Jotaro Kujo stood in the arena, eyeing his opponent warily. Although he could use the power of his stand to stop time for a few seconds, he was not confident that he would win.
Not after seeing the power Yujiro Hanma had demonstrated earlier. He knew he was at a clear disadvantage; he was not in comparable physical condition to the other fighters.
Although his stand's fists were powerful and struck at insane speeds, his previous fight against Garp proved that an enemy could close the distance and hurt him. This made him insecure.
Before tonight, he had trained during his days off, but the growth was minimal; the time was not long enough to gain significant physical strength. Therefore, he concentrated on his ability to stop time.
Anyone who heard how his ability operated would think it was a foolproof way to win. If you stop time, you can hit your opponent as much as you want without retaliation, right?
However, all power comes at a cost. Jotaro knew from the beginning that stopping time consumed a lot of his stamina, both physical and mental.
How could such an awesome power have no downside? Not only was the time that time remained stopped short, but he also had to be very close to the enemy to take advantage of the opportunity.
His strength had not yet reached the point where he could accomplish so much in a second. With only a couple of seconds in which time stood still, he knew he was likely to lose more than anyone else.
Still, he wanted to fight. He was not a masochist, but the spirit of sharing martial arts experience that had permeated the tournament from the beginning motivated him to fight regardless.
If he lost, at least he would learn more about his power and perhaps break his limits. Full of fighting intent, he took a deep breath.
The ki in his body manifested as golden electrostatic rays that covered his figure. His Stand emerged behind him and positioned itself in front of him. Star Platinum was the name of his soul's incarnation. This being clenched his fists forcefully as he looked at his opponent, Yujiro Hanma.
Yujiro Hanma. He was a man who could fully see Star Platinum and who rubbed his chin with interest when he appeared in the arena. After all, Jotaro embodied the three essential parts of being human: Body, Mind, and Soul.
The golden Ki in his body, his materialized soul, and the mental power supporting this materialization gave him special abilities. Yujiro was curious about this interesting development of power. Could he be trained? Could he obtain something like this?
He was strong, of that there was no doubt, but every martial artist desires to increase his strength or further explore his power. If he couldn't replicate Jotaro's ability, could he learn and develop something suited to him?
He had already seen the ki projection used by Bulma and the others. While they might resemble the stands, they were essentially different, serving more as a power enhancement with symbolic meaning.
"Boy, it looks like you've barely received any physical training," Yujiro said, eyeing Jotaro's body carefully.
Although Jotaro was tall and appeared muscular, Yujiro's experience told him that his opponent had barely gone through basic training. All Jotaro had now was pure physical talent.
"Until this tournament, I never saw any point in training my body. But this place is full of monsters," Jotaro replied, remembering past fights.
Seeing so many people fight and demonstrate their physical power by throwing energy beams, making the earth tremble, and splitting the clouds with their abilities was an eye-opener for Jotaro.
"Hehe, I've met so many talented youngsters at this event," Yujiro Hanma said, ignoring the fact that he was also relatively young. His words seemed to carry weight.
"Hey, isn't it time for the fight to start?" Yujiro asked suddenly, looking toward the commentators' table.
"We wanted to let them talk. Isn't that a tradition?" replied Whis, covering his mouth as he laughed. His sense of humor had always been strange.
"I guess if we're going to let him start the fight, we should," Muten Roshi said quietly to his two companions.
"Yes... Let the fight begin!" The emcee shouted, and as his voice dropped, the starting gong was struck loudly.
Jotaro took the initiative. He needed to close the distance between himself and Yujiro. Only then would he have a chance of winning if he effectively harnessed his ability to stop time.
However, Yujiro did something he rarely did in his fights. He channeled his crimson energy into the palm of his hand and created a sphere of ki, which he launched at Jotaro at high speed.
Star Platinum sensed the impending attack and, without hesitation, stepped into the projectile's path and threw a powerful punch at the energy sphere. There was strong resistance when his fist collided with the Ki ball, but Star Platinum managed to deflect it effectively.
'What a solid energy attack,' thought Jotaro, feeling a hint of pain in his fist because every sensation Star Platinum experienced was fed back into his body.
At first, he thought the strength of his Stand would be enough to shatter the attack, but he was surprised to find that it felt like he had hit a cannonball. Now, one thing was clear in his mind: Yujiro's energy attacks couldn't hurt him.
Yujiro smiled broadly, as if the earlier incident amused him. He channeled ki into his body again, but this time he didn't generate a single energy ball.
Instead, he created dozens of them, each floating around his body waiting for his command. At this point, Jotaro had to stop his attempts to get closer to Yujiro. Even Star Platinum moved closer to his body, watching those attacks carefully. However, he neglected something very basic.
He stopped paying attention to Yujiro. By the time Jotaro felt a great force impact his abdomen, it was too late to prepare. Yujiro appeared where Jotaro had been standing, while the young man flew through the air.
Star Platinum could react quickly and precisely to many things, but ultimately, it had its limits. Furthermore, Jotaro's capabilities were limited by his user, which allowed Yujiro to hit him.
While his body was still in the air, energy balls created by Yujiro flew swiftly toward Jotaro, intending to bombard his body. Although Star Platinum managed to deflect some of them, the remaining ones inevitably fell on him.
Luckily, they didn't explode. At least, that's what he thought when he saw that the damage was merely kinetic. When his back hit the ground, he thought he had broken some bones. However, the Ki technique he had learned from his grandfather could heal this damage in no time.
Just then, he sensed a strong threat. The nearby energy balls glowed brightly, and an explosion of energy enveloped him. Yujiro simply walked toward him, looking at the dust that covered his figure. He could still feel Jotaro's presence.
'At least he's a tough guy,' Yujiro thought, somewhat bored, because fighting Jotaro was like fighting a kid who, for some reason, had a giant laser weapon in his hands.
In a sense, it was a miracle that Jotaro made it this far and won his fight with Garp. Even Yujiro recognized that Garp was tough; Jotaro himself felt like fighting him.
However, Jotaro had another disadvantage: his reach. He didn't seem to be able to project his ki in energy attacks, and although the strange materialization of his soul looked powerful, it didn't separate from him. There seemed to be a very clear limit to its activity:
Two meters of range, Yujiro noted. In a fight to the death, limitations like that could be exploited to kill someone. Even now, with his single ki attacks, Yujiro had brought Jotaro to this point.
"I know you're conscious. Get up," Yujiro declared, stopping exactly three meters away from where he sensed Jotaro.
A strong wind arose, and Jotaro finally appeared before the audience. His body was battered and covered in blood, and his clothes were tattered. However, a golden aura, different from the previous rays covering his body, emerged from him.
"I get it. Are you one of those people who show their potential when they're on the edge? No wonder that Garp guy insisted on beating you up," Yujiro said, trying to goad Jotaro into action. But the latter simply took in gasps of air. Then, everyone saw it.
His wounds closed, muscles emerged from his body, and his posture improved. With each breath, it seemed as if his body transformed the ki within him into a healing force that washed over him, healing the damage he had suffered.
"I guess it's my turn now, isn't it?" Jotaro said. Yujiro felt that, at that moment, there was no need to push Jotaro to his limits.
Not when there were flames in his eyes. Yujiro had seen many things; he had even gone to the Demonic Realm near Earth and fought the supposed King of that place, a man named Sura.
Now, however, he felt that Jotaro was a really interesting guy. The smile on his face reappeared, erasing the boredom he had felt, as a crimson aura emerged from his body.
To show off his ability, Yujiro flexed his muscles, tearing his shirt easily. Though there wasn't much change to his body, he looked like he was seething with a thirst for a fight.
"ORA!" Star Platinum flew toward Yujiro. However, there was an impassable limit of two meters that he couldn't overcome. That didn't matter to Jotaro, though, not when he had such a strong desire to hit the bastard who hurt him like that.
If he was going to be proactive, he should start now. He remembered the advice Whis had given him that night, and then his whole body trembled as he broke through the invisible boundary.
Star Platinum's fist hit Yujiro! Star Platinum had broken his range limit! Yujiro easily defended himself, but he still felt the blow's incredible power.
"ORA!" ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!" A barrage of punches and kicks rained down on Yujiro, who redirected the force of the blows into the ground, shattering it completely.
Jotaro realized that, even though he was hitting hard, Yujiro was still overpowering him. So, he resorted to his ultimate ability, which he had awakened the other night.
"Star Platinum: The World!" A wave of energy erupted from Jotaro's Stand, tinting the world a dull gray and bringing everything to a complete stop.
Jotaro looked at Yujiro and decided to punch his torso. However, when Star Platinum's fists tried to land, the punches felt strange; something was very wrong.
When time resumed, Yujiro took several steps back but soon burst out laughing when he saw Jotaro on one knee.
"I was expecting that! That's why I tried something special: Special ki armor! Look! It stored a lot of energy from your attacks and almost broke even. Now, look!" Yujiro's body glowed for a moment, and a concentrated shockwave emerged from his hand. It was aimed at Jotaro.
The shockwave hit Star Platinum, and the damage was reflected on Jotaro's body. This time, his bones were broken, and he was left lying on his back on the arena floor. He was too exhausted to heal again, so he resigned himself to letting his mind go dark, but not before smiling.
'I was able to break one of my limits today. But it seems that Grandfather's prediction didn't show my current state,' Jotaro thought one last time before falling unconscious.
"The fighter Jotaro Kujo has fallen unconscious! The winner of this match is Yujiro Hanma!"
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