Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford, Part 3 (Chapter)

The Hero of the 77 Rings (Tarkus and the Dark Knight Bruford - Part 3 in the JoJonium release) is the twenty-eighth chapter of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga. It is also the twenty-eighth chapter of Part I: Phantom Blood.

Summary
Jonathan is facing down the Black Knights when a zombie approaches him from behind. Suddenly, Bruford gets behind the zombie and rips off its nose and the skin around it. He calls to Dio that he wants to finish Jonathan by himself. Dio is not pleased with this, as he notices that Bruford is acting on his knightly pride rather than only on his orders, but he allows Bruford to go ahead with his intentions. Yelling out a battle cry, Bruford leaps into the air with both arms behind his back, using his hair to draw his sword to strike Jonathan. It is only thanks to Speedwagon's warning that Jonathan catches and dodges Dance Macabre Hair in time.

Bruford is impressed at Jonathan's ability to dodge this technique, which he used during the trial of the 77 Rings. In the trial, warriors must climb 10 kilometers of mountain road wearing heavy armor traversing whatever obstacles are presented. In addition, the warrior must fight 77 knights along the way in real knight combat. The knights hold golden rings on their armor which must be taken from them to prove to the next knight that the warrior has defeated the previous ones. Each warrior fights normally, but because of the rings the challenger accumulates on his armor, the weight he carries increases and slows him down. When the brave knight faces the last warrior, he is weighed down by more than 100 kilograms than when he started. Only five men have survived this great ordeal, those knights being: Winzaleo, Eijkman, Caineghis, and Bruford and Tarkus themselves. Bruford maximized the use of his Dance Macabre hair technique to accomplish the trial.

Wasting no time, Bruford knocks Jonathan into the lake and goes after him. Zeppeli becomes concerned for Jonathan's safety, since, being underwater, he cannot breathe and thus cannot use the Ripple. Believing that Bruford will inevitably defeat Jonathan, since they are both underwater, Dio leaves Zeppeli, Speedwagon and Tarkus to feed on the lives of the hapless people of Windknights..

In the lake, the fight between Jonathan and Bruford continues, Jonathan desperate for a single breath to use the Ripple. Bruford, wanting to make the duel fair, says he will not use his sword. Jonathan, desperate for breath, tries something drastic: he dives to the bottom of the lake, attempting to use the trapped air there to catch a breath without having to go to the surface. Lifting a single rock, Jonathan gets the air he needs to create Ripple energy in the form of a bubble. Then, increasing the speed of his bloodstream, Jonathan uses the "Underwater Turquoise Blue Overdrive" and hits Bruford in the face..