Dire

Dire (ダイアー Daiā ) is a minor ally featured in Part I: Phantom Blood. Dire is a hamon ("ripple") user and a student of Ripple Master Tonpetty.

History
Dire was a good friend of Will Anthonio Zeppeli, who trained with him and Straizo to be ripple masters under Tonpetty. When Tonpetty received a letter from Will revealing the location of the Stone Mask Dire joined his master and Straizo on their way to help Will.

Phantom Blood
Dire first introduced himself after suddenly attacking Jonathan Joestar, where Dire used his Thunder Split Attack. The ripple user then revealed that he only attacked Jonathan to test his strength and see if he really was Zeppeli's friend. To prove he came to help, Dire gave Jonathan the letter Zeppeli wrote.

Before Dio Brando and Jonathan had their last fight, Dire fought Dio to avenge Zeppeli. However, even Dire's best attack, the Thunder Cross Split Attack, didn't stand a chance against Dio's Freezing Attack, which completely turned his body into ice and then shattered it. Dire, now only a head, was able to use his last ounce of ripple energy to shoot a rose into Dio's eye. For that, Dire's head was turned into ice as well and destroyed.

Abilities
Dire has shown incredible mastering of the hamon. He had complete control of his body and its speed, to the point of making the enemies see him blurred when moving. He manipulated his speed to look slower than he actually was, so the enemy would be confident and lower his guard. He also was able to infuse objects with the ripple even when about to die. a feat not many people would be capable to do.

Thunder Split Attack: Dire jumps at his opponents and does a split with their arms. He then attacks their neck with a chop so fast he would even be able to put objects on them without anyone noticing. This attack weakness is that it leaves Dire's guard open for a headbutt or another direct attack.

Thunder Cross Split Attack: Dire's best attack. This is an advanced version of the Thunder Split Attack that covers its weakness by making his hands form a cross. It is described as a perfect technique in both attack and defense, so no one aside from Dio has ever defeated it.

Trivia

 * Guile from Street Fighter appears to be based on Dire. However, due to Guile's military background, it seems more logical that he has been inspired by Rudol von Stroheim, who also shares a similar hairstyle.