedwagon nodded. "Joseph Joestar, Caesar Zeppeli. Caesar Zeppeli, Joseph Joestar."