Diavolo/History

While a majority of Diavolo's background is vague, some facts are made clear: born in an all-female prison during the summer of 1967, his mother claimed she had been pregnant for two years and there was no father, both within the jail and outside, that could've fathered her child. Because she still had years on her sentence, Diavolo was sent back to Sardinia to live with the priest in his mother's hometown. According to neighbors and friends, Diavolo was frank, yet timid and not too bright; he had also desired to be a sailor rather than a priest like his father wanted him to be. Jean Pierre Polnareff claims he was very likely abused as a child due to forming a split personality, but such an idea hasn't been confirmed.

In 1984 to 1985 (roughly when he was 17~19), Diavolo met Donatella Una, who was vacationing in Sardinia when they met. Donatella fell in love with Diavolo, who was under the assumed name of "Solido Naso", and they interacted enough to sleep together and have a daughter named Trish Una, whom Diavolo was never aware of. During this period of time, Diavolo told numerous lies about himself, all of which Donatella believed, and when they departed, Diavolo made a promise to return and never carried through with it. In 1986, when Diavolo was 19, the priest (who by then had completely adopted Diavolo as his son) spotted Diavolo walking on the beach with a girlfriend (unknown as to whether it was Donatella or someone else). Believing it was time to get Diavolo a car, the priest began to construct a garage, only to find a young woman, Diavolo's mother, buried alive in the dirt with her mouth sown shut. That night, a fire broke out and razed the village, killing the priest and five other people. Diavolo was listed as a casualty as well, but in reality had slipped off to Egypt to join an excavation. During this, he found six arrow heads by chance; He stole them, fled, and soon met Enya Geil, who told Diavolo of their use. He then sold five of the six to Enya for a very large sum of money and very likely returned to Italy to create Passione, a gang that would later become a dominant force in Italy. The arrow he took likely created his own Stand, King Crimson, as well as Mr.President, which was given to Polpo and his Stand, Black Sabbath, to form the initiation test of Passione.

When he had formed Passione, he quickly sent his growing number of subordinates off to find and erase other Mafia families in Italy. During the entire time he ruled Passione, no one had ever met him in person or had seen his face due to his Schizoid Disorder. He also had Passione clean the streets of drugs and do various charity activities (while secretly selling drugs), which gave the outer impression of Passione being a just and virtuous system. This allowed Diavolo to gather many wide-eyed idealists like Bruno Bucciarati and have them join Passione.

In the 1990's, Polnareff and Jotaro Kujo set off to find the remaining Arrows that Diavolo had dug up. Polnareff had noticed that in Italy, crime and death rates had been rising to a point where they were 20 times higher than the average. As such, he set off to investigate Passione and Diavolo, eventually causing the two to meet face to face. In retaliation for nearly discovering him, Diavolo gouged Polnareff's right eye, ripped off his arm, and threw him off a cliff - breaking Polnareff's legs in the process - and declared him dead. However, Polnareff survived and found, as he suspected, another arrow.

In 1994, Risotto Nero joined Passione and Diavolo instated him as the leader of La Squadra di Esecuzione, an assassination team for Passione, giving him several operatives to run including Sorbet and Gelato. However, Diavolo never granted them territory, something all other units were given, and after five years the group sent a request for territory and a raise. When Diavolo rejected this offer, La Squadra retaliated by attempting to discover whom their Boss was so they could extort these gifts. Unfortunately, Diavolo caught on and kidnapped Sorbet and Gelato, eventually torturing them and killing Sorbet while Gelato committed suicide. He then left Gelato's body at the assassins' shared apartment and delivered the thirty-six individual pieces of Sorbet, embalmed in frozen formaldehyde and framed, back to La Squadra's base. When La Squadra rebelled, Cannolo Murolo assisted them in turning against the Boss; regardless of whether Diavolo knew this fact or not, he dubbed La Squadra traitors.

At some point during the previous events, Vinegar Doppio "became a member of Passione"; i.e., Diavolo begun to use him to carry out missions in privacy and go out in public without anyone seeing him in person. It is unknown when Doppio fully formed and 'joined' Passione, and how many years he had been working under Diavolo - however, assuming Diavolo had treated him right, it was a long enough period of time for Doppio to become both fiercely loyal and completely believe that he was the Boss's most trusted subordinate.

In January 2001, Donatella died due to an illness and Trish begun a quest to find her father. Due to his ties through Italy, Diavolo learned of this and sent Pericolo off to find her before La Squadra could.

Because of his drug ring plan still reaching people, particularly children, Giorno Giovanna became attracted to the events around Passione. The death of Luca prompted Diavolo to send Bucciarati to kill the one responsible, which resulted in the officer ultimately allying himself with Giorno. Giorno passed the initiation test, killed Polpo, and became a member of Bucciarati's Gang. After the defeat of Mario Zucchero and Sale, Pericolo met with them, graduated Bucciarati to Polpo's occupation, and gave them Trish Una as well as Diavolo's mission to Polpo to deliver her to him. This plan was done for a two-fold reason of killing off both La Squadra and Bucciarati's Gang and to personally kill Trish due to her being a blood relative and sharing his genes, thus giving any of his enemies a clue to his identity.

During this time, Diavolo traveled to various locations and dropped off objects to be used by Bucciarati's gang; these include the key used to activate Mr.President in Pompeii, Coco Jumbo in a train station at Naples, and a disk located in Venice that would tell of his ultimate location to drop Trish off at. Bucciarati's gang soon managed to collect all these whilst taking out the members of La Squadra whom would try to capture Trish, leading to Bucciarati himself going with Trish to meet the Boss; However, by this point, Bucciarati had become part of Giorno's plan to kill the Boss, something Diavolo wasn't aware of. During the elevator ride up a tower where Diavolo said he was, he kidnapped Trish and slipped down the elevator shaft and into the basement. Bucciarati, finally fed up with the Boss, followed suit and refused to leave, instigating a fight in order to protect her. Diavolo easily overpowers Bucciarati and delivers a fatal blow, before attempting to kill Trish. However, he is stopped by the abilities of Gold Experience, Giorno's Stand, and stalled long enough for Bucciarati to take Trish and flee. Due to King Crimson's issues with dealing with substantial numbers, all of Bucciarati's Gang in this case, Diavolo allows them the chance to escape and brands the group traitors, sending his elite team to kill them and his daughter with the promise of monetary reward.

At the same time, Diavolo orders his alter-ego Doppio to look into a particular matter: the house Donatella lived in in Sardinia still stands, and if Moody Blues was used at that spot, Leone Abbacchio would reveal Diavolo's face. Along the way, Doppio is questioned by a fortune teller who reveals that they're searching for their daughter. Diavolo temporarily reveals himself and kills the fortune teller, but not before learning from him that an encounter with Risotto Nero is close. On the way to Donatella's house, the driver of the taxi that Doppio takes attempts to con him, believing the envelope containing the picture of Donatella to be full of money. Once again, Diavolo intervenes and almost gouges out the eye of the driver. However, he notices that not only did the taxi driver not see the contents of the envelope, leaving no reason to eliminate him, but that that they were being watch. Risotto was planning on intercepting Bucciarati's gang to make one last attempt at capturing Trish. At first, Risotto simply assumes Doppio is a tourist, but upon seeing him react to the sounds and sight of Aerosmith, realizes that Doppio is a Stand user and attacks him.

The fight with Risotto is long and he nearly succeeds in killing Doppio multiple times, if not for Diavolo's interventions. He gives Doppio the use of Epitaph and throughout the fight encourages Doppio to get close so that King Crimson can defeat Risotto in one fell swoop, or orders him to flee when Doppio is at risk of injury. However the fight is largely in Risotto's favor, from the power of Metallica to Doppio's lack of battle experience playing for the traitor. Diavolo throws knives created by Metallica in the direction of Bucciarati's gang. This causes Aerosmith to intervene and shoot Risotto, leaving him dying and defeated. As Diavolo emerges from Doppio, he stands over the traitorous assassin, offering him a quick death with his dignity intact in exchange for the restoration of the iron content of his blood lost in the battle. However, Risotto has Metallica hijack Aerosmith and attempt to shoot Diavolo. In response, King Crimson erases time so that the bullets pass through Diavolo and finish Risotto off. Diavolo is disappointed that Risotto died with not only his honor intact, but without needing to help his former Boss. Left extremely fatigued and weak, Doppio replenishes some of his supply of iron by devouring nearby frogs. When followed by Bucciarati and his men, Diavolo attacks a child playing soccer, steals his uniform, and drinks much of his blood to restore his own iron. This gives him a chance to kill Abbacchio while in disguise in an attempt to remove Bucciarati's group's chance to unveil his face. This fails, however, as an unknown third party begins assisting the traitors in gaining the power to defeat King Crimson.

At some point after Bucciarati's group leaves Sardinia to follow their revolutionary's instructions, Diavolo gives Doppio back control and tells him to investigate the house. However, he knows they are moving towards Rome and he orders Doppio to get moving via plane, as well as ask Cioccolata and Secco for assistance, despite expressing disgust as the former for his past actions. However, when Doppio arrives in Rome, he's held hostage by Secco and is soon lending a hand in helping a once-again dying and unknowing Bucciarati. Diavolo uses his soul's resemblance to Trish's to fool Bucciarati into letting him help in order to find out whom has been assisting the traitors. He is then able to sneak past the rest of Bucciarati's gang and bring him to the Coliseum.

When they get there, Diavolo takes notice of a person watching them, and orders Doppio to stay cautious. The unknown individual calls out and asks Bucciarati for the identity of the person with him is. Diavolo takes a closer look at the individual and notices the Stand-granting Arrow, shocking him and bringing only one person to mind: Polnareff. Though Bucciarati tells Polnareff that it's Trish and Doppio convinces him that he is a girl, he demands to see her Stand. It is in that instant that Doppio disappears. Doppio reappears on a set of stairs leading to Polnareff. In Diavolo's voice, he begins speaking about how everyone must defeat the mistakes of their past as he begins taking off his sweater and passes by a column. When he emerges from the column, Diavolo has fully revealed himself to Polnareff, knowing that he could not keep himself completely hidden in the ensuing confrontation. Though he is only slightly taken aback when he sees that Polnareff is somehow still alive after their last encounter, he nonetheless prepares to attack him a second time and make sure that he stays dead. Before Diavolo begins his assault, he questions Polnareff why he would have an Arrow when there was one already in Italy and all of his allies were already Stand Users. When Polnareff refuses to answer, Diavolo charges at him. Before King Crimson could erase time, Polnareff bites his own finger and holds it over his other hand. Diavolo takes notice of this and positions himself behind Polnareff. He is then attacked and has his arm sliced open by Polnareff's Silver Chariot when time is restored. Diavolo instantly figures out that the blood drops from Polnareff's finger allow him to know immediately when time is erased. Before Polnareff can escape, Diavolo erases time once more, and flings the blood from his arm into the path of Polnareff's eyes to make sure that he wouldn't be able to see when time returns. However, as Diavolo prepares to deliver a finishing blow with King Crimson the instant time returns, he notices that Silver Chariot has been stabbed in the face with the Arrow, and narrowly misses the Stand. Seeing it leap past the average Power-type range limit of two meters, he decides to mortally wound Polnareff by punching him through the chest to prevent it from going any further. Making sure his enemy is dead by checking his pulse, Diavolo wonders aloud is there might be some other ability of the Arrow besides granting Stands to normal people, then takes it for himself. He thanks Polnareff for bringing another Arrow to him before leaving. However, it is then that Diavolo notices a mysterious individual covered in black begin walking away from him. Though he angrily demands the entity's identity and commands it to face him, he suddenly drops the Arrow as his legs go limp. Diavolo falls asleep before he could make sense of the situation.

Chariot Requiem is Polnareff's last resort to keep the Arrow from falling into Diavolo's hands, and renders everyone in Rome unconscious while switching their spirits around. Upon reawakening, Bucciarati's gang in their switched bodies figure out the workings of the soul-switching and their temporarily new identities. Coming to the conclusion that Diavolo's soul would be in Bucciarati's due to it being vice versa, Guido Mista, in Trish's body, immediately fires several rounds into the defenseless body as it's getting up. However, Diavolo's soul was piggybacking with Trish in Mista's body; He very likely comes to the conclusion that they're firing at Doppio and, enraged, breaks a nearby fence and impales Narancia Ghirga (in Giorno's body) on it, killing him instantly. With Giorno back to normal, the group realizes they were wrong and must retrieve the Arrow from Chariot Requiem, taking along with them Polnareff in Coco Jumbo's body. Diavolo, having become a separate soul, begins to sabotage the group's attempts to defeat Chariot Requiem.

Upon the first signs of Requiem's true ability to transform people and animals into "something else", Diavolo becomes the first to figure out its weakness. However, Giorno stops the group when he himself figures out that Diavolo has been sabotaging them. Giorno tells everyone to stay at least five meters apart from each other as Diavolo, whom split from Doppio during the soul switch, is now possessing one of them. It is then that Diavolo realizes that Giorno Giovanna was his greatest obstacle due to his perceptiveness. The young boy attempts to reveal the Boss by touching his allies, sensing if there are two souls. Diavolo, whom is in Mista's body along with Trish, severs Giorno's arm and bashes him in the head when he approaches Bucciarati so that he is not cornered. He is also able to grab Trish's own Stand, Spice Girl, and take complete control Mista's body. Upon figuring out that he is able to move Mista's various parts, Diavolo has him sprint for Requiem and the Arrow, using King Crimson's ability to get a headstart. Diavolo predicts the future and erases time to narrowly avoid Mista's bullets, having countered a number of attacks in the time he gets to Requiem. Before he revealed himself, he noticed that Requiem's shadow is always opposite of wherever he is. With this information, King Crimson throws a blind punch behind its own head, and hits an orb of light that was behind him all along and was producing the shadow. This mostly destroys Chariot Requiem and frees the Requiem Arrow, which Diavolo takes for himself. Ecstatic that the Arrow is in his hands once more, he prepares to pierce King Crimson with it. However, Giorno turns the blood that splattered on Diavolo when he severed his arm into a swarm of ants that chew at and break off the Arrow.

Diavolo reaches for the dropped Arrow after deflecting more of Mista's bullets, but those same deflected bullets then shoot through his hand and knock the Arrow a long distance away. Confused, he realizes that Trish has been fighting back, and that Spice Girl had used its ability to soften the bullets. Diavolo retaliates by wishing his daughter had never been born, before furiously punching her soul clean through the stomach. He then uses the force of the punch to send Mista's body flying in the direction of the Arrow that had escaped him. Having once again taken it, Diavolo attempts to pierce King Crimson without hesitation, only for the Arrow phase right through the Stand's hand; Bucciarati sacrifices his own life by finally destroying Chariot Requiem's remains, saving Trish's life by undoing its ability and ripping Diavolo's soul and King Crimson away from the Arrow.

Awakening, Diavolo attempts to retreat, but a conscious Trish tells Giorno that her father is "running away". In an effort to spare his own pride, he attacks Giorno after meeting eyes with him once more and seeing that the Arrow had landed in the boy's hands. Using Epitaph, he forecasts the Arrow rejecting Giorno, then mortally wounds Gold Experience just as the Stand is pierced. However, Giorno had successfully evolved his Stand into Gold Experience Requiem despite Epitaph's predictions. Initially, Diavolo believes the new form to be a simple enhancement, then forecasts Giorno killed. Giorno taunts and belittles Diavolo and his philosophy, stating that while the virtuous actions of his teammates could never be "erased", the boss and his selfish actions might not be the same case. He attempts to erase time as Gold Experience Requiem unleashes a barrage of punches, Mista fires several bullets, and wasps fly past. Placing himself next to Giorno, Diavolo splatters blood in front of his face like he did with Polnareff, then proceeds to deliver a fatal punch to the heart. However, before the hit could land, he is interrupted by the sight of the wasps flying backward and Mista's bullets returning to his gun. Right as he was about to resume his attack, Diavolo himself is shocked by Requiem speaking to him within the erased time, claiming that while Epitaph allows him to see the next moments of reality, Diavolo himself will never reach it; Gold Experience Requiem reveals its true power by setting King Crimson's seemingly invincible ability "to zero" and nullifying it, completely undoing the time erasure. Diavolo, forced to watch himself state the same lines, is left in a state of utter disbelief as Giorno and his Stand destroy Epitaph in a single punch with no trouble. Desperate in putting an end to the boy that has caused him so much trouble, he attacks Giorno once more, and Gold Experience Requiem ultimately pummels him, annihilating King Crimson in the process and sending him flying into the nearby river.

Due to the ability of Gold Experience Requiem, Diavolo is trapped in an infinite death loop; He continues to experience death over and over for eternity due to dying and subsequently returning to point zero (before his death), starting with drowning in the nearby river, followed by being stabbed to death, autopsied alive, and hit by a car. Panicked in anticipation for where the next source of his never-ending fatality is going to come from, the last of what is seen of Diavolo is him screamingly begging a harmless child to get away from him.

In Purple Haze Feedback, it is briefly touched upon in the beginning that, within the six months between Diavolo's death and the story of the novel, Giorno had managed to successfully fool the entirety of Passione into believing he had been the Boss all along. Besides the drug team, lead by Volpe, it is unknown how many members of Passione actually believed this. Giorno had also obtained the assistance of the Speedwagon Foundation through Polnareff, giving Passione even more power than Diavolo had. Diavolo, through the whole ordeal, was still in his looping deaths during this time and long after.