Arrangements in the JOJO World

After completing his deal with Gabriel, Shin left her room and returned to his own through the network connection.

Before he departed, Gabriel had tried to pry out what conditions would allow her to gain a Stand ability. However, Shin teasingly replied, "When the time comes, I will help you awaken it naturally."

Watching Gabriel's expression turn sour, Shin couldn't help but feel amused. No wonder many enjoy being enigmatic—seeing someone confused yet powerless against you is immensely satisfying.

Back in his room, Shin resumed his online gaming session.

Gabriel's newly enhanced equipment drew the attention of many players in the game. They were shocked at how her gear had suddenly been upgraded so drastically.

"Did the Zuke help you level up?" someone speculated.

This was a natural association since Shin's character had also gone through a sudden upgrade a few days prior, trading his average equipment for a full set of advanced, fortified gear.

Of course, Gabriel adamantly denied it—there was no way she would admit to meeting Shin offline.

For one, Shin was her closest friend in the game, and while she was willing to meet him in person, she wasn't ready to extend that level of trust to others.

For another, she was worried that someone might try to "poach" her generous benefactor. Judging from Shin's carefree spending on her gear upgrades, he clearly wasn't strapped for cash.

If everyone got their hands on similarly powerful equipment, her gear wouldn't be special anymore. She couldn't allow that!

[Transitioning to Zuke}

Later that night, Zuke ended his gaming session and lay in bed with Sayu Ogiwara, who had already returned home.

Having helped Irisviel earlier in the day, Zuke felt remarkably calm and didn't feel the need to do anything with Sayo.

Sayu quickly fell asleep, and Zuke, after organizing his thoughts, also soon drifted into his dreams.

The familiar mission selection interface appeared before him.

Respected Zuke, please select the mission world you wish to enter:

Dragon Ball (time unadjusted);JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (time flow at 0.5x speed);TYPE-MOON (main quest under generation).]

[Respected Zuke, you have 2 gameplay attempts remaining today.]

The main quest for the TYPE-MOON world was still in the works, and it was unclear how long it would take. It was definitely not something that could be completed in just a day or two.

Even JoJo's linear storyline required several days to generate a new main quest. A world as vast and interconnected as TYPE-MOON, encompassing multiple works and parallel universes, would naturally take longer.

"Since sending Koichi Hirose to the airport yesterday, a day has passed. With the 0.5x time flow, around 12 hours should have elapsed there," Zuke calculated as he chose to enter the JoJo world.

By his estimate, Koichi Hirose should be close to arriving in Italy.

Moments later, Zuke found himself at the airport near Morioh—the exact spot where he had left the JoJo world the previous day after seeing off Koichi.

Closing his eyes, Zuke focused on locating the position of his Stand, "Blackbird Lover," which he had left behind in this world.

Sure enough, he quickly sensed his Stand far away, seemingly moving through the sky. This confirmed that Koichi was still on the plane, likely about an hour away from landing in Italy.

"Waiting a little longer is fine; some margin of error is normal," Zuke thought, sitting down on a bench near the airport. While waiting for Koichi to land, he began to plan his next moves.

The purpose of this visit to the JoJo world was to set up a coordinate marker near the Part 5 protagonist, Giorno Giovanna, for future operations.

Although the storyline of JoJo Part 5 appears long, most of its events are compressed into just nine days.

Giorno Giovanna would soon meet Koichi Hirose and Bruno Bucciarati, who would introduce him to the Italian mafia organization, Passione.

After passing the organization's initiation test, Giorno and his teammates would be assigned a mission: escorting the boss of Passione, Diavolo's daughter.

Zuke had no intention of interfering with events up to this point.

It was only when Giorno and Bucciarati received the mission to escort the boss's daughter that Zuke could precisely identify his target—Diavolo's location.

To ensure the safety of his daughter, Diavolo would wait for the protagonist team on San Giorgio Maggiore, a small island in Venice featuring a church and a bell tower.

In the original story, Diavolo hid in the bell tower, where Bucciarati confronted him. The battle ended with Diavolo emerging victorious, as his Stand, "King Crimson," effortlessly pierced Bucciarati's body, leaving him a walking corpse in subsequent events.

This moment in the original story marked the first time Diavolo's location was revealed.

To ensure that Diavolo would head to the bell tower, Zuke had to let the "escort the boss's daughter" mission proceed without interference. Otherwise, Diavolo's whereabouts would remain a mystery—Zuke couldn't exactly blow up all of Italy to find him.

Once Giorno and Bucciarati became captains and received the escort mission, Zuke would spring into action.

He planned to storm San Giorgio Maggiore, drag Diavolo out of the bell tower, and eliminate him, thus completing the main quest.

To guarantee Diavolo's movements, Zuke resolved not to disrupt the early storyline. He might even lend some assistance to the protagonist team to ensure they smoothly received the escort mission.

Of course, any help he offered wouldn't come free. Once Diavolo's location was confirmed, Zuke intended to extract a "fee" from the protagonist team's Stands.

Given the impressive abilities of many of the team's Stands, Zuke wouldn't let the opportunity slip by.

After all, Giorno's Stand, "Gold Experience," could heal injuries, so even if Zuke absorbed parts of their Stands, they should recover without any issue.

To be continued…

I mistakenly forgot to post this chapter, my apologies.