The entire way back was spent in silence. The three of them drove quietly back to a Chinese restaurant owned by Jodio Joestar.
At this moment, Jotaro Kujo's mother, Jodio Joestar's half-sister Holy Kujo, and that half-father Joseph Joestar's good friend from Egypt and fellow Stand User Mohammed Avdol had been waiting there for a long time.
Blinded by maternal affection for her only son, Holy jumped up from her chair the moment she saw Jotaro appear, ran over happily, and threw her arms around him.
Then she bubbled with joy:
"Thank goodness, my baby! You're finally back! How are you? Are you alright?"
"Did those people at the station give you a hard time?"
"You've really been through so much lately."
......
Having just been released from the police station, Jotaro listened to this cringeworthy and sappy talk, feeling his toes curl in intense embarrassment as goosebumps broke out all over his body.
He shot her a look of utter disgust and instinctively wanted to snap back with a sarcastic remark.
But when Jotaro caught sight of his uncle Jodio Joestar standing nearby with a beaming smile, wrapping tape around his knuckles and raising a menacing fist, he wisely swallowed his words and forced an awkward smile.
After the "touching" reunion, everyone took their seats and finally began to discuss business.
Looking at his grandfather Joseph Joestar sitting opposite him, Jotaro picked up where they had left off in the car and asked with a stern expression:
"Old man, what did you mean back in the car when you said the Joestar Family's arch-enemy has returned?"
"Does our family really have some sort of arch-enemy?"
Hearing his grandson's question, Joseph took a stack of photographs and a camera out of the leather briefcase beside Avdol and placed them on the table!
Then he slowly began:
"Take a look at these things first!"
Hearing this, Jotaro reached out, picked up the photographs, and examined them closely.
Yet no matter how he looked at them—left and right, up and down—he couldn't find anything unusual about the pictures.
So, failing to spot anything out of the ordinary, Jotaro tossed the photos casually onto the table and said in total confusion:
"Old man, you're not messing with me, are you?"
"There's nothing special about these photos, is n't there?"
"Isn't it just an opened coffin?"
Faced with his grandson's levity, however, Joseph could not let it pass. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up from his chair.
Then, frowning deeply, he said with utmost seriousness:
"What kind of attitude is that?"
"Don't ever underestimate these photographs."
"The fellow locked inside this coffin is your great-great-grandfather—my grandfather, Jonathan Joestar's former sworn brother and arch-enemy, hailed as the traitor of the Joestar Family and the most vile monster of all."
"His name is Dio Brando! In the past, in pursuit of power, he cast aside his humanity, plunged his soul into darkness, and became a vampire!"
"Later on, my grandfather Jonathan Joestar, in order to stop his evil ambitions and cleanse the Joestar Family's honor, gave his own life and fought with every ounce of his strength to seal him away!"
"Yet four years ago, someone dragged the coffin sealing him up out of the sea. The coffin is still here, but the fellow inside is gone."
"Jotaro, do you have any idea what this means?"
"If he recovers, given Dio Brando's hatred for the Joestar Family, he will surely launch a ferocious revenge."
Yet, faced with his grandfather's impassionate speech, Jotaro didn't take it to heart at all. Any lingering doubt and curiosity he had felt earlier had now completely vanished, leaving him entirely uninterested in the matter.
With a look of utter contempt, he spoke nonchalantly:
"Old man, stop pulling my leg!"
"I'm not a kid anymore. You can't fool me with your made-up stories."
"Where on earth are there any vampires in this world?"
"Even if our family really did have some so-called arch-enemy, according to you, he'd be around a hundred years old by now. How could he possibly still be alive?"
"If his body hasn't been found now, it's probably because whatever was left in that coffin was already eaten by whales in the ocean."
"Some arch-enemy? Do us a favor and stop worrying about nonsense!"
As soon as Jotaro said this, it infuriated Joseph to no end:
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"Then I'll prove it to you right now!"
"There were too many gossiping people around back at the police station, so I didn't tell you, but actually, you aren't the only one who possesses that kind of evil spirit."
"I'll let you see his power right now."
With that, Joseph summoned his own Stand, Hermit Purple, calling forth two thorny purple energy vines—invisible to ordinary people—which wrapped around his hands.
Immediately after, with a single chop of his hand, he smashed the camera sitting beside him, splitting it wide open.
Then a photograph printed itself right out of the camera and fell onto the table!
Looking at the ruined camera before him, Jodio pressed a hand to his forehead and muttered speechlessly:
"Old man, your ability is great, but it really is a massive money pit."
<span>Every time you use it, you smash a camera worth at least thirty thousand US dollars.</span>
"Sure, our family is loaded, but blowing through cash like this is still a bit wasteful."
Sitting nearby, Avdol glanced at the camera Joseph had wrecked, nodded in agreement, and chimed in:
"This ability is indeed rather wasteful!"
"Wasting an expensive camera every single time—in the time I've known him alone, Joseph has already smashed at least twenty cameras!"
"At thirty thousand dollars a pop, that amount of money alone would be enough to buy a house."
As the saying goes, the truth hurts the most. Hearing the complaints from his son and his close friend, Joseph instantly felt intensely awkward.
Yet, to maintain his dignity in front of the younger generation, he let out a deliberate cough and said magnanimously:
"This money is just a drop in the bucket to me."
"Compared to the damaged camera, the fellow in this photograph is the truly dangerous one."
With that, Joseph held up the photo in his hand and began to explain:
"Do all of you see the man in this picture?"
"Pay attention to the star birthmark on his neck."
"This mark is no ordinary thing; it is a mark possessed only by those who carry the bloodline of our Joestar clan."
"Going back six generations from our branch of the Joestar Family, every single person born into the Joestar Family has had this mark on their neck."
At these words from Joseph, Holy and Jotaro were instantly jolted out of their composure.
Having never paid attention to this before, the two of them immediately flipped up their hair to check, and sure enough, they discovered identical star birthmarks in the exact same spot on their necks.
Watching their reactions, Joseph was thoroughly satisfied and continued:
"Up until now, excluding adopted children, our Joestar Family has always had an unbroken single line of descent."
"To date, all deceased members of the Joestar Family are buried in our family cemetery, resting quietly in peace."
At this point, Jodio noticed Joseph's expression pause for a moment before he continued with obvious anger:
"Except for my grandfather, Jonathan Joestar—his remains are the only ones whose whereabouts are unknown!"
"And now that fellow Dio Brando actually possesses the star birthmark, coupled with the surgical stitches on his neck, it's obvious that either that fellow stole my grandfather's remains or he drank my grandfather's blood."
"To me, this is an absolutely unforgivable matter."
"Furthermore, judging by the fact that our family members have all awakened Stands over the past two years, that fellow has definitely made a comeback."
"To ensure the safety of our family members, we must eliminate that guy!"
"This is the destiny of the Joestar bloodline!"
By this point, Joseph could no longer control his emotions and roared aloud!
Fortunately, Jodio's restaurant was closed today, and since they were in a private dining room, it didn't matter.
Otherwise, had they been in a public place, Joseph surely would have received a complaint.
Having finished recounting the general backstory, Joseph finally calmed his excited emotions down and sat back down.
Yet even so, Jotaro still didn't care in the slightest.