Roger hadn't expected to run into Mr. Torin right at the bottom of the stairs. He'd originally thought Mr. Torin would be waiting for him in some far more secretive place, and that to reach that place he would have to get through a number of strange people testing him, trials deliberately designed by Mr. Torin to keep others away.
He'd clearly overthought it. The filthy beggar in front of him was Mr. Torin, and he looked especially haggard, like he'd spent a long time sleeping on the streets.
For some reason, Mr. Torin seemed older than before.
Was it just because he wasn't wearing his suit today? Roger wondered.
"Finally, I get to see you again, Mr. Torin."
Roger looked at the man before him.
Rather than an "old man," he was more like a middle-aged man battered to the verge of collapse by wind and rain.
In order for Roger to meet him again, Mr. Torin had racked his brains, even going as far as secretly making deals with Anderson before Benson Tybur had given him any orders.
Anderson had wanted to fulfill the wish of the woman he loved, so Mr. Torin had sought him out and asked him to pass the Jaw Titan onto Roger.
Anderson had agreed.
After that, he often went to see Roger, using table tennis as a pretext to interact with him, to build an emotional bond, to make Roger trust him—to make him believe he was a senior who genuinely had his best interests at heart.
And everything went exactly as Mr. Torin had planned. Roger did trust Anderson, and when the Marleyan military informed him at the last moment that the person scheduled to appear at the Titan transfer site… was Anderson, he hadn't stayed calm at all—he'd been utterly shocked and stunned.
He hadn't understood why Anderson would betray him at that moment.
But Mr. Torin knew. He knew it had all been part of his own plan, including using Dior's resources to get him to send a ship to take Roger to the island.
At first, Dior had thought it was Benson Tybur's idea—thought he was the one who had told Mr. Torin to inform him, so that once Roger was brought to the island and devoured the Founding Titan, Dior could then easily swoop in and reap the final rewards.
What he never imagined was that, by the time he was doing all this, Mr. Torin had already betrayed him.
Or rather, Mr. Torin had never been acting in his interest in the first place.
From the very beginning, he'd been laying a huge trap for Dior. He'd used Porco that way, he'd used Roger that way—
and even Benson Tybur himself didn't fully know what Mr. Torin had really done.
But in the end, Benson still trusted him, because Mr. Torin knew his heart completely.
And he was someone Benson had personally cultivated in this world—a human born and raised here.
Benson knew everything about him, so he'd never felt the need to guard against him.
And whatever Mr. Torin did, Benson believed in unconditionally.
"Long time no see, Mr. Roger."
Mr. Torin was as courteous as ever. This time, though, he wasn't wearing his hat. He simply bowed, using the Tybur family's highest form of etiquette.
When he saw Roger, his eyes were brimming with tears, and he thought to himself that his mission was finally about to be completed.
"There's no need to be so formal between us. Besides, I still owe you my life," Roger said.
But Mr. Torin shook his head. "You don't owe me anything. On the contrary, it's I who wished to repay your father's kindness—this is why I've taken such care of you. Now that your father has been killed by Dior, if you wish to defeat him, then please listen carefully to what I'm about to say."
"Please, go ahead."
Roger treated Mr. Torin with great respect.
In his eyes, Mr. Torin was the person he admired most—someone he regarded as a role model.
"Let's go to that tavern and talk slowly there."
Mr. Torin extended his hand, just as he had done in the past when serving Benson Tybur, and gestured for Roger to follow him.
And so, the two "beggars" in ragged clothes slowly made their way toward the small underground tavern that had once sold bootleg liquor in the underground city.
There weren't many people in the tavern, but there were still a few scattered patrons who looked like regulars.
They each chatted about their own affairs and didn't seem particularly surprised at Roger and Mr. Torin's arrival.
The tavern owner showed them no hint of discrimination either.
Beggars like this came to his place often. They didn't have much money, but they never skipped out on the bill, so the owner took good care of them.
Business like his was getting harder and harder to keep afloat in the underground these days.
"Your drinks."
The owner set their glasses on the table.
Roger nodded.
He didn't know if the owner still remembered him.
It had been a long time, after all—back when he'd ordered Nelly Quick to dig up information on Levi.
Nelly had turned around and shaken the owner down for money, even threatening him at gunpoint.
Roger hadn't been there in person back then, but he had been the one behind the scenes.
Hopefully the owner didn't hold a grudge, Roger thought.
After taking a small sip of his drink, Mr. Torin finally began to explain Dior's situation in detail.
"They're from another world. You're well aware of that by now, I imagine," Mr. Torin said.
Roger nodded, and Mr. Torin continued:
"Their powers are called 'Stands.' Each of them has a peculiar Stand, and that Stand can carry out anything they wish to do.
"Most Stand users have one special ability.
"Porco's ability is [God's Servant]. It's so mysterious that to this day we still haven't unraveled all of its secrets.
"Perhaps he himself was never able to fully draw it out.
"Dior's ability is time stop—within a certain range, he can halt time and leave everyone completely unable to move.
"We don't yet know exactly how long he can maintain it, but it's definitely more than five seconds."
"Is there any way to counter it?" Roger asked.
"In his original world, there was," Mr. Torin said. "From what General Benson Tybur told me, there was a man named Jotaro Kujo. His Stand was the same type as Dior's [The World], but its potential far surpassed [The World]'s. Unfortunately…"
"That hero was slain by an unknown enemy," Mr. Torin finished.
"Slain?"
"Yes," Mr. Torin sighed. "We still don't know who killed him. Whoever it was, their power was extremely mysterious. It seems to be thanks to that person that Dior is now able to swagger freely across different worlds."
"Then how are we supposed to defeat them?" Roger looked straight at Mr. Torin.
Mr. Torin drained his glass in one go.
"All of Dior's group's Stand abilities come from a peculiar Bow and Arrow. And that Arrow is also the Source of the World in their world. What you must do… is seize it."
"That Bow and Arrow?"
"Yes," Mr. Torin nodded. "Steal it, destroy it, or use it—whatever you choose. But as long as you keep it under your control, Dior is doomed to lose."
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