JoJolion

"This is a story about breaking a curse.[...] This mysterious boy buried in the ground, who in the world is he?"

- Yasuho Hirose about Josuke, JJL Chapter 1

JoJolion (ジョジョリオン) is the award-winning eighth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, published in Ultra Jump starting May 2011.

The story begins in 2011 and follows Josuke Higashikata, a young man afflicted by retrograde amnesia, in his search to uncover his identity in Morioh Town, a coastal Japanese town affected by the Tohoku earthquake. However, his digging pulls him and his adoptive family into the unfinished business between his previous life and an impending inhuman threat.

JoJolion represents the second part of the series set in the Steel Ball Run Universe.

Plot Summary
"In this search to find out who he is... we keep running into things beyond comprehension..."

- Yasuho

An Amnesiac Man

 * , Welcome to Morioh

Yasuho Hirose, hiding from Joshu Higashikata near Morioh Town's Wall Eyes, discovers a naked man in a sailor cap half buried underground.

In narration, Yasuho explains how the Wall Eyes rose concurrent with a version of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Massive, rocky protrusions marked with long, vertical holes, they rise between the coastline and the mainland, blocking highways, waterways, gas and power lines.

Yasuho calls an ambulance. She notices a star-shaped birthmark on his shoulder, surrounded by the fresh bite mark. The man asks Yasuho whether she knows who he is, before beginning to sink into the ground, prompting her to pull him out, revealing a deep hole. She notices that he has four testicles. Joshu finds Yasuho and the man, jealously launching a lethal attack; inciting him to initiate a power in the form of a bubble emerging from his birthmark that turns Joshu temporarily blind. The man faints, before they are all taken to hospital.

Later at the hospital, Yasuho meets the young man again and he explains to her that he is amnesiac. Yasuho offers to help him and by searching the man's hat, they manage to seemingly learn his identity: Yoshikage Kira. However, Yasuho feels this name doesn't fit him, and instead nicknames him "Josuke" after her childhood dog.

They go to Kira's apartment, where Josuke discovers a naked woman in the bathtub but Yasuho discovers a compromising photo album, making her leave in disgust. Moreover, Josuke notices that he is under attack: each time he injures his hand or foot, it falls under the control of an aggressor in the flat above him. Revealing his Stand Soft & Wet and with Yasuho's timely return, Josuke manages to catch his opponent.

The attacker reveals himself as Ojiro Sasame, a surfer seeking revenge against Yoshikage Kira, whom Josuke closely resembles (in dress as well as in body). Sasame tells of a psychopathic Kira, who in the past by an obscure power and for little reason convinced Sasame to consume his own fingers. Finished, Josuke identifies a Wall Eye in a photo of Kira. Yasuho and Josuke travel to the site of this self-portrait, the same place that he was found a few days earlier, and they dig deeper. They soon uncover the body of the real Yoshikage Kira, who died of cardiac arrest three days prior. Yasuho secretly obtains the autopsy results and discovers something else: Kira's corpse is missing both of his testicles.

The Trail of the Higashikatas

 * ,The Higashikata Family

, Family Tree

, The Lemon and the Tangerine

Yasuho introduces Josuke to the head of the Higahikata family, Norisuke Higashikata IV, owner of a fruit importation business inherited from his grandfather Norisuke Higashikata I.

Lent the Higashikata name, Josuke Higashikata is welcomed into Norisuke's home and provided with Joshu's bedroom, to his chagrin. However, while Norisuke instructs Josuke to guard his blind daughter Daiya and ominously warns him to obey his word, Yasuho is escorted out by the family's maid Nijimura and warned not to return.

As everyone leaves, Daiya begins to flirt with Josuke and decides to play with him. Using her Stand California King Bed, she steals one of Josuke's few memories every time he fusses over her. To make things fair, she tells Josuke that if he manages to make her step on his shadow, the memories will be returned to him, although her knowledge and perceptiveness make the endeavour nearly impossible for him. Meanwhile, Yasuho discovers from a DNA test that Josuke and Kira are practically the same person. Josuke eventually tricks Daiya into stepping on his shadow cast from the light of an open refrigerator. Josuke decides to not hold a grudge and enters Norisuke's study, following the symbol he's seen on Kira's wrist.

Josuke discovers a book in the study marked with the same symbol: a record of the Steel Ball Run race. In the front cover he discovers a family tree for the Higashikata family, and that the first Norisuke Higashikata's daughter married Johnny Joestar, a direct ancestor of the dead Yoshikage Kira. From the family tree, Josuke makes plans to seek out Kira's only living relative: his mother Holy Joestar-Kira. With Yasuho's help, Josuke discovers that she is a doctor at local T.G. University Hospital and both agree to meet here. Also, they discover that she is currently a patient. On his way to the hospital, Josuke notices that his GPS is malfunctioning and that a motorcyclist Stand is stalking him, appearing suddenly and attacking with a freezing wind before disappearing just as quickly.

The GPS is eventually revealed as Yasuho's own nascent Stand, which is actually helping Josuke against his assailant. Noticing that the enemy can only appear when he "opens something", Josuke manages to evade his assailant, then find and eventually defeat the user Kyo Nijimura. Kyo is revealed to have a star-shaped birthmark and to be Kira's little sister. She mistook Josuke for an enemy and tried to stop him from approaching her mother Holy; as a gesture of good will, Josuke promises to stay away from Holy and the two make peace.

Privy to the supernatural properties of the soil near the Wall Eyes, Kyo and Josuke work out that Josuke is a mix between two men, demonstrating the process with two fruits. However, Kira's Stand was not Soft & Wet but rather Killer Queen, leaving the identity of the other man a mystery.

Meanwhile, Yasuho has managed to enter the hospital and meet the delirious Holy Joestar-Kira, but she is soon kicked out by security. Holy watches on as she sees Yasuho's Stand Paisley Park, activate subconsciously, musing that she may be able to help her son. Paisley Park's powers ultimately lead Yasuho back into the hospital into a room right next to Holy's where she sees the extent of her mysterious illness. She lacks the ability to discern people from objects, and the doctors note that she is missing several of her vital organs and her brain has perfectly spherical voids in it, but there is no sign of surgical removal.

Shakedown Road & Johnny Joestar


, Morioh Town: Year 1901 Several days later, Norisuke asks Joshu to take Josuke down to the local high school to see if he can be enrolled there. However, the path to the high school leads them through Shakedown Road, where the residents of the road somehow make Joshu and Josuke damage miscellaneous items and coerce them into compensating with increasingly more money. As a pet shop owner demands 330,000 yen in compensation for a killed rare turtle, Joshu and Josuke reluctantly become mules for a drug trade as a pair of cops watch on.

Before the deal is made, Joshu realizes the trick of Shakedown Road: the gingko leaves littering the street hide several small Stands that instantaneously transport anything that touches them. He uses this knowledge to steal an envelop the client has given to the thugs. Leaving Josuke behind to deal with the cops, Joshu flees with the envelop, only to be caught by the thugs. Joshu's own Stand Nut King Call awakens and intervenes, allowing Joshu to escape. Now safe, Joshu inspects the envelope, only to find it full of leaves.

Josuke has discovered the trick of Shakedown Road as well and taken the cash for himself using Les Feuilles. Safe from the police, as he does not have any drugs on him, he pays off the pet shop owner. As he heads back home, Josuke tries to call Yasuho with Joshu's phone, who ignores the call as a result. However, Yasuho realizes that the call was made near a local landmark, the Joestar Jizō. Reminded of the family tree, she researches the subject. The pet shop owner approaches Josuke as well, and tells him of a story of the dedication of the Jizo that he learned from his family.

Josuke and Yasuho learn that research and the revelation of the pet shop owner that the Jizo was built as a memorial to Johnny Joestar and discover the circumstances of his death. After the Steel Ball Run Johnny had married Rina Higashikata whom he met on his way to Europe. After a few years of happy life, Rina was struck by a mysterious disease. She began to lose her memories, and her skin turned to stone. In his anguish, Johnny stole the Saint's Corpse and took it to Japan. Hiding the Corpse in a hole under a pine tree, Johnny brought his family here. Praying to the Corpse to transfer the disease away from his wife, Johnny saw with horror that his son became ill instead. Finally, Johnny took the disease onto himself and died, his head crushed by a rock. The pet shop owner claims that his story is a mere legend, but Josuke realizes the link between the mysterious illness that afflicted Rina and the one Holy Joestar suffers from to this day.

Elsewhere, Yasuho finds her way to the Meditation Pine at the rear of the Higashikata estate from photos in the news stories she has researched. She reads of a baby who washed up on the beach nearby on November 13, 1901, wearing a necklace. Yasuho is suddenly grabbed by a hand from inside the tree and momentarily groped in the darkness.

A New Enemy: The Rock Humans


, Tsurugi's Goal &amp; the Architect

, King Nothing

Tsurugi's Prank
Yasuho finds herself with Tsurugi Higashikata, the grandchild of Norisuke. Tsurugi reveals that they are in an underground facility used by the Higashikata Family. Tsurugi and Yasuho chat, and Tsurugi reveals that he's a boy crossdressing to thwart off a family curse. When Yasuho demands that he allows her to leave, Tsurugi pulls a prank on her. He has folded Yasuho's smartphone into a frog which leaps at her and she is suddenly put under the thrall of Paper Moon King.

Yasuho leaves and heads back into town, followed by Tsurugi, and discovers that she cannot distinguish between people anymore. Although she calls Josuke for help, Tsurugi neutralizes him with his power as well. After a lengthy series of misadventures, Yasuho relents and follows Tsurugi back to the playroom. Elsewhere, Josuke sees that he is no longer afflicted by Tsurugi's Stand and realizes that Yasuho was its main target.

Through the slot in the door of the second underground room, somebody spies on Tsurugi and Yasuho's return.

Battle Against Yotsuyu Yagiyama
Tsurugi apologizes, admitting that he targeted her with his Stand Paper Moon King. He states the open secret that every Higashikata family member has a Stand. Yasuho asks Tsurugi what purpose the underground complex serves, and she learns that it is dedicated to treating the mysterious illness that affects the first born members of the Higashikata family which slowly turns their skin to stone. Yasuho is reminded of Holy's condition and that Kira tried to save his mother.

Tsurugi leaves the room and Yasuho takes a nap. However, a figure emerges from a wall. Uttering obscurities, mentioning Soft & Wet and that Josuke need not exist, the man binds the waking Yasuho and proceeds to torture her, forcing Paisley Park to flee to warn Josuke. The man introduces himself as Yotsuyu Yagiyama, an architect, who most of all desires social status, for which purpose he intends to ensure that Josuke dies again. Yotsuyu suddenly slips on a banana peel origami that Yasuho made earlier and disappears.

Meanwhile, Josuke spots Tsurugi heading toward the garden and follows him, himself followed by Norisuke. Josuke then interrogates Norisuke to discover his intentions once and for all. Despite earlier suspicious behavior, Norisuke exposes why he doesn't mean Josuke any harm and that both him and Kira wanted to cure the Rock Disease plaguing both their families. Norisuke thus hoped to find in Josuke's memories the cure Kira supposedly found before his death. However, Norisuke keeps the circumstances of his illness and his Stand's nature a secret.

Near the hatch to the underground facility, Josuke and Norisuke find themselves surrounded by numerous garden pots converging toward Josuke no matter what he does. Thankfully, Josuke and Norisuke cooperate to escape the range of the enemy power. The pair then feels someone touching them but doesn't see anyone. This time hundreds of chestnuts advance on them and threaten to pierce their skin with sharp thorns until Josuke robs them of their moisture and they disintegrate, giving Norisuke enough time to force the hatch open and break the chained inner handle with a rock. Once the two enter and seal the bunker, they find themselves out of their opponent's effective range.

In the bunker, Norisuke compels Tsurugi to reveal that Yotsuyu approached him with the promise of a cure for the Rock Disease, demonstrating its potency by feeding it to a dog transformed into rock and seemingly healing it. However, the exact nature of the cure wasn't revealed to him. All Tsurugi had to do was lure Josuke into a trap.

Josuke, who has made sure that Yasuho is safe in a nearby bedroom, checks the room again when Tsurugi mentions that there is another hidden entrance. Yasuho has disappeared and he immediately gives chase with Norisuke's Stand King Nothing which tracks objects and people by their scents. While following the scent, Norisuke reveals to Josuke the Rock Disease which affects the eldest child of each generation but which is "healed" by having one member of the family perform an equivalent exchange in the ground of their property with the child.

King Nothing leads Josuke and Norisuke to the coast in which they find Yasuho still unconscious. At the same time, Josuke spots Yotsuyu who manages to touch him before being pummeled away and hide among the rocks. Threatened again by Yotsuyu's power, Josuke suggests that Norisuke track the mysterious man who can transform into rocks.

Using Yotsuyu's scent, Norisuke manages to find the architect in his rock form. Josuke bashes the rock with another rock and watches it bleed, puzzling the two of them as to Yotsuyu's true nature. As several canisters of pesticide approach, Josuke goes on the offensive and traps Yotsuyu in a giant bubble, only for the latter to use his Stand I Am a Rock to escape. As the pesticide comes closer, Josuke grabds Yotsuyu and jumps off a cliff into the sea below. He then traps Yotsuyu in nets and threatens to drown him if he doesn't answers his question, but Yotsuyu remains silent before crumbling to dust. At the same time, Josuke spots a mysterious fruit amongst the flotsam, but it soon sinks deep into the water.

Josuke returns to the surface with what remains of Yotsuyu, only raising more questions than answers when examining the net full of stones. Tsurugi asks if he saw the cure Yotsuyu had promised him, and Josuke mentions the fruit.

The Trail of the Fruit

 * , Josuke! Go to the Higashikata Fruit Parlor

, Jobin Higashikata Is a Stand User

Jobin Higashikata's Involvement
After some research, Norisuke reveals that Yotsuyu was impersonating someone. Meanwhile, Yasuho has been sent home. Norisuke, Josuke, and Tsurugi soon find another fruit alongside a dog which can transform into rock, and Norisuke makes King Nothing memorize its scent. Tsurugi adopts the dog which he dubsIwasuke.

To investigate the fruit further, Norisuke brings Josuke to his fruit parlor to examine an encyclopedia, but they are interrupted by the return of Norisuke's first born son Jobin Higashikata. Jobin has just returned from a trip abroad where he has purchased a rare Dorcus Titanus Palawanicus stag beetle which he quickly gifts to Josuke. Overjoyed to see his eldest son, Norisuke decides to accompany him back home, and unbeknownst to him, King Nothing detects the mysterious fruit's scent on Jobin's handkerchief, a fact only Josuke notices.

At the Higashikata household, Josuke asks if he can go to Jobin's room, saying he needs advice for raising his stag beetle. Accompanied by Joshu, Josuke is accepted in Jobin's room. A flashback reveals that Josuke has goaded Tsurugi into cooperating with him against Jobin. Tsurugi reveals that Jobin is obsessed with beetles and beetle fights. He will never turn down a challenge or a bet, but he will quickly be able to discover he is being fooled.

Back in Jobin's room, Josuke manipulates Jobin into accepting one round of beetle fight, the loser having to shave one eyebrow. The first round begins between two Palawanicus beetles. Thanks to female beetle pheromones which Josuke has planted in the ring with Soft & Wet, which greatly motivate his beetle, Josuke wins the first bout. Meanwhile, Tsurugi enlists Yasuho's help to investigate Jobin's car. Happy despite his loss, Jobin accepts another round with another beetle. If Josuke wins, he gets the key to Jobin's Lamborghini. Unexpectedly, the second beetle fights with unnatural precision, but the first round times out before Josuke is defeated. Josuke asks about a liquid he saw oozing from Jobin's beetle, and Jobin reveals that it is simply wax, which when melted will cause convulsions to the beetle and eventually kill it, but not before Jobin wins the match.

As the second bout begins, Josuke pops the bubbles which plundered the air around Jobin's paintbrush and is baffled to discover a temperature as high as 60 °C, caused by Jobin's Stand Speed King. The Rosenbergi slowly overwhelms the Palawanicus with its precise movement. However, Josuke has planted hornet's poison in Jobin's brush as Jobin brushed his Rosenbergi between rounds, killing it. Josuke is the winner. He takes the Lamborghini's keys with him and tries to leave but Jobin stops him, having realized that Josuke came here for an ulterior motive. The keys are transported anyway to Tsurugi with a bubble, who goes on the investigate the car in the garage.

When Yasuho and Tsurugi enter the garage and open the Lamborghini's door, Paisley Park appears and shows the Lamborghini's itinerary in Morioh.

Meanwhile, Jobin tries to pressure Josuke into revealing his intention with Speed King, causing a severe nosebleed to Josuke, but the latter escapes by sending some of the hot air to the fire sprinkler system in Jobin's beetle room. Jobin and Joshu give chase and enter the garage, almost catching Yasuho and Tsurugi. Thankfully, they have hidden inside Norisuke's car and resume their investigation. When Jobin and Joshu leave, Yasuho has Paisley Park check the Lamborghini's onboard computers and discovers security camera footage of Jobin meeting another man in the city.

Battle Against Aisho Dainenjiyama
Yasuho discovers the man's identity as Aisho Dainenjiyama, a security guard at Morioh's baseball stadium. She and Tsurugi trail him using Yasuho's phone empowered by Paisley Park and folded up by Paper Moon King into a frog and find him selling a fruit to an old man who miraculously regrows a lost leg. However, Aisho discovers the phone watching him. Although the phone escapes, Aisho unleashes his Stand Doobie Wah! to chase Yasuho and Tsurugi. The automatic Doobie Wah! materializes from their own breath and relentlessly pursues them.

A flashback details Aisho's past: he used to live in a house with a girlfriend, but when he revealed his true nature as a rock man, his girlfriend used one of his hibernation periods to sell the house, nearly killing him in the process when it was demolished; Aisho was saved when Yotsuyu woke him up and lamented at the loss of his house.

In the present, Tsurugi retaliates by releasing a car origami that makes contact with Aisho and tricks him into mistaking a bus for Jobin, causing Aisho to be run over and die.

An Old Acquaintance


The next day, Yasuho finally meets up with Josuke, again. They stroll along the beach, sharing a tender moment, but another girl suddenly greets Josuke as "Se-chan", asking for a later meeting. Josuke goes to meet the girl, named Karera Sakunami. Despite her suspicious behavior, Karera is familiar with the person Josuke was, and he plays along, hiding his lost memories, leading Karera to reveal his original name: Josefumi Kujo. Meanwhile, a pair of twins playing football, the A. Phex Brothers, track Karera and attack her.

The nature of Rock Humans is explained, revealing their coexistence with humanity in secret, the prevalence of Stands amongst them, and the seeming cursed interactions they have if they fall in love with a human.

A short fight ensues between Josuke and the A. Phex Brothers. Josuke manages to use Schott Key No.2's poison gas to his advantage and takes the elder brother hostage with bubbles full of poison. When the elder, soaked with gasoline, is ignited by Karera, his brother runs toward him, forgetting the bubbles which pop and envelop him in poison gas. Both Rock Men are consequently killed. After watching the fight, Karera finally realizes that Kira and Josuke had performed an equivalent exchange, and leaves Josuke be before he can ask her anything else.

Battle Against Tamaki Damo


, Walking Heart , Breaking Heart

The mysterious Rokakaka Tree is introduced, being a plant from New Guinea formally discovered by an Australian expedition in 1938. The Rokakaka was used by the locals to cure various ailments while turning a random body part into stone. During World War II, all reports of the fruit disappeared and it became a mere legend.

In Yasuho's home, Yasuho and Tsurugi talk on the phone with Josuke about Josefumi Kujo, Josuke's supposed identity. The conversation is interrupted when Hato brings her new boyfriend Tamaki Damo to meet her family. Damo is unattractive and awkward, leading to an embarrassing conversation. However, the whole family is soon immobilized by Damo's Vitamin C which softens them into puddles. Damo confronts Norisuke and interrogates him in order to find who has been dismantling his organization. Damo then explains the context of the whole affair.

Two years ago, Yoshikage Kira discovered Aisho Dainenjiyama in his rock form by accident while working on a ship. Curious, he investigated the whole trade and discovered the Rokakaka. He coincidentally met with an acquaintance, Josefumi.

Back when Josefumi was a little child, he once almost drowned at the beach when his neglectful mother Kiyomi lost him in the sea. Brought to the hospital, Josefumi was saved by Holy Joestar-Kira and Yoshikage, who performed surgery with his Stand to clear out a blood clot in Josefumi's brain. Out of gratitude for both of them, Josefumi accepted Kira's offer to help him steal the fruit. Moreover, Josefumi demonstrated that they could steal only several branches and graft then onto other trees with his Soft & Wet, allowing them to harvest the future fruit at their leisure.

One day after a trade, Kira and Josefumi manages to steal some branches from Aisho unnoticed and subsequently groom the branches.

In the present day, Tamaki Damo continues to torture Norisuke and demands to know who killed Yotsuyu Yagiyama. Damo cuts off Norisuke's arm with a folded banknote in order to make him falsely confess that he killed Yotsuyu, but Damo correctly guesses that someone else was helping him.

Back in August 19, 2011, Josefumi and Kira were caught by Damo and Yotsuyu who boarded Kira's boat and incapacitated both men, as they had noticed the theft and narrowed their search to Kira. Damo tortured Kira to discover the location of the grafted branches and ultimately cuts off his liver. Using Karera as a distraction to set off several Sheer Heart Attack bombs, Josefumi and Kira escaped.

The two drifted along the coast up to the grafted branches' location where Josefumi dragged the already unconscious Kira to the branches and fed him the one of the two ripe Rokakakas to heal him, noting that his grown fruits were vastly different from the normal ones. After driving off the A. Phex Brothers, Josefumi sacrificed himself and fed Kira the last fruit from the branches, hoping that Kira would be able to harvest them some time in the future. At the same time, the ground opened up under Josefumi and Kira, and both fell into a fissure caused by the earthquake.

Back in the present, Damo tortures Norisuke IV or order to find Josefumi Kujo whom he suspects is working with Norisuke. When the old man denies knowing Josefumi, Damo calls Hato to him in order to make an example of her. While in the foyer, Josuke has warned Hato of Damo's true nature but she cannot believe that her boyfriend is an enemy, and Norisuke is forced to confess that he suspects Josuke of being Josefumi.

Damo then melts Hato, and looks at Josuke. Confirming his suspicions, he tries to kill Josuke, but Hato, who Josuke has transported out of the house and outside Damo's range, attacks him with her own Stand: Walking Heart.

Damo cannot reach Hato, and Josuke uses Soft & Wet's bubbles to alert her of Damo's position through the roof, allowing her to defeat him. Everyone returns to their normal state, and Josuke pursues Damo in order to kill him for good, smashing him to pieces just like the other Rock Humans. The murder is witnessed by Jobin.

Meanwhile, Norisuke's wife, Kaato Higashikata, has finished her prison sentence and prepares to leave, and contacting her son Jobin in order to plot against Norisuke.

Interlude & Aftermath


, Dawn of the Higashikata Household

Josuke finally discovers that he is the amalgamation of Yoshikage Kira and Josefumi Kujo. Two weeks prior to Kaato Higashikata's release, Joshu asks his father for some money to buy some idol goods. After the idol meet-and-greet, Joshu antagonizes a fellow fan and secretly steals his wallet after he leaves it behind at the register. Joshu indulges himself in a shopping spree, and coincidentally accumulates more and more money as he tries to spend it. People actually refuse to take money from him, mentioning a mysterious Milagro Man.

Joshu eventually notices how strange his bank notes are. After accidentally burning one of the bills, he watches as it expands and covers him up. Joshu wakes up later at his house, but goes to his own room to find it full of cash as it nearly crushes him. He tracks down his victim Zaihei Nigatake whom he blames for what's happening to him. Zaihei, grateful toward Joshu for taking his "curse", explains the legend of the Milagro Man and his history with the curse. Nonetheless, Joshu tricks Zaihei into tearing one of the cursed bills and passes the curse back onto him much to Zaihei's horror. On his way home, Joshu melancholically ponders his true worth in the world.

Josuke confirms his second identity, then finally sees Holy Joestar-Kira for the first time. However, her condition has deteriorated drastically and Josuke is appalled that the hospital staff don't take care of her. Feeling attachment toward her, he swears to find the cure and pay for Holy's treatment in the meantime.

Afterward, the Higashikata family notices that Kaato, their mother has returned home although Joshu and Dayia don't remember her. Norisuke and Hato are wary of her because they know she was sent to prison for murdering a child. Joshu tries to publicly humiliate her, only to be struck by a chair hidden by her playing card Stand. Kaato furiously leaves the house, claiming that part of it is rightfully hers, while Jobin confirms to the others that he was the one who let her in, making Norisuke suspicious of his son's intentions.

Seeking the Plant Appraiser


Sometime later, Josuke reveals Holy's condition to Norisuke and also that Jobin may be somehow conspiring against all of them due to his involvement in the Rokakaka Smuggling Organization. Norisuke refuses to believe that his son is guilty but instructs Josuke to seek out his company's plant appraiser whom is qualified enough in horticulture to find the branches. Kaato eavesdrops on this conversation and informs Jobin of the two's plans. Jobin in turn seeks out another Rock Human named Dolomite who agrees to attack Josuke under the belief that he will get his body back to normal, summoning up his Stand Blue Hawaii.

As Josuke seeks out the plant appraiser, a 🇺🇳 gives him a letter. However, Josuke spots a tooth in the envelope, just as the boy begins to attack him, as the boy is under the thrall of Blue Hawaii. Although the boy is disabled, another woman begins to pursue him. Josuke flees as best he can as the continuous chain of victims chase him with complete disregard for their own bodies. Josuke calls Yasuho to check on the envelope he had found earlier. She goes to examine the tooth with Paisley Park, only to pass out from heatstroke as a result of Jobin's Speed King. He smashes up her cellphone and steals the tooth, leaving Josuke high and dry when a baby is infected, leading Josuke to fall under Dolomite's control.

The controlled Josuke heads to the Mutsukabe Shrine, where he is interrogated by Dolomite about his goals. Once he discovers the truth, Dolomite instructs Josuke to drown himself in the pond, but Yasuho has managed to follow Josuke via his phone's GPS and threatens Dolomite's life to free Josuke from his control.

After Dolomite is neutralized and reveals Jobin's involvement with the Rokakaka Smuggling Organization and the chase for the new variety of the fruit, Josuke and Yasuho go to the plant appraiser's home on a bus. Just after Josuke realizes that there may be a new group of enemies after the Rokakaka, said plant appraiser appears and hijacks the bus, driving it directly to his home, a ski lift. Rai Mamezuku, the plant appraiser, confirms Josuke's suspicions and accepts to help Josuke; he then takes Josuke and Yasuho to his home to discuss their situation, the nature and motivations of the enemy, and what to do next, insisting heavily that his own safety should come first.

At the same time, an unknown enemy is trailing the trio. Although they escape a first attack, Rai is wounded and must cut off his hand by unravelling it with his Stand Doggy Style. The plant appraiser decides to throw Yasuho down the chairlift to expose her and observe the enemy, and the group discovers during the second attack that they are facing two rock beings: the Rock Human Urban Guerrilla whose Stand Brain Storm bores holes into people's skin, killing them from the inside out, and the Rock Animal Doremifasolati Do who can travel through the ground with its tank-tread-like body.

The group scatters, Josuke jumping down to help Yasuho and Rai going to the seventh pole of the ski lift by himself to get fuel and light the enemy on fire. The couple is pursued by Doremifasolati Do while Rai is confronted by Urban. Caught slinging along the cable of the ski lift, Rai is unable to escape and can only shoot two forks at Urban, one of which misses and hits the seventh pole, then falls to the ground.

Meanwhile, Josuke sees that his attacks are ineffective against Doremifasolati Do, and is stuck on a bedrock area without plan. However, when he sees Rai's determined look, Josuke decides to act and runs to attack Urban on the pole. Despite his best efforts, Urban manages to enter his pet, which crushes Josuke beneath him. While Urban gloats, Rai has managed to collect the fuel which has leaked due to the fork, and transports it to Josuke along with a lighter. Although Urban closes Doremifasolati Do's shell, bubbles full of oil and fire slip through and explode, killing both enemies.

Not long after, Jobin meets with Urban's superior, Poor Tom. The baby-like old Rock Human then instructs Jobin to bury his Stand Ozon Baby in the orchard of the Higashikata Estate.

Interlude: Yasuho's Past

 * , The Qing Dynasty Hair Clip

After the battle, Rai tells Yasuho to go home and stay safe. However, the clash with the Rock Humans causes her to remember an incident of the past. When she was 13, Yasuho bought a hair clip in anticipation of a weekend with her father. However, the hair clip was a strange creature that tricked her into committing suicide. Thankfully, the Kira Family saved her from it. Since then Yasuho keeps its remains in her room.

In the present, Yasuho reaffirms her will to help in front of Rai, who notes that the hair clip may be a Rock Animal and thus a lead toward identifying the enemy.

The Theft of the Rokakaka Branch

 * , North of the Higashikata Estate. The Orchard

Battle in the Higashikata Garden
It is breakfast at the Higashikata. Jobin stealthily plants Ozon Baby in the orchard, but when he returns to the tool shed, is confronted by his son Tsurugi. Jobin thus reassures that his actions are for the sake of his family.

Nonetheless, the air pressure increases and the Stand Ozon Baby appears to attack everyone.

The Higashikata House is under attack from Ozon Baby which manipulates pressure, everyone save Jobin having fallen unconscious. Trapped in their shed, Jobin and the revived Tsurugi realize that Ozon Baby is an automatic Stand which will indiscriminately attack anyone in its range. Managing to bring Tsurugi back to safety, he also roughly grasps the enemy's ability: Ozon Baby can decrease the air pressure in a zone, but any closed space will dampen its effects. Determined,they set the orchard on fire by using origamis and Speed King to spur their enemies into action.

Indeed, Poor Tom rushes into the orchard to retrieve the branch while Josuke and Rai go out, protected by Soft & Wet's bubbles. They meet just as Rai takes the branch and a fight ensues. Poor Tom takes out Rai and seize the branch but is poisoned by a yew seed. Pursued by Josuke, Poor Tom is bluffed into cancelling the air pressure ability, but his supposed allies from the hospital have arrived.

Surprisingly, Poor Tom is killed by a mysterious ability shooting through his head. An unseen person seizes the branch and drives away before Josuke can do anything. However, it is revealed that Tsurugi used Paper Moon King into tricking everyone: an ordinary branch has been fought over while Jobin stole the real Rokakaka branch. They hide the branch, grafted into a cactus. Meanwhile, the ambulance driver discover the trick and guess that the arsonist is the one who has the branch.

Finally, Josuke returns to Rai, revealed to be alive and slowly reconstituting himself. Desperate, Josuke can only observe his total loss.

The University Hospital
After the fire, the whole Higashikata Family gathers, allowing Josuke to explain his situation and that he has now 10 days to retrieve the fruit. However, Jobin's insistence on the hospital clues Rai in as to the eldest son's guilt about the fire. Nonetheless, the two decide to search the hospital first.

Meanwhile, Mitsuba Higashikata goes to the university hospital to complain about her latest affliction: the side of her head is secretly turning into stone. Her physician, Dr. Wu Tomoki, then suspiciously proposes to her a secret new treatment; later Yasuho who has gone to the same hospital, sees Mitsuba without her legs. She calls Josuke and informs him of this, causing Josuke and Rai to worriedly rush to the hospital. Despite their warnings to not interfere, she decides to investigate further.

Following Mitsuba into an examination room, Yasuho explains the situation to Jobin's wife but is soon attacked by Dr. Tomoki, who can disassemble into small pebbles and infiltrate bodies. Thankfully, she manages to extract the fragments before she can be controlled. Mitsuba realizes that she doesn't know what the treatment to her ailments really is, and decides to ally with Yasuho.

Mitsuba only remembers entering a room full of the Rokakaka trees and reveals that she is pregnant. Wishing to investigate what was done to her, Mitsuba decides to fight. Dr. Wu Tomoki stops them from reaching Josuke and Rai in the lobby, but Mitsuba summons her Stand Awaking III Leaves whose vector power keep the pebbles away. Going into an elevator, Mitsuba tries to evacuate the rocks from her body but sees with horror that at least part of the foetus she's carrying has turned into stone. Then the two women are soon caught up by Tomoki.

Horrified and angry, Mitsuba manages to trap most of Wu Tomoki and then tosses him through a window. Resolving to save the baby, Mitsuba puts its fragments back into her body and heads to the examination room. Incidentally, Yasuho meets an old acquaintance of hers, Tohru. She asks Tohru to alert Josuke and Rai of her location, and while the two women investigate the room, looking at a video demonstration of the Rokakaka and opening the vault, Tohru meets with Josuke Rai. Tohru then reveals that he is Yasuho's ex-boyfriend.

In the laboratory containing a garden full of Rokakakas, Mitsuba wastes no time and eats one of the Rokakaka to save her foetus. However, Wu Tomoki has already returned and infiltrated the fruit, taking control of Mitsuba once again. She sends Yasuho flying into one of the laboratory's niches containing deadly diseases and breaks the vials and petri dishes open, threatening to kill anyone in the room. However, Yasuho returns some of the arrows against Tomoki and successfully purges him out of Mitsuba. Although Wu then turns the garden into fragment and tries to forcefeed the women, Josuke barges in and saves them with Soft & Wet, trapping Wu Tomoki inside a bubble mixed with medicinal cement.

Yasuho and Rai see that the stolen Rokakaka branch isn't there and everyone exits the room, but not before destroying the stored trees. Reaching to the conclusion that during their fight with Poor Tom, the branch was switched by a third party, the group begins to suspect Jobin Higashikata. Meanwhile, seeing her petrified nose, Mitsuba smiles as she knows her child is saved.

Trivia

 * According to a note by Araki in volume 2, the -lion in JoJolion's title is derived from the Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (evangelion), in reference to the Gospels. "By combining this word with "JoJo", I've meant for the title to signify the existence of the protagonist "Josuke" in this world".
 * It won the Grand Prize for manga at the 2013 Japan Media Arts Festival.