Chapter Text
As they left the port and were on their way to Singapore, Taeko knew her time to tell the group about her legacy was approaching. After all that Polnareff said during their fight, they for sure were going to ask her about it soon. The French not only confirmed that DIO knew certain information about her grandfather, he also revealed the existence of the water breathing style.
She had already been planning to eventually reveal everything to her companions. Since they are now far away from Japan, Taeko doesn't have to worry about putting Yushiro and Chachamaru in danger. Even if the team gets troubled with the existence of the remaining demons she would have time to reason with them before returning to Japan. So telling them would not be a problem.
The real problem was the fact that DIO knew too much. He knew about her grandfather. About the demons. And probably about the corp too.
That brought forward the questions on how, why and when he found out. Taeko couldn’t ask the vampire himself for obvious reasons but she knew who could give her some answers.
Lucky for her, Polnareff didn't protest when she asked to speak with him privately. At that point, Mr. Joestar had gone to his cabin to change clothes, Avdol had also gone out somewhere to enjoy the scenery, and Jotaro and Kakyoin were talking to each other, doing their own thing. Still, she guided him to a spot at the front of the ship, closer to the bow, so they couldn't hear them talking.
“I need to ask you about something really important and I don’t want you to mention it to the others.” Taeko requested as soon as they got there.
“Keeping secrets from your friends? Didn’t expect this from you.” He spoke with slight amusement, maybe even intrigue. Judging by his relaxed posture, the man wasn’t taking her secrecy as anything suspicious. “But fine. I will respect your wishes. What do you want to talk about?”
“…what did DIO tell you about my grandfather?”
The mention of DIO did make him flinch, though his casual smile didn’t drop from his face.
“As I said before, he only spoke the basics.” He explained, shifting his gaze upwards as he thought back on the vampire’s words. “That your grandfather’s family was attacked and his little sister was turned into a demon. That he learned a special technique called water breathing and fought many demons to be able to heal her and in the end he was successful.” He then let out a slightly nervous snicker. “I’m gonna admit, I thought he was messing with me when he mentioned demons.”
“You heard about all of that from a vampire.” Taeko automatically pointed out. “Why are demons more unbelievable?”
“Touché.” He relented, looking back at her. “Can you blame me, though? I bet the others also took a while to digest when you told them…” Taeko broke their eye contact, gazing at the ocean in shame. Observing her reaction, the French took a guess. “You didn’t tell them?”
“I will tell them soon. I just wanted to talk to you before speaking to them.” She explained herself. For some reason, Taeko felt comfortable enough in his presence to talk about her worries. “I never had to tell anyone of my family legacy. And it’s a lot to cover. I’m not even sure where to begin.” The girl lets out a sigh. “I don’t even know how much DIO knows. Or what he could possibly want with me.”
The man was silent as she talked, carefully listening to her words. He only responded when he knew she had finished.
“Does it matter?” He argued with a shrug. “Whatever he wants he needs to get to you first and It’s not like you plan to be caught by him.”
“Of course not!” Taeko confirmed.
“Here it is, then.” With a large grin on his face, he slung his arm over her shoulder in a friendly manner. “Don’t let this keep bothering you.” He began to walk back to the others, all the while trying to cheer her up. “Look around! It’s a beautiful day, the sea is calm and best of all… we don’t have to pay for anything!”
The girl couldn’t keep herself from giggling at the reminder of how Polnareff reacted when he saw the ship. The man clearly wasn’t used to luxurious things. Neither was her, but his expression of shock and excitement was really funny to witness. His words also helped ease her worries. Once again, she felt glad he decided to join them.
“To get from Hong Kong to Singapore, we'll be on the water for three full days.” Joseph announced. Now he wore a red and white striped tank top, the sleeves rolled all the way up. "Well, let's relax and keep our spirits up." While he seemed content with his planned sequential days of tranquility, something was bothering him. "But seriously, guys…can't you do something about these school uniforms?"
Having just arrived on the scene, she hadn’t noticed what Kakyoin and Jotaro had been up to until Joseph mentioned it. The two teenagers were lying on two loungers. Which wouldn't be strange in itself, if not for the fact that they were still wearing their school uniforms.
“You’re going to continue our journey wearing those?” Joseph questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Isn’t it ridiculously hot?”
The two teens looked completely relaxed in their warm clothes even under the blazing sun. Jotaro had his hat thrown over his face, hands behind his head as if he was about to take a nap while Kakyoin was quietly reading a book.
“Well, we are students, and students should behave as students.” Kakyoin calmly pointed out, not giving a care about the heat. “But I suppose that sounds like a stretch.”
“Japanese students are such stiffs.” Joseph said as he rubbed his beard.
“I see… So this is bushido.” Avdol supposed, he also hadn’t changed from his original clothes. “Once you clear your mind, even fire seems cool.”
“But you know, girls won’t fall for stiff guys like you.” Polnareff pointed out.
Knowing how wrong the French man actually was, Taeko had to speak up.
“Actually, Jotaro is quite the charmer back at school. All the girls are crazy for him.” And she could say that for a fact since all the girls she tried to befriend at school turned her away because of her interactions with Jotaro.
“Really?” The revelation made Polnareff’s eyes grow comically wide. “They like this guy?” He asked as he pointed at Jotaro. He couldn’t accept that the delinquent was a chick magnet while he, being the flirtatious guy he is, was still single. “What is wrong with those girls??”
Jotaro huffed at the French man’s comment although he chose not to lift his hat from his face to glare at him.
Taeko took a moment to look at Jotaro. He’s sure got the looks to catch a girl’s attention, she isn’t going to deny that. Back at school, she heard the girls talking about him. About how handsome, tall, strong and cool he was. All of that was so… shallow. Taeko doubted that girls had any real conversations with him to get to know him. It escaped her how those girls could fall in love with someone they hardly even know.
Ironically enough, in those two days of travel she probably got to know him better than those girls had in years.
The calm atmosphere between the comrades was pierced by a loud scream.
“Let go!”
The group turned to see what was going on. Taeko tensed as she saw a small kid in a struggle to escape the hold one of the sailors had on his shoulders. Even without context, it immediately bothered her considering the obvious difference in strength of the two. There was no way that kid could fight that man off.
“Let go of me, you big lug!” The kid demanded as he kept thrashing around, trying to remove the sailor’s hands from him. “Damn it, let me go! Let me go!”
“Shut up! What a little brat!” The man roughly shouted back, causing Taeko to clench her fists to stop herself from doing something reckless. While seeing a child in distress immediately gave her an urge to intervene, she couldn't do that without knowing what was happening.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Joseph questioned the sailor, he was as confused as Taeko was with the scene. “I thought we agreed there would be no passengers on our boat.”
“I’m sorry. It’s a stowaway.” The sailor explained, now with a firm grip in the child’s upper arm. “This brat was hiding in storage down below.”
“A stowaway?” Joseph questioned, surprised that a kid managed to break into their ship without anyone noticing. Just how long was that child here?
“Come at me if you’re gonna!” The boy foolishly threatened as he saw their group getting closer. “I’ll kick your balls in!”
Taeko's face twitched in worry, her urge to step in was growing the more she looked at the kid. She hoped the boy would just keep still so he wouldn’t get hurt.
“I’ll turn you into the naval police.” The sailor seemed to already be sick of having to deal with the kid.
“What? The police?!” A scent of fear began to emanate from the child as he, instead of spitting more insults, began to beg for mercy and try to negotiate with him. “P-Please. Let me go! I just want to go see my dad in Singapore! I’ll do anything! You can work me as hard as you want!”
“Let’s see. What should I do?” He teased, taking delight in messing with the kid. The moment he began pulling the child’s cheeks, he had unknowingly resigned himself as the target of a Kamado’s rage. “Should I let you go? What should I-?”
“Stop that!!” An angry shout made him quickly let go of the child’s cheeks.
Taeko’s travel companions were so distracted by the ruckus that they didn’t notice the Kamado getting angrier at the sailor’s behavior. The cheek pulling was the last straw before she blew up.
“I understand that what the kid did was wrong but I will not let you harm a child.” She declared, glaring daggers at the man.
“Wha-?” The kid was surprised to see that someone was defending him. Even more considering that the one that stepped up was the smaller and only girl in the group of people that was there.
“Kamado, let the man do his job.” Joseph tried to calm her down.
“No. It’s one thing to do his job. Another is to be a shitty bastard.” As if her sudden anger wasn’t surprising enough, the offensive language she used was shocking to the others as well. They quickly came to the conclusion that seeing children get hurt must be an easy trigger for her fury.
“Keep your thoughts to yourself, stupid girl.” The sailor fired back at her. It was when he was busy glaring back at Taeko that the kid bit the sailor’s arm as hard as he could. The man yelled in pain, Taeko gave him no mind as the kid broke free from his hold and turned to jump from the ship.
“Wait!” Her plea made the child hesitate for a second, giving Taeko a quick look before choosing to leap off the boat.
Taeko rushed to the railing in time to see the child begin to swim away. Polnareff, wanting to peer down at the child too, was soon beside her.
“Woah!” Polnareff whistled watching how quickly the kid swam. “He jumped in! Talk about energetic.”
“He isn’t energetic.” Taeko denied, after what just happened it wasn't surprising that the kid doesn’t feel safe in the ship. “He is just desperate to escape.” Making a quick decision, Taeko took off the backpack containing the breathing records that she always kept with herself and thrusted it against Polnareff’s chest. “Here! Please hold this for me!” She trusted the French man to take care of her precious possessions.
With the books in safe hands, Taeko jumped after the kid.
｡⋆｡° | ⋆ 𐀔 ⋆ | °｡⋆｡
The others called after Kamado as she threw herself into the water.
“She didn’t even take her shoes off.” Was what Polnareff chose to say at that moment.
“Actually, it’s good that she went after him.” Kakyoin pointed out, taking into consideration the seemingly endless ocean around them. “I doubt he could swim to shore from here.”
“What should we do?” Joseph asked. “Do we go after them or wait?”
Jotaro was still resting on his lounger with his eyes closed, he saw no point in worrying about those two. He had no doubt the Kamado girl would just smile at the kid and he would happily come back to the ship. The girl had this thing about her, in that friendly manner of hers, that made people want to stay close. It may not have worked on their classmates (because they fucking suck) but he knew it began to affect the others, especially Polnareff. Only yesterday they were fighting and now they are all buddy buddies having secretive conversations when they thought no one was looking.
Jotaro was looking.
“Just leave them.” He clicked his tongue in dismissal. “I’m sure Kamado can deal with this on her own.”
He was planning on ignoring any other commentary and instead trying to take a nap when the crewman spoke.
“Th-This isn’t good!” The man sputtered. “Sharks gather around these parts!”
“Good fucking grief.” He hissed as he got up from his chair.
｡⋆｡° | ⋆ 𐀔 ⋆ | °｡⋆｡
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Why did they have to find her right now?? There were just three days left for them to reach Singapore! It was so close! But she had gotten hungry so she left her hiding spot to steal some food and one of the sailors found her. Stupid fucking sailor. Her arms and cheeks still ached from the tight grip he had on her.
No way she is returning to that. She cannot allow herself to be arrested! She will be brought back home if she does!
Her heart skipped a beat when suddenly there was someone holding her arm again.
Did that sailor swim after her?? That fucking lug sure is persistent! She won’t go without a fight!
She began to struggle to break free from the grip. But instead of holding firm, the person holding her just let go.
Confused, Anne stopped and turned to check who it was. To her surprise, it wasn’t the sailor that followed her.
“You!” Anne gasped. It was the girl from the boat, the one that tried to help her.
“Are you alright?” Taeko asked, looking at the kid for any sign of injuries. “Don’t jump from ships like that. You could get hurt.”
Her concern rubbed Anne the wrong way, she didn't need to be babied by anyone.
“G-get off me!” Ann snapped. Taeko complied, moving back a bit to give her some space. She didn’t want to overwhelm the child.
“Please be more careful.” Taeko requested, making sure it doesn’t sound like a reprimand. She got the feeling such a headstrong child wouldn’t react well to being scolded. “You don’t look so good.”
Anne was exhausted from his hurried swimming, breathing heavily and shivering with her clothes being drenched in cold water. Her entire body hurt, both from exhaustion and from being manhandled at the ship. In all, the image of her wasn’t one of welfare. Taeko decided to find something to keep the kid warm, when they got back to the ship.
“Hey, brat! Kamado! Come back!” The distant voice of Mr. Joestar was heard. “Get back here! It’s dangerous!”
“There are sharks!” Polnareff screamed, holding her backpack on a tight grip. “Those waters are shark-infested!”
Taeko quickly pulled the child close to her side. At first she planned to respect the child’s space and try to convince her to get back to the boat. Now that she knew they were in danger, Taeko's priority was to protect her. There were no protests from the kid this time, she had heard the warnings too.
When they saw a shark’s fin emerge from the water shooting fast in their direction, the kid let out a scream of fear. Pushing her own fear aside to protect the child, Taeko stood firm and called for Queen Titania. The stand already had her katana out as if she already knew what move her user was about to call for.
“Water breathing, Sixth Form: Whirlpool!”
With Titania’s sword movements, a huge body of rotating water formed around them acting as a shield. The shark hit the wall of water with force. The current of the whirlpool was more than strong enough to toss the animal far away from them.
From Anne's perspective, the shark was getting nearer until an invisible force threw him with so much strength it flew through the air for a few seconds before crashing back into the water. She stared in bewilderment, trying to figure out what exactly she was seeing when she heard the teen holding her take a sniff of her hair.
“Why are you sniffing me?” Not knowing of Taeko’s sharp nose, the kid was weirded out by her behavior.
“Why are you hiding as a boy?” Taeko countered. It wasn’t just her fragrance that exposed Anne’s true gender, now that the red eyed girl took a good look, it was also noticeable in her features too.
“How did you—?” The little girl gasped, surprised the teen was able to find out her gender even with the disguise she was using. “—That’s none of your business!”
“Probably not.” Taeko said. She didn’t want to have a scuffle with the little girl, it would make it a lot harder to bring her back to the ship. Kamado, instead, wanted to itch her to choose to go back. “I just want you to come back to the ship. It’s not safe here, and it’s too far for you to swim back to shore from here.”
Ann got quiet for a moment. She looked back at the endless ocean she was planning on swimming to. There was no way she could argue that Kamado wasn’t right, she would probably drown if she continued swimming in that direction. While she still doesn’t feel like returning to the boat, it certainly was safer than swimming until she can't anymore.
The girl opened her mouth to answer but whatever it was to be said was replaced by a terrified scream as she saw something behind Taeko.
“Taeko! There is another shark there!” Polnareff’s yell came too late for Taeko to react. The second shark was already too close to her, its mouth open to take a bite of her flesh.
Before it could hurt her a purple figure came bursting from underneath the shark, giving it a hard punch. The animal was thrown up in the air as Star Platinum threw punch after punch. Beating the animal into a bloody pump as he screamed his battle cry.
“ORA ORA ORA!!”
The familiar smell of cigars made Taeko smile. The large hand that soon landed on her shoulder could only be Jotaro’s.
“What part of ‘shark-infested waters’ did you not understand?” He complained, glaring at her in annoyance. He would have been still resting on his chair if he didn’t have to come rescue her.
“I got distracted for a moment.” Taeko explained, very grateful that he got there in time. “I’m lucky you came to our aid, Jotaro. Thank you!”
“Good grief.” He scoffed at her overly positive attitude. “Let’s just take the little brat back.”
He grabbed the kid by her collar, intending to drag her back to the ship before any more sharks appeared when he felt something he didn’t expect to be there.
Taeko and the girl stared at him in shock as he decided to press his hand on her chest to check if what he suspected was right.
“You’re…”
Taeko slapped his hand away, shooting him a reprimanding scowl.
“Jotaro! You can’t touch people like that without their consent! Especially girls!!” She then gave the girl an apology on his behalf. “Please forgive him for this, Jojo can be silly sometimes.”
“He better not dare do that again!” Anne angrily exclaimed.
“Good grief.” Jotaro groaned, pulling the brim of his hat down.
The trio finally began to swim back to the ship, Taeko and Anne taking the lead while Jotaro swam right behind them.
Taeko and Jotaro were alerted that something else was there by a strange noise. The two of them turned to see that the corpse of the shark Star had beaten was torn in half, there was also the fin of a creature neither could identify. It was too blue to be another shark’s.
“J-Jotaro! Below you! Something’s attacking from underwater!” Having seen whatever that creature was, rip the body of the shark in two, Joseph warned them of the danger. Whatever it was began to swim in the trio’s direction at an abnormal speed. “It’s not a shark! It’s really fast! Jotaro! Kamado! Hurry!” He shouted. “Hurry and swim to the boat!”
There was no need for him to ask, the three of them were already swimming as fast as they could to the ship. Taeko took hold of the girl’s arm again, dragging the exhausted child with her.
“I-It’s too far!” Avdol shouted as the creature was closing the distance between it and the trio very fast. Its strange shadow could already be seen right below them.
“If it’s at that distance, leave it to me.” Kakyoin decided as he called for his stand. “Hierophant Green!”
His green stand appeared, going over the railing to grip both Taeko’s and Jotaro’s wrists to pull them, and the girl on Taeko’s hold, into the safety of the ship. As Taeko fell onto the deck on her back, soaked and exhausted, she hugged the girl to her chest.
“I-It disappeared! It’s a Stand!” Polnareff blurred out, still looking at the water. “That thing is a Stand!”
“A seafaring Stand…” Avdol mumbled thoughtfully. “I don’t believe I’ve ever even heard of such a thing.”
“Are you alright?” Taeko asked the girl lying on her chest, the cap hiding the girl’s long dark locks had fallen during their landing. Kamado got a nod of affirmation from the kid, who was too breathless to give her a verbal response.
“Thank the gods… for a moment I thought we were doomed…” Taeko confessed while looking up at the sky. She got so distracted by the kid she didn’t notice the second shark. If not for Jotaro, she would probably be dead by now.
“Wh-What’s with you jerks, all glaring at me like that?!” Anne exclaimed as she jumped to her feet, the action bringing Taeko’s thoughts to an end. “I don’t know what’s going on, but do you want a fight?!”
The child glared at Taeko’s companions. They had been staring down at the girl in suspicion, talking among themselves about the possibility of her having led Jotaro and Taeko into the water on purpose. The girl looked for something in her overalls, that ended up being a sharp switchblade that she pulled out to threaten the men.
“Don’t underestimate me! I’ll take you on!” She exclaimed to them while gesturing with her hand for them to come to her. “One-on-one! Face me, one-on-one! You little shits!”
“Be careful with that! You can end up cutting yourself!” Taeko stood up, having observed that the girl had no experience with a blade judging by the way she was holding it. There also was no malicious intent coming from her. The kid is just hurling empty threats at the boys to make them back off.
Not that they noticed it. They kept discussing among themselves about what to do with her. Meanwhile Taeko tried to deescalate the situation with the kid.
“You really should put this away before you get hurt.” She said, eying the sharp weapon in Anne's hands.
“Do you want to get stabbed too?” Now the kid was pointing the switchblade at Taeko. “I can take all of you guys in!”
Fear. Worry. Desperation.
This kid will end up getting killed if she keeps acting that way. Not that Taeko won’t be using her aggressive behavior to her advantage.
“Oh! No! I wouldn’t want to fight you!” The kid was shocked by her admission, not even she was expecting her threats to be taken seriously. It caught her off guard.
“Y-yeah…” The kid stammered in surprise. “You better back off!”
“Alright. Alright.” Taeko held her hands up in surrender. “If I get my friends to back off, will you tuck this scary blade back? I don’t want to have to face it in a fight.”
Her compliment of the blade made an inkling of pride spark on the child.
“Yeah, you shouldn't want that.” The girl smirked. “This demon’s blade is telling me that it wants the blood of its 340th victim already.” She placed the blade dangerously close to her face, sticking her tongue out.
“Oh my gods, please don’t lick it!!” Taeko exclaimed, her worry breaking though her smoothing facade.
A laugh made the girls realize the guys were looking at them. They witnessed Taeko trying to soften the kid up, it was amazing how she managed to get the kid to relax so quickly. Kakyoin just had to laugh at the “demon’s blade” comment, it was so silly.
“What’s so funny, you stupid grunt?!” The kid yelled at Kakyoin in her irritation.
“Grunt?” He repeated, finding her insult attempt entertaining instead of threatening. “You know, I really don’t think it’s her.”
“Yes, but…” Joseph was still suspicious of her, he had already checked all of the people on the boat. Did he miss something?
The scent of maliciousness reached Taeko’s nose before the voice of a man reached her ears. Taeko positioned herself in between the child and the very tall man that had just arrived there, who judging by his hat could only be the captain.
“So is this girl our stowaway?” He attempted to move to grab the child by the shoulders but with Taeko in the way there he wouldn’t be able to do it. The Kamado was intentionally blocking him from getting to Anne, she had witnessed how the other sailor treated the girl so she doubted the captain would be any better.
“Captain…” Joseph confirmed her suspicion on the identity of the man menacingly glaring at her. For some reason Taeko couldn’t understand, Jotaro chose that moment to light a cigarette.
The captain tried to go around Taeko to get to the kid. Taeko mirrored his movements, shielding the kid with her body. He was growing more and more bothered by her interference.
“I’m pretty harsh when it comes to stowaways. And people that defend stowaways. Step aside.” The man looked down at her with menacing eyes in an attempt to intimidate her. “You may be a girl, but if I go easy on you, we’ll just get more and more stowaways.”
“I’m not letting you hurt her.” Taeko calmly said, she did not want to begin a fight with the captain unless extremely necessary. “You and your men don’t need to harm her to discipline her. Only a coward would hurt a little child.”
“Kamado! Don’t be rude to the captain!” Joseph tried to intervene, his comment fell on deaf ears. The captain and Taeko were too busy in their glare contest to listen. “I expected something like this from Jotaro, not her.”
“Kamado is very protective of those who need help.” Kakyoin pointed out, even he was bothered by the way the sailors were treating the kid. Though, unlike Taeko, he wasn’t willing to call the captain a coward right to his face.
The captain was a step from roughly shoving Taeko away when his gaze shifted from her red eyes to her ears, to her earrings. His expression changed from frustration to complementation then smugness.
“Fine then.” The captain suddenly conceded. “We’re gonna hold her in one of the rooms below deck until we get to port. You can join her to make sure her treatment is at your standards.”
“Alright, I will go with the kid for the rest of the trip.” Taeko accepted. While she wanted to protect the child from harm, she would not keep her from facing the consequences of her actions. Hiding in this ship was wrong, regardless of her reasoning.
“Hey! I thought you were on my side!” The child protested from behind her.
“Captain, I’d like to ask you something.” Joseph interfered, giving them no time to leave. He didn’t want Taeko to separate from their group. “You’ve verified the identities of all ten of the men on board, right?”
“Of course. All of them are veterans who have been on this boat for over ten years.” The captain confirmed, even sounding a bit offended. “I’m not sure why you’re so worried about that. By the way…”
He proceeded to snatch the cigarette Jotaro had been smoking from his mouth.
Big mistake.
“I request that you refrain from smoking aboard this ship. What did you plan to do with the ashes and butt after you’re done?” The captain continued to speak, oblivious to the scent of anger coming from the delinquent. “Were you planning on throwing it into the beautiful ocean? You’re a guest on this ship, but I’ll have you follow her rules, Mr. Outlaw.”
As if the mocking wasn’t enough, the captain took a step further and crushed the cigarette against one of Jotaro’s hat pins. Taeko winced, that fool will regret doing that. And instead of just leaving it at that, he also decided to discard the crushed cigarette in one of Jotaro’s coat pockets. All the while she could catch Jotaro’s anger intensifying.
She and the others knew what was about to come.
“Got it?” When he was finally done with his little show the captain began to walk back to the girls.
“Hold it.” Jotaro called him before he could get to them. While he sounded calm, Taeko knew what he was really feeling.
Anger. Fury. Rage.
That captain is a dead man, for sure. Jotaro beats people up for doing way less than that.
“If you’re going to put it out, just put it out.” Jotaro said. “Don’t be a condescending prick about it, you jackass.”
“Jotaro! Don't insult the captain! You’re the one at fault.” Joseph tried to scold his grandson even though he and each one of his companions knew the rage Jotaro was about to release was inevitable. This was even worse than with Taeko, at least with the girl he doubted things would get violent.
“I’m very aware that I’m being rude.” Jotaro hissed. “He isn’t the captain. I just figured it out. He’s the Stand user!”
Needless to say, his bold claim caught everyone present by surprise.
“Wha…?!” Joseph began, having trouble comprehending what Jotaro just said.
“What?!” The rest of their group finished.
“Sta… nd?” The captain asked, he appeared to be confused by the word. “What might that be?”
“That’s inconceivable, Jotaro.” Avdol exclaimed, unsure on how the teen came to that conclusion. “Captain Tennille came recommended with verification by the Speedwagon Foundation.” He gestured to the captain with his hand. “He’s someone we should trust. There’s a 0% chance that he’s a Stand user.”
Taeko knew better than being 100% sure of the man’s innocence. While Avdol had good arguments, the maliciousness she could detect from the captain made her feel at edge. She placed a hand on the girl’s shoulders taking a step back with her, ready to guard her in case a fight broke out. It was better being safe than sorry.
“Hold on, a Stand?” The captain asked again. There was this little bit of nervousness emanating from him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about…”
“JoJo, random guesses will only make things more confusing!” Polnareff protested, he was just as confused as their other teammates.
“Do you have any proof, JoJo?” Kakyoin asked.
“I’ve found a way to differentiate Stand users from other people.” Jotaro boldly claimed.
“What?” Joseph was surprised by his grandson’s claims again.
“You can do that??” Taeko asked in bewilderment. Information like this would be game changing. It would make identifying the enemy's way easier.
“That is…if a Stand user inhales even a little bit of cigarette smoke…” He said as he tapped his nose with his finger. “A vein pops up on the tip of their nose.”
At that, all stand users present touched their noses to look for the alleged vein. Anne was the only one that didn’t do it.
“What the hell are they all doing?” The child thought.
“You can’t be serious, Jotaro!” Polnareff asked in disbelief as he got closer to the delinquent.
“Yeah, I’m lying.” Jotaro nonchalantly admitted, still looking at the captain. “But… it looks like we’ve found the idiot.”
With his indication the others noticed that the captain had been looking for the vein too. When everybody turned to look at him, he accepted that his trick had been done for. He finally dropped his facade of clueless captain, releasing a snicker as he removed his hat. His facial expression changed to one of insanity, his threatening aura he was concealing before now clear to all of them.
“Jotaro, how did you know he was suspicious?” Joseph couldn’t help but ask his grandson as he approached him from behind.
“Initially, I didn’t think he was at all. I planned to try this with all of the men on board.” He explained, narrowing his eyes as he added. “But I did find very suspicious the way he reacted when he saw Kamado’s earnings.”
Taeko stood straight at the mention of her name. She knew that one of the descriptions DIO had given to Kakyoin for him to find her were of her unique hanafuda earrings. It would only make sense for him to give the same description to anyone else he sent after them.
“You’re cold. Damn, but you’re cold.” The false captain said with a malicious smirk on his face. “You’re right. I’m not the captain.” Taeko knew even before he said it. The only way for him to effectively replace the captain is to get rid of the original. “The real captain is already sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of the ocean back in Hong Kong.”
“Then you can sleep at the bottom of Hell!” Jotaro threatened, pointing his finger at the enemy.
Unbothered by the threat, the false captain shifted his crazy eyes to the girls, shooting them a grin. When a blur of something blue appeared from the side of the boat Taeko pushed Anne out of the way, thinking it could only be his stand moving to attack them. A claw grabbed the red eyed teen by the ankle, pulling her towards the new enemy.
“Damn it!” The team cursed as they watched the enemy stand hold their companion tight against his chest.
While Taeko doubted she would be able to overpower a stand, she still tried to break free. Unfortunately, the stand had wrapped his slimy arms around hers, effectively immobilizing her.
“I-I can’t move…!” Taeko stammered, the hold it had on her was so tight that it hurt to try to move. The enemy probably knew better than giving her any space for her to call for her stand. If she did, the enemy would probably retaliate against her.
The crusader that had the biggest reaction to Taeko being taken hostage was Polnareff.
“Give her back!!” He demanded in a shout, Silver Chariot appearing from his body. His stand was more than ready to cut the enemy into pieces.
It was Avdol that stopped him from doing something reckless, he placed a hand on the French man’s shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.
“Polnareff! Stop!” He warned, a sweat going down his forehead. “If you attack he is going to hurt Kamado!”
“But…” Polnareff wanted to protest yet he knew the Egyptian was right.
｡⋆｡° | ⋆ 𐀔 ⋆ | °｡⋆｡
Trouble on the water! Lies and betrayal!
The Moon card, which suggests fear of the unknown.
Its name: Dark Blue Moon!
｡⋆｡° | ⋆ 𐀔 ⋆ | °｡⋆｡
“If I tried to take five of you at once, even I’d break a bone or two, so I was going to hide my identity and take care of you one by one…” The captain admitted, taking glee in the concern the men( minus Jotaro) had with the girl. “But if you’ve figured me out, I guess I have no choice. I’ll have to take on all five of you!” He shot the restrained form of Taeko a look of malicious glee. “Getting my hands on this girl is a sign that my luck is changing for the better. Lord DIO offered a generous reward to anyone that brings her to him.”
As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, the news that DIO had placed a bounty on Taeko was also troublesome. It was another thing to worry about later.
“I’m going to jump into these shark-infested waters with her.” The captain continued to speak as he leaned back on the railing. “Of course, you guys will end up following us in to save your friend. If we fight in the water, where I have the advantage, I can beat all five of you!”
“Don’t underestimate me by taking a hostage.” Jotaro calmly stated as he crossed his arms. “Don’t think that I, Jotaro Kujo, will be shaken by this!”
Ouch! She knows Jotaro doesn’t like to show weakness and is probably waiting for the right moment to attack, but his total lack of concern for her safety still stings Taeko a little. It really seems like he doesn’t care a bit.
Even if he is planning something, Taeko isn’t willing to wait and see what exactly Jotaro has in mind. She already thought of a way to catch the enemy off guard.
“Underestimate? No, this is a prediction.” The captain continued speaking. “I hear that your Stand, Star Platinum, is pretty damn fast. I’m not trying to brag, but my Dark Blue Moon is pretty fast in the water.” He stopped speaking because he felt Taeko’s body go limp on Dark Blue Moon’s arms.
Shit! He cursed to himself. He needs to bring the girl alive if he wants the reward! Maybe his stand was holding her too tight… He decided to let his stand’s arms loosen up a bit around her since the girl looked to be unconscious now. He then continued speaking to the men as he climbed the railing, preparing to jump in the water with his hostage. “Come on in… if you are not afraid of little seawater, that is!”
After Dark Blue Moon loosened his hold on her, Taeko was able to move more of her head and torso. With that the girl tilted her head forward and then brought it back with as much force as she could muster.
The others watched her action with wide eyes, fully expecting the girl to have cracked her skull at how hard she headbutted the stand. Only, instead of the girl, it was the fake captain that yelled in pain. As the damage inflicted by the hard skull of the Kamado on his stand’s head was transferred to him, his forehead began to bleed.
Taeko took advantage of his moment of agony to slip out of his stand’s grasp. And with her out of the way, there was nothing stopping Jotaro from finally releasing the rage he was feeling towards the captain.
“ORA!” Star Platinum came out from his user's body and rushed to the enemy with his war cry, punching Dark Blue Moon right in the face. Not satisfied, he proceeded with a barrel of punches. ”ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!” When he was done, released an upper hook that sent both the enemy and his stand flying from the ship into the water.
While he knew the pain he was feeling was mostly from the wounds he got from Star Platinum, the captain couldn’t understand…
“…how is that girl’s head so hard…?” He choked out as he floated in the ocean.
Standing back on the ship, Taeko watched him drift away. The girl never felt more grateful for having been born with her family’s stone hard forehead.
“What was that??” Polnareff’s question made her turn to look at him standing only a step away from her, wearing an expression of worry and confusion. “You just head-butted a stand and the stand was the one that got damaged!!” He exclaimed, waving his hands in the air.
“My family has an innately strong skull. So that did not hurt me.” Taeko nonchalantly explained.
“I see…” Joseph said with a playful smirk on his face. He nodded at her with what sounded like praise. “…so the Kamados have a secret technique too…”
Taeko wasn't sure what he meant by that.
“He’s drifting away.” Polnareff commented while the captain's body was slowly sinking in between the waves. “He sure talked up his Stand’s powers, but it looks like he was just an idiot.”
“You are really judging someone for being a show off after all you said yesterday?” Taeko didn’t sound accusatory with her statement, she was only pointing out the irony.
“It’s different.” Polnareff countered with a grin. “I can brag about my stand. After all, Silver Chariot is actually impressive. Unlike this Dark Blue Moon that couldn’t even take a headbutt from a teenager.”
From the corner of her eye, Taeko saw Jotaro get closer to the railing, moving like something was dragging him by the arm.
“Jotaro, what’s wrong?” Joseph asked as he noticed his grandson grabbing tightly at the railing, arm extended in the direction of the water as if he was about to pull something overboard.
Jotaro didn’t respond, he was too busy using all his strength to keep himself from being pulled from the ship into the ocean and call back his stand. His effort was enough to make his body shake and sweat form in his forehead. The struggle he was showing put his companions on alert again.
“What’s wrong, Jotaro?!” Joseph insisted, now more concerned.
“D-Damn it… I’m being pulled in…” Jotaro hissed, feeling both his arms begin to bleed. His stand was still out, also being dragged closer to the water.
“Th-These are…” Avdol murmured, surprised at what he was seeing spreading across the stand’s purple arm.
“Acorn barnacles!” Kakyoin exclaimed. “The crustaceans are called acorn barnacles!”
“They’re all over Star Platinum’s arm and on the side of the boat!” Joseph observed as he, Kakyoin and Avdol quickly grabbed his grandson to pull him back before he fell from the boat.
Still standing next to the railing, Taeko noticed the absence of the captain's body where she last saw him.
“The captain is gone!” She alerted them.
“He’s still planning on fighting. He attached them to me earlier when I hit him.” Jotaro grumbled as he felt himself being pulled down even harder, the more the barnacles grew. “They keep multiplying! My Stand’s strength is being drained…”
“Jotaro! Pull in your Stand!” Joseph exclaimed, holding his grandson by the arm.
“What do you think I am trying to do? That’s why I’m sweating like a fucking pig, old man!” Jotaro shouted back.
The force became too much for even their combined strength to fight it so Jotaro ended up slipping from their grasp falling off the boat, face first into the water.
“Cr-Crap!” Joseph cursed.
“This isn’t good!” Kakyoin exclaimed.
“Can anyone see him?” Taeko asked as she frantically looked at the water hoping to see the delinquent swimming back to the surface. The others did the same but no one saw any glimpse of him.
“What do we do?” Polnareff questioned, looking at the others for guidance. “Should we jump after him?”
“It can be exactly what the captain is hoping for. His stand is stronger underwater!” Avdol pointed out.
“But Jotaro is in danger!” Taeko protested.
Before anyone could say anything else, a tremor shook the boat. Everyone grabbed the railing so as not to fall, with Taeko feeling a weight crash into her side.
While Anne considered herself to be a brave girl, all that weird stuff happening around her was beginning to freak her out. So the tremor sent her rushing to the only person in the boat she felt safe with.
Taeko looked down at the child who was hugging her waist and gave her head a gentle pat.
“Don’t worry, it’s going to be alright.” Taeko softly said.
Feeling Kamado's gentle hand caressing her hair, Anne had to blush in embarrassment as Taeko’s kind gesture effectively got her to calm down a bit.
Whatever was happening down there made the boat stop moving. There was still no sign of Jotaro resurfacing.
“I-It’s been too long!” Joseph frowned as a scent of worry came from him. “He’s still not coming up!”
“A whirlpool!” Avdol pointed out as the water began to rotate around the spot Jotaro had sunk. “There’s a giant whirlpool!”
“Where the hell is JoJo?!” Polnareff asked, quickly growing impatient of waiting.
“Let’s go save him!” Kakyoin shouted as he called for his stand. Avdol, Polnareff and Taeko followed his lead, summoning theirs as well.
Hierophant Green was the first to rush towards the water, with the others close behind. Only when the second the emerald stand made contact with the water, cuts appeared in his user’s hand as he hissed in pain.
“Th-These are scales!” Kakyoin gasped as he examined his and his stand’s hands, quickly realizing what was going on. “Th-That guy’s Stand has scales as sharp as razors!”
“There are countless scales swirling in that whirlpool.” Avdol said as observed the countless scales glistening in the big whirlpool. “He wasn’t bluffing when he said he could beat all five of us. That whirlpool is like a watery antlion pit! It’s very possible we could all die if we dive in.”
“C-Curses… It’s too reckless to act.” Avdol slammed his fists against the railing, frustrated at not being able to help the teen.
Taeko bit her lip, she also wanted to jump in and help her friend but at the same time if she did jump and got caught in the whirlpool it would end up making the situation even worse.
While she gazed upon the huge body of rotating water, Taeko chose to have faith in Jotaro. He was a very resourceful and smart guy. She also knew that he was more than capable of protecting himself.
She had to believe that.
“It’s JoJo! I saw him in the whirlpool!” Kakyoin’s yell made Taeko finally see the dark figure close to the surface.
“This isn’t good! He was limp!” Polnareff exclaimed.
“Limp? He wasn’t struggling at all?” Joseph asked as he stroked his beard, deep in thought. “That might be a good thing.”
“What?” His last comment left the others confused.
After what felt like an eternity but were only a few more moments, Jotaro’s head bursted out the water to the relief of everyone there.
“Jojo!”
“That’s my grandson for you!” Joseph cheered, a detectable scent of pride and relief coming from him.
Breathing heavily after being minutes underwater, the teen began to swim back to the ship. His grandfather prepared to throw him a life preserver.
“Well done, Jotaro! Hurry up and come up!” Joseph congratulated him.
But before he could throw the life preserver an explosion rocked the ship. Taeko sniffed the air, cursing herself for not noticing the scent of explosives before.
“There are bombs on the boat!” She warned them with a yell. “More than one!”
“What?!”
As she just predicted, more explosions followed the first one. The deck was being destroyed too quickly for them to do anything about it.
“It can only have been that captain! Damn it!” Polnareff cursed, knowing full well that the boat they were on was going to sink.
“Hurry up and get the emergency boats out!” Avdol urged the others to move.
“We’ll signal a nearby boat for help!”
｡⋆｡° | ⋆ 𐀔 ⋆ | °｡⋆｡
The group watched as their boat disappeared below the waves from their little emergency boat. Everyone, including the other sailors, was able to escape the sinking unharmed.
Unfortunately, with the boat they lost all of their stuff. The only thing left were the clothes they were wearing and the emergency supplies stored in a compartment in the boat. Now in the freezing night, Taeko wished she had been wearing warm clothes like Jotaro and Kakyoin.
Speaking of whom, both had been cut by the scales so she decided to check up on them.
When she became the team's medic? She has no idea. But Taeko is beginning to have the feeling they would need one… a lot.
Kakyoin had only suffered minor cuts in the brief moment his stand touched the water, his hand wasn’t even bleeding anymore.
Jotaro, who spent much time inside the whirlpool, had been protected by his uniform so the cuts he suffered were only on his hands and face. Unlike with Kakyoin’s, his cuts were still bleeding a bit. Taeko tried to offer him some bandages she found on the boat but Jotaro wasn’t collaborating.
“I already told you I’m fine! Don’t touch me.” He rudely snapped at her, making too much noise considering both his grandfather, Avdol and Kakyoin were already sleeping.
“You are still bleeding. At least let me clean the cuts.” Taeko requested while eying a cut he had in his cheek.
“Good grief, woman! I told you I don’t need it!” He pointed a thumb at Anne, who had ended up in the same boat as them. “Go check on the runt instead!”
“Stop calling me a runt, you shitty jerk!” Anne barked at him, her impression of the delinquent becoming even worse. “My name is Anne!”
“I didn’t ask.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Anne.” Taeko intervened before the two of them began to argue. “I’m Taeko Kamado.” She decided to introduce each of the guys to the kid. “Those are Joseph, Avdol, Kakyoin and Polnareff. And you already met Jotaro. You are safe with us.”
“Safe? Really?” Anne scoffed, sticking a finger in Polnareff’s direction. “I heard him suggest that they should throw me back in the ocean!”
“I’m sure you misunderstood.” Taeko confidently stated. “Polnareff is a nice guy, he wouldn’t say that.”
Taeko would have probably kept believing in his innocence if not for the guilty look he had on his face.
“Polnareff!” She gasped with an expression of horror.
“It seemed like a good idea at the moment!” He said, not wanting to have to apologize.
In response Anne huffed at him, turning her head away from them. Taeko had the feeling the kid wasn’t willing to talk to them any longer. Taeko hoped the child would sleep a bit, she is probably exhausted after all that action.
“Before I forget, here.” Polnareff gave her the backpack he had been guarding ever since she jumped into the ocean after Anne. Taeko smiled as she saw that it had been well taken care of by the French. It wasn't even wet.
“Thank you!” She unzipped the backpack to check on the books. “I don’t know what I would even do if they had gotten damaged.”
“They?” He repeated.
“The water and flower breathing records.” With a smile on her face, Taeko took out the books to show them to him. “Written by all those who used those techniques ever since their creation. They are priceless!”
“Wait!” He gasped, looking at the two books in bewilderment. “There are two of them?? I thought water was the only one!”
“There are way more than two.” Fortunately there was one page on the introduction chapter of all the books with a chart of all the breathing styles so she opened it for him to see. “Each person that learned the breathing techniques has to see which one he would be compatible with and sometimes they created new ones.” She pointed to the insect breathing style in the chart. “Take for exemple my grandmother’s older sister. She created a breathing style that instead of cutting her opponents consisted of stabbing and thrusting her sword at them. Kind of like…”
“…A fencing sword.” He correctly guessed with a smirk. “That sounds like a style that would be compatible with me and my Silver Chariot.”
“I think that too!” She beamed with excitement. “When this is all over, maybe you can come visit Japan! I can ask my friend to get the book about insect breathing for you!”
“Kamado, I…” He knows he is only going with them until he finds the man with two right hands. But as he sees her expression of pure innocence, he couldn’t find within himself to reject her offer. “I would love to.”
God, I already developed a soft spot for her. He realized to his dismay. He knew forming any attachment with the group would be a mistake as it would only make it harder for him to leave them behind.
Still, he couldn’t help but liking to talk with her.
“So…” He chose to enjoy her company for now and live the moment. “What styles do you think would be more compatible with the others?”
“Avdol would obviously use flame breathing since his stand controls fire.” Taeko immediately answered as this was a question she had already asked herself. “For Jotaro I am not sure but I would guess…”
And so they kept talking for a while, neither of them getting much sleep that night.
｡⋆｡° | ⋆ 𐀔 ⋆ | °｡⋆｡
Dreams are supposed to be different, aren’t they? Hers always were.
So why is she now having the same one?
Again, she found herself in that chaos with the scent of blood and despair. The screams ringing in her ears seemed even louder this time.
“Get back!!”
“Don’t just stand here!! Get away!!”
“Kamado?”
“STOOOP!!”
There was a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t kill anyone!!”
“Kamado, wake up!!”
It was the hand that was shaking her that woke her from that terrible nightmare. She opened her eyes to find everyone in the boat looking at her.
“W-what?” Her heart was still racing as she took deep breaths.
“You were screaming like a mad woman.” Polnareff said without really thinking about his wording.
“Oh…” Taeko realized she must have awoken all of them with her screams. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for having a nightmare.” Kakyoin reassuringly told her. In fact, the others had been up for a while since it was already morning. “Do you want to talk about it?” He kindly offered.
She didn’t answer him, her hesitation to speak making it evident she wasn’t comfortable talking about the nightmare. Her friend respected that and didn’t pressure her.
“Have some water.” Joseph offered a flask with water to Anne. While they weren’t expecting her presence, all of them would still take care of her until they got to land. “We’ve sent signals for help, so someone should be here soon.”
“I still have no idea what’s going on.” Anne admitted as she accepted the flask, all the while her eyes wandered around the boat and the bizarre group that resided there. “What was all that happened yesterday?”
“We’re hurrying along a journey, just like you.” He explained with a smile. “Though you’re on a journey to see your father, while I’m on one for my daughter.”
There was a trace of shame in Anne’s scent after he said that.
The young girl took a sip from the water she was given just to immediately spit it all out as she saw something surprising in the distance.
“Hey! That’s our precious water!” Joseph scolded the girl since he knew there was limited drinkable water and there was still no sign of rescue coming. “Don’t you spit it out!”
“Is something wrong with the water?” Taeko asked.
“N-No…” The girl answered her, still staring in the same direction. She was so overwhelmed by what she was seeing that she began to stutter “E-E… E-E-E-E-E…”
She was taking so long to finish that it gave enough time for Taeko to turn to where the girl was looking and realize what gave her that reaction.
“Everyone, look!” The girl finally finished.
As the team looked at the gigantic ship no one noticed approaching, they thought rescue had arrived.
How wrong they were…