Chapter Twelve: I Haven't Seen It Either

“Bang!”

Before the Stardust Crusaders could even react, a figure crashed through the floor, being blasted down from the upper level of the mansion.

For a brief moment, the Crusaders thought it was Mr. Polnareff, who had been attacked by DIO. Thankfully, the shrewd old Joseph Josephson reached out to restrain Polnareff, who was about to rush forward to help.

“What a terrifying guy… he almost got killed…”

Another figure then jumped down from the upper floor, unmistakably Polnareff himself, smiling.

Despite having endured the collapsing mansion and DIO’s assault, Polnareff bore not a single scratch. Even his floral shirt and beach shorts remained spotless.

Comparing him to the Stardust Crusaders, who had just gang-tackled Vanilla Ice but emerged covered in dust and grime from the collapsing mansion, the difference was glaringly obvious to anyone who wasn’t blind.

“You bastard! What kind of monster are you?” DIO shouted furiously, rising from the crater he had made, his limbs twisted unnaturally as he glared at Polnareff in shock.

With speed, strength, and defense all far beyond his own, DIO could only see this utterly invulnerable opponent as a monster.

“What’s going on? Isn’t that supposed to be DIO?” Polnareff was confused. Normally, Polnareff should have been the one ambushed and badly injured, only to be saved by the others from DIO at the last moment. Then, they would all join forces to defeat the monster and have a happy ending.

But now, it was DIO who had fallen from above, looking battered, while Polnareff was being called a monster!

Polnareff wasn’t the only one bewildered— even the experienced Joseph Josephson had to admit he’d never seen anything like this.

“This is outrageous. I don’t want to be called a monster by someone who can lose his head and still not die,” Polnareff said, feigning distress as he scratched his hair. This innocent act only further enraged DIO.

In all his long life, DIO had never encountered someone like Polnareff who couldn’t be defeated by force or insult.

He was a hundred times more infuriating than Jonathan!

“Die! ZA WARUDO! Muda muda muda muda...!”

Enraged, DIO unleashed his Stand once more.

Within the frozen world of stopped time, the diver-shaped Stand rained furious blows on Polnareff.

Yet, as with countless previous attacks, the punches strong enough to shatter steel plates landed on Polnareff without even ruffling his hair.

That dark, mysterious substance covering him was like armor from a myth, shielding this detestable monster from any harm.

Then, whether intentional or not, DIO’s Stand suddenly delivered a flying kick aimed at Polnareff’s groin.

Knowing previous attacks were futile, this kick was more an act of venting frustration.

“Bang!”

To DIO’s astonishment, even in the final second of stopped time when movement should be impossible, Polnareff suddenly launched a flying kick that sent DIO’s Stand flying.

DIO himself was knocked backward, tumbling across the ground a dozen times.

“You can’t kick there,” Polnareff said angrily. While the kick couldn’t truly hurt him, this was a matter concerning Nami’s lifelong happiness—not something to joke about.

“Impossible! Time is stopped! How can you still move?” DIO roared in fear and disbelief, lying upside down on the ground. Time stop was his proud ability, and now it had been broken?

“Well, how to explain this… It’s complicated, but just think of it this way: at the speed of light, time theoretically stops... So time stop is useless against me!” Polnareff shrugged, opting for the simplest explanation rather than trying to delve into relativity with DIO.

Time stop had no effect on him.

Though Polnareff couldn’t truly reverse time—at least, not yet.

“This can’t be! Humans can’t reach the speed of light! You’re clearly a monster!” DIO’s mind shattered. To be fair, he didn’t believe in nonsense about light speed or time reversal.

But Polnareff’s immunity to time stop was undeniable, and worse, it destroyed DIO’s confidence to continue fighting him.

“We can’t let Polnareff fight alone! Let’s all go in!” Kakyoin, oblivious to what had happened during the five seconds of time stop, saw only DIO’s Stand suddenly appear before Polnareff and then get kicked away.

Taking this as the signal for battle, Kakyoin decisively called out and released his own Stand, the one so vividly green it unnerved Polnareff.

“Let’s go! Silver Chariot!”

The Stardust Crusaders wasted no time, unleashing their Stands and charging at DIO.

DIO, watching this, wanted to curse. He was supposed to be the one fighting alone! Did these bastards have no sense of decency?

Hadn’t they seen how badly he was being beaten by this monster? How could they bear to gang up on him?

But DIO soon realized this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Just because the monster ignored his attacks and time stop ability didn’t mean the others could.

If he could capture a hostage, he could threaten these hypocrites into letting him go—or even force them to turn on each other!

“Give me enough time, and I’ll find that monster’s weakness sooner or later!”

DIO had no qualms about running away if he had to. If he couldn’t win, why stay and die?

Besides, if he couldn’t find Polnareff’s weakness, he still had one final trump card.

At worst, he could retreat to sleep beneath the sea for a hundred years!

If he could beat Jonathan Joestar, surely he could beat Jotaro Kujo?

Revitalized, DIO sneered and once again unleashed his Stand.

“ZA WARUDO!”

The diver-shaped Stand deftly avoided Polnareff and, within the world of stopped time, swiftly charged toward the Stardust Crusaders, who seemed frozen in amber.

At that moment, DIO was fully prepared to counter Polnareff.

What he never expected was that the monster would stand there motionless, as if utterly indifferent to his comrades falling into DIO’s grasp.