Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (story arc)

Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (波紋教師 リサリサ) is the fifth story arc in Battle Tendency.

Summary
With Joseph having a month to live before he dies from the Pillar Mens' rings around his arota and windpipe, telling Speedwagon to make no mention of this to Erina after he returns to America, he is taken by Caesar to Venice. It is there that Joseph meets Caesar's mentor Lisa Lisa, who took him by surprise as a masked gondolier before placing a breathing mask over his face. Lisa Lisa explains that the mask is a training tool to limit his breathing for proper Ripple breathing patterns. Lisa Lisa then takes the two her to home on Air Supplena Island, where she has Joseph and Caesar begin their training by climbing the Hell Climb Pillar or die trapped in the surrounding oil-filled pit.

As Caesar has already made his way a few meters up with his Ripple energy, Joseph initially has difficulty and attempted to cheat his way out with his shirt as a pole strap. But Lisa Lisa notices and cuts the strap to force Joseph back down, the Joestar realizing she actually intends to leave him to die while vowing revenge on her. A day later, Joseph finally realizes Caesar was channeling Ripple through his fingers, following suit and manages to catch up with Caesar some time later. However, Joseph ends up triggering a trap that causes an high-pressure eruption of oil to blast out of the pillar above them. Caesar manages to break through the barrier by using Ripple energy to simultaneously grip the pillar with his feet and repel the barrier, eventually reaching the peak. Joseph uses the oil's flow to catapult himself to the outer wall, passing his test within 61 hours and 9 minutes.

Joseph confronts Lisa Lisa about the ill treatment he received, expressing various revenge fantasies before he changes his tune once seeing the results of his training. With Joseph acknowledging her teaching methods, he and Caesar continue their training under Lisa Lisa's servants Loggins and Messina for the next three weeks. With only one week left before the rings in Joseph's body release their poison, after subduing a pickpocket trying to steal it, he and Caesar learn of the Red Stone of Aja in their teacher's possession. She explains to them that the Pillar Men's leader Kars is the creator of the Stone Mask that claimed their grandfathers' lives, displaying the stone's ability to magnify energy. She explains the Pillar Men seek the stone, as it is a flawless Super Aja, to become ultimate beings able to move freely in sunlight. When Joseph questions why not destroy the stone, Lisa Lisa explains that its destruction would only make defeating their enemies more difficult. She then decides to have Joseph and Caesar face Loggins and Messina respectively in one-on-one battles as their final test.

Later that night, as Caesar engages Messina, Joseph walks down the path to the arena where he is to fight Loggins with full intentions of paying him back for the hell he was put through during his training. But Joseph finds Loggins' blooded hat before noticing the man after he was fatally kicked in the stomach by Esidisi.

Chapters

 * 027 (071). Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (1)
 * 028 (072). Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (2)
 * 029 (073). Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (3)
 * 030 (074). Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (4)
 * 031 (075). Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (5)
 * 032 (076). Ripple Teacher Lisa Lisa (6)

Volumes

 * 04 (08). The Final Trial!

Anime Episodes

 * 07 (16). Ripple Master Lisa Lisa
 * 08 (17). Laying Some Elaborate Traps!