"I didn't expect the SPW Foundation to have a branch here in Hong Kong as well..." Shintaro watched Joseph pacing across the street with a phone pressed to his ear and let out a quiet, tired sigh. "Their resources really are extraordinary."
Avdol's lips curved slightly. "More than that. Every expense of this journey is covered by the Foundation. Its founder — Robert E. O. Speedwagon — was one of Mr. Joseph's grandfather's closest companions."
"That explains a great deal," Kakyoin said. Something settled in his expression — the particular kind of understanding that comes from realizing that the support structures around you run deeper and further back in time than you initially grasped.
"Hey — handsome guys over there!"
From a narrow street-side congee shop, the owner leaned out with enthusiastic energy, apron still dusted with steam. "Tourists, right? Try our congee — piping hot, perfect for warming up!"
Shintaro turned at the sound and read the sign.
Mingren Congee Shop.
For reasons entirely beyond his control, his mind immediately supplied an image: Kakyoin in an apron, ladling congee with the focused precision of a surgeon performing a procedure that has been elevated to an art form. The legendary Noriaki Congee. The dish that had, in comment sections across his previous life, been described as transcending the merely edible and achieving something approaching a spiritual encounter.
There was probably nothing in this world that could compare to that imaginary bowl.
But this was a decent consolation.
"Congee sounds good," Kakyoin said, turning naturally toward the stall. He glanced at Jotaro. "In this region, congee is often eaten as a full meal rather than a side dish." He raised a finger toward the owner. "Then I'll have preserved egg and lean pork congee, please."
"Coming right up! Thank you!" The owner beamed.
"Then I'll have —" Avdol began.
"HEY! You guys!"
Joseph's voice arrived from thirty meters away with the impact of a minor weather event. He had apparently finished his call and was already closing the distance at full stride, the concept of waiting for people having apparently exhausted its welcome.
He threw an arm around Avdol's shoulder and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Don't waste yourselves on a street stall! This Old Man knows a real restaurant. Come on, I'll take you somewhere proper."
At that exact moment, the congee shop owner called out again with perfect timing.
"Oh~ Sir! Would you like a cup of our Hong Kong specialty — hot Coke? Warms the body, clears the mind!"
Joseph stopped walking.
He turned.
He stared at the steaming dark liquid as though it had personally betrayed him.
"Nani?!" The word came out with genuine feeling. "Coke is meant to be drunk ice-cold! What in the world is hot Coke?!"
The owner shrank back slightly. "It's cold out... heating it up makes it easier to—"
"Hey, Old Man." Jotaro's voice arrived before the lecture could fully form. "What did the Foundation say? The next route."
Joseph blinked, visibly rerouting. "We'll cover specifics at the restaurant." He turned to look at Shintaro's general stomach area with the warm grin of a man who has found one reliable constant in an uncertain universe. "I bet certain small personnel are reaching critical hunger levels right now."
Two Black Sperm materialized on his arms immediately, their expressions arranged into something that aspired to be endearing.
"Main body, listen to him!" "He understands us perfectly!"
Shintaro raised both hands. "Alright, I know. I wasn't doing it on purpose."
The preserved egg and lean pork congee arrived at that moment, sealed in a bag, steam fogging the plastic from inside.
"Thank you." Kakyoin accepted it with a polite nod. "Shall we head out?"
"Let's go!"
Joseph took two steps. Then he stopped, reversed course, walked back to the stall, and knocked once on the counter with complete seriousness.
"Listen carefully. Coke must be drunk ice-cold. Without that fizzy kick, it cannot be called Coke. This is non-negotiable."
Declaration delivered, he turned and left.
The owner stared after him in stunned silence.
"Mr. Joseph is remarkably serious about particular things," Kakyoin remarked.
"Of course one should be serious about such things," Joseph replied, already ahead.
Jotaro tugged his hat brim down. "He's like a child having a tantrum in public."
"Nani?! Jotaro —!"
"Yare yare."
Jotaro had already walked ahead without looking back. Joseph gnashed his teeth and followed at full speed, because Jotaro genuinely didn't know the way and both of them understood this. Kakyoin walked through the middle of all of it, shaking his head with a smile that had simply stopped being surprised. The Black Sperm on Shintaro's shoulder continued debating hot beverages in private.
"Does hot Coke even count as a drink?" "If it's drinkable, isn't that sufficient?"
The hotel was clean and the SPW Foundation had delivered dry clothes before anyone arrived.
Everyone showered first. No one wanted to plan the next stage of a world-saving journey while still salt-encrusted from the South China Sea. It seemed like a reasonable standard to hold.
During this interval, Kakyoin's preserved egg and lean pork congee quietly ceased to exist.
Shintaro presented himself afterward with the expression of a man making a minor confession.
Kakyoin looked at him. "It's completely fine," he said, without any irritation whatsoever. "If they enjoy congee, I'll make some for them myself once everything is over."
Shintaro stared at him.
The Black Sperm have apparently secured a future catering arrangement with one of the finest culinary minds they are ever likely to encounter. They have no idea.
When everyone had gathered around the suite's dining table, Joseph folded his hands and the easy bravado fell away, replaced by something older and more focused.
"From here, we change our approach," he said. "The air route is finished. If we face another Stand attack at cruising altitude, we won't survive the casualties."
"We travel by land and sea instead. Enter Egypt in stages."
Avdol's brow creased. "But if we can't defeat DIO within fifty days —"
The air tightened.
Kakyoin's voice came very soft. "If everything had gone smoothly, we'd already be in Cairo by now."
"But arriving too smoothly is actually dangerous," Shintaro said.
He leaned forward. "If all of DIO's subordinates were gathered in Egypt waiting alongside DIO himself — with our current state, a direct frontal assault would have almost no realistic chance." He looked around the table. "But if we defeat the assassins along the way, we weaken his forces, gain the experience we're lacking, and buy the time we need."
Jotaro glanced at him from under his hat brim. Said nothing. Which Shintaro had come to understand as agreement.
Joseph nodded. "That makes sense."
He drew a breath — and then his eyes brightened in the particular way they did when he had already arrived at a destination everyone else was still walking toward.
"Over a hundred years ago," he said, "a novelist named Jules Verne wrote a story called Around the World in Eighty Days. Forty thousand kilometers, by steamship and train." He paused with deliberate weight.
"We have fifty days. From Hong Kong to Egypt — no aircraft required." His grin arrived with the easy confidence of a man who has always found a way through. "We have more than enough time."
[ today was a shit , no maybe this whole week was quiet shit for me as many of you people know i made this account and patreon account so i can earn some money to buy some headphones i had the money but well i thought i will buy myself a new phone and new headphones why because both are not in one piece literally .
on other note i had to pay my fees by this month so almost all the money i had been saving went there and now i am broke again then but thats ok money comes and goes but the fuckery google and claude did today is making me insane i bought the "pro" version of claude and it was not that special then i thought maybe i can get a refund but google is screwing me over on that front i cant open claude support for some reason
DAAMMMMIT i could have eaten out 4 time with that money these assholes are sprinkling salt over my wounds (╥﹏╥) why am i writing this because i want bitch about my life to people who don't know me so they can't bitch back to me]
[[
and i do read all the comments even those in other languages (by translating it of course) so you guys can also bitch some as well -- GOD if are please tilt some fortune this way please other than sometimes eating chicken i haven't done any thing wrong ]]
_____________________
https://[email protected]/mrSOMEONE01234? [replace @ with a]
>>>>>I'm a student, and I'll try my best to keep uploading chapters regularly <<<<<
thanks for your support
[[READER TIER 1: translates stories {15$} ]]
[[[[Please at least visit my patreon so I can have some traffic]]]]]