Under the sunlight, the members of the Assassination Team had been waiting for Bucciarati at the hospital entrance for a while.
Ghiaccio squatted at the very front, pushing up his glasses, "Ah, Bucciarati!"
Abbacchio looked at this group of villains, swerved the steering wheel, and drifted, the car screeching as it blocked the Assassination Team's path.
"As expected of Johnson, they really came," Mista praised.
Melone raised his hand, touching his thumb and forefinger to his eye, letting his gaze fall on the pink-haired girl in the car. He licked his lips. "Even her mother's body can produce a child with the boss's bloodline."
The people inside the car looked at them cautiously.
"It looks like they've been waiting for us for a while," Abbacchio narrowed his eyes, a bitter smile in his tone.
Trish was a little scared, but she still tried her best to find a familiar face among them, only seeing Mista in the end.
"Don't be nervous," Bucciarati gently placed his hand on Trish's shoulder. "We are here to negotiate."
"Negotiation is good, but I'm worried that our leverage isn't enough," Abbacchio mused.
"What if they just snatch Trish?" Narancia nervously looked at Ghiaccio; his sky-blue curly hair was very familiar to him.
"I said, then I'll..."
"Don't say it, Trish," Bucciarati looked at Prosciutto, who was standing in the middle, his golden hair shimmering in the sunlight.
"The key is that they already anticipated us coming to find them."
"Why?!" Narancia looked at Bucciarati in confusion. "How did they know we betrayed the boss?!"
Giorno pondered for a moment, then looked at the villains of the Assassination Team and said, "Johnson Joffrey and his uncle Risotto, they are the masterminds. They already knew the boss wanted to kill Trish's mother, and they inferred that we would betray the boss to protect Trish."
Giorno's eyes flashed with unwillingness. He instantly understood that all of this was within Johnson Joffrey's predictions. This guy was too smart, inferring a person's psychology and character from just fragmentary information.
It's too difficult to go against a guy like him; I'm too far behind him.
There was a rustling sound in the car. The first to get out were Bucciarati and Abbacchio, then Giorno and Narancia, and finally Trish. Giorno was carrying a briefcase in his hand.
Formaggio let out a silent chuckle and whispered, "Giorno, Trish, and Abbacchio have all arrived."
Bucciarati led his subordinates to the Assassination Team. To show trust, he and Prosciutto were less than a meter apart.
This was a distance where any Stand could instantly kill the other.
In a silent flash of lightning, these two, who should have been fighting to the death, now faced each other calmly on the surface.
"Bucciarati," Prosciutto spoke first. "Want to try GALA?"
"No, I don't smoke."
"I see," Prosciutto said softly, with a smile in his tone. "It seems as we thought, you have already been abandoned by the boss."
Bucciarati raised his eyelids, his gaze filled with righteousness. "No, we abandoned him."
"Heh," Prosciutto poked his shoulder with a finger, scoffing, "You're just a stray dog who ran away from home now."
"Before that, you must remember your place."
Abbacchio frowned, seemingly very displeased with Prosciutto's insult to Bucciarati, wanting to retaliate for him, but Bucciarati naturally held out his hand, signaling him not to act rashly.
"Risotto, I want to see him."
Prosciutto withdrew his hand and scoffed, as if he thought Bucciarati had no right to negotiate with Risotto.
"What?" Bucciarati, however, countered with a smile, "Is he already too weak to see me?"
"Damn it, this bastard! How did he know..."
"Pesci!!" Prosciutto snapped.
Bucciarati lowered his gaze and smiled. Although Prosciutto's face was expressionless, his subordinate had already given him the answer. It seemed to be as he had guessed; after clashing with the Boss, Risotto was indeed gravely injured.
And the kind that was very difficult to heal.
Perhaps Giorno could help, which added another bargaining chip. The most important thing wasn't even these; in the worst-case scenario, the Assassination Team wouldn't bother with them at all, because they already had Trish's mother and had fought the Boss. Logically, they wouldn't need them anymore.
However... since they were waiting for them here, it meant there was something about them that was worth waiting for.
Prosciutto cursed Pesci, the mama's boy, under his breath for revealing their hand. Their leader was half-dead and needed Giorno's Gold Experience. Trish's mother was in a vegetative state and couldn't tell the truth, so they needed Trish, and they also needed Moody Blues for playback.
But in a negotiation, one must position themselves higher, making the other party feel like they are begging.
However, Pesci had already revealed their hand.
"Our leader has his own matters. To negotiate with you, I am enough," Prosciutto said. "First, tell us about what happened after you joined the Assassination Team."
"No," Bucciarati said with an expressionless face. "It's not joining the Assassination Team, it's cooperating with the Assassination Team."
"With just you?!" Ghiaccio stood up from the ground and said fiercely.
"With just my subordinate Abbacchio, who can use Moody Blues to replay the Boss's appearance," Bucciarati said calmly. "Without him, you wouldn't be able to find the Boss's true identity at all."
Prosciutto scoffed, "Trish's mother is currently lying safely in the hospital. If we want, we can make her speak anytime. Moreover, we've figured out all of the Boss's Stand Ability."
Bucciarati took a deep breath. If they truly could make Trish's mother speak and knew the Boss's terrifying Stand Ability, then they really didn't have many bargaining chips left.
He was silent for a moment, then called out without looking back, "Giorno."
Giorno lifted the black case in his hand, and with a "click," it unlocked. Everyone's gaze fell on the case, wondering what other bargaining chips Bucciarati could produce.
Giorno slowly opened the briefcase, and inside, prominently displayed among many ice cubes, was a pale arm.
"This is..."
"The Boss's left arm?!"
"That's right," Bucciarati said. "We have already fought the Boss and removed one of his arms without damage."
Damn it... the Assassination Team members felt a bad premonition. They hadn't expected that they had always underestimated Bucciarati's Team. They were actually able to obtain one of the Boss's arms despite his time-skip ability.
Even their leader couldn't do that!