JJL Chapter 22

The Legend of Johnny Joestar is the twenty-second chapter of Part VIII: Jojolion.

Summary
Having made up his mind, Johnny exhumed the Corpse Parts from the vault deep beneath the shelter and makes his way back to Japan. The government reacts from having the corpse taken outside and pursues Johnny, but by taking advantage of a certain privilege, he narrowly evades them by sneaking aboard a ship crossing the Atlantic and Indian oceans, into the Pacific. From the Port at Yokohama, he catches a train and heads north to Morioh.

With the government pursuers still following, Johnny takes the corpse and hides it at the roots of the Meditation Pine by the coast of Morioh and then fetches Rina by carriage. Using the Holy Corpse's power to cure disease (More accurately described as a power to remove), the curse is removed from Rina, but unfortunately is forced upon Johnny and Rina's son, George Joestar II. Having promised not to use the corpse anymore, Johnny mounts his horse and places his child atop the case containing the corpse. He uses Tusk's ability to force the curse out of his son, but due to the rule of "something of equal value must be exchanged", he takes the curse upon himself and is shot in the head by his own stand ability. After falling to the ground, Johnny's life is ended when a large boulder falls on top of his head.

With the old man's story finished, Josuke asks him about the illness and how it was related to the corpse. The old man points out that is but a legend, but Josuke has doubts as he realizes that Rina was also a Higashikata, and his involvement with their family and the Kira heritage may not be a coincidence.

Meanwhile, Yasuho Hirose returns to the Wall Eyes and the spot where she found Josuke. She find the location of the Meditation Pine, which she mentions dates back to the Meiji Era and actually has two trunks, one being inside the Higashikata Family's Estate. She pulls out a newspaper article dating back to Nov 13, 1901: the date Johnny Joestar was murdered. On the same day, the article tells of a one to two year old soaked infant wearing a necklace of gemstones found at the roots of the meditation Pine. A local fisherman rescued the child, reporting that his arm and legs suffered from light frostbite due to possibly drifting along the coast before washing up by the pine. Yasuho decides to take a closer look at the pine and finds a hole in it's roots. Suddenly a hand reaches out of the hole and drags Yasuho under causing her to lose her sneaker in the process.

Trivia

 * Carved on the tree Yasuho leans on are several familiar names from the JJBA series including Kishibe and Arnold.