Chapter 13: Old Man, Your Stand Is the Most Useful
Although Joseph's Spirit Photography was quite unreliable in Part 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, that unreliability actually only manifested in matters related to DIO.
For instance, when Joseph intended to photograph DIO's location, or in the "Yellow Temperance" arc, when the enemy used the Stand ability of [Yellow Temperance] to disguise himself as Noriaki Kakyoin, Joseph's photograph directly labeled Kakyoin as the enemy without noting the disguise.
...Aside from those instances.
The accuracy of Joseph's photography at other times was actually very high. Whether it was accurately finding a specific object in an unfamiliar city or performing a precise internal anatomical scan of a human body—something even medical equipment struggles to do—Joseph could achieve it with [Hermit Purple].
Thus, Shirou Emiya made a bold guess. For DIO to interfere with Joseph's photography, DIO first had to sense that Joseph was targeting him for a reading. If DIO couldn't sense it, he would be successfully photographed by Joseph, just like those successful examples mentioned above.
In other words, a fly that DIO wouldn't spare a glance at—a fly DIO wouldn't consider related to him, let alone a subordinate—could not possibly resist Joseph's Spirit Photography!
"Once Avdol confirms that this fly is a species from Egypt, and Mr. Joestar, your photography confirms this fly's current location is in Egypt," Shirou Emiya voiced his hypothesis, "we can then proceed to confirm and lock onto DIO's specific location."
'It can be done like this? It can actually be done this way?!'
This was a line of thinking Joseph had never considered. Especially since it really seemed feasible.
After Joseph consumed another 30,000-yen camera, following the method given by Shirou—not to photograph DIO's location, but to photograph this fly that even DIO hadn't noticed, which had accidentally flown near him—a "Marauder's Map" marking the fly's location was successfully produced!
"Although it's impossible for a camera of this size to print an entire world map... No!"
"I should say, even if it did print a world map, we wouldn't be able to see the specific coordinates on such a small photo, but as expected!"
Joseph pointed at the spirit-photo, which didn't show the whole world but instead displayed the structure and name of a specific city along with the target orientation. He shouted excitedly, "This fly is in Cairo, Egypt! Right inside this marked building!!"
Close, so close!
From having zero clues at the start to Shirou Emiya locking onto DIO's location with just a few sentences—even Joseph hadn't noticed how he was gradually becoming dependent on this "cheat."
When he saw that Shirou seemed to want to say something more, Joseph quickly suppressed his excitement and instinctively gave the stage back to him.
He listened as Shirou continued: "Now that we've found DIO's location, the next issue we need to solve is how we will depart.
Don't worry about that, everyone. The SPW Foundation will purchase the fastest plane tickets for us and handle our transit issues," Joseph declared confidently, raising his hand.
Just as in the live-action Justice League movie, when the Flash asks Batman what his superpower is and Batman simply replies that he's rich—even though Joseph isn't the heir to the SPW Foundation, according to Speedwagon's will, the Foundation must fully support members of the Joestar family. Therefore, Joseph, who is effectively no different from the heir, indicated that any problem solvable with money isn't a problem at all.
"No, Mr. Joestar. If it were truly that simple, I wouldn't have brought it up separately," Shirou shook his head.
"Perhaps before this, you could still fly to Japan on a commercial plane, Mr. Joestar. But after using [Hermit Purple] so many times consecutively, DIO—who can sense himself being photographed through his own similar Stand—cannot possibly do nothing.
Therefore, rather than a commercial flight, I suggest we take a private jet. Furthermore, aside from the necessary pilots, there should be no extra personnel on that plane. Even the pilots must undergo identity verification before departure."
If only Joseph hadn't limited his experience to flying small planes and lacked the skill for large aircraft, or if the others knew how to fly—Shirou would have preferred to exclude the pilots entirely. He wanted to ensure that only they were on that private jet, ensuring none of DIO's Stand user subordinates could get in, and minimizing potential losses of innocent civilians.
"True. Based on DIO's personality as described by my grandmother, he is undoubtedly a guy capable of doing such a thing," Joseph agreed, reminded by Shirou. "In that case, I'll go contact the SPW Foundation people and have them arrange everything."
As Joseph sprang into action, Shirou Emiya, who had given so many suggestions, didn't stay idle either. He began writing down information from his past-life memories regarding DIO's Stand user subordinates on paper found in the Kujo house.
Ensuring the vehicle's safe arrival, plus the advantage of knowing information in advance—this way, most of the tragedies and casualties from the original story could be avoided.
Looking at the sheets of paper he had filled to the brim, and seeing Avdol return shortly after Shirou had named the fly's scientific name—having quickly found the corresponding entry in an insect encyclopedia—Shirou couldn't help but nod to himself with satisfaction.
He felt that his "game" could be cleared ahead of schedule.