Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. All rights belong to their respective owners.

Warning: Spoilers for Vento Aureo, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Purple Haze Feedback

Chapter One - A Robot in Italy Part 1

Venice, Italy

Two figures stood opposing each other on the Ponte della Liberta, and neither of them was human.

One was a girl in a light-colored Japanese high school outfit, covered in cuts and stained dark by the oil that poured from her wounds like blood. Her alloy-composed body was wracked with pain, though despite this her metal fingers were wrapped tight around the handle of a massive double-sided battleaxe, its blade dug into the ground besides her.

The other was a boy in the twilight of his teens. His features were muddied in darkness despite standing near a street light, his left eye covered by a purple eye patch decorated with a grinning skull. His hairstyle was unique to say the least, consisting of blonde cornrows shaped like lengths of chain. His attire consisted of a red hoodie with light grey sleeves, with the words "LOVE" and "PEACE" lining each sleeve respectively.

Unlike the girl, he appeared to be made of flesh and blood, looked more human than she did. But she knew better than to be deceived by his appearance, as evidenced by the message scrolling across her piercing crimson eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED HOSTILE ORGANISM DETECTED…

...EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION

"Tch," The girl sucked on her teeth. She wished her sensors had displayed the phrase "ELIMINATE ENEMY SHADOW" like she was used to. Shadows, monsters birthed from humanity's collective mind, were things she could at least understand. She had been created solely to hunt down Shadows after all, which was very very unfortunate that her current opponent wasn't one, at least not of the normal variety.

"You're name was Labrys right?" The boy calmly whispered. He opened his palm towards her. "I believe you have something that belongs to me. I'd like it back please."

As calm the boy was, as soft and honeyed his voice was, Fifth Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Labrys could sense his overwhelming murderous intent leaking into the air, causing the atmosphere to rumble with menacing tension.

ゴゴゴ...ゴゴゴ...ゴゴゴ...ゴゴゴ...ゴゴゴ...

Escape wasn't an option. The second she turned her back, she knew the creature was going to tear her apart without a second thought. She had only one option and that was to fight.

She yanked her axe from the ground and brandished it in front of her with bold hands on the handle. Her legs were wobbly, her hands shaky, but her red eyes burned with determination.

The boy flinched upon meeting the gynoid's intense stare. He then sighed and proceeded to pop his neck twice like a fighter about to enter the ring.

"Guess it can't be helped. We're 'natural enemies' after all."

He removed his eye patch, exposing his left eye. An eye that could not have belonged to any human.

It was the same shape and size as his other, far more normal eye, but was completely gold throughout and lacked anything in the way of discernible irises or pupils. Instead, its glossy surface was covered in an array of vertical lines.

The moment the eye began to glow, the air began to rumble with more tension than before.

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ

A single phrase escaped the boy's lips.

"「Don't Fear」the Reaper."

Veins of pure darkness erupted outward from the boy's monstrous eye, enveloping his entire being within a fraction of a second. The cocoon of shadow vanished just as quickly as it had formed, disintegrating away to reveal the humanoid abomination that now stood in the boy's place.

It was roughly six feet tall with a semi-muscular build, its attire consisting of a long trench coat with tattered ends, its grey hands casually tucked into its pockets. It had only one visible feature on its shadow obscured face, which was a single glowing left eye. The same kind of vertically-striped eye that the boy had.

Labrys tensed, her grip on her axe tightening out of reflex. A sense of dread crept down her artificial spine as the familiar sound reached her auditory sensors. A dread-inducing rattling that came from the chains criss-crossing around the creature's torso like belts, shaking with the slightest movement.

The creature moved its left hand out of its pocket, something glinting around it as the light of the streetlights struck it.

At first, Labrys thought it had pulled out a weapon, a gun of sorts. Upon closer inspection, she realized it wasn't holding anything at all, merely pointing a finger at her. Her initial observation wasn't entirely off, for its finger was a gun, its tip shaped like the slender barrel of a old west revolver. In fact, she noticed that all of its fingertips ended in gun barrels, with its thumb resembling a blunt-nosed derringer.

The gynoid thought it was going to attack with its gun-fingers, only to see it reached into the folds of its coat to pull out a sausage-shaped object.

A mouth formed on the surface of its face, revealing it to be lined with pearly white teeth like the boy's once it opened them to put the object inside it. It tapped the end of the object with its thumb, igniting it with a miniature burst of heat.

When it took the object out of its mouth and it blew a ring of smoke out of its newly formed lips, Labrys realized it was a cigar.

"You know, back when I was a regular 「Shadow」, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the aroma of a genuine Toscano cigar," The creature said. Its voice contrasted heavily with the boy's, having a commanding yet soothing baritone to it, like that of a Jazz singer's.

It turned to Labrys, its eye narrowing.

"It helps keep my mind off things...like the rather ugly act of violence I'm about to commit in this beautiful place."

Its lips curled into a wide, bemused grin.

"You're shaking Anti-Shadow Suppression Unit. What a very human gesture for a machine."

Labrys clenched her teeth.

Had she the option, she would've called forth her Persona, a physical manifestation of her psyche. She was far past the point where she could call it forth, her strength down to the point where it was even a struggle to stand with her weapon in hand.

But she wasn't entirely out of tricks just yet.

"Screw you!" Labrys roared, her accent shining through her words.

With axe in hand, she launched a forearm outward like a rocket, extending along a length of chain. The thrusters housed in the sides of the axe's blade activated, amplifying the momentum of her swing tenfold.

The blade ripped through the air, creating a sonic clap like the cracking of a whip as it broke the sound barrier. Labrys could already picture the outcome in her mind. The axe would cleave through the creature's head, cutting it down like so many monsters before it.

Only that didn't happen. Instead, the axe flew completely over its mark, leaving the creature without a scratch.

Labrys's eyes widened. She recoiled her arm and brought the axe around, only for it to miss again. And again.

Her swings increased in ferocity and speed until the arc of her swings turned into twisting blurs around the creature, but the axe only managed to hit emptiness each time. The bastard wasn't even putting up an effort to dodge, merely nudging its weight slightly one way or another or lightly shifting its feet. It was as if her axe was purposefully avoiding its intended target.

What the hell is this? Why can't I hit him?!

"Please…" The creature flicked away its cigar, sliced into ashy ribbons as it entered Labrys's relentless barrage around it. Its hand, now freed, lashed out with blinding speed to successfully snatch Labrys's wrist mid-swing, abruptly putting a stop to her attacks. It squeezed, causing the gynoid to wince in pain, forcing the axe out of her hand. The unwieldy weapon fell, its blade biting into the concrete of the iconic bridge.

"Haven't you noticed?" The creature said with contempt. "You were already under the influence of my「ability」long before you took the first swing."

Labrys looked at her arm, finally taking notice of the markings that she could've sworn weren't there before. Markings that resembled shadows in the shape of chains, snaking around her red forearm gauntlets like serpents.

She turned her attention to her own body and saw that the shadowy chains had spread beyond just her arm. Her entire body had been ensnared, to the point where the chains covered even her clothes.

However, they weren't the most alarming thing she noticed by far.

W-what...what the hell?

Sprouting out of her chest and clipping through her clothes like a hologram was a black box layered on top of a differently shaped red box, its surface displaying a series of letters that alternated between white and black.

LU/PRECISION

Next to the words was a red number shown in a circle.

-50%

The creature released its hold on Labrys's forearm, causing it forcibly to retract and snap back into place with the rest of the gynoid's arm. She barely had time to recover from the sudden recoil before the creature vanished into a blur, coming upon her in an instant. It grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up off her feet before her computer brain could so much as process where it was.

As a machine, she didn't breathe, couldn't be strangled or suffocated. But as she felt her throat being steadily crushed by the vice-like grip of her opponent, she could not help but let out a painful, choking gasp.

"I'm done playing games, Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon."

The creature's eye had changed, its lines gone. A tiny, cross-shaped pupil sat at the center of the eye, encircled by a targeting retina like those found inside the scope of a sniper rifle. Small veins could be seen around the eye's edges. It snarled, exposing its sharpened incisors, its breath rancid with smoke.

"I won't ask again," The cross-hair in the creature's eye rotated, with Labrys's reflection seen within it. "Where is the「Arrow of Miracles」? "

Labrys looked up at the creature. She spat a wad of oil right at its face.

The creature snarled viciously and jerked its head away.

"As if I'd ever tell!" Labrys yelled.

The creature looked back at the gynoid, its eyes widened in rage, now covered in more veins. A dark splotch could be seen dripping just around the corner of its eye where her spit had landed.

"That 「Arrow」of yours…" Labrys continued. She trembled as she spoke, her features darkening. "It turns normal 「Shadows」 into more 「stripe-eyed monsters」like you!"

The Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon felt a trembling in her heart, no longer from fear but from a newfound resolve. A resolve to protect all of her beloved friends and the world she made an unbreakable vow to protect.

Even if it meant her life.

"If I ever told you where it was...I wouldn't be able ta live with myself! So ya can forget tryin' to get anythin' out of me, ya one eyed chain-wearin' freak! Because no matter how hard ya beat me...no matter how much ya torture me...I won't tell ya a damn thing!"

The creature pursed its lips. Its eye returned to its normal striped form as its expression relaxed. It sniffed the air like a dog would despite a clear lack of a nose.

"The「Arrow」...its hidden inside your heart, isn't it?"

Labrys froze. She could feel a twist of horror in the pit of where her stomach would have been, if she had a stomach. "H-How...how did you-"

"I couldn't notice it from afar," The creature interjected. "The scent of the「Plume of Dusk」fragment that serves as your heart did a good job of masking the scent of the 「Arrow」, but from this close, I could practically feel its kindred energy resonating with the essence of my body...with my very soul."

The creature smirked. "That was pretty clever, masking the presence of the 「Arrow」 with an artifact of「equal power」..."

The box in Labrys's chest retracted out of existence, instantaneously replaced by another one. One that said "EN/DURABILITY", with a number that quickly went from 0% to -50%, turning from white to an alarming red.

"Wha-"

The creature pressed its index finger against Labrys's stomach.

"I admire your tenacity...I really do. But you're a fool if you think you can halt the 「inevitable」, Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon."

A large bang ripped through the air, accompanied by a bright flash that filled the gynoid's vision. After that, the whole world around her dissolved into an endless black.

The Next Day...

Venice, Italy. A place of beauty and culture. Listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site, the City of Canals has a long standing reputation as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, attracting approximately twenty million visitors from various corners of the globe each year.

But no matter how iconic or scenic a place is, there was always ugliness hiding just beneath its surface.

Ugliness, like a man being beaten nearly to death behind one of the city's more obscure alleyways, tucked away from the prying eyes of tourists.

"You learned your lesson yet, asshole?" The man doing the beating said. A series of three blonde bangs hung down the front of his face, his lime green suit covered in holes that exposed the black dress shirt he wore underneath. The tie around his neck was black and lined with strawberries.

His name was Pannacotta Fugo, feared capo of the powerful Passione syndicate.

And the man he was beating had the unfortunate circumstance of being caught dealing cocaine on Passione territory.

"P-please…" The man whispered. He didn't get to finish before Fugo kneed him in the nose. He fell to the ground, blood spurting from his now broken nostrils. The gangster reached down and yanked him on his feet by the collar of his gaudy, stained disco suit that looked like it was a relic from the age of Disco, slamming him against the graffiti-covered wall.

"Huh? What?" Fugo cupped his ear. "Please beat you some more? Sure, that can be arranged, considering you just peddled drugs on our turf."

He cracked his knuckles, his eyes narrowing on the cowering drug dealer. "You must have a death wish pal."

He cocked his fist. The drug dealer winced and looked away with his head tucked between his elbows, waiting for the blow.

A blow that never came.

"But...my knuckles are getting tired from beating you senseless," Fugo rubbed his hands. "So I'll make a deal with you."

The drug dealer slowly looked up at Fugo with equal parts fear and confusion in his eyes.

Fugo bent down on his knees and placed gentle palm on his shoulder. He flashed the drug dealer a warm smile. "You tell me the identity of your suppliers, and I won't beat you anymore."

The drug dealer swallowed. "What...what are you going to do to them?"

Fugo stroked his chin, pretending to ponder a thought. "Well, I was thinking of hanging their corpses up on some power cables, kinda like what happened to the victims in those strange murders that happened in Japan a few years back. Or I could just chop them up into little pieces and feed em' to the sharks in the Tyrrhenian Sea. There's many options to pick from."

The capo took notice of the drug dealer's fearful reaction.

"Look, it's either you or them," Fugo pressed his thumb hard against the drug dealer's greasy forehead, causing the latter to whimper. "You should consider the fact that I'm even giving you a choice in this matter to be a luxury, considering there's nothing stopping me from chopping you into shark food. Capisce?"

The drug dealer was quick to change his tone.

"They're the Miranze gang!" The he blurted out without a moment's hesitation. "They're headquartered in Rome but have bases in all of central Italy!"

"The Miranze gang?" Fugo raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about? The Miranze gang is long gone."

He also happened to know the girl who took them all down, a secret that not a lot of peeps in the underworld knew about outside of Passione's inner circle.

"You better not be lying to me, asshole."

"It's the truth! Only the Miranze gang core membership was taken out! But word on the street is that only resulted in a power vacuum which allowed a few surviving low-ranking survivors to pick up the pieces and rebuild the gang! And those guys are the ones giving me my supply!"

"Huh...I see," Fugo tapped his cheek. "Names?"

"I...I don't know anyone. They just deliver my drugs in secret, but none of them would let slip

Fugo's smile vanished. "Not even one name?"

The capo squeezed the drug dealer's shoulder hard enough to cause him to howl.

"Wait wait wait! Alright! There's one guy I always meet! He acts as the liaison between me and the gang!" The drug dealer paused to catch his breath. "His name is Crudo Gamberetto! He's one of their enforcers! You want to find out about the rest of the gang, he's the man to look for! He lives in Rome like the rest of em'!"

Fugo grinned. "See? Was that so hard?"

The capo slammed his fist into the drug dealer's already mangled face with enough force to send him flying into the hall. He hit the wall with a shout, then rolled to the ground face down. He didn't get up after that.

Fugo stood up nonchalantly. He fixed his tie and withdrew coolly, leaving the drug dealer bleeding and unconscious in the alleyway without so much as a glance back.

He stopped as he felt his phone vibrate against his pants. Fugo pulled it out of his pocket and saw it was a number from the third most powerful man in all of Passione and the gang's number one sharp shooter. A man by the name of Guido Mista, who Fugo might've considered an equal twelve years ago when they were both operatives working under the same capo.

"Hey Mista, I was just about to call you," Fugo whispered. "I found out the identities of the ones behind the drug deals."

"Oh? Surprise me," Guido Mista responded.

"It's the Miranze gang."

There was a noticeable pause on the other line.

"Are you friggin' serious? I thought Shiela E. toasted those guys."

"Apparently, she missed a spot. Some of the gang's smallfry survived and managed to revive it on their own."

"Damn...that actually did surprise me," Mista cursed. "Anything else?"

"I have a name. Crudo Gamberetto. He's an enforcer and the in-between for the gang and our drug dealer friend. They're also stationed in Rome just like before. Idiots didn't even bother changing their base of operations."

Fugo's face became stern. "If you want Mista, I can take care of them all with my「Purple Haze」."

"No. Don't bother. Anyone can assassinate a bunch of two-bit crooks. Come back to the safe house in Venice instead Fugo. We have another mission for you."

"Huh?" Fugo replied. "A new mission?"

"Yes. Its coming straight from Polnareff himself. And he's personally requested your presence there. And before you ask, I don't know diddly squat what the mission is. I'm just relayin' the message."

That was something Fugo wasn't expecting. He was used to being given assignments by Mista, who, despite being number three in the gang, barely changed from when they were still in the same team together back as operatives, including his continuing paranoia over the number four.

Polnareff was not only the organization's number two man, outranking even Mista, but he also happened to be the trusted concierge of Giorno Giovanna, Passione's current boss. Furthermore, he was the one left in charge of running the gang after Giorno had to leave the country to attend to "urgent family business" that he still has yet to return from, all stemming from his battle with a fanatical priest in Florida a few years back. An assignment coming from someone with that much influence must have been extremely important.

Which made Fugo ponder what the assignment could be and slightly nervous on why it was falling to him.

"I'll be there in five."

Fugo hanged up, hoping that his assignment wasn't going involve taking down enemy Stand-users, people like him who could summon Stands, manifestations of one's raw fighting spirit and soul.

He knew that was wishful thinking.

The safe house was fancier than the houses around it, more like a mansion. Then again, practically all of Passione's safe houses would have made pretty decent homes. The many perks of being the most affluent syndicate in all of the Italian peninsula.

The moment Fugo arrived by water taxi, he was ferried into a fancy dining room by a huge bodyguard wearing sunglasses and a suit.

"This way, Mr. Fugo," The guard said, holding the door open for him. "Mr. Polnareff is already inside."

Fugo stepped through.

Immediately, his eyes fell upon a young woman standing at the very end of a mahogany dining table. Her hair was black, though her three long braids were blonde. Her left eye was surrounded by an eight-pointed scar. She wore a midriff-exposing colorful outfit, more fit for a belly dancer than the lethal Mafia bodyguard that she was.

She barely acknowledged Fugo as he entered, standing with her hands crossed behind her back in a disciplined manner. Like a soldier at boot camp.

"Hi, Shiela E. Long time no see."

Shiela E. looked at Fugo. He expected her expression to remain deadpan, until he saw her lips turned into a half-smile. "Likewise Fugo."

Fugo scratched the back of his head and looked around. There was no one else in the room besides her.

"So...I heard Mr. Polnareff wanted to see me…"

A disembodied voice with a French accent rang out through the room. "Who is that, Sheila E.?"

"It's Pannacotta Fugo sir," Sheila E. answered curtly. "He's here."

"Oh! Gimme a moment…"

Fugo caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked down and saw a tiny form crawl out from beneath one of the chairs on stubby, scaly legs.

It was a turtle, its beak clamped around a piece of lettuce plucked from a feeding bowl placed beside it beneath the table. On top of its shell was a red gemstone inlaid into a key embedded into the shell's surface.

The turtle itself was considered to have more influence in the gang than Fugo himself, or any other capo for that matter. After all, it was Coco Jumbo, the vessel to Polnareff's spirit. And like everyone else in the room, the turtle was a Stand-user.

"You'll have to excuse Coco Jumbo. He didn't have his lunch yet..."

A wispy shape began to come out of the gem. It rose higher and higher until it was eye-level with Fugo, then coagulated into the recognizable shape of a tiny, well-built man with an eyepatch and a very tall, silver flat-top.

Fugo immediately bowed out of respect in the presence of Jean Pierre Polnareff.

"You don't have to do that every time you see me, you know," Polnareff chuckled.

"I have to," Fugo replied. "It's gang etiquette."

"Etiquette-schmetiquette. I ain't exactly a gangster like you guys, remember? No need to be so formal."

That was true. It was hard to remember that Polnareff was actually an outsider to the underworld given his rank. Back when he was alive, he was actually on the side of the law, tracking down the man behind the drug trade enveloping Europe at the time, which happened to be the original founder and late ex-boss of Passione. It was only through fate and circumstance that Polnareff ended up siding with Giorno in the final battle against Passione's prior leader. Had things gone differently, he could've been the man to take the organization down instead of helping its reform and becoming one of its greatest resources in the process.

It was rare for an outsider like Polnareff to become concierge, but Fugo could see why Giorno chose him. He had been a Stand-user back when he was a living human, and had years of experience dealing with supernatural opponents, making him at home in the gang's ranks. Then there was his connections with the powerful Speedwagon Foundation, a global research organization with a secret branch that dealt exclusively in the unnatural and bizarre. It never hurt to have too many allies outside of the underworld after all.

"You had a mission for me, Mr. Polnareff?"

Polnareff's usually jovial expression became replaced with a serious one. He floated over to a nearby window, the lower half of his body forming a gaseous tail connected to the gem like a lifeline, giving him the appearance of a genie coming out of his lamp. He looked out into the city of Venice, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"Just a day ago, a「man」 came to us holding a girl in his arms. When we asked him where he found her, he claimed she was floating around the edge of the Ponte della Liberta."

"A girl? Floating in the Ponte della Liberta?" Fugo raised an eyebrow. "Is she still alive?"

"She's recuperating in a hospital not too far from here, inside a secret, secure room reserved only for Passione."

The spirit turned to Fugo. "But the girl wasn't the only he brought with him."

The Frenchman nodded to Shiela E., who reached into her pockets and held up a sparkling object. She flicked it at Fugo before he could get a better look at it, catching it with his fingertips.

"A ladybug brooch?" Fugo said, turning the object in his hand. For outsiders, it was a simple decorative button designed in the shape of the iconic red and black insect. For Passione members, it held far more significance.

"I don't need to tell you what that is, right Fugo?" Polnareff said.

"It's Giorno's「personal badge」, given to those whom he owes a favor too," Fugo flipped the button like a coin and caught it, throwing it back to Shiela E., who caught it with remarkable precision and promptly pocketed it.

"Correct," Polnareff replied. "The man preferred to keep his identity a secret, but regardless of who he is, we've verified that ladybug brooch to be the genuine article. And since Giorno is not here, it is up to us to honor that favor."

Fugo sighed. "The favor...it's to protect that「girl」, isn't it?"

Polnareff nodded.

"And you chose me to be the one to play babysitter, right?"

"That's right."

The idea of having to protect someone, a girl especially, caused some unwanted memories to surface in Fugo's mind that he preferred to have been left buried. Memories of the last assignment he had right before his period of absence from the gang.

Memories of the exact moment when he turned his back on the closest things he could call friends, as he stood on the steps of the San Giorgio Maggiore.

"From your trembling fist, you're probably thinking back to the time you and the rest of Bruno's group was assigned to protect Trish, aren't you?"

Fugo remained silent.

"Don't linger on the past," Polnareff said. "You've already made amends by taking out Massimo Volpe and his colleagues."

The Frenchman smiled coyly. "However, if you insist on dwelling on some unwanted memory like a brooding teenager, think of this as your second chance at redemption...though I don't think you really need one."

Fugo sighed. "So...who am I protecting?"

Polnareff rubbed his neck. "Well...how do I explain this? She isn't exactly a「normal」 girl."

"Oh?" Fugo raised a brow. "How so? Is she a Stand user?"

"Let's just say that you won't believe me if I tell you. It's better if you go see her for yourself."

Polnareff being cryptic. Great. That was a good sign of things to come.

"Although, I can tell you this one thing," Polnareff raised a finger. "There is another reason why it is in the best interest of the gang to protect her, beyond a simple favor."

He paused, then tapped his chest. "There's an「Arrow」 stuck inside her heart."

Fugo blinked. He wasn't sure he heard that right. "She has a what stuck inside her?"

Polnareff crossed his arms. "You heard me. There's an「Arrow」 stuck inside her heart."

Fugo has seen and heard of many bizarre shit during his tenure as a member of Passione. Considering his boss was a man's spirit trapped in the shell of a reptile and that every one of his close colleagues had the ability to call forth super strong punch ghosts with weird abilities that sometimes don't make any sense, he thought he couldn't be surprised anymore. Boy was he wrong.

A Stand Arrow wasn't just something a person can get stuck in them like a medical anomaly. It was an artifact that had the power to grant any organism they deemed worthy a Stand, and it was because of the very one currently in Giorno's possession that Passione was even able to exist. Roughly all of the Stand-users currently belonging to the organization owe the existence of their Stands to the Arrow.

At the same time, some of its worst enemies got their power from the same artifact. As vital to the organization's founding as they were, they always had a knack for creating more enemies than allies. And if what Polnareff said was true, there was nothing stopping every gang from Italy trying to target her once they found out about the powerful artifact within her body.

"Is...is it still inside her?" Fugo hesitantly asked.

The Frenchman sighed and shook his head. "We tried to remove it but we couldn't. At least without tearing the girl's entire heart out, which I'm not about to condone as long as Passione is under my leadership."

"How the hell did she even get an Stand Arrow inside her? And where did it come from?"

"We don't have answers to those questions I'm afraid," Polnareff murmured "How she got that「Arrow」and why it's inside her chest is still a mystery at this point."

Polnareff clicked his fingers together. "In fact, the girl is nothing but a pile of enigmas. We know nothing about her beyond the Arrow stuck inside her heart. Which is only one of the many strange things about her, a fact you'll soon find out once you see her."

Fugo's lips tightened. He scrunched his nose. "The reason why that mystery man wants this girl protected...is because he knows she's already been targeted, correct?"

"Oh, its worse than that," Polnareff replied. The Frenchman narrowed his eyes. "There were signs of an「attack」all over the girl's body."

Fugo cursed under his breath. "Shit. So there's already enemies after her?"

"Yes. And we know less about them than the girl," Polnareff said. "Which is why I'm entrusting you, one of our most distinguished capos, with the job."

Fugo took a moment to run the information back through his head. He scratched his head and looked out to view of Venice as he mulled over everything Polnareff had told him. The job seemed simple enough, but there were details like the mysterious circumstances surrounding the girl, the Arrow and her currently unknown attackers that he knew was definitely going to complicate things.

Still, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Purple Haze was feared among Passione for a reason. There were very few defenses against its utterly devastating ability, with its capacity to end life was so great that it was treated like a bomb or plague, a destructive force that annihilates everything regardless if it was an ally or enemy.

Which made Fugo curious about something.

"Can I ask you one more question Mr. Polnareff?"

"Shoot."

"Why me?" Fugo placed his palm against his heart. "My「Stand-ability」can't distinguish between friend or foe. It can hurt even me, its user. My gifts are only suited for assassination, and there's a good chance I'll hurt the girl, so what makes you think its good for protecting anything?"

Polnareff chuckled. The capo noticed a twinkle in his eye.

"You don't have to worry about Purple Haze hurting her. She may be the only person on this planet besides Giorno himself that Purple Haze's virus can't harm."

A MECHANICAL MAIDEN FROM A FOREIGN LAND...
A FEARED GANGSTER WITH AN EVEN MORE FEARED SUPERNATURAL POWER...

A MYSTERIOUS NEW ENEMY LURKING IN THE SHADOWS...

AND SO, THE CURTAINS RISE ON A NEW BIZARRE ADVENTURE!

TO BE CONTINUED -

Author's Notes:

So...long time to no see.

Many of you have probably noticed I haven't uploaded anything in over a year. Many of you can guess it was real life that got in the way, and you'd be correct.

I'm not good with speeches or explanations, so I'll try my best to keep it simple. I basically tried my hand at other writing projects, essentially original fiction that I could call my own, and as a result, I put my fanfiction work on the backburner. That, along with an increasingly hectic work schedule gave me little time to write, or at least write work that I was proud of. The end result is that I have neglected to update anything, which really really really bummed me out now looking back. I let all of you guys down and I feel like shit for it.

As for those other writing projects? None of them really stuck and all I ended up doing was wasting a ton of effort I could've put into the fics I've already uploaded to this site and essentially have nothing to show for it.

I almost gave up writing entirely at one point, knowing how busy I was going to be if I end up with my current career path. However, I couldn't stop thinking about this story. For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking of the bizarre adventure I laid out for everyone's favorite robot schoolgirl with a Brooklyn accent teaming up with Passione's infamous swiss cheese boy and all of the crazy shit I had planned for this fic but couldn't get around to.

Then I discovered Shocker's Persona 5/Jojo crossover Vanishing Act, a fanfic that has been completed from start to thrilling finish, and I realized I had no excuse to not continue this. I was just making excuses for myself, when I could've been plowing though and making my way to finishing a complete story. Seeing a Persona/Jojo crossover finish its intended run, and a very good run at that, really inspired me to get off my ass and start ORAORAORA'ing the keyboard once again, back when I first started out on this site.

Above all else though, I miss reading your guys' comments. I miss the feedback, which had always been greatly constructive and challenged me as a writer, as well as the fan discussions we had about Jojo in general.

With that in mind, I've decided to return to this site, and to my best to see this fic through...with one exception.

Those other writing projects may not have fell through, but they allowed me to grow as a writer, to figure out what works and what doesn't in a story. Revisiting Spirited Gangstar, I realized there were a lot of things I can do better, namely in the way the main group of enemies worked and elements of the plot, along with certain scenes that good have gone smoother, including the opening. My writing style has also changed drastically since I last updated, so revisiting older stories is going to be tough.

So I've decided to reboot this fanfic and write it the way I see it now in my head, planned from start to finish. I know this is the 3rd time I've killed and restarted a fic and I don't blame a lot of you for not believing I can stick through with this. But I'm more doing this for myself, to show that I can finish something and not give up part way. I might not upload as fast or keep to a consistent schedule, but I will update, even if it means me drinking Abbachio's piss to get me there.

And with that tandem out of the way, I hope you enjoy the new and improved Spirited Gangstar!