Everyone at their table was eating slowly, peacefully, not being bothered by a single thing. Without counting the awful names chosen for the food, the dishes were rather tasty. The men and lady had never tasted something like that before, making it feel even better in their mouths.
"See? There was no need to be worried!" Mr. Joestar laughed, keeping eating.
"Well, they've certainly taken a lot of time to prepare this!" the French guy immediately agreed with the old man, smiling, taking a piece of carrot, cut into a star-like form, from another plate. "You know, this carrot reminds me of something..."
When they heard his slowly becoming arrogant voice, they all turned their heads to him. The Frenchman was smirking, holding the orange star between his sticks. That was the moment most of them realized he was their next opponent. "Oh, I remember now!" the white haired man continued. "Someone I know has a birthmark just like this one on the back of his head..."
He was referring to the Joestars, and (Y/N) knew it as well, after Jotaro's grandfather had told her why were they actually going to kill Dio. The menacing atmosphere rose between the six foreigners, growing stronger and stronger. No-one was eating anymore, they were just staring at eachother, probably trying to guess what he was going to do next.
Kakyoin pointed the French guy. "You... You are another..."
He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, when the bowl of rise in front of Mr. Joestar started trembling. All of sudden, a sharp sword got out of it, aiming for the old man.
"Mr. Joestar, look out!" Avdol shouted as the sword hit the old man's prosthetic hand. The Egyptian didn't wait a second, he trew away the table to have enough space, then called for Magician's Red.
(Y/N) instantly jumped off the chair when she saw the table flying away, with all the food it had on it spreading on the ground. She sighed, her belly still feeling empty. ‘And all I wanted was a peaceful lunch, God dammit...‘
Avdol launched fire at the enemy Stand, who was fully visible now, but all the flames were caught by his sword. The Stand looked like a knight, with a really sparkly silvery armour. With no hesitation, the knight sent the fire to the flipped over table, the flames taking the form of a clock. Everyone around was amazed by the speed the knight had. The white haired guy started talking.
"My Stand's name is Silver Chariot!" He looked Avdol with narrow eyes. "Muhammad Avdol, it appears that you wish to die first!" The Stand user pointed out the burning table. "Before the burning clock strikes twelve, you will be a dead man!"
Silver Chariot aimed his sword for Avdol, standing behind the Frenchman, just like Magician's Red stood behind the Egyptian man.
Avdol took a step forward. "You have a way with a sword, I'll give you that! So you think you can kill me before the clock strikes twelve? You seem to have quite the ego..."
"Polnareff." the French guy completed. "Jean Pierre Polnareff."
The Egyptian smirked. With a single finger snap, the table with the fire clock carved in it burned down, falling upside down on the floor. After Polnareff showed everyone how good he was, by trowing five coins in the air and making a coin-flame-coin sandwich on his sword, he decided that the best place for fighting with a fire Stand like Avdol's was outside. They all followed him to an open space, full of weird but colorful statues.
(Y/N) loved the appearance of that place and was kind of sad when she thought that they were here only to see Avdol fight with Polnareff. "What is this place?" she asked looking around. The answer came, of course, from Kakyoin.
"Tiger Balm Garden."
The crusaders went up the stairs, ending up on a plateau, surrounded by even more bizarre gigantic statues. Jotaro, frowning, stepped next to Avdol, ready to help him fight the French guy. The student seemed surprised when he was told to go back.
"Jotaro, I won't need your assistance..."
Jotaro nodded and stepped back, stopping between Kakyoin and (Y/N). The girl couldn't help but worry about what Polnareff had said.
"Is he gonna be alright?" she whispered to Jotaro, looking up at him. It wasn't because (Y/N) was short, no, she had the average height of a teenage girl, it was because Jotaro was almost two meters tall.
"Hm?" the student looked at her, making their eyes meet.
"Avdol... He's gonna win, right?"
Jotaro looked at the two Stand users who had already started their fight, not answering the question. Luckily for (Y/N), Mr. Joestar had heard her question as well.
He spoke optimistically, with a loud voice. "Well of course he is going to win! Avdol is one of the strongest Stand users I've met!"
The girl felt a drop of doubt in the old man's tone. He wanted to believe that his friend was going to win the fight, for the sake of their journey. If he couldn't believe in Avdol, then who would've had. (Y/N) stood quietly in her place, not moving or saying anything, but watching the fire and swords show. The only hope she had was that Polnareff wouldn't kill the Egyptian, so she could heal the wounds he would gain. But, judging by the way he spoke and fought, he wasn't going to let Avdol go.
As Polnareff was attacking with his sword, Avdol remained calm like a rock, in what seemed like a live-or-die situation. While the two were fighting, (Y/N) couldn't help but wander why would a proud, young man like the French guy swear his loyalty to Dio. That was when it hit her. The girl grabbed Jotaro's uniform sleeve, pulling is lightly.
"Jotaro..."
He turned his head to her again.
"What if... He has one of Dio's flesh buds as well?"
The student ignored her statement.
"Jo..."
"Can you stop talking?!" he snapped at her, making (Y/N) jump away, letting go of his jacket and almost losing her balance.
She looked at his pissed face terrified. Looking away from him, at the ground, the girl hugged herself so no-one would notice her shaking body. Why was he acting like that everytime she tried to speak to him? (Y/N) knew that the student was getting annoyed easily, but they had only exchanged two or three sentences that day. ‘And every time we speak, one of us snaps...‘
Suddenly, Mr. Joestar's voice caught her attention. "Oi, we gotta hide! We'll get torched if Avdol uses that!" the old man exclaimed running away.
"‘That‘?" Jotaro repeated turning around to his grandfather.
Without any more waiting, Kakyoin grabbed (Y/N's) arm, pulling her after him, running away from Avdol's attack. Thanks to the pink haired guy, she made it on time behind some bushes around the plateau, with the two Joestars.
"Crossfire Hurricane!" Avdol shouted, launching a bunch of flames at Polnareff.
(Y/N) covered her eyes, being too afraid to see what was going to happen. Her shiver hadn't gone away, so when Kakyoin saw her looking away trembling, he sighed and leaned to hug her, pulling her tightly to his chest. He knew that it must've been really hard for her to witness to many battles at the same time, especially when she was a girl with such a pure heart. (Y/N) opened her eyes only to see a part of the boy's school uniform and more flames coming from the battlefield.
Not long after that, everything, even Mr. Joestar's remarks about the battle, stopped. The boy let go of (Y/N), as she opened her eyes to see Avdol leaving the French guy behind him, victorious. She smiled being so happy that the Egyptian man won.
"Such a strong power! His Stand must have melted! It's all over!" Mr. Joestar spoke with his usual loud voice, getting up from the bush and pointing the white haired, unconscious guy.
Jotaro completed his sentence. "With burns like that, I'm sure he's a goner... He's lucky if he escaped with just serious burns..."
‘But what if he did, actually?‘ (Y/N) thought as the others were talking about continuing their way to Egypt. The girl was almost one hundred percent sure that Polnareff had a flesh bud implanted inside his head. She knew that the others wouldn't listen to her, so she decided to check him herself.
When the rest of the guys were ready to leave, (Y/N) stayed behind, tiptoeing to the Frenchman. Full of hesitation, she kneeled down next to his body, slowly trying to reach his forehead with her hand. The girl was suddenly stopped by a rough, strong voice crying out her name.
"Oi, (Y/N)!"
Gasping she looked behind her, then rapidly turned around, only to see Polnareff's body shaking. (Y/N) got up immediately, taking two or three steps back, before someone grabbed her right arm fiercely, pulling her away. Holding his cap over his eyes with one hand and carrying the girl with the other one, Jotaro was running as fast as he could, to get to the others. One second later, something exploded behind them, making the student drop (Y/N) as he stopped running. The girl ended up hitting the ground, whining slightly in pain.
Though their attention had been focused on (Y/N's) fall, it all got changed when they saw Polnareff flying into the air. Their mouths fell open when they heard the French guy's voice.
"Bravo! Oh, Bravo!" he mocked clapping his hands and smirking, while floating into the air.
(Y/N) and the other men gasped. Neither the girl nor Mr. Joestar could speak properly.
"I don't believe it!" Aldol said terrified.
"He's completely unharmed!" Kakyoin exclaimed with round eyes.
"How is he floating in mid air?" Jotaro finished, a small drop of sweat falling down his cheek.
Polnareff laughed proudly. "Look closer!" He said, his smile being kept on his face. When they looked closely, they all realized that the white haired guy wasn't floating, his Stand was holding him up. Silver Chariot had become even faster, not even letting the others see him. However, he looked changed.
The Frenchman jumped off his Stand, flying into the air, then, after doing a flip, he landed back on the ground, on his feet.
With a mighty voice, stretching out his arms and showing them his Stand's new look, Polnareff spoke. "Behold my Silver Chariot, armor-free!" The naked knight-like stand appeared behind his user. "You're speechless..." the white haired guy continued, this time looking only at Avdol.
The Egyptian man walked forward into his enemy's direction, asking him for an explanation.
In the meantime, (Y/N) finally managed to stand up, right when she was approached by her two schoolmates. Kakyoin looked at her calmly, while Jotaro seemed like he was going to in punch her any moment. The bulky guy grabbed her shoulder, making her look him in the eye.
"What the fuck was inside your head, you b..." the student stopped before finishing his last word. Jotaro looked away for a second, then immediately returned to facing the girl, his eyes burning of anger. "Why did you help him?!" he said heavily.
"Jojo!" Kakyoin objected his rough grab and vocabulary.
"Shut up!"
She watched them both confused. (Y/N) didn't know exactly what Jotaro was talking about, but she supposed it was about the French guy. "I-I didn't..." The girl's brows were twitching slightly.
"You touched him!" Jotaro snapped again.
‘No, no, no, it wasn't me! I never got to touch Polnareff's head!‘ she thought while shaking her head repeatedly. The students looked at her with empty eyes. Wasn't even Kakyoin believing her?
Just in time, Mr. Joestar saved her before Jotaro would've yelled at her once again. "You know, Jotaro, if you were only listening to what has been said around you, you wouldn't have to harass that poor girl..." The old man didn't even look at them. He kept looking at Avdol and Polnareff.
Jotaro straightened his back, letting go of (Y/N) and looking at his grandfather. He explained the student that Polnareff's Stand has an actual armour and that was how he had managed to get out of the battle unharmed. Jotaro looked again at the girl behind him. She was still holding herself looking away from him.
"Yare, yare..."
(Y/N) sniffed, smiling slightly. ‘There's no way he would apologize... So why am I still waiting for it?‘
She took a small glance at the two men fighting before her eyes. The girl's mouth opened when she saw Polnareff snapping his fingers, behind him, his Stand multiplying.
"Oh my God!" Mr. Joestar shouted. "He has now six... No, seven Stands!" he said counting the Silver Chariots with his finger.
Kakyoin ran next to him, having the same terrifyingly surprised face. "Impossible! A person can only have one Stand!"
When the Frenchman attacked, Avdol did his best trying to dodge every single one of his swords. He used another one of his fire attacks, but unfortunately, he hit neither of his enemy's Stands.
"I told you that you can't keep up!" Polnareff said, crossing his arms at his wide chest.
Hearing the man's mocking words made Avdol really angry, continuing to attack him. To be fair, he seriously looked desperate. When Polnareff pointed that out, Avdol shouted to the top of his lungs.
"Crossfire Hurricane!"
Although the attack looking like a fire tornado dug into the ground, (Y/N) supposed that it was all part of Avdol's plan. At least, she sure hoped it was. When he saw that the fire didn't even try to touch him, Polnareff took his chance and sent all of his Silver Chariots to the Egyptian man, surprising him and carving symbols into his face with their swords. Avdol only smirked after it was all over, telling the younger man that he would, in fact, return his ‘favor‘, with a special kind of Crossfire Hurricane.
Before saying his ‘magic‘ words, a circle of fire surrounded Avdol. "Crossfire Hurricane... Special! Dodge this!"
"It's all futile, Avdol!" Polnareff's Stands surrounded him, leaving no opening. "You're so naive!"
A bunch of fire ran straight to the French guy sending his Chariots to cut the flames. At the time he was focused on Avdol's newest attack, Polnareff didn't even realize what was going to happen under his feet. The flames that had dug into the ground earlier, came to the surface, launching the Frenchman into the air. He fell to the ground, his body still being on fire.
(Y/N) gasped when she saw his hand twitching in pain. She wanted to run again to try to help him before it was too late, but she was stopped by something pulling on her shirt, almost choking her. When the girl felt like she couldn't breathe anymore, she stopped moving and stepped back coughing. She glanced at the one almost choking her; Jotaro. He was still frowning.
"Can't you fucking stop it for once?" he said lighting himself a cigarette. He was obviously looking away, starting to walk behind Mr. Joestar.
She didn't respond, she just stayed there, staring at him, her eyes being full of hatred. Still coughing, she noticed Kakyoin who was coming in her direction with a concerned look. The student placed his hand on her back, sighing. "I know Jojo is not the best in explaining things calmly, but this time he is right..." The girl looked up at him. "You can't just use your energy to help enemies!" he smiled softly.
‘But he has a flesh bud inside his head!‘ (Y/N) wanted to say, but she didn't. She had absolutely no proof about it.
They both looked at Avdol who gave Polnareff a knife to end his own suffering. The French guy mumbled something about how he couldn't have ended his life after someone had finally defeated him. That was the moment Avdol realized that a man with Polnareff's pride and self respect could've never sworn loyalty to someone like Dio. (Y/N) smiled widely as he snapped his fingers, making all the fire disappear. She looked at her two schoolmates, who were smiling softly as well; at least, Kakyoin was.
"His sense of honor endures to the very end!" the Egyptian man spoke, stepping forward. Avdol kneeled down next to the Frenchman, taking his body into his arms. "He didn't even use the dagger to attack me from behind..." He searched into Polnareff's hair for a flesh bud, immediately finding it.
‘I knew it!‘ the girl thought. She turned her head back, glancing at Jotaro, whose arms were still crossed. He knew she had been right about the flesh bud, but he was most certainly not going to admit it.
"Jojo!" Avdol's voice was heard. He was pointing the parasite.
"Hai!"
With no hesitation, while his grandfather was crying out loud in disgust, Jotaro, using Star Platinum, took out the flesh bud, letting it disappear from the sun. For (Y/N), it was quite funny to see Mr. Joestar yelling like a kid to the student to move faster, making him uncomfortable. Was she enjoying Jotaro's pain? Maybe she was.
While the girl was curing Polnareff's burns, the old man came next to her, looking closer at the French guy. He smiled widely.
"Now that the flesh bud is gone, we could be buddies!" he said to the unconscious body lying on the ground.
Jotaro looked at his relative disappointed. "Kakyoin, don't people who make bad jokes annoy you as well?" The pink haired guy sighed.
It took a second for (Y/N) to get the joke, but when she did, she couldn't help but giggle, her voice bringing the men's attention. Mr. Joestar looked at her confused. The girl let Polnareff's body down, wiping one tear from her eye corner.
"Sorry..." she said embarrassed of everyone looking at her. "I actually quite enjoy this kind of jokes!"
Laughing loudly, the old man hugged her tightly to his chest, feeling proud of finally making someone laugh with his dad jokes, as the other ones looked away shaking their heads, but still smiling. (Y/N) had never felt like that since her father had left for work.