After waiting for about an hour, Zuke sensed that the "Blackbird: Lover," which had lodged itself in Koichi Hirose's body, stopped moving.
It was clear that Koichi Hirose's plane had landed, and he had arrived at an airport in Italy.
If everything proceeded as expected, Koichi would soon meet Giorno Giovanna, the protagonist of Part 5, and have his luggage stolen by him.
Closing his eyes, Zuke carefully felt the location of his "Blackbird: Lover" before activating instant transmission, disappearing into the crowd.
Thanks to his "Presence Concealment," no one noticed someone suddenly vanishing, and similarly, no one in the Italian airport noticed a new figure appearing in the middle of the hall.
Even Koichi Hirose, who was not far from Zuke, was unaware.
"So this is an Italian airport... Doesn't seem all that special," Zuke remarked while holding a book titled Learn Italian Quickly, which he had bought earlier at the airport in Japan. He scanned his surroundings, taking in the airport's environment.
The setting was decent, but Zuke wasn't there for sightseeing. His gaze quickly locked onto Koichi Hirose not far away.
Using his "Presence Concealment" ability, Zuke tailed Koichi as he left the airport. Soon, he saw Koichi looking for a taxi at the airport entrance.
Meanwhile, a blond man—Giorno Giovanna—was chatting with two guards at the airport entrance.
Standing at the door, Zuke observed as Giorno quickly tricked Koichi into crossing to the other side of the street. The naive Koichi placed his luggage into the car's trunk, only for Giorno to drive off with it.
Realizing he'd been deceived, Koichi wasted no time summoning his Stand, "Echoes ACT3," and applied three times the gravity to Giorno's taxi, pinning it immobile to the ground.
However, Giorno acted decisively, abandoning the car and fleeing on foot, leaving Koichi dumbfounded.
When Koichi attempted to retrieve his luggage from the car, he found only a frog inside. The frog quickly escaped from the vehicle.
What Koichi didn't know was that the frog was his luggage.
Giorno's Stand, "Gold Experience," could infuse inanimate objects with life, transforming them into plants or animals. Koichi's suitcase had been turned into a frog.
After witnessing the recreation of this iconic scene from the original story, Zuke followed suit. He headed in the direction Giorno had fled, intending to implant his "Blackbird: Lover" into Giorno as well.
"That car breaking down so suddenly gave me quite a scare..."
In a nearby parking lot, Giorno had stopped, breathing heavily after evading Koichi.
Having been in the driver's seat when Koichi summoned his Stand, Giorno hadn't seen it, assuming instead that the car had malfunctioned.
Fortunately, he had managed to shake Koichi off, and the luggage he turned into a frog would eventually make its way back to him.
Stealing luggage wasn't something a "good person" would do. Then again, Giorno never considered himself a good person.
In the "honest and simple" Italy, such petty theft was hardly unusual. Compared to others, at least he had the decency to leave the passport to return later. That, in his eyes, made him a decent man.
Zuke's figure appeared not far behind him. His "Blackbird" Stand, using its "Justice" ability, released small fog-like avatars.
These avatars transformed into tiny crows that flew toward Giorno's ear.
Under normal circumstances, Giorno wouldn't notice them—"Blackbird: Lover" was so small it was nearly invisible. Coupled with the element of surprise, it was almost impossible to detect unless Giorno had eyes on the back of his head.
However, just as the black crow was about to enter Giorno's ear, a golden light suddenly appeared beside him. With a sharp punch toward his ear, Giorno shouted: Orıginal content can be found at 𝗻𝗼𝘷𝗲𝗹•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥
The miniature crow, "Blackbird: Justice," was struck by Giorno's Stand, "Gold Experience," and failed to penetrate his ear.
Even so, Giorno's expression changed slightly after delivering the punch.
Although it was just a small, insect-sized creature, his punch left his fist feeling slightly numb.
"I already felt something was off earlier. A strong, vibrant life force has been following me..."
Turning around, Giorno glared at Zuke with a sharp expression.
"Who are you? And was that thing trying to enter my ear your doing?"
Hearing this, Zuke realized why his "Presence Concealment" had failed to fool Giorno.
It turned out his exceptionally strong life force had alerted Giorno.
Giorno's Stand, "Gold Experience," operated by injecting life force, giving him a keen sense for such energy.
In the original story, Giorno frequently sensed "the number of life forces" in a given area to estimate the number of enemies.
Naturally, Zuke's life force was overwhelming. Even with "Presence Concealment," Giorno had detected something unusual.
This was a miscalculation. Zuke had planned to covertly implant "Blackbird: Lover" into Giorno to monitor the group of protagonists.
Seeing Giorno's serious expression, Zuke realized he would need to adjust his plans.
Sitting on a bench in the parking lot, Giorno and Zuke faced each other.
"So you're saying that the rapid spread of drugs in Italy is the work of this 'Passione' organization?" Giorno's expression was filled with rage after Zuke's explanation.
What Giorno detested most was the sale of drugs to children—an act that, in his view, destroyed their futures.
Though Giorno didn't consider himself a good person—his dream was to become a mafia boss—he believed that even criminals should have a sense of honor and should not stoop to such heinous acts.
"Exactly. My goal is to eliminate this organization's boss. For that, I need your help."
Zuke nodded. As he had expected, his words had successfully sparked Giorno's hostility toward the Passione organization.
"But... why me? With your strength, you shouldn't need my help, right?" Giorno, while considering taking down the organization, looked at Zuke with a mixture of curiosity and doubt.
Guys, I am back, I got done with my exams, report, and interview today and finally got free.
The novel will have regular updates starting next week so yeah, good luck everyone and have a nice day/night.