Chapter 24: The Noble Flying Unit
A rhythmic breathing pattern, one painfully familiar to Joseph, exhaled from Shirou Emiya's mouth and nose. Shirou was undoubtedly using Ripple (Hamon) now.
He applied the power of the Ripple to the teacup. More precisely, he used the Ripple to cause the tea inside the cup to adhere to the interior like a magnet, ensuring it wouldn't spill out even as the cup was flipped upside down.
This wasn't actually a complex technique. Although Joseph had failed his first attempt at this back in the day, that was because he had relied entirely on raw physical talent without having learned a single shred of Hamon theory. Once he was taken to Venice for special training, he quickly mastered this finer method of Ripple control.
In other words, Shirou—who could project the Ripple technique along with the gemstone Joseph had given him—shouldn't have been like the greenhorn Joseph of the past.
Yet, the result before them was the opposite of Joseph's expectation. The tea inside Shirou's cup poured out completely under the force of gravity. Shirou's Ripple had failed to make the liquid adhere!
That... wasn't right, was it?
"Just like this—if it were you using the Ripple, Mr. Joestar, it would be basically impossible for this tea to fall out. But I, who only projected your technique, cannot do it," Shirou sighed as he placed the empty cup back on the table.
This limitation was actually described in the original Fate/stay night. By projecting Caliburn, Shirou had projected Saber's swordsmanship, yet he couldn't exert the overwhelming skill that Saber possessed compared to Gilgamesh.
Instead, he found himself suppressed by Gilgamesh's martial techniques.
"...It seems we truly cannot choose to travel to Egypt by plane anymore," Joseph said regretfully.
After witnessing this gap in performance, no matter how much of a hurry Joseph was in, he couldn't actually let Shirou fly them to Egypt with such half-baked piloting skills.
"No, Mr. Joestar. It's not just the air route; I'm afraid the sea route is also out of the question," Avdol added. "According to Shirou's intel, among DIO's Stand users are [Dark Blue Moon] and [Strength], both specialists in aquatic combat. Not to mention the ability of [High Priestess], which would be equally difficult to deal with inside a steel ship."
Even though Shirou's "spoilers" allowed them to know the enemy's Stand abilities in advance, some things couldn't be won simply by having the information.
Like right now.
"In that case, is our only option the land route?" Joseph pulled out a map from his coat and rubbed his brow. "The Himalayas, the deserts, the unique terrain... plus the customs of various countries...
I wonder if the SPW Foundation can coordinate these relations for us in advance."
To be honest, looking at the various geographical markers and national borders on the map, Joseph really felt like it might be better to just take the sea route. Between the attacks from DIO's Stand users and the inevitable challenges of the land route, it was hard to say which would consume more time.
Given that they only had fifty days and already possessed intel on the enemy Stands, the sea route didn't seem so unacceptable after all...
"Let's go by sea," Shirou Emiya spoke up just as Joseph was wavering.
"?"
Joseph and the others instinctively turned their gaze toward Shirou, listening for his reasoning.
"First, as Avdol said, if we choose the sea route, we will inevitably encounter [Dark Blue Moon] and [Strength], both specialized for water. But these two Stands are actually easy to deal with. Being 'water-specialized' means that as long as we don't step into the water, [Dark Blue Moon's] advantage is effectively zero. Combined with its poor range, its user would be almost completely exposed on the open sea.
The same goes for [Strength]. Although it can possess a ship and manipulate its components to attack, as long as we don't board the ship possessed by [Strength], its ability is also effectively negated."
Shirou, having thoroughly analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both Stands, continued: "The only one that can truly be called troublesome is [High Priestess].
As a long-range Stand, its range is not only vast, but it can also assimilate with the ship we are on. Even if we can attack the user by damaging the Stand, [High Priestess] can just dump us all into the ocean after assimilating the ship. That would force us to face water-specialized Stands like [Dark Blue Moon]."
"..."
Hearing this, Joseph and the others couldn't help but look dejected. They had been quite pleased when Shirou pointed out the flaws of the first two Stands, thinking the sea route was their best bet. But once [High Priestess] entered the picture, the weaknesses of the other two ceased to be weaknesses at all. As long as she existed, DIO's assassins could transform the battlefield into an advantageous underwater fight at any time.
"However."
Here came the 'however'. In the midst of the serious atmosphere, Shirou suddenly broke into a smile. "Since it's hard to deal with the Stand [High Priestess], why don't we just deal with its user instead?
During the battle with [Tower of Gray], my projection recorded that same long-range, noble flying-type Stand."
—Trace on!
Shirou projected the stag beetle silhouette of [Tower of Gray], dispelling the group's worries in one stroke. "[Tower of Gray's] speed is Rank A. So, even if my projected version is slightly weaker than the original, it still possesses a high speed of Rank B.
"Combined with [Hermit Purple's] spirit photography, we can quickly locate the user and counterattack the moment we are targeted by [High Priestess]. This is why I believe we can take the sea route."