Capitolo Secondo: Ambizione (1)

The United States of America. The shining beacon of democracy in the New Continent, the rising star within the grand game of Great Powers clashing against each other to gain control of the largest slices of land all over the planet that they could conquer through subtle diplomacy and fierce militarism.

Imperialism, albeit wavering and flickering before the stress of its own weight, was still running strong within most of the world, but it would be a lie to say that the USA was that much endeared by the concept of colonizing territories beyond its current continent.

The nation wasn’t shy from imposing its institutions and its control over the natives, but the lands were ripe and meant to be exploited despite the immense waste of lives made for the sake of domination. It was kind of a pity that there was no moral qualm in going through ‘patriotic pushes’ to Manifest the American Destiny despite the horrible price the original locals were meant to pay.

Everyone still followed the logic and common sense of ‘Big Fish eats Little Fish’. It wasn’t a brilliant memory of the nation’s past considering how much it developed to the modern day, but it was still a touch better than what was happening in Africa.

So when I walked through the small bridge that connected the ship to the Port of Boston. Numerous individuals had already disembarked, and I took some time to enjoy the different air that was owned by the American city. After a couple of days spent on the sea, it was just proper to take in a safe arrival to the USA.

Speedwagon trailed behind, his mood slightly dampened by the fact he had been feeling bored of staying limited to the ship for that long. Not that he hated the trip across the pond, in fact I could tell that he was enjoying that we were on a big journey away from the paperwork. The fellow blond was still impatient, and his curiosity over what we were going to find at destination burning through his usually calm demeanor.

For a few hours, I found his descent into crankiness worthy of a chuckle or two, but soon that very attitude ended up souring my own interest in reading a couple of books during the trip. There was just something about being constantly moved by the waves that made keeping track of the lines within the pages quite difficult.

I wasn’t sea-sick, but ever since I had decided to heighten my senses through Hamon and my Stand, I was way too attentive of every single detail surrounding me. And that meant I could feel the sea despite being in a fairly distant cabin from the water. It was like I was trying to catch some rest, but then be stopped from doing so because of the ticking noise of a distant clock.

Endurance wasn’t something I lacked, but the moment I stepped onto the creaky wooden planks of the pier, I allowed myself a long relieved sigh.

“Isn’t this a fascinating place already, Robert?” I inquired. “Look at the buildings. The architectural style is truly different from home.”

The man sighed in minor tiredness. “I can see that, boss. But maybe we should free the space for others to pass through.”

I nodded, feeling a hint of embarrassment at having stopped right in front of the only way out of the ship. Once I had moved well away from obstructing people from passing, I resumed my efforts to start a conversation.

“I remember hearing that there was an infamous Fire back in 1872. Several workers were employed to make use of the building rubble as landfill. And the city has been expanding all thanks to that effort,” I pointed out, drawing a frown from Speedwagon.

“Wait, how does landfill fix the damage of a fire?” He asked with a confused tone.

“It doesn’t. While classic measures were implemented to repair the damage, the rubble that couldn’t be recovered was used to fill up a large tract of the marshlands near Charles River.”

The man nodded as he understood the explanation. We were soon moving, our luggage close to us as we reached for the administrative building at the end of the docks. The place was where we were to ‘check in’ and make sure that we were registered as traveling businessmen. Finding the proper clerk for this simple task proved to be quite time-wasting at first, mostly because there were many other individuals that were trying to go through our same process.

After almost an hour of waiting standing by the counters, we were allowed to speak with someone about our current situation. The old man that was assigned to our case was quick to pick our cards and give those a quick look. A frown appeared on his face, and his eyes narrowed right at me with a suspicious tone. Before he had the chance to accuse me of some silly antics, I decided to speak up and avoid any issues.

“My grandfather was Italian. The surname stuck around and… my mother wanted to give me a unique name,” I explained curtly. “I’ve lived in the Birmingham for most of my life, but I always tried to-”

“It’s enough… Mr. Divino. I don’t believe you need to yap more excuses,” The elder commented, turning to Robert. “Can you validate your version, Mr. Speedwagon?”

“I sure can. This young man has only minimal traits from his Italian lineage, mostly his nordic appearance.”

It was still unpleasant to be reminded that the USA was currently having trouble handling the large immigration wave coming from the Italian peninsula. Despite agreements having been respected on both sides, the sudden increase of non-English speakers in the country led to some drastic measures and… racism to be implemented.

I will have to see what cogs I can replace to fix this issue in the best way possible.

The reason that drove me to take in a fake identity stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t planning to challenge any local businessmen early on. If I had come here in the States as ‘Dio Joestar’, people would’ve quickly realized that I was no rookie, and thus I would’ve been forced to stay on a defensive stance to avoid any bad surprises in that regard.

The creation of ‘Damiano Divino’ was almost a joke that slapped any of these smart folks that couldn’t see the trickery behind that derisive name. In fact, I remember chuckling all-day long when I first came up with that name, imagining even then the priceless reactions I would’ve been blessed if I had played my cards accordingly.

Thirty minutes after being spared from any invasive controls, we were finally allowed to leave the building and… find where our current living quarters were located. Sure, I was the one that had personally overseen the purchase of the property that was meant to be our starting point, the place where the American branch of Made in Heaven was meant to be established.

It was going to be the trampoline for a greater expansion, and I knew better from wasting too many resources just yet on the continent without having gained something of a personal understanding of the current times’ state of things. I needed to see with my eyes, to judge from my experiences. I wasn’t going to throw money and pray to not screw myself over the chaotic state of the United States’ economy.

After a swift walk around the city, we managed to reach our destination. The mansion I had bought was located in Tremont Street, a major section that was quite close to the main administrative buildings. A few carriages were going around the streets, the drivers surprisingly enough keeping a more active but also careful pace compared to the one we were familiar with.

Something that got a quip from Speedwagon that this was the first sign of how ‘reckless the Yankees are’, and a quick snort out of me as we went through the process of entering our current home. Once I opened the main doors with the key sent over by the former owner of the place, I made sure to close the entrance properly before giving a proper look at the small garden on the side. All in all, the place looked particularly pleasant, and incredibly ample for just two men with minimal needs for space.

Yet, I knew that it was going to be a brilliant place where to set up the branch since the three floors were enough to keep the basic divisions and even more if I ended up adding more groups to the various branches.

Maybe a Fashion Department?

As I mused quietly about the matter, I saw Robert giving me an uneasy look, his eyes just sparing a quick glance around before setting back onto my frame.

“Dio, I… I have a question.”

I turned to Speedwagon with a curious look. “And that is?”

He sighed. “Where are our… rooms?”

Blinking, I started to resume the walking and take my time in admiring the beauty of this simple but humongous place. Still, I wasn’t going to ignore the man’s request since I had almost forgotten about the sleep bags resting just below his eyes, the sign that the guy really needed to get some rest after the long tiring journey we had just gone through.

My room was slightly bigger than Speedwagon’s, but despite the difference of space, the blond was more than happy to have something that ample to house him for the time being. After dropping his suitcases near the inviting bed, the drained man softly landed his whole body onto the mattress, groaning happily at the softness of the surface.

Feeling myself particularly interested by the chance of resting away from the waves, I made my way to my own room and almost copied Robert’s example the moment I dropped my own burden on the ground. But while the temptation was strong, I knew I just couldn’t get some sleep just yet.

There was still so much that needed to be done before I could be rewarded with some golden hours of silence. Starting with the letter I had to write back home to confirm our safe arrival to both Hannah and George, I took a pen, an ink pot, and some paper to start with the task at once. Twenty minutes went through that first assignment, and another forty went burned as I started to set out all the things I had within my luggage.

By the time I was done with both instances, it was time for lunch and… I felt particularly tired. While it wasn’t jet lag, I sure was feeling the difference in timezone, making me drowsy as I handled my butt through the kitchen in an effort to not scorch any of the eggs I was preparing. As I brought the result to the dining room, I was greeted by a happy and loud Speedwagon as the man had enjoyed that simple hour-long power nap to the fullest.

Another hour was burned in eating the meal I had made, and then I started to clean the plates with the help of the ‘more awake’ blonde. We were both messes in that circumstance, but I ultimately decided to pump some Hamon and solve most of my tiredness in that manner. I had long tried to not build too much of a dependence on the Ripple knowing that it wouldn’t have been that unexpected for me to get my lungs strained during a fight. And with those flaws used against me, I needed to have some safe backup to avoid utter defeat against my future opponents.

After Pucci had mentioned that someone else was after me, I knew that I needed to keep a sharp eye over anything that could resemble an unexpected threat now that I had dealt with anything from Phantom Blood.

I doubted Santana was going to be freed anytime soon, not when nobody actually had the means to find and access his resting ground. The Pillar Men threat was one that I had decided to deal with some smart thinking. Time was on my side, and without UV lights being at our disposal just yet, I had to invest as much as I could in equipment that was meant to destroy both the lone Pillar Man and the rest of his kin back in Rome.

Once the dishes were cleaned, I finally spared two hours to rest and think of what to do next now that we were there… and I found myself endeared by a single thought that was as silly as mostly harmless.

“Are you sure you want to go out on your own?” A concerned Robert asked. “If you want, I can come with you-”

“And leave this place without someone to keep watch?” I interrupted calmly. “I appreciate the worry, Robert. But I believe it would be dumb to leave our things unprotected, not when… thieves might attack.”

He slowly nodded. “And I know how to handle those if they decide to try to get in. Fair enough…

“Plus, I will be spending hours trying to get this letter sent. You saw how long that line was when we first came by,” I mentioned, quickly drawing a dreading look out of the man. “So it’s not much of a pleasure-only trip around the city. The boredom of wasting my life to wait on some lengthy line just dampens that look of things.”

“So you plan to check around more tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I replied, while in my mind I flatly refused that chance. I really wanted to explore now that I could, away from people keeping track of what I was doing. I needed some ‘fresh air’ and solitude.

Soon I changed to some warmer clothes, feeling the colder weather of the city taking me by surprise and brief irritation. I really thought the place would’ve been less cold than London, and yet I was surprised by how chilling some of the wind was in this area.

Once I was ready to go, I departed from the front door and started to make my way to the building assigned to International Mailing. With my eyes taking in as much as I could of Boston while walking to my destination, I started to hum quietly as I felt that things were less ‘formal’ than it had been back in London. Something about the American city just struck me as freer, and less limiting in terms of rules compared to the British capital.

But as I happily made a trip through the lively streets, a chase was currently happening… one where the ones being chased were unconsciously approaching my path. The heavens beckon…

------------d-d-d-d-------------d-d-d-d------------d-d-d-d-------------

If there was one thing that I couldn’t help but despise a lot was when my plans were ruined by something completely unexpected, terribly confusing, and incredibly complicated.

I was enjoying a simple walk around Boston, looking at the people, listening to their accents, taking notes of their plights. I was making sure to do as much as I could to grow accustomed to the unfamiliar place, giddily appreciating the unusual sense of livelihood that was different from anything I had the chance of learning from.

It was a normal journey to the international postal office that was meant to be as uneventful as bland considering the long line that was surely going to be there waiting to make my life miserable for a couple of dreadful hours. I was so prepared to feel the nuisances of bureaucracy to remind me why I loved to delegate troublesome tasks to other people whenever it was possible. But as if I had prayed for something exciting to happen, I was regaled with quite the unplanned escalation when I found myself bumped on by a boy rushing towards me without looking.

The kid yelped, surprise flashing from his voice as he fell on the ground butt-first. The impact did nothing to my posture, merely getting a curious look out of me as I was more than prepared to lecture the child about running around without paying attention where he was looking. But I found my attempt foiled when three individuals, all wearing dark clothes and some white shirts came running towards us.

“End of the line there, little brat,” The ringleader spoke, glaring as the boy stood up and tried to use myself as a shield from his attackers by hiding behind me. He barely reached the middle of my back. “Just give up the noisy pet, and things will be fine for ya.”

“N-No,” The kid muttered, his blue eyes shining strongly through the few curly bangs that fell onto his face.

Giving him a proper look, I noticed two curious things that got me even more interested in the matter. First, the boy… he was familiar. There was something about him that just screamed to the possibility I had seen him before somewhere… but that wouldn’t make any sense since I had never been in the States until now and no character like him should’ve been alive at the time of Part 2 or 3.

Then, I gave a look at the ‘pet’ that was mentioned by the thugs, my eyes widening as I saw the shivering white-furred thing shivering madly as it had numerous cuts across its body. While I wasn’t sure what was exactly going on with that situation, I had a good reason to believe the injuries were inflicted by the ‘owner’ of such a creature.

“Look pal, can you move away and allow us to-”

“I believe I will not move,” I stated tensely. “In fact, I suggest you three leave the premises at once, or else I will find myself interested in intervening in this dreadful predicament. A trio of adults hunting down a child.”

The guy on the left scoffed. “The little shit stole from us. We have all the rights to-”

“I can see the animal was abused. You’ve ten seconds to follow my merciful offer or not.”

… “Hahahaha,” The leader of the small squad laughed a little bit. “You truly have a pair but no brain to understand that this isn’t a situation you can live through if we decide to put you out of this world, friend.”

He emphasized this by showing the revolver holstered by his pants, with his colleagues soon following his example in an effort to deter me from actually helping the boy. Sadly for them, the revelation of their guns was going to be their downfalls as I allowed a smile to creep out on my face.

“What a terrible display! And I thought I was going to live today… a pity that morals long beat the sense of steel. A shame, a saddening one to that.”

…

“A-Are you mocking us?” The goon on the right inquired, quickly realizing how stupid it was and speaking up again. “You’re mocking us.”

I sighed. “I will not make this discussion ever again. Leave now, or be subjected to… my mercy.”

I allowed some of my personal Killing Intent to exude from my body, having the silent pressure exerted by my staring get a shiver from the trio of morons. They shared a look, surprised by my response, and the sudden change of temperature around us.

“Y-You think you can just strut around against us?! W-We are professional killers employed under the powerful Senator Edward Phillips. We don’t take shit from nobody, you hear!”

...Phillips?

I shook my head at the irony, almost letting out a chuckle at how hilarious the situation was turning in mere moments. At first I just thought it was a silly situation created by luck… yet now I knew it was fate that had deemed it right to ‘settle some score’.

I wonder if Wilson was his son or grandson…

“Once again, I don’t care. You either leave, or stay to pay the consequences,” I remarked seriously. “I will not ask again.”

“Y-You… YOU!” The leader pulled his handgun out of his holster and… froze as he realized that something was wrong with his weapon. The small barrel was… tilted to the side, literally rendering the gun completely worthless.

His colleagues tried to reach for their own revolvers, but just like their leader’s, the barrels were twisted in an odd direction. Jaws dropping at the scene, they gave me a confused and panicked look as I smiled through that absurd scene. With them being in range, it was easy for my Stand to quietly move around them and break down their toys without them noticing.

“I guess my luck struck again. Apologies, gentlemen, but I now have a good reason to put you out of commission at once.”

I took the first step forward, breaking the freeze up that had their leader paralyzed on the spot. Eyes narrowing at me, the man bolted towards me, holding his gun upward in preparation to bash my head with it. His panicked determination died the moment he felt his throat exploding in pain as I slammed a punch onto his neck. I restrained my strength a little bit, rather unwilling to enjoy some brutality with a kid nearby.

The attack was still devastating, enough to make the man lose consciousness at the suddenness and intensity of the strike. A loud thud echoed around, getting the rest of the thugs to freeze up again and stare in dread at what happened to their chief. Terrified by my swiftness, they backed away for a moment as I took another step towards them.

“I will allow you one single offer. One that if you refuse I shall never present to you beyond now,” I commented sternly. “Pick your boss, forget about the kid and get out of my sight, you polluting trash.”

I was more than loud and clear as they scampered to retrieve their unconscious leader, sparing wary looks at me as I merely stared at the scene in utter silence. It wasn’t the first time I handled this kind of idiots, and I knew it wasn’t going to be the last by the looks of it. They didn’t linger for long, saying nothing as they left the area and ran back to their headquarters. And I knew that was going to get some reaction from the gangs if I knew how unstable things were with these criminals.

Once the place was cleared, I allowed a nod to myself at the flawless resolution, with my attention now capable of fully addressing the reason behind that little ‘lesson’. The boy looked uneasy as my sight was now upon him, his arms carefully tightening around the curious animal, showing how unwilling he was about parting ways with it.

“I will not harm you and your little friend. I don’t believe children should be drawn into that much of a fight,” I started to say with a nod. “Still, I find myself in a position to ask who you are, young man.”

…

His blue-eyed stare moved away, and I could tell that the kid wasn’t going to be an easy conversationalist with how difficult it was to have him open up to me. Holding back a grimace, I sighed and tried to keep my nerves calm while I handled this aftermath the best way I could.

“I don’t wish to push you into doing something you don’t want, but I can help your little friend if I know who I’m talking to,” I offered, taking note of the boy’s affection for the pet and exploiting it to get somewhere in that discussion. “And I don’t think I’ve given any reasons to distrust me, in fact I was the one that dealt with your harassers.”

…

He nodded, looking up at me with a nervous look.

“My name… is Bloody.”

I frowned at the response, my mind feeling somewhat closer to the truth despite how strange of a name to give to a child.

“Your name is ‘Bloody’.

“My name… is Bloody Valentine,” The child spoke up a little louder. “P-Please, save him.”

Now I knew what I was currently talking too. While the first conclusion would be that this was this timeline ‘Funny Valentine’, I knew that statement would be incorrect. Without entering in contact with the Saint’s Corpse, Funny would’ve never achieved an extended life, leaving him an old man that could only prolong his dynasty.

Bloody Valentine wasn’t the Stand User of D4C, he was… a descendant of that amoral patriot. Someone that by all mean was supposed to have a name akin to his ancestor. Like Funnier and The Funniest had in the Jorge Joestar timeline. I couldn’t still tell if he was a Stand User… and part of me wanted him to not be one considering how powerful the Stand Users from the Valentine family were.

Still, my musings couldn’t be given much priority as I had a promise to keep now that Bloody had decided to keep up with his part of the bargain. Carefully reaching for the trembling animal, I allowed my right hand to carefully grasp over its back before starting to get the Hamon going. The natural energy slowly but steadily flowed inside the creature, stopping the bleeding and increasing the pace it was healing from its wounds.

The process wasn’t that complicated. Muddiburi had seen it fit to give me the proper steps to learn how to heal others beside myself. I could make use of this skill, but it was incredibly weaker than the one displayed a long time ago by the Tibetan Monk. Despite that, the Ripple technique still worked perfectly with what I wanted and, in the matter of a couple of minutes, the furred creature was freed from its suffering.

Looking relieved by the sight, Bloody decided to lessen the hold he had over the animal and… I was given a proper look at that odd ‘pet’. With a fluffy tail that matched the same shade of white as the rest of the body, which appeared to be made of a soft ‘cloud-like’ texture, the only major differences that I could tell from a proper look was that its long ears had some dark-black tips, for its eyes to look like a pair of rubies and… for an amethyst like gem that was embedded in its forehead.

Its appearance didn’t strike me as familiar, and as the animal seemed to happily recover from the previous ordeal, it turned its head towards me and… gave me a friendly nod.

“Thank you.”

“You’re we… wait what?” My jaws dropped as I tried to make sense of what I had just heard the vulpine creature speak. No, it wasn’t a voice that I heard with my ears… it was-

“You spoke in my head? You can talk telepathically?” I questioned quickly, marveled by this discovery and the animal nodded again.

“That is indeed correct. Apologies for the surprise,” He said with a truthful tone. “My name is Zephy, and I wish to… ask you for your help.”

“You’re fully healed,” I said bluntly, my brain still failing to grasp the unusual situation. Sure, I had to face vampires, zombies, werewolves and a priest with numerous regrets and no means to make things right. But animals that can talk to my mind were a novelty for sure. Not a big one but still something to be surprised by.

“This is not about me. Not anymore, that is,” Zephy replied with a serious voice. “My owner… she is currently a prisoner to the ones that tried to harm young Bloody.”

“This Senator Phillips?” I questioned, drawing a nod from the boy.

“He… he is trying to do something with Zephy’s friend,” Bloody explained. “She was nice and helped me escape but… but I got her captured.”

“It wasn’t your fault, child. The blunder wasn’t one you could’ve predicted or acted against with what you currently have.”

“I will side with Zephy on this. You shouldn’t blame yourself for what you couldn’t have prevented in any case,” I commented with a nod. “I believe it would be best if we returned back to my house. I think the thugs are going to come back, this time with reinforcements.”

“O-Okay,” The child said with a nod. “But… you didn’t tell us your name.”

I hummed, feeling rather curious in how I was supposed to answer to that point. In the end, I decided to play it safe for myself. A simple introduction was in order, and I did so while smiling at the curious boy.

“My name is Dio Joestar. And I’m a businessman.”

And with that, the stars aligned for an adventure beyond expectations. One that will see new friends, new resolutions, and another step towards the Heavens!