Gambling at the card table had long become an extremely boring game for Ryosuke.
Memorizing cards and calculating, for Ryosuke who had become the Ultimate Lifeform, was even simpler than deciding what takeaway to order for lunch.
Cheating?
Ryosuke didn't think anyone could cheat right under his nose, within Star Platinum's time stop range.
As for relying purely on luck, he still had the Tear Blade.
The side effect of the Tear Blade was limb withering. After Ryosuke swung one slash, his index finger became dry and shriveled. The hyper-speed regenerating cells were slowly repairing the limb.
One finger withering was estimated to heal in one or two minutes.
Gyro, Steven Steel, including the D'Arby brothers' souls, were already won back before his finger even healed.
"The God of Gambling from the East!"
Seeing Ryosuke win four rounds in a row, the gamblers nearby could no longer hold back their excitement and started shouting loudly.
They surrounded Ryosuke and cheered.
It was unclear whether they were celebrating Ryosuke defeating the D'Arby brothers, or celebrating that they didn't have to repay the borrowed gambling money.
Ryosuke drove these gambling addicts away.
They left in small groups of three or five, each with smiles on their faces. From their conversation while leaving, it seemed they planned to take advantage of today's good luck and go to another casino to continue "making a fortune".
Ryosuke made no comment on this.
"Here!"
Jonathan pried open the basement door, looked inside, and shouted upward.
Gyro and Steven were both frighteningly thin. Calling them skeletons wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Because the distance between spacetime was stretched extremely far, the corresponding flow of time also had differences.
Counting their time spent traveling through spacetime, their group had been running around for just over three days, while the ninja world had already passed nearly four months.
When they came, Johnny had mentioned that from the time Hot Pants left to when she returned, one month had already passed in the Steel Ball Run world.
During this month, they suffered all kinds of humiliation. What supported Johnny and Lucy to hold on were two things.
First, they had to continue "performing" to maintain Gyro and Steven's minimum survival consumption.
Second, wait for Hot Pants to return with rescue, and then kill Granny Enya and the D'Arby brothers.
As for Hol Horse?
Since being brought here by Dio, he hadn't returned to the villa for a single day. Either sleeping with women, or on the way to sleep with women. Thirty days in a month, he actually worked the whole month without rest.
Mr. Steven, who had just woken up and was sipping a can of nutrient solution, was shocked and blurted out, "No, can his body handle it? Can his dick handle it too?"
Hol Horse chuckled, lightly tapped the brim of his hat and pressed it down, and modestly said, "Gifted by nature."
After saying that, he turned his head to Lucy and said, "However, if it's for Miss Lucy, I can restrain this romance and playboy nature, and pour all my love onto you alone."
Steven Steel, "..."
No matter how Steven felt, Hol Horse, who showed extreme obedience from the moment he appeared and even captured the escaping Granny Enya as a show of loyalty, relied on one month of effort from his own lower body.
Because he didn't participate in the torture of Johnny's group, he escaped death.
After everyone's attention moved away from him, Hol Horse let out a sigh of relief, looked down, gave a thumbs up, and muttered softly, "Well done, brother."
After dealing with the D'Arby brothers, tainted souls +2, plus Granny Enya's 1.
Current total: 33.
But Ryosuke didn't find the Saint's Corpse on them. Ryosuke took out a piece of corpse resonance and confirmed that this world didn't seem to have it.
"Either it was taken away by Funny Valentine, or it's in Dio's hands." Johnny speculated.
Ryosuke turned his head to look at Hol Horse, who was holding a cigarette in his mouth. He was flirting with a white married woman wearing a lace nightgown, who heard the noise here and opened the window to look over.
Judging from the woman's stirred emotions, it probably wouldn't be long before she invited Hol Horse to her home for a drink.
Sensing Ryosuke's gaze, Hol Horse said, "Boss Ryosuke, I also don't know where Valentine went. I just remember before he left, he seemed to receive some news, saying that…"
"Giorno was going to look for Boss Dio… uh, that old thief Dio's clone. After that, I never saw Valentine again."
Ryosuke nodded.
He passed this information to Giorno using the connection between the Saint's Corpse parts.
However, because the spacetime distance was too far, it would probably still take some time for the message to be delivered and a reply to come back.
Now all eight spacetimes had been explored, and the corresponding companions were all by his side. What Ryosuke needed to do next was wait.
Wait for Giorno to find Dio's clone, wait for news from the ninja world that the project had succeeded.
Also, regarding Ryosuke's physical condition, he didn't need rest, but the others did.
Josuke and Hot Pants who came along the way, or Johnny and Gyro who were tortured for a month, all needed some time.
Everyone adjusted their state in their own way.
Because they clearly knew that after waiting and resting.
It would be the real war.
———
Ryosuke didn't sleep.
He sat on the villa rooftop, quietly looking at the starry sky.
Suddenly, footsteps came from behind. Higashikata Josuke was holding two cups of hot milk. He handed one over. Ryosuke said thanks, took it, and took a small sip.
"Can't sleep?"
"Yes. When I think that the war is close, and I still haven't mastered Soft and Wet, Go Beyond, I get this panic like school is starting tomorrow but I haven't done a single word of my winter vacation homework."
Ryosuke smiled and patted his shoulder firmly.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If it really doesn't work out, you still have me."
He still had a resonance sound system and a dimensional ascension star core that he hadn't used.
Soft and Wet, Go Beyond was a miracle specialized against Wonder of U. In terms of overall ability, it could only be considered a six-star Stand and couldn't reach the level of a Requiem.
Completely able to use resonance sound system plus dimensional ascension star core to raise it to max level in one go.
Higashikata Josuke sighed and said, "I just don't want to keep troubling Teacher Ryosuke, so..."
He took a deep breath and said seriously, "If it really reaches that 'critical moment', please let me face Wonder of U. This is my destiny, and it's also a task only I can complete."
Ryosuke understood Josuke's determination.
He wanted to be like in the original story, and in the moment between life and death, grasp the power that surpasses calamity.
But…
This was not an easy thing.
Many times, enlightenment depended on timing, environment, and people. Josuke wanted to take a gamble.
Using his own life as the price.
"I understand."
Ryosuke nodded. "If that moment really comes, then I'll leave it to you."
The two lightly clinked their cups.
After expressing his determination, Josuke seemed to let go of the burden in his heart. He let out a long yawn, said goodbye to Ryosuke, and went to find an empty room to sleep.
Ryosuke still quietly looked at the starry sky.
Stars shifted, time passed. Ryosuke didn't receive Giorno's reply. Instead, news from the ninja world came first.