THUD!
"Hey, Rohan... what's our next move?"
The sound of a fist slamming against the table echoed through the room. Rohan Kishibe stared blankly at the scene before him, his mind momentarily failing to process the sensory input.
"Rohan-sensei?"
"Rohan?"
Koichi, Jotaro, and Okuyasu watched the artist in silence. He seemed to be lost in an internal monologue that none of them could fathom.
"Assassin..."
"Yes. Time has recoiled again."
"And it seems to have regressed by exactly one hour."
Having confirmed the situation, Rohan finally responded, his voice hollow as he echoed the words of the girl standing beside him.
'!'
Jotaro and the others listened to the unfiltered exchange, their expressions shifting as they waited for a more comprehensive explanation.
Earlier, while Rohan was still confined to his hospital bed, he had mentioned experiencing a similar temporal regression. They had been warned that Son Goku would transform into a Great Ape and wreak havoc, so they had established an observation post on this specific street.
But instead of the expected rampage, they had encountered yet another "Time Recoil."
"I'll fill you in on what happened before the reset."
Rohan rubbed his temples, a wave of profound exhaustion washing over him.
He began to systematically recount the events of the "Lost" hour.
"DIO has been neutralized. Jotaro and I dealt with him personally."
"As for Yoshikage Kira... I called to confirm the status of the other group. Josuke said they had him cornered, but he used an unknown ability to escape into the confusion."
"The regression occurred while both groups were actively pursuing Kira's trail."
"That is the current situation."
Silence fell over the room as the group processed Rohan's report.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. They had been mere steps away from final success, only for an unknown trigger to reset the board and render their efforts moot.
BANG!
"Dammit! This is just going to keep happening, isn't it? It's never going to move forward!"
Okuyasu pounded the table in frustration, his mood souring with every passing second.
"Do you think Lancer's Master was killed again?"
Koichi offered the theory that had become their default explanation for temporal shifts. In his mind, this conflict was proving to be far more labyrinthine and "Bizarre" than a simple test of strength.
Victory seemed to be a moving target that they couldn't quite pin down.
"There is one element that seems to defy the rules of this regression."
Jotaro reached into his coat pocket and produced a Dragon Ball, placing it firmly on the table.
"Jotaro-san! Where did that come from?!"
The sight of the golden orb left the group in a state of collective shock.
Even Rohan was momentarily stunned.
He remembered clearly that the only opportunity Jotaro had to secure a Dragon Ball was after defeating DIO, retrieving it from a hidden pocket in the vampire's attire.
"Rohan, I assume this has something to do with the specific nature of your memories?"
Jotaro looked at the artist, his eyes questioning the logic of the object's presence.
"Ah... that's right. This is the exact orb you recovered from DIO after we brought him down."
Rohan stared at the five-starred ball, his eyes confirming what his mind was struggling to accept.
"Which means..."
"Even if the flow of time regresses, the Dragon Balls themselves remain unaffected."
Jotaro's voice was level, his analytical mind already leaping to the subsequent tactical implications.
"This is a significant advantage..."
"With Rohan and Assassin retaining their memories, we have a fixed point of reference."
"It proves that as long as we secure the Dragon Balls, the iterations of our opponents are meaningless. Their 'Reset' cannot undo the loss of their primary objective."
"If we collect all seven and make our wish, we can end this farce of a war on our own terms."
"Physical combat is no longer the only path to victory."
The group fell silent, the weight of Jotaro's words settling over them.
No matter how slow they were to process the mechanics, the conclusion was inescapable.
Facing an opponent who could manipulate time was a terrifying prospect. If you remained unaware of the reset, you were nothing more than a character in a game being "Optimized" by your enemy until you eventually failed.
But that fear had been mitigated.
They had found a crack in the enemy's system.
"Hmph. So as long as we keep the orbs, they can loop as much as they want. It won't change the fact that their hands are empty."
"Our odds just moved significantly in our favor!"
Josuke leaned back in his chair, a flicker of his usual confidence returning to his face.
"A typical participant might not realize this..."
"But I suspect Lancer's Master is well aware of this quirk. We must remain vigilant."
"It doesn't matter. If I run into Son Goku, I'm just going to turn tail and run."
"Assuming you can actually outrun him..."
The conversation shifted into a more relaxed planning phase as the group adjusted their expectations.
"Regardless of the changes, we should attempt to maintain the previous trajectory as much as possible."
"Josuke, you need to be extra careful. Yoshikage Kira's Servant likely retains his memories as well."
"Oh, I'll be watching for him."
"Ah... I feel like if we make one wrong move, the whole thing is going to collapse like a house of cards."
The primary objective remained unchanged. They had come so close to success in the previous timeline; this time, they would ensure the outcome was final.
"Jotaro and I will go back to the hospital. We need to recruit Yuuya Fungami to track DIO's scent again."
"Stay safe out there, Jotaro-san!"
"Understood."
"Is there anything more farcical than this?"
Subaru Natsuki covered his face with his hands, his voice muffled by a wave of pure, unadulterated frustration.
He was incredibly grateful that Homura Akemi could retain her memories, otherwise he would be forced to explain the "Return by Death" style mechanics for the dozenth time.
"It seems the ability to rewind time is not a monopoly held by you or me..."
Homura habitually brushed a lock of hair from her face, her expression unreadable as she spoke to the confused Miyu and Kid Goku.
"Archer?"
Miyu looked at the two of them, her brow furrowed. She felt as though she had missed an entire season of their shared journey in the span of a single heartbeat.
"We had just beaten Accelerator. I saw his body unravelling and everything. Why did it have to reset now?!"
Subaru was practically vibrating with "Gamer Rage." It was the specific, crushing sadness of defeating a final boss only for the game to crash before the save point.
"Whatever... at least we know the winning strategy now. We'll just do it again next time."
He took a deep breath, forcing his irritation aside.
The conditions were the same. Accelerator couldn't possibly know what had happened in the future timeline. Another "First-Time Ambush" was still a viable strategy.
"The real question is... who exactly is triggering these regressions?"
Subaru joined Homura in the realm of tactical speculation.
"We experienced a reset earlier this morning, but that one was only a few minutes in duration."
"It's possible the same individual is responsible for both."
Homura recalled the events between 8:25 AM and 8:28 AM, her mind cataloguing the temporal shifts with clinical precision.
"I wonder what the activation requirements are."
"If they can use it without any restrains, then we're in a very precarious position."
"If it's a Servant ability, there will be a limit to the available magical energy. My primary concern is if it's an ability user like yourself, Subaru."
"A Master... yeah, that would be a nightmare."
As the two of them continued their debate, the world around them suddenly slowed, the vibrant colors bleeding away into a static, monochromatic grey.
The suspension lasted for less than three seconds before the world resumed its natural flow.
"A [Time Stop]..."
"Who was that?!"
"You!"
Diavolo stared at the figure before him, his expression one of pure, unfiltered disbelief.
He had calculated that a confrontation with DIO was an eventual possibility, but he hadn't expected it to happen like this.
Not now.
DIO's fist was buried deep within the existing wound in Diavolo's chest. He began to ravenously siphon the man's life force, watching with cold amusement as the "Boss" began to deflate like a punctured balloon.
Within seconds, the once-powerful man was reduced to a withered, leathery husk.
"A collaboration with a man of your caliber would have changed nothing. It was a pointless endeavor from the start."
"And so..."
"Your blood will serve a much better purpose within me!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]