The JoJo Universe.
Italy.
Horne had arrived in one of the world’s most breathtaking tourist destinations: the floating city of Venice.
(Venice, Italy…
chronologically speaking, Diavolo should be in the early stages of building Passione right about now; running into him could be dumb luck or a total disaster.)
Horne muttered to himself, well aware that his current strength was insufficient to take down the final boss of Part 5.
Clutching the token Joseph had given him, Horne arrived at the agreed-upon canal dock, where a lone gondolier was waiting.
Yet before Horne could utter a greeting, the gondolier lunged with his wooden oar.
With a sharp flick of the blade, water scooped from the canal erupted into a storm of pressurized, razor-sharp Ripple blades flying straight at Horne.
Horne knew instantly that this was Lisa Lisa’s opening trial.
Without manifesting his Stand, he relied purely on Ripple energy to counter.
Though he had mastered maintaining continuous Ripple breathing twenty-four hours a day…
His application of the energy was still crude, relying primarily on brute-forcing raw power.
Channeling an Overdrive into both fists, he met the incoming water blades with a flurry of strikes, using his own solar energy to dispel the enemy’s Ripple.
It was like two people splashing in a pool: one pushes a wave forward, and the other shoves an even larger wave to scatter it.
Horne’s fists detonated each high-pressure water blade mid-air with concussive force.
Was the trial over?
Far from it.
The gondolier vaulted off the boat, executing a mid-air flying kick charged with lethal Ripple energy aimed straight for Horne’s temple.
Yet Horne was no greenhorn in battle; sidestepping the strike with practiced ease, he snared the attacker’s ankle and hurled them across the stone plaza.
(That light body weight, that delicate bone structure…
this person is a woman.)
Realizing the attacker’s identity, Horne prepared to go all-out.
The woman executed a flawless acrobatic backflip mid-air, bleeding off the momentum to land lightly on her feet.
“Such crude, unrefined Ripple manipulation.
Did Joseph teach you nothing of value?”
She remarked critically.
“Joseph only recently picked his training back up, and our time was limited; naturally, he couldn’t impart much.”
For the brief time Horne had trained, his progress was already miraculous.
Old Joseph was hardly a disciplined mentor like Baron Zeppeli; half-baked himself, he had very little technical theory to pass on.
“Save your excuses, I have no interest in hearing them.
Let me see whether you are worth my time, and whether you possess the right to inherit the Super Aja!!”
She stripped off her disguise, revealing breathtaking, ageless beauty; it was impossible to believe this woman was nearing a century in age, appearing as a stunning beauty in her early thirties.
Flawless, porcelain-white skin, raven-black hair cascading like silk, a voluptuous hourglass figure, and impossibly long, seductive legs.
Ripple Breathing truly was a terrifying miracle.
“Bring it on, Lisa Lisa!
That is precisely why I came!!”
Horne refused to let her beauty distract him; he knew when to fight and when to play.
Dropping his center of gravity into a deep stance, his right fist cocked at his waist while his open left palm tracked her movements.
Horne initiated the assault, throwing a crisp, powerful straight punch charged with solar Ripple—the finest blow his current mastery could deliver.
Yet Lisa Lisa didn’t even attempt to dodge; she simply raised one leg, meeting Horne’s heavy fist with the sole of her slipper.
Her posture didn’t waver a millimeter, rooted to the stone plaza like an immovable mountain.
Horne realized the mechanics instantly.
“You used Ripple energy to ground my kinetic force straight into the earth, didn’t you?”
“Oh?
You saw through it already?
Impressive, but you still have a long way to go!”
Lisa Lisa found herself admiring his sharp perception.
With a subtle pulse of her leg, a massive rebound of kinetic force sent Horne staggering backward.
Throughout the entire exchange, Lisa Lisa’s upper body had remained completely motionless.
“You redirected the planetary resonance of the earth to blast me back?”
Horne deduced the underlying principle, sending a wave of pleasant shock through Lisa Lisa.
“Brilliant mind.
It seems Joseph wasn’t exaggerating—you truly are a prodigy whose talent surpasses his own.
“The Ripple we commonly wield is the Ripple of the Sun.
“Yet if a Ripple master takes the time to observe, feel, and listen to the world around them, they will discover that all matter produces its own Ripple.
“The vast oceans, the solid earth, this very planet itself—each vibrates with its own unique Ripple frequency.
“This is the truth I discovered over decades of cultivation: a true Ripple master is one who harmonizes and wields the diverse Ripples of all creation.”
Listening to her explanation, Horne clenched his fists, meditating on the vibrational frequency Lisa Lisa had just channeled.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Lisa Lisa launched a sweeping roundhouse kick, condensing immense Ripple energy onto the tip of her toes.
Had that kick landed cleanly, it would have shattered a mortal’s skull like glass.
Yet right before the blow struck, Horne’s survival instincts triggered an involuntary shift in his pulmonary rhythm, distinct from his standard breathing.
Horne grounded his stance through his boots, synchronizing his internal life force with the tectonic frequency of the earth below.
He caught the razor-sharp tip of Lisa Lisa’s kick with the tip of his index finger, shunting the incoming kinetic violence and Ripple current straight into the stone pavement beneath his feet.
Throughout the collision, Horne’s frame remained as unyielding and stationary as Lisa Lisa’s.
“You actually…!”
Lisa Lisa was left breathless with shock; Horne had replicated a pinnacle technique after witnessing it only once.
She knew right then that she had found her true successor.
Lowering her leg, all hostility vanished from her posture.
“Horne, you have passed my trial.
I accept you as my disciple, and I will personally pass down everything I know regarding the Ripple.”
For decades, Lisa Lisa had been plagued by the lack of an heir; though her Ripple mastery granted her a lifespan easily exceeding two centuries…
Mortals eventually perish, and having no one to carry the torch was a tragedy.
Many studied the Ripple, but none possessed the monstrous genius required to inherit the mantle of the Ripple Clan.
Had Joseph not abandoned his training, he would have been her prime choice.
Now, standing before an unprecedented monster like Horne, the heavy burden weighing on her heart finally lifted.
“Yes, Master Lisa Lisa!!”
Horne grinned; securing a dependable, master-class mentor who happened to be a breathtaking MILF was a dream come true.
(Sorry Joseph, but I’m definitely claiming your gorgeous mother for myself.)
Wasting not a single second, Lisa Lisa escorted Horne to Air Supplena Island, situated northeast of Venice.
This was her private island estate—the very crucible where Joseph and Caesar had endured brutal hell-training to confront the Pillar Men decades ago.
Here, Horne would undergo merciless, grueling cultivation to earn Lisa Lisa’s ultimate validation in record time.
Meanwhile, over in the world of Demon Slayer, the Breathing instructors arranged by Kagaya Ubuyashiki had gathered at headquarters.
Horne was preparing to master distinct Breathing disciplines across two parallel dimensions simultaneously.
How long this dual cultivation would take was anyone’s guess.
The only certainty was that once he completed his training in both worlds, he would possess the absolute, overwhelming might to slaughter Muzan in broad daylight.
Before the training in the Demon Slayer world could begin, however, he had to deal with the stubborn traditionalist masters blocking his path.
“A filthy demon dare dream of learning human Breathing techniques?!
I refuse to teach this abomination!!”