"All this is well and good," Buccellati said, "But what's the deal with the arrow you have? Why does it look different from the others?" "Hold on," Trish said, "I'm feeling him again... My father is nearby." The group started looking around. "Could Diavolo have followed you somehow?," Polnareff asked. "If he was doing that, then why keep sending agents after us?," Abbacchio wondered. "Well, their track record against us hasn't been the greatest," Giorno pointed out.

Just then, Polnareff saw his binoculars, which had been near his laptop, lying broken on the ground. "Merde... He's here all right. I'd recognize that phenomenon anywhere. In many ways, it's even more terrifying than DIO's power to stop time outright." Fugo, who suspected something like this, was looking at his watch for most of that time. "Looks like your theory was right, Rarity. Ten seconds just skipped all at once. That's likely his limit. But where exactly is he?"

That's when Doppio stepped out of hiding from below the staircase. Buccellati and Fugo looked confused. "Hey, isn't that Vinegar Doppio?," Fugo asked, "The boss's advisor?" Doppio seemed to have a glassy look in his eyes as he took off his turtleneck, suddenly growing several years in age and revealing a very familiar face to the group. "I accept this trial...," came Diavolo's voice, "The trial... Of defeating my past." "Diavolo," Polnareff said, "I must admit, this is a twist I never expected."

He was standing at the top of a staircase while Diavolo was at the bottom. "I wonder if this is how DIO felt when he confronted those of us who first spotted him when we found his mansion in Cairo." "I'll admit I never expected to run into you again, Jean-Pierre Polnareff," Diavolo replied, "You were a mistake I was happy to allow, since I didn't think it would come back to haunt me. But that's the issue with the past. Break it into pieces and entomb it stone, it will still find a way crawl out of the surface like a worm."

"Is that something you came up with while playing at archaeology?," Polnareff quipped. Diavolo shrugged. "To be honest... I don't remember. The only thing I still remember from that dig site was grabbing the arrows and selling them off." Polnareff chuckled. "That's the thing about your past. If you try to forget it, you lack a future. Look at me, I spent years chained by my past. Yet even when I finally buried it, I never forgot it or the lessons it taught me. That's how I overcame my mistakes. You however, don't seem to have learned that lesson."

Diavolo scoffed. "That's not what matters here, anyway. What matters is why you were meeting with Buccellati's team. It can't just be to tell them my history and identity. And why do you have one of the arrows I sold to Enya? I only needed the one to forge my gang into what it is today, so why do you have another one? Especially since you are already a Stand user, as are the ones you were meeting with." "Why should I tell you anything?," Polnareff asked, "Why not come up and try finding out for yourself? Or are you concerned that you'll be overwhelmed again like in our last fight?"

"Last time your friends caught me off-guard since I didn't know their powers!," Diavolo pointed out, "But Buccellati and his team once worked for me, so I know their powers very well!" He raced up the stairs as Polnareff bit his index finger, keeping an eye on the blood dripping down. As Diavolo approached, Polnareff made his move. "Silver Chariot!" The silver knight Stand swung its rapier behind Polnareff, successfully slashing at Diavolo's wrist.

Diavolo's winced as the blood started spurting out. "Well played. You used the blood droplets to detect when time was being erased. And that was perfect timing, too." "I've had years to train my Silver Chariot," Polnareff pointed out, "And hone my mind as well. Unlike you, I was born with my Stand." Diavolo smirked. "Still, it doesn't matter. You're already inside my range. Whatever that arrow is, I'll find out its power. King Crimson!" Time seemed to freeze at once and the area around the group started to crumble away.

Diavolo approached Polnareff, carefully stepping around the virus cloud that was kicked up and the crystal bed that was forming. He then spurted some of his blood into Polnareff's eye. "That should prevent you from counting blood drops from now on. You were likely wondering if you could use that tactic more than once. Well, it might have worked had I not figured it out earlier. But now I have a chance to correct my mistakes, and finally undo my past once and for all."

He grinned as King Crimson raised its fist. "When time resumes, it will all end." However, he then noticed something odd. The arrow was jammed right in Silver Chariot's eyes. "What...? Why on earth would Polnareff stab his Stand with the arrow? That would only injure him, much like how the other one did." He then inspected the arrow to see the beetle emblem on the arrowhead. "Wait... This arrow is a little different... Could it have a different power?"

As he thought this, smoke started coming off of Silver Chariot as it seemed to melt around the arrow, almost merging with it. But not in the same way Polpo's Black Sabbath had merged with the other arrow Diavolo had. It was more like the arrow was becoming part of Silver Chariot, instead of Silver Chariot becoming a receptacle for the arrow. "Something's wrong! I need to stop this immediately! King Crimson!" But as King Crimson made to attack, a brilliant blinding light erupted from Silver Chariot.

Polnareff had deliberately struck his own Stand with the arrow before the time erasure. And now the effect of that decision was coming to light. Diavolo covered his eyes as his power faded out naturally, the full force of the time erase only causing a small change, instead of the usual giant effects he was used to. Polnareff had wanted to get the arrow away from Diavolo. And now he was about to see that happen, for better or worse.

Hey, we had to get the Requiem confrontation set up somehow.