"Just stand here." Prosciutto placed his hand on the hospital room door and then said, "Our Captain is inside. Only Giorno Giovanna can go in."
Everyone crowded at the hospital room door, and inside the room were Risotto and Johnson Joffrey.
"What about my mom, then?"
"She's in there too."
"Let me see her."
"Shut up." Prosciutto glanced at Trish, then looked at Giorno, and the door opened a crack. "Go in."
Giorno nodded to Bucciarati, then pushed the door open and entered.
It was a double room with a balcony, a bathroom, and flowers. There were two hospital beds, one for Trish's mother, and the other for the leader of the Assassination Team.
Under the warm sunlight, Johnson Joffrey sat on a lounge chair on the balcony, his feet resting on a square leather stool, quietly reading a book.
Holding the book with one hand, it almost covered his face, revealing a few unruly golden hairs struggling to emerge from the book, floating in the morning breeze.
The book was… Giorno's English level was only junior high, but he could still understand it. The book was—
"The Call of the Wild"?
He finally noticed Giorno, tilted his head slightly, and a crimson eye appeared from the right side of the book.
His eyes were filled with an inexplicable joy.
Snap.
He closed the book with one hand and got up from his seat.
"Giorno Giovanna, you've finally arrived." He slowly walked up to him and said, "Have you seen Diavolo's true face and returned to my side?"
Although he didn't want to admit it, everything had gone as he expected. Both his enemies and himself were within his expectations.
He glanced at Risotto, who was lying quietly on the bed. Johnson Joffrey's Stand, Reversed Hierophant, was no longer its original form, and he was shocked to discover, using Gold Experience, that Risotto had no vital signs whatsoever.
If that was the case, the person Prosciutto had been contacting all along was him. This person, only a year older than himself, had already taken control of the entire Assassination Team.
"I'm really too happy. In fact, I've been quite lonely in my short life." Johnson Joffrey put one hand in his pocket, smiling, and continued, "It's truly wonderful to meet a brother like you."
"I have similar thoughts," Giorno said calmly. "I very much look forward to fighting alongside you."
"Stand Ability, the bloodline of a vampire, and the faintly glowing five-pointed star behind this—these are all symbols of our brotherhood. I've been searching for you with these things for many years."
Giorno recalled what he had said to him back then. In just a few short hours, everything that happened was under his control. To exist in this world with such a person was terrifying. But this person had the same blood flowing through his veins as him.
"Me too." Giorno said calmly, but his heart was filled with immense joy. This was much better than he had imagined.
Giorno had always been a cheerful person, just as Koichi had described him at the beginning of the true golden wind.
Having such a powerful and intelligent older brother was his childhood fantasy. He was bullied by classmates, beaten by his stepfather, ignored by his mother. With such a childhood, how he wished he had a powerful father or older brother to protect him.
Unfortunately, you came too late.
But Giorno still reached out and shook Johnson's hand.
"That's truly wonderful."
"Big Brother," Giorno suddenly said with a bright smile, "Please guide me in the days to come."
Johnson Joffrey was stunned for a moment. He understood that he had overcome the villain's charisma given by the system and made his younger brother firmly believe he was a good person.
Thinking about it, this wasn't the first time he had been an older brother. He originally had a younger sister too.
"Alright!" He smiled brightly and said, "If I, your elder brother, do anything wrong, you must tell me."
The two of them exchanged a smile.
"Let's not talk about that for now, Giorno," Johnson suddenly said, "My uncle Risotto still needs your help."
Giorno's expression turned serious, then he said with some surprise, "Your Reversed Hierophant can connect souls and bodies to exchange energy and sustain each other's threads, which is truly astonishing. Then my Gold Experience can bestow life force upon a deceased body, allowing the dead to be resurrected."
"As expected of you, Giorno," Johnson exclaimed. He had to admit that Giorno truly thought along the same lines as him, and Giorno originally possessed extraordinary wisdom.
"However, my Reversed Hierophant can only grasp souls that have not yet dissipated. It is because my uncle had many lingering attachments in this world that I was able to help him gather his soul."
"I see," Giorno mused, "That is indeed the case. If one were to easily reverse life and death, and overturn cause and effect, it would likely provoke the gods."
Johnson couldn't help but chuckle, "Do you still believe in gods?"
"That's hard to say," Giorno said seriously, "This world still has rules."
Johnson nodded.
"Gold Experience"
This golden figure flashed out from behind Giorno, then floated to Risotto's side and placed its golden hand on the clasped hands of the Reversed Hierophant, injecting a large amount of life energy.
As if hearing a heartbeat, Gold Experience created a pulsating heart from a blue and red ladybug in its hand and gently placed it into Risotto's pitch-black chest.
The Assassination Team and Bucciarati and the others had been waiting outside the ward.
For Bucciarati, this matter should have been a bit of a loss; Risotto had to be revived, Trish's mother still couldn't speak, and the Assassination Team's situation was much worse than he had imagined.
When negotiating, he didn't know the other party's true strength. In fact, Bucciarati could have asked for more.
Over an hour passed, and they were like anxious family members outside an operating room. No matter how fantastical this world was, or how strange and wonderful Stand Abilities were, death remained an untouchable realm.
If a person could die and then be resurrected, what an astonishing miracle that would be.
Bucciarati looked at the closed ward door, praying that these two brothers could create a miracle.
Click.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, everyone immediately stood up and gathered at the ward entrance, their hearts in their throats.
Fortunately, the person who opened the door was a familiar figure.
His black eyes, as always, swept over his members with authority.
"Captain, it's truly wonderful that you're alive."
"Ah, Prosciutto."
Risotto was not good with words; he could only look at his subordinates and nod indifferently. But this was already the greatest favor he could bestow upon his subordinates.
"During my absence, you all did very well. I am proud of you, my subordinates."
Bucciarati looked past Risotto at the two brothers inside, truly miracle-workers.