Dr. Ferdinand

"'Respect' is 'Prosperity' !"

- Dr. Ferdinand

Dr. Ferdinand (Dr. フェルディナンド) is a minor villain appearing in Steel Ball Run. He is one of the President's loyal men.

Appearance/Personality
He is a geologist and a paleontologist with a very flamboyant personality. For him, the most important thing in the world is respect: he has himself a great respect of the planet, to the point he'd get senselessly furious should he see somebody spitting on the ground or littering. He's convinced that Earth brings prosperity only to those who respect the soil and has come to believe that dinosaurs, the once undisputed rulers of the world, died because their small brains couldn't understand this basic ideal.

Dr. Ferdinand is also the first Steel Ball Run antagonist to be truly devoted to Funny Valentine, and not just a mercenary. He's trying to obtain the Saint Corpse Parts, because once all parts will be together, the corpse will bring respect and prosperity to whoever manages to complete such a task. He plans to recover them for the President, the only one who can actually exploit this power for the glory of a nation.

Synopsis
During the course of the Third stage of the race, Dio is attacked and severely injured by an unknown enemy. He however recovers rather quickly and catches up with Gyro and Johnny: the three decide to spend the night in a little village on the rocky mountains, but during the night Dio attacks the protagonists, transformed into a dinosaur.

Not only his physical abilities are enhanced, but he's also able to turn every living being he bites or scratches into a dinosaur as well, thus rapidly gathering a dinosaur army by turning the village men and animals (including some mice).

Gyro and Johnny attempt to escape, regardless of being easy detectable by the dinosaurs who can sense movement and can track the smell of their clothes, now wet because of the little dinosaur's urine. Unfortunately, they have been infected by Dio as well, though Johnny is able to resist his power because of the corpse.

They decide to recover the new corpse part in order to save Gyro from transforming as well, but Dio managed to stop them and recover the Saint's eyes. It is only now that Dr. Ferdinand shows up, revealing to be the real Stand user, to have attacked Dio and made him the leader of the group.

Gyro is able to return to his human form, thanks to the Saint's eye recovered by Johnny: furthermore, Gyro gains a new ability from the corpse, thus becoming able to defeat Dr. Ferdinand and neutralizing Scary Monsters.

Since Dr. Ferdinand's power is now inactive, the dinosaurs revert to their original form, including some pumas: the mountain lions, angered, pounce on Dr. Ferdinand and devour him.

Everything seems to be over, but Dio, now free of Ferdinand's control, manages to escape with the left eye of the Saint, retaining the ability to transform into a dinosaur at will.