One Piece JOJO crossover

(Giorno)second dawn

Description: Following Giorno as he's reincarnated, takes over the North Blue underworld, and meets the Whitebeard pirates (and is definitely, definitely! not adopted by them.)

Spoilers: up to marine ford--major spoilers for Vento Aureo, and spoilers for the end of Stone Ocean.

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Giorno is twenty six, half a world away from home, and witnessing the end of the world.

The star on his shoulder burns like molten lava, pulling and pulling but Giorno is too late. He tried to arrive in time—had spirited across an ocean and sprinted across the swamp of Florida with little more notice than a hastily scribbled note left on their kitchen table. But it wasn't enough, he knows this; sure as the sand between his fingertips.

Beneath, the ground crumbles—cracks into itself like egg on the rim of Mista's cooking bowl. Above, the sky spins. The world rushes through eclipses and scatters stars against the cosmos. Soon enough, there will be no ground left to stand on, and Giorno will fall into the sky and into the stars; will feel the pull of gravity and the tug of fate. He will rot into the cosmos, the chill of space will seep itself into his bones and he will reach out and no one will reach back.

It is cold, at the end of the world.

He wonders how Italy is doing. He wonders how his family is doing. Trish and Mista and Fugo. He wonders if by now they've read his scribbled note. It's the worst goodbye. I'm going to Florida, don't worry. And isn't that just...just...he doesn't know. He wanted—wanted more than that, he wants more than that. He's always wanted more with his precious people.

He's never given a proper goodbye. Not to Buccellati, or Narancia, or Abbacchio—and now not to Trish or Mista or Fugo and—and—

—and he wishes so deeply and so desperately for that chance. Wants to feel their warmth between his fingertips, wants to hear their voices, wants to say thank you and good night. Wants a second chance.

For the first time in a decade, Requiem hums beneath his skin.

Its violet eyes meet his, it's armor reflects gold at the end of the universe, and it stretches out a hand. Giorno, with the earth crumbling beneath his shoes, his future falling through his fingertips, and drowning in a wish so deep and so potent that he can practically feel it thrumming through his veins, takes the offer.

Requiem's hand is sure as steel as it tugs him through the bloom of supernova stars and out of the frenzy of a dying world.

Giorno takes a step and—

—and wakes up to the scent of salt.

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Childhood is a nightmare that Giorno never wanted to repeat. He quickly learns that in this life he's been born into the mafia. His father is a Don and his mother is the man's favorite prostitute. This childhood is no better.

His mother ignores him, his father is abusive. It's nothing new, but the sting of purple bruises still hurts.

Giorno—(they call him Loren here. But that is not his name not his name nothisname)—picks up the language quickly, and begins to read when he is three. This is a blessing, and a curse. It makes the Don uneasy—and that unease breeds violence. But on the other hand the books are interesting. He is no longer on earth, he is in an entirely new world. A world of water, of oceans, of oppression. Giorno used to run a benevolent dictatorship, but that doesn't mean he even remotely approves of authoritarianism. He believes in freedom, in the good of the individual, in kindness.