Upon the boundless ocean, a solitary white yacht floated gently over the blue horizon.
The sea breeze carried the slight saltiness of the tide against their faces, bringing a refreshing chill despite being bathed under the blazing sun.
The calm sea glinted with ripples, catching and reflecting the dazzling sunlight.
There was truly no better weather than this for a relaxing day out at sea.
Yet the four individuals aboard the yacht possessed no leisure or mood for sightseeing whatsoever.
"Mista! What are you doing?"
A stylishly dressed young blonde man stepped over to the side of the gangway, calling out to his comrade repeatedly.
"Where are you, Mista?!"
No matter how many times he called, however, there was no response.
The remaining companions turned their gaze toward the young man, each sensing that something was amiss.
After calling out several more times, the youth grew slightly impatient and jumped down onto the deck, reaching over to open the hatch leading down into the cabin.
"Hey, Mista! Since when do you make jokes like this?!"
The moment he swung the cabin door open, the young man suddenly froze.
It wasn't because he saw something terrifying, nor was he ambushed—rather, naturally and inexplicably, he simply zoned out on the spot.
Yet the world around him cared little for his sudden trance. From the dark depths of the opened cabin, a rapier thrust outward toward the young man with lethal speed.
"Hee-hee... Gotcha!"
Hiding in the shadows, the ambusher flashed a subconscious smirk, watching the point of the blade stop less than half a meter from the youth's chest.
In the next fraction of a second, an unbelievable sight unfolded.
As though guided by a divine force, the dazed youth casually tilted his head, letting the rapier slide harmlessly past his ear. Right in that split second, the ambusher caught a glimpse of his face.
The eyes of the boy named Pannacotta Fugo had completely changed—as if replaced by a different soul entirely, sharp and piercingly alive.
At that exact moment, the ambusher realized:
He has locked onto me!
Despite being concealed within the darkness, he felt like a helpless prey trapped in the sights of an apex predator.
How is that possible?! I'm the one pulling off the ambush! They shouldn't even know I'm here!
My concealment is invincible!
What is with that look in his eyes?! Did he actually spot me?! Impossible!
He's just lucky! That's all it is!
There's no way he dodges my next attack!
He frantically tried to retract the rapier for a follow-up thrust, but...
Grab!
What?!
The mastermind's eyes bulged in absolute shock. His blade had been caught bare-handed by Fugo.
"Although I don't really know what's going on..."
Stretching his neck slightly as if adjusting to an unfamiliar body, the boy named Fugo stared blankly into the dark void and said softly: "Since you attacked me, I can safely classify you as an enemy."
Eek─────!
Before the ambusher could even scream, a Stand forged with a metallic, mechanical texture manifested behind the boy. Replacing the youth's hand, it clamped down on the rapier and yanked violently.
"Whitesnake!"
Against an enemy whose Stand relied purely on sneak attacks and whose user lacked combat intellect, the encounter before Heaven Stairway's all-A stats was even easier than Star Platinum beating up Steely Dan. In a single exchange, the enemy was dragged right out of the dark by his weapon, and two Discs were ripped clean out of his head.
From the initial ambush to the absolute defeat of the enemy, fewer than ten seconds had elapsed.
Yet the crisis facing the youth was far from over.
"Fugo!"
Three stylishly dressed men leapt down onto the deck, glaring intently at the youth before them, the collapsed attacker, and the Stand holding two Discs.
"Wait! You aren't Fugo! Who on earth are you?!"
Facing the young man with bobbed hair and a stylish white suit shouting questions at him, Fugo tilted his head.
He quickly scanned the three men standing in opposition: a blonde donut-haircut, a grey-haired man with shoulder-length locks... Memories began returning to him.
"Bucciarati, Abbacchio, and... Giorno?"
Taking in the three who should have been his allies, Fugo paused: "You're calling me... Fugo?"
Moving his slightly stiff limbs, Fugo walked over to the ship's railing under their vigilant gazes, using the reflective metallic surface to catch a clear look at his reflection.
"Did I... transmigrate again?"
Fugo—or rather, Takatsuki—was the soul currently residing within this youth's body.
This was evident enough from the fact that the Stand he summoned was Heaven Stairway rather than Purple Haze.
But...
Why am I here? And why did I turn into Fugo?!
This was Takatsuki's sole confusion. He clearly remembered his last memory was attempting to absorb the colossal volume of Tao within the Tan Flower, Pangu—only to be knocked unconscious by the overwhelming surge of energy due to over-nourishment.
Given time, he could have easily smoothed out that energy and converted it into his own power.
Did some accident happen?
Takatsuki didn't know.
System!
Takatsuki called out to his System internally.
In the previous world, the System had gone dormant due to the Trial Task. Now that he had arrived in a new world, had anything changed?
"Ah! Papa! You're finally awake!"
A familiar voice rang inside Takatsuki's consciousness, instantly calming his slightly flustered mind: "Ai-chan, you're awake? What's the situation?"
"Papa, you were way too careless!"
Ai's voice carried a hint of dissatisfaction: "Absorbing that Tan Flower's Tao without setting up a single layer of defense!"
"Ahem, I thought I could handle that energy easily. Did something go wrong?"
"Not with the energy—you could definitely master that Tao. But because you had no defenses up, a group of braindead samurai showed up and attacked you directly. The attack triggered the volatile Tao inside your body, causing an explosion that wiped out the entire island."
"..."
Something like that happened?! Why don't I remember any of it? Oh right, I was unconscious. Never mind then.
"The explosion tore through space-time. Strictly speaking, you had already completed the mission, so the System was automatically sending you back. But that unexpected spatial anomaly created a lapse in the System's shields, and we got ambushed."
Ai's tone was deeply displeased.
"Ambushed? By who?"
Takatsuki hadn't expected that absorbing a flower would lead to an ambush, let alone getting sniped on the way back.
"Who else could it be? Naturally, it's the culprit who dragged you to this world in the first place—the Fate of this world!"