Prologue (Chapter)

Prologue (Originally Dio the Invader) is the first chapter of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga. It is also the first chapter of Part I: Phantom Blood.

Summary
Between the 12th and 16th century, an Aztec ritual takes place in Mexico. A man wearing a stone mask sacrifices a young woman. Her blood splatters onto the mask and bone-like prongs sprout from the mask piercing the man's head. He screams to his audience that he has gained eternal life, and asks that the man next to him offer his life to him. The man's fingers pierce his subordinate's neck and he drains him of his life.

In the year 1881, a thief named Dario Brando, on his death bed, tells his son Dio of a debt that a man owed him. He recalls that back in 1868, an accident had occurred involving a carriage that had been carrying a couple and their baby son. Dario and his wife came upon the crash by chance and decided to steal valuables from the corpses. The nobleman George Joestar had survived the crash, as did his son, but his wife had died. Thinking Dario had come to save them, George offered Dario a reward for his "help". Returning to the present, Dario tells Dio he had sent word to the Joestars and that he should take a letter with him to their mansion, intending to have George foster Dio in order to pay off the former's debt. Dio is noted to be headstrong and intelligent, wagering meals on chess matches in taverns. Not long afterwords, Dario dies and is buried. As a "goodbye", Dio spits on his father's grave.

In another area, two boys are bullying a girl named Erina Pendleton by taking her doll. Another young boy named Jonathan Joestar ("Jojo"), son of George, intervenes and helps the girl. Although he gets beaten up by the bullies, he is able to get her doll back; he says that he helped in order to be a true gentleman and not just for her thanks. As he leaves Erina picks up the embroidered, dirty handkerchief he left behind.

When Jonathan returns home, a carriage has arrived carrying Dio Brando. Jonathan promptly introduces himself to the boy who would now be living with him and his father; he then calls over his dog Danny to be introduced as well. Jonathan's good manner and his favorable impression of Dio is soon shattered when he knees Danny in the jaw. It is at this point that Dio thinks to himself that he will Jonathan's of inheritance and take the Joestar fortune for himself.