Steel Dan beat Hol Horse savagely, acting like a complete maniac.
Another waiter standing nearby opened his mouth as if to say something, but upon seeing Steel Dan's crazed expression, he ultimately said nothing at all.
However, everyone has a temper, and Hol Horse was no exception.
Having been bullied by Steel Dan for so long, a fire was beginning to burn inside him. He had been holding back and refusing to snap simply because he thought of them all as comrades and believed the mission came first.
But seeing Steel Dan go further and further over the line, Hol Horse finally lost his patience and exploded.
He grabbed Steel Dan by the arm, drew his Emperor gun, and fired several shots straight into him.
Out of an instinctive fear of firearms, Steel Dan closed his eyes in terror.
Without any suspense, Steel Dan was heavily wounded by Hol Horse's bullets and collapsed to the deck.
Although his Stand, Lovers, could synchronize and inflict pain, it didn't mean his physical body was immune to harm.
Thus, suffering from gunshot wounds, he immediately wailed in agony on the ground like a dead dog.
Yet, even as he shrieked, the people he was controlling simultaneously suffered multiplied damage and began to wail in unison.
Hol Horse, who was filled to the brim with pent-up fury, had no intention of letting Steel Dan off the hook. Seeing that the damage could also be doubled and transferred to the Joestar group, he discarded all hesitation. With a savage grin pulling at the corners of his mouth, he clenched his fists and strode toward Steel Dan.
Jodio Joestar, enduring the intense pain wracking his body, gritted his teeth and made a decision.
The third waiter standing on the ship saw his teammates infighting and Steel Dan taking a beating, leaving no one to pay attention to him. Longing for this moment for a while, he immediately summoned his Stand, Ebony Devil, and walked toward the group.
This person was none other than the guy from the original story who was punched downstairs, disappeared, and then had his Stand dispatched by Jean Pierre Polnareff!
Just as he broke into a cruel smile and prepared to use his Stand to torture everyone, a sudden burst of intense golden flames erupted from Jodio Joestar's body, sweeping outward in all directions.
Before he could react, the man's Stand, Ebony Devil, was instantly burned to ashes by the flames.
The user himself, who had intended to make a move, collapsed to the ground as a charred corpse.
The Joestar group, currently being ravaged by agony, assumed Jodio Joestar had lost control. Faced with the terrifying flames, they immediately struggled to escape.
To their surprise, the flames caused no pain when they landed on their bodies; instead, they healed their injuries.
However, the replicas of the Stand Lovers lodged inside their brains were not so fortunate, as they were burned directly to ashes by the flames.
Having broken free from control and healed of their injuries, the group climbed back to their feet.
After hesitating for a few seconds and realizing they were completely fine, they anxiously looked toward Jodio Joestar, worried that he might have suffered some harm by using that move!
At that moment, Jodio Joestar appeared once again, clad in garments made of fire, though he looked slightly leaner than before.
This was an innate ability of The Winged Dragon of Ra called Phoenix Resurrection—a restorative skill that could be used at the user's discretion in cases of injury, near-death, or even death!
It could be used not only on oneself but also on others. Apart from the consumption of life force required in the state of actual death, in any other state it would merely consume the body fat and nutrients of the injured person or the caster; the heavier the injury, the more it required!
To allies, these were flames of healing; to enemies, they were a lethal killer.
Such was the case for the newly slain Ebony Devil and its user. Because he was classified as an enemy, he and his user were burned to death together.
Fortunately, although everyone had suffered greatly just moments before, it hadn't been to an extreme degree, so the group simply ended up a bit leaner.
Of course, the only drawback was that Jodio Joestar's original clothes had been burned to ashes by the flames, forcing him to temporarily replace them with attire made of fire.
Suspended in the palm of Jodio Joestar's hand was a glowing bubble, trapping the true main body of Steel Dan's Stand, Lovers, which had previously lurked inside his brain!
He had managed to seize it while his physical body transformed into flames during the resurrection.
The reason he hadn't destroyed it immediately was simply that accounts had yet to be settled, and Steel Dan could not be allowed to die so easily.
Having cleared away any lingering worries, Jodio Joestar said to the group:
"I've already caught the true primary body of that guy's Stand, and I've wiped out the replicas lurking inside your brains."
"Now everyone can take your revenge."
Hearing this, horrifying smiles instantly spread across the faces of the Joestar group. Clenching their fists in unison, they walked toward Hol Horse, who was still beating Steel Dan and remained completely oblivious to everything!
Jotaro Kujo wore a terrifying expression and said in an icy tone:
"That guy beating people up is for you all to handle."
"The one who schemed against us just now must be dealt with by me personally. If I don't beat that bastard half to death, it won't quench the hatred in my heart!"
At Jotaro Kujo's words, the rest of the group froze in surprise.
Before anyone else could speak, however, Jodio Joestar cut in ahead of them:
"You don't need to fight over this. With my ability, everyone will get a turn."
"As long as he isn't hammered to death all at once, even if he has one foot in the underworld, I can drag him back and restore him to prime condition so you can keep beating him."
"Today, I'll make sure every single one of you gets to vent all this pent-up fury."
Hearing Jodio Joestar's words, the group set their minds at ease and nodded in agreement with Jotaro Kujo's request, letting him go first.
Having arranged their next steps, the group abruptly pulled apart Hol Horse—who was still in the middle of his beating—and Steel Dan, whose face was bruised and swollen and whose mind was rather dizzy.
Hol Horse, who had been enjoying his beating immensely, was left utterly bewildered upon being yanked away.
Before he could even react, Noriaki Kakyoin landed a punch straight to his face, knocking him flat on the ground.
With someone breaking the ice, the rest of the group immediately followed suit with cruel expressions, unleashing a brutal storm of blows upon Hol Horse:
"Ora! Ora! Ora..."
Jotaro Kujo watched the group already deep into the beating, cast a blank look at Steel Dan—who had yet to fully recover his wits—and then said calmly to Jodio Joestar:
"Uncle, help me heal him!"
"Otherwise, beating him isn't satisfying enough!"
Hearing this, Jodio Joestar summoned a ball of flame in the palm of his hand and tossed it onto Steel Dan.
In the blink of an eye, Steel Dan was restored to normal.
At that moment, Jotaro Kujo also had Star Platinum manifest and attach itself to him.
Having just regained consciousness and returned to normal, Steel Dan hadn't even managed to get a word out before a long-furiated Jotaro Kujo drove a fist straight into his face, teeth grinding as he said:
"You were feeling pretty smug just a moment ago, weren't you?"
"Now it's time for you to pay the price. After treating us that way, I'm going to take real good care of you!"
"Prepare yourself, bastard!"
Immediately following that came a tempestuous, frenzied barrage of punches raining down upon Steel Dan:
"Ora, ora, ora, ora... ora, ora!"
The scene was too gruesome to look at, quite literally a tragic spectacle.
Even so, Jodio Joestar felt not a shred of sympathy for Steel Dan.
This was nothing more than reaping what he had sown.
And so, Jotaro Kujo continued to pummel Steel Dan with the ORA barrage for nearly half an hour!
There were several times when he beat Steel Dan to the brink of death, only to have Jodio Joestar bring him back and heal him so the beating could resume!
As the final punch landed, Jotaro Kujo, finally tired from the beating, called it a halt!
He adjusted his hat, turned, walked off the deck, and returned to his room to go to sleep.
Seeing this, Jodio Joestar tossed another ball of flame to heal Steel Dan once more.
On the other side, Hol Horse wasn't faring much better. Although the rest of the group hadn't used their Stand powers and had merely relied on raw physical strength to beat him, after taking blows for so long, he was covered in bruises and injuries.
Having vented a portion of their anger, the group saw that Jotaro Kujo had finished, abandoned the heavily wounded Hol Horse, and swarmed over.
Since they had already been beating Hol Horse for ages, the group was getting somewhat tired. Exchanging a knowing look, they skipped the small talk.
Instead, the group immediately set upon Steel Dan with a flurry of kicks and punches, during which Joseph Joestar—who knew Hamon—even pulled out his long-unused Hamon technique!
This group tag team didn't last nearly as long as Jotaro Kujo's solo session, and they wrapped things up after just a few minutes!
One by one, they headed back inside the ship to rest.
That left only Joseph Joestar, who yawned and said to Jodio Joestar:
"We're done here. Do whatever you want with him from here on out!"
With that, Joseph Joestar also turned and walked into the vessel.
At last, only Jodio Joestar remained alone on the deck.
He looked at Steel Dan and Hol Horse, who were knocked out cold not far away and lingering on the brink of death, and suddenly lost all interest in playing with them.
With a sigh, he simply snuffed out Steel Dan's Stand once and for all.
Then, tossing two casual balls of fire downward, he sent the pair off to the afterlife.
Letting them go was out of the question; if you cut weeds without pulling the roots, the spring breeze will make them grow back. That was a mistake he refused to make.
Finally, Jodio Joestar gathered the three corpses—including the physical remains of the Ebony Devil that had died at the very beginning—and tossed them all into the sea to feed the fish.
With everything finished, Jodio Joestar dusted off his hands, headed back inside the ship, returned to his own room, and turned in for a rest.