Foenix

Chapter 36: Midas

Candia, Heraklion, 1648

From 1648 to 1669, one of the longest sieges in history took place in Candia after the Knights of the Order of Malta attacked an Ottoman convoy and docked with the treasure in the city of Candia. The Ottomans put the city under siege for twenty-one years until it eventually fell. During that time, the soldiers constantly circled between Crete and Venice.

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Air Suplena Island, present day

The arrival of a bunch of knights of the Order of Malta puzzled all of the Hamon apprentices. No matter how much training they had received, nothing could prepare them for the sight of a group of 15th-century people disembarking in the harbor, ready to attack the residents of the island. The bewilderment quickly formed chaos that the apprentices soon began to undertake. Although the assailants seemed to be greater in number, no one was better trained than the Air Suplena apprentices.

Nevertheless, the attack was only a diversionary maneuver, and it worked perfectly. Between the noise of the alarms and the shouts of the people, no one heard Jolyne's scream.

The arduous training, both Bruno's and the island's, served its purpose. Wringing the hand off her shoulder, Jolyne was able to create three firm string ropes, extending them and loading them with Hamon to create powerful whips around herself. Neither the first nor the second hit their target, but the third whip struck Donatello's forearm hard and even caused him to bleed. Jolyne smiled at that, but Donatello looked at her oddly for a few moments before smiling too. She clenched her fists harder.

"How the hell did you manage to sneak in here?" She readied for another attack. "You're not supposed to be here!"

"Why, would you have kindly welcomed me if I told you I was coming?"

He calmly rolled up the sleeve of his white suit, with the first three buttons of the shirt open. A long red leather jacket was draped over his shoulders, fastened only by a platinum chain around his neck. The bleeding forearm slowly healed itself right before her frustrated eyes.

"You're getting stronger. I like it. My girlfriend can't be any less," he said, taking a couple of steps back. "A partner is someone who makes you grow as a person and challenges you."

With his unnatural speed, he touched the ground before trying to attack her again while dodging hers. Jolyne knew she couldn't attack him with the strings forever, and above all, she wouldn't hold out that long using Hamon; she had to be more precise. She found herself again in the same situation as in Florida, but now, Giorno would not magically appear out of nowhere to save her. She could not depend on anyone. As she had done so many times with Bruno, she threw Stone Free's fist against Donatello's face. Too busy dodging the strings, he couldn't dodge the fist. Jolyne found it very satisfying to wipe the smile off his face with one punch.

"I think we've had enough foreplay, darling," he said.

Jolyne became grim. She never thought it would be easy even with all her training, and his words proved that. She was still optimistic about her chances of defeating him, however.

"I hate you," she said, launching a whip that corrected its trajectory twice but still missed. She tried the attack again but only hit him in the jacket that fluttered with his movements. "I hate you so much, you piece of shit!"

She saw his eyes flash, his jaw clenching tight. Jolyne wanted to laugh.

"Aw, are you hurt?" she said.

"Enough games," he spat.

Glancing at his watch, Donatello realized he was running out of time. Her attacks were getting trickier too. He bent down to use his power.

He had researched the area beforehand. The knights of the Order of Malta were not the only weapons in his arsenal. It had been quite difficult to get the information about the history of the warriors of the Hamon, but once he got to the origins, he began to find very interesting things. He found information about the tribe of the Pillar Men. And how one of them had died on Air Suplena Island at the hands of Joseph Joestar.

The gleam in Donatello's eyes and the appearance of his Stand told Jolyne that she had lost what little advantage she might have had. She tensed, preparing for whatever he was about to unleash. He barely called his Stand when she heard a huge rumble and a loud voice from behind her.

"JoJo, I'm sorry I have to renege on our agreement."

Her heart jumped when she whipped around and came almost face to face with a dark-skinned, broad chest that was rippling with muscles. She had to tilt her head back to even see the face, which, though handsome and smiling, gave a sense of cruelty and superiority over her. With a shudder, Jolyne realized he was not human.

"It's lucky you all end up calling each other the same name, isn't it, my sweet JoJo?" said Donatello from somewhere behind her. "I'm not going to be your opponent. Meet Esidisi, who fought your great-grandfather."

Jolyne had heard the story of the creators of the vampires, superhuman creatures who made the stone masks to transcend their boundaries, and with them came the vampires. The Pillar Men were super predators that fed on vampires.

"Donatello, you fucking coward! Are you too scared to fight me yourself?"

She, who had always boasted of not needing help, wished at that moment to have her father, her friends, Giorno, or whoever, close by. However, no one was coming, and Donatello wasn't going to play by any rules. Jolyne forced herself to take a calming breath. She couldn't break her the rhythm of her breathing, or she would be completely lost. Hamon was the only escape.

No one, not even the bigger men she had beaten in prison who left her broken were even slightly similar to that beast in front of her. As her opponent let out a speech, Jolyne's mind quickly ran through all the techniques she had developed with Bucciarati and decided on setting a string trap as she moved around him.

Donatello stood a handful of meters away, quietly observing the battle with his arms crossed. He had to admire the Pillar Man's strength and cunning, and that only made him prouder of the growth he was witnessing in Jolyne. At this rate, there was no doubt that she could conquer the world. A woman like her was only fit to be by his side.

He had read about the battle; the chronicles he came across when he infiltrated the Hamon sanctuary in Tibet had relayed how Joseph Joestar had taken care of a legendary Pillar Man with a simple magic trick made of wool. Apparently, Jolyne had thought of practically the same thing without even thinking about it. It was amazing how much someone could resemble their family without thinking about it. Just as he resembled the great DIO. Only, just like Jolyne was better than Joseph, he wouldn't fail as his father had.

Her power was flowing wonderfully well, but even though the strategy was clever, Jolyne couldn't avoid getting hit. The tantalizing smell of her spilled blood was making it a little harder than expected for him to concentrate, but that was okay. Unlike his father, he wouldn't rely on only a single ace up his sleeve in turn. He could see that Jolyne was getting more and more tired. His intention wasn't really to hurt her too much.

She had managed magnificently against that creature, but Donatello was even more meticulous. Now was the time to intervene. Concentrating his ability on the area to give the impact of Esidisi's attacks full power, he compelled the Pillar Man, who now had a blank stare, to hold her firmly. He could see that one of her arms was almost undone too. That made things easier for him. Smiling, he went to her and grabbed her face almost reverentially.

Her flushed face, flashing green eyes, and clenched teeth gave him a sense of deja vu from the time when he had cornered her in the swamp a few months ago. Just like then, she was pinned down and helpless as he touched her, caressing her cheek with his thumb.

"No matter how far you ran, how long you hid, and how hard you trained," he said, "in the end, you still wound back up like this before me."

Jolyne flinched as his thumb moved from her cheek to stroke her lip. He had heard many stories and legends about a vampire's kiss and had experienced it himself many times to put it to the test. The kiss didn't really mean anything in itself, but having a human drink his blood made them dependent on him, especially in a sexual sense. He knew he was attractive and suspected that she thought so too because of the circumstances under which they had met, so he would only need a push.

Donatello bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted metallic liquid, then punched her stomach so hard, her lips parted with a gasp. Grabbing her face again, he quickly sealed her mouth with his own. It was not the most romantic thing, but he had always maintained a pragmatism about romance.

When Jolyne realized what was going on, she let loose a muffled scream and tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip on her face, holding it firmly in place. He reinvigorated his attacks on her mouth, forcing a gulp of blood down her throat. Still holding her flush against him, Donatello could feel her body's temperature rising. She tried to put up a fight, but trying to use a breathing-based technique when kissing seemed impossible.

Despite already having fed her some blood, he did not cease his rough, sloppy movements. He was like a hungry wolf who could not be satisfied once it pounced on its prey. He had wanted to kiss her since their first encounter, and the time he had been away from her had only served to make him crave her even more. Sensing his blood inside her now turned him on more than he thought it would.

He knew he should hurry, but seeing Jolyne resist less and less in his arms was making him forget the carefully planned itinerary. He noticed the precise moment when his blood overcame her will. He pulled away slightly to check, and it was even better than he expected. Without separating from him, she licked her swollen lips and moaned with shame.

At his grin, the cloudy look in her eyes seemed to shift.

"You...fucking pervert," Jolyne said, her voice trembling, both with rage and something else. She tried spitting out the clear saliva mixed with red, but it did no good for the blood she had already ingested. "You creep. Pig. Filthy maggot." She was far too indignant to come up with anything more creative. Her vision was filling with red, and she was too scared to acknowledge the heat filling in her cheeks or a familiar tingling.

A few drops of Giorno's blood had kept her excited and dreaming about him for days. From Donatello, she had had a good drink. Her stomach clenched with horror at the implication. Feeling tears threaten to form, she forced herself to focus on nothing but her rage, letting it overshadow anything else.

Donatello calmly touched his own lips with his thumb where some of her spittle had landed. He felt a thrill when his finger came back covered with not just his blood but green lipstick stains.

How could he bear to keep his Jojo waiting when she looked so desperate for another kiss? Her words may be harsh, but her body continued to heat up with every passing second. He wanted to break her and make her his, but he had no intention to deny her her carnal desires. Perhaps it was a little disappointing how easy she was to subjugate with vampire blood, but it would make his life easier and serve to advance many of the fantasies that he had built with her as the protagonist.

He wanted to kiss her again; it wouldn't hurt to ensure that she was under his firm control for the trip. Now that she was on the edge of being subjugated, he might even consider being gentler.

Just as he was about to lean in again, his plans were cut short when he felt a sudden force imbued with that dreadful energy hit his back. It didn't hurt too much, but the shock made him whip around. There was no one there. Aside from the two of them and Esidisi, the place was as barren as when he first entered it. Saturated with the taste of Jolyne and her scent, it took him longer than would be normal to locate the perpetrator. Of course, an invisible critter.

Donatello let go of Jolyne almost as if it pained him. He had to, as the intruder couldn't be allowed to get in his way. Even though he or she was invisible, he could smell them once he concentrated on something other than Jolyne.

Speaking of Jolyne, he could hear the sounds of her spitting and gagging behind him, trying to vomit. He felt assured knowing Eisidisi continued to restrain her.

The person was invisible, but there was little that could be done against a dhampire's heightened senses. It didn't take him long to pinpoint them. It was too obvious that they were going to try to use Hamon on him again. Grabbing their arm, he clenched and twisted it, hearing a resounding snap. He felt no remorse as a scream filled the sky.

The air before him flickered and a small girl materialized. He seized the loose hair at the back of her head and yanked it down hard so that her face jerked up, giving him a clear view. Those terrified brown eyes tickled his memory. A grin slowly split across his face.

"Oh, I remember you. Little miss fake Joestar is all grown up." His hand released her hair, only to wrap around her neck instead. "I should have killed you years ago, but better late than never. This time your father isn't here to save you."

"Wait! I'll do whatever you want, anything you ask. Just don't hurt her!" Jolyne tried to free herself desperately, her breathing becoming irregular.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding here," Donatello said. "You're going to do what I want you to do anyway. But I'll admit, it's more fun if you do put up a little resistance. Wouldn't you say so?"

He had barely finished speaking when he heard a thud sound as something fell to the ground. It was Esidisi's severed arm. Stunned, he looked at Jolyne, who seemed just as stupefied as him. However, she quickly snapped out of it and took the opportunity to spring free from the pillar man.

"Now you're going to say 'what the hell was that?'"

"What the hell was that?" shouted Donatello, searching for the new enemy.

Underworld's ability was nothing short of a replay of past tragedies under Donatello's control, but he had lost control while kissing Jolyne.

"Leave the girl, you little shitty boy, and face me, Joseph Joestar!"

Shizuka had seen pictures of her father as a young man and knew he looked quite a bit like her brother, but seeing him in front of her was a different matter. She felt a lump form in her throat. The face she had missed for so many years seemed to be looking at her yet also right through her as if she didn't exist. He had come to save her, even if he wasn't real.

"Daddy," she said in a choked voice. With her good arm, she wiped her tears before they could fall. Now was not the time to freeze and show weakness. "Jolyne, focus on kicking Donatello's ass. Daddy and I will take care of him."

Jolyne barely had time to register that the person was Joseph Joestar as if he had come down from Heaven to save his daughter again. She was exhausted, but greater than the fatigue and pain was her rage. The wretch had dared to force his slimy tongue and blood down her throat. She was going to burn all that blood with Hamon after giving him the biggest beating of his life.

"You bastard. That was nasty on top of being sexual assault," she said, spitting again, despite having already spat out all of the blood she had in her mouth. "I'm going to make you lose a lot more blood than you made me drink."

"Promises, promises," he responded.

The battle behind them followed the cycle of the past, with Joseph imposing himself with ingenuity over the Pillar Man. The weather was getting worse by leaps and bounds, with the sky becoming overcast with dark clouds and the winds becoming stronger. Jolyne knew that if ever she had to use all the training she had received in those months, this was the time. Now or never. She might not be able to fight against supernatural abilities like Donatello's speed, but she didn't need to be faster than anyone else if she could spread her strings by concentrating the Hamon on the tips, making herself a sort of deadly jellyfish. If he was three times faster than her, she only had to double her chances with six tips at a time. Using more strings unraveled more of her body, but it also created more holes in her skin, allowing the strings beneath to absorb the force of any punches that managed to land there.

Suddenly, both Esidisi and Joseph vanished into thin air, but for a moment, Joseph flickered into being again. He waved goodbye to the girl, winking at her, before disappearing again. It may have been a projection created from a Stand, but for a few moments, it was clear to Shizuka that that was her father waving goodbye after protecting her for the last time.

Lightning struck the area they were in and everyone understood at once what was happening: the false clues to their whereabouts had already been discovered, and Weather Report had already reached the island. The fact that Underworld had been deactivated only meant that Gold Experience was also on site. A curse escaped Donatello's lips as he tried to lash out more desperately, his attacks becoming wilder.

It happened during one of his punches. He noticed a flicker in the air of sorts. Realizing what it meant, he fought down the panic that threatened to overcome him. He had heard rumors about Jotaro Kujo's time manipulation ability, which he had stolen from Donatello's father, but witnessing it nearby was a different experience. Even so, he refused to give up. Not after all those agonizing months. He was so close...

Desperation was the mightiest of his weapons. Hence, in a last-ditch attempt, he was able to get a firm grip on Jolyne's torso. Her reinforcements may have arrived, but he had already captured her. Additionally, his own troops had also arrived, and it was something no one expected.

The square where they were fighting suddenly began to fill with strange creatures. They looked like turtles and some were strange types of fungi. They all had eyes, mouths and legs. Knowing what they were, Donatello just glanced at them, but Jolyne and Shizuka were left with their mouths hanging open. If Jolyne weren't too busy trying to free herself from the death grip around her, she would have turned to Shizuka for reassurance that she wasn't going crazy seeing the minions fighting Super Mario in the flesh as the tide of gompas carried her away.

"You can never get rid of me, JoJo. You were made for me!" Donatello shouted.

Caught between him and those little beings, Jolyne thought fast. She had never tried what she was about to do, but she hoped it would work. Taking a deep breath, she began unraveling herself from every corner of her body. Her legs, arms, and abdomen disappeared into a flurry of string. As she got closer and closer to her heart and lungs, her chest thudded though she still continued. Then, with an exhale, a last burst of hamon energy rushed through her, imbuing themselves into her strings and turning them golden.

Donatello grunted, feeling the touch of the golden strings like burning wires at first, but then he began bleeding and the pain became too much to bear. He reflexively let go. The strings moved a couple of meters away from him, bringing along with them Jolyne's head and torso that was attached. He watched them slowly remake themself into her missing limbs.

Just as he took a step in her direction again, his own henchmen suddenly seemed to obstruct way. Donatello began shouting and resisting as they tried to drag him in the opposite direction, not caring if he injured them in the process. His furious gaze remained fixated on Jolyne, who had a pained but victorious expression as her body continued raveling back together. With a cry, he shoved aside one of the minions blocking him and leaped toward her.

Another flicker flashed in front of them and they saw two imposing figures approaching. One was the figure hitherto unknown in person to Donatello but long seen in reports, Jotato Kujo. The other was the huge turtle Bowser, legendary enemy of Super Mario; he was even bigger than Esidisi. Bowser, who was already beside Donatello, grabbed him by the red leather jacket on his shoulders, but no matter how much he tugged, it was to no avail.

The scene was worthy of being a freakish amusement park. Jolyne, however, was too busy trying to fully ravel back together to be amused.

Seeing a shadow cast over her, she looked up and saw Donatello's cold, bloodshot eyes. She felt a scream build in her chest as his hand stretched toward her...

The next thing Donatello knew, he was wrenched from Jolyne's side and lifted off the ground by a grip around his neck. He felt a burning pain there but that couldn't compare to the cold feeling that awashed him when he found himself being stared down by the most lethal pair of eyes he had ever seen. Was this what his father had seen before he died? He didn't doubt it. For the first time in a long time, he felt fear.

The pair of eyes glaring at him looked at something over his shoulder.

"Dad, you're here."

"Are you okay, Jolyne?"

"Been better. Took you long enough."

"It was our fault. We didn't realize we fell right into his trap."

"Good that you know. Remember to maybe bring me along next time."

"Mm."

Donatello, who saw black spots at the edge of his vision, clawed his hands at the ones around his neck, but it was futile.

"My JoJo..."

"Don't call me JoJo, asshole," Jolyne said, appearing in his vision, fully formed. She turned to her father.

"Hey, dad, why are you cuddling him? Is that the best you can do?"

In answer, Jotaro squeezed a little harder, tightening his grip around Donatello's neck.

"I give up," Donatello said with a choked gasp. He raised his arms in surrender.

"Yare yare daze," said Jotaro. "Do we have anything to tie him up?"

"I can always create something," said Giorno from behind him, hoping no one would notice that he had had to run to keep up with a gentleman well into his forties. "It's too slippery." He turned back. "Signore Report, would you mind ending the storm?"

Giorno stared with contempt at the creature he had the misfortune of sharing blood with. Despite all his claims about superiority over others, Donatello's face turned purple all the same when running out of oxygen. Knowing he might do something he would regret if he continued to stand there, Giorno instead approached Shizuka, who appeared to be wounded. Giving her a curt warning that it was going to hurt, he healed her arm within a few moments.

Finishing with her, he was then approached by Jolyne. He tried to contain his anger as his nose picked up a small trace of Donatello on her. Seeing the blood stains around her mouth along with the smudges of green lipstick, he was quick to connect the dots.

He knew perfectly well what had been on his monstrous brother's mind. Vampire blood was the most potent aphrodisiac he could think of; it was almost like drugging her before trying to rape her. If the desire Giorno had felt for Jolyne was potent, then the one to dismember Donatello with his own hands starting with castrating him in one go was beginning to be the strongest he had ever felt. His eyes reddened and his fangs turned sharp.

"Hey, Punzie!" Jolyne snapped her fingers in front of him. "That jackass cracked one of my ribs. Flower, gleam and glow, let your powers shine," she crooned, trying to bring him back to his senses. "This is gonna hurt, ugh."

Giorno held his breath. Even though Rohan had placed his spell on him again, Jolyne's blood was too potent for it not to affect him at all. Not to mention Donatello's smell on her. The beast inside him was crying out for them to exchange blood, that what Donatello had put in her was a drop next to him. However, it was easier to control when it knew Jolyne was in pain. He took out a handkerchief that had been perfumed with a potent scent and covered his nose with it.

Jolyne's face full of pain was the best slap of reality to focus on, so he proceeded to cure it, with his hunger only a slight background annoyance.

As he placed his hands on her, a golden glow appeared and a painful sensation ran up and down her but healed her on the spot. Donatello stirred at that moment.

"You think she's yours, wrapping her in your filthy power?"

"Please, Dad, can you strangle him some more so he won't talk? Maybe it isn't the best idea if you're planning to interrogate him, but..." Jolyne shrugged.

"We've found someone who he left as a red herring," Jotaro said, his normally monotone voice conveying some ill-contained anger.

It wasn't long before they heard the moans and groans of one additional person, a blonde man. Jolyne's face was filled with two things: recognition and horror.

"Jolyne! Joliet! These people set me up!" cried Romeo.

Jolyne scanned the situation around her, thinking almost wistfully that the same morning all she had planned to do was to plunge into freezing cold water for a strenuous workout. "Yare yare dawa, can we toss him into the sea?"

---

Romeo: It's funny that of all of us here, I'm technically the weakest.

Donatello: By a wide margin.

Anasui: I'm dead, but yeah.

Giorno: It's pretty obvious, yes.

Romeo: And yet I'm the only one who can say he was Jolyne's boyfriend and her first love too.

Anasui: Throw him in the sea for me, please.

Donatello: I'd better eat him.

Giorno: No, the sea thing is fine but with cement shoes.

Romeo: Cement shoes?

Giorno: I'm a mafia don, what do you expect?

Jotaro: I'll do it myself; there are things that a father has to do. Better to pick them off one by one.

Giorno: What?

Jotaro: I'll talk to you later, Giovanna.