Chapter 242. You Should Have Aimed for My Head

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  Dio, the chosen actor, when paired with a script that fits him perfectly, portrays DIO as a vilinous savior beyond any doubt, both inside and out.

  Joseph and the others had already withis vividly during the filming of "Stardust Crusaders". However, perhaps because they exited the story early, they didn't experiehis as viscerally as Polnareff.

  After all, Avdol was gone early, having fallen victim to DIO in the [Cream] arc. Even with the story's initial setup—where he fled after entering DIO in Cairo and didn't dare return to Egypt alohe fear of DIO had long been overshadowed by the ce he rediscovered during his journey with Jotaro and the others. Asking Avdol to relive that terror would be nearly impossible.

  Simirly, Joseph and Kakyoin shared a parable experiehough they were luckier than Avdol, managing to front DIO and even witness [The World]'s time-stopping Stand ability before dying at its hands, they succeeded in passing on critical information about [The World]'s true power to Jotaro.

  Thus, they aowledged DIO's strength but didn't view him as uable.

  The only exception olnareff, who had been humiliated during his assassination attempt on DIO, only to be effortlessly tered. This left him grappling with his doubts while Joseph and the others could clearly see Jotaro's pn and iions.

  And what does Jotaro means when he said, "Defeating DIO is simple."

  "Actually, Polnareff, it's exactly as I said," Jotaro expined. "As we know, Dio, whether iy or during full-dive filming, is terrifying. I have no idea where Jolyne found su actor…"

  "But precisely because of that, Dio has an absolute fiden himself. It's a trait io someone like him. So, defeating Dio—or rather, defeating DIO's subscious in the full-dive filming—is simple: you just have to mislead him into trusting his own judgment."

  Jotaro patted Polnareff on the shoulder, snapping him out of his dazed murmuring: "It's really that simple?" Then Jestured toward the "Stardust Crusaders" se unfolding before them.

  "Look, just like what I did iory," Jotaro tinued. "Even though DIO was suspicious of whether I ying dead, as long as I vinced him I was truly 'dead,' he let his guard down more than anyone else would."

  ...

  "W-What!?"

  DIO, who had been fidently prepared to use a nearby street sign to decapitate Jotaro's "dead" body, now looked on in horror.

  The street sign, which had been aimed at Jotaro's neck, miraculously bore an iion—shaped perfectly to avoid cutting him. Moreover, standing beside DIO was her than [Star Ptinum]!

  "ORA!!!"

  "TOKI WO TOMARE ZA WARUDO!!"

  [Star Ptinum]'s roar and DIO's shout occurred almost simultaneously.

  Just as with Polnareff's earlier sneak attack, DIO inteo rely on the same trick. But Star Ptinum wasn't just equal to [The World] in speed (both being rated as Speed A)—its Stand ability was equally potent.

  "No matter if you stop time, I will crush your skull, DIO!"

  Crack! Crack!

  With the sound of brittle chips snapping apart, Star Ptinum's fist struck true. It shattered DIO's head entirely, taking even his skull with it.

  ...

  DIO: You should have aimed for my head.

  The mog words DIO once spat at Polnareff during his assassination attempt were now being thrown ba his face by Jotaro.

  Since DIO was so eager to be stru the head and, like a third-rate vilin, loved revealing his own weakness during moments of triumph, Jotaro was determio show him what "true defeat" looked like.

  "DIO's a monster who survived a tury uer—this won't kill him so easily. We still 't let uard down."

  Sure enough, from the rising dust and the crater left by Star Ptinum's punch, DIled to his feet, battered but not defeated.

  Vampires truly defied logiot only could they regee casually, but even their brains could heal. However, biology still pyed a role. With his brain damaged, DIO's body spasmed untrolbly, his limbs twitg and refusing to obey.

  "Smell that? You should know what it means now—I doused you in gasoline."

  Jotaro tossed ay gas to the side and pulled out a lighter.

  "Kig someone when they're down might seem cruel, but with you, DIO, I don't feel an ounce of guilt."

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  Kurato6180