Wekapipo

"One step! It seems that I am one step 'ahead' of you."

- Wekapipo

Wekapipo (ウェカピポ) is a minor antagonist, later turned ally, featured in Steel Ball Run.

Wekapipo is an exiled Neapolitan and a practitioner of the Spin. After serving as a royal guard for the Kingdom of Naples, he was forced into exile and later entered the service of the current President of the United States, Funny Valentine. He, alongside Magent Magent, become amongst those sent to assassinate Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli for possession of the Saint's Corpse.

Appearance
Wekapipo is most notable for his bizarre haircut, which consists of a series of shaved gridlines and squares of short hair. He enters the story sporting a mustache, which he later shaves off. He is often shown wearing a light-colored jacket and pants covered with paired overlapping polka dots. He sports pants of the same design.

Personality
Wekapipo is a remarkably stern and serious individual, focusing on whatever goal he has and tolerating little the hijinks of Magent Magent.

During his youth, Wekapipo was entirely devoted to his sister. He had gone out of his way to force a divorce after learning that her husband beat her. The (false) news of her death made him seemingly depressed and he has since then had a bleak outlook of life.

Wekapipo is a cold and sombre man, being constantly focused on an objective and coldly working towards it. During a fight, he's been noted to pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of his enemy and methodically suppress each of their advantages. Wekapipo does not tolerate his partner distracting him from their mission and repeatedly tells him to stop fooling around, be it chit-chatting or gloating in a fight. Having the sole ambition of obtaining a comfortable life, he wouldn't hesitate to betray Funny Valentine nor prepare to work against Gyro Zeppeli, aiming to join the winning side.

Wekapipo possesses an honorable side, being respectful of the prowess of the Zeppeli Family's Spin and acts accordingly. Moreover, he agreed to temporarily help Gyro and Johnny after they revealed that the Zeppelis have been taking care of his sister. Upon being defeated, he tried to kill himself in order to escape the dishonor a loss would bring him before Valentine, although he implied that he would die for it at Valentine's hands nonetheless.

Wrecking Ball
Wekapipo possesses another type of steel ball called Wrecking Ball (レッキング・ボール (壊れゆく鉄球)). The Wrecking Ball is primarily used by the imperial guard serving the royal family of Naples. Smaller balls called satellites are attached to the ball that can separate and strike on their own. Even if the satellites do not hit their target, the shockwaves caused by the satellite will induce Hidarihanmi Shitchō (左半身失調), causing the victim to lose all sense of feeling in their left side.

History
Wekapipo was born in the Kingdom of Naples around the year 1859, gaining a younger sister a few years later. As part of his family's tradition, Wekapipo likely began to learn the art of the Spin and use of Steel Balls during his youth, then perfecting his technique in later life. When Wekapipo had reached adulthood he joined Naples' Royal Guard, and it just so happened that his sister soon married an associate of his from work; unfortunately, the man would go on to abuse her soon after their marriage. Wekapipo lived oblivious of this fact for a long time, only realising after it was too late, as his brother-in-law's most recent beating caused his sister to go permanently blind in her left eye. Wekapipo took it upon himself to fix what he saw as his mistake, that he should have never let his sister marry the man in the first place, and by apparently pulling a few strings with the Pope himself, had their marriage annulled. Filled with rage over the news, his now former brother-in-law confronted him. Wekapipo attempted to apologise as the man punched him repeatedly, knowing that fighting back would just cause his family more problems. As the beating continued, the man repeatedly insulted him, saying that his sister was a boring lover unless she was beaten while they had sex. Wekapipo was just barley able to contain himself, but luckily the man eventually stopped his assault, declaring that they would settle things formally in a duel of Steel Balls instead, which Wekapipo felt he had no choice but to agree to.

The two men later met at their arranged meeting point, but Wekapipo was surprised to see a crowd of hooded figures behind his opponent. Wekapipo's former brother-in-law explained that the men would act as seconds for the result of the duel, which ended with Wekapipo's victory and death of the man. The hooded figures approached Wekapipo afterwards and admitted that it had always been the plan, due to the high social status of the man, that Wekapipo would be sentenced to death, even in his victory. However, the apparent leader of the men made Wekapipo an offer out of respect for his fair win, explaining that he would erase Wekapipo's identity on paper completely, making it seem as though he was dead, but he would have to go into exile in return. Wekapipo accepted these terms and eventually found himself in the United States of America.

Soon after arriving in the United States, he approached President Funny Valentine, asking him for citizenship. Valentine offered Wekapipo a high government position alongside citizenship, but in return he would have to complete one mission; obtaining most of the missing parts of the Saint's Corpse from Gyro Zeppeli and Johnny Joestar by assassinating them.

Steel Ball Run
He makes his first appearance partnered with a fellow assassin hired by Valentine, Magent Magent, to ambush and kill the protagonists. However, after losing, he began to side with Johnny and Gyro during the attack on Steven Steel, after Gyro reveals that his sister was actually alive.

While guarding Steven Steel, Magent Magent ambushes Wekapipo under orders from the President. His fight with his former partner ends with Magent Magent wrapping himself with dynamite and trying to blow Wekapipo up, but the impact sends him into a river, where he hopelessly awaits rescue from Diego Brando. In another dimension, Johnny was shot by Wekapipo in one of the many outcomes of a situation where Johnny is shot (some of the local kids assumed it was either Wekapipo or Diego Brando). However, it turned out to be a result of a dimension hop since Wekapipo thought he was shooting someone else.

He fights against the President with Diego, finding serenity in making an enemy of America. After attempting to confront the president, Johnny is revealed to be alive as he was recuperating in the sewers while being guided by Diego's Scary Monsters. Then, Diego is pulled into another dimension to fuse with his parallel self & to split into nothingness. Wekapipo meets his end after being tricked by Diego into coming in contact with himself from another universe, causing both to merge and be split into thousands of cubes, but in turn, saving Diego from that very fate.

All Star Battle (PS3)
Wekapipo appears as a random support character in Campaign mode. By using a portion of the player's energy gauge, Wekapipo uses his Wrecking Ball to disable the HH gauge of whoever the player fights next.

Trivia

 * Wekapipo, alongside Mrs. Robinson and Fritz von Stroheim, are the only non-Stand Users to properly battle Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli throughout Steel Ball Run. Of the previously mentioned three, Wekapipo is the only one to face the protagonists while both of them possessed a Corpse Part ability.
 * All of Wekapipo's outfits are covered with a design similar to a Venn Diagram, two circles overlapping. The two colliding circles may represent his rivalry with the Zeppeli Family, as both practice the art of the Spin and the use of Steel Balls. However, the pattern could also represent his inherently good nature clashing with the dark role of an assassin that he found himself in.
 * Wekapipo is not an Italian name.