Line #33 Awesome/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun


1	!!Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies to all "Moments" pages, so '''all spoilers are unmarked!'''
2	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dopeaf_2.jpg]]
3	[[caption-width-right:350:''The untold powers of the Golden Rectangle...'']]
4	----
5	* Let's be honest, the premise of Steel Ball Run is awesome, being a giant horse race across the United States with a $50,000,000 [[labelnote:in 2020]]$1.4 billion[[/labelnote]] cash prize for the winner, and the greatest horsemen, cowboys and jockeys of the entire world gathering to show their skills. When a journalist brings up the possibility of the race failing if the hardships make it so no one finishes it, Stephen Steel's answer is awesome too.
6	-->'''Stephen Steel''': ''Failure is... Listen up! True '''failure''' is forgetting the pioneer spirit and staying far away from challenging hardships! There is no such thing as failure in this race! There are only adventurers! This Steel Ball Run race will be an event the likes of which the world has never experienced before!''
7	** The first stage perfectly sums up how awesome this race is. There are 3600 participants lining up along the Californian coast, all starting to ride at the same time in a big wave. And then some of the favorites and dark horses begin to already compete for the first place, using their sheer talent at horseriding like Diego, Gyro using his Steel Balls to create himself an advantage, Pocoloco keeping the pace and momentarily taking the first place because of his sheer luck, and Sandman running with his feet alone against galloping horse, also almost finishing the stage first!
8	* Gyro and Johnny are able to work against Sugar Mountain's ability, like the HonestAxe fable except forcing the user to use up what they earned from their honesty, by entering a city and spending copious amounts of the money they earned. Gyro decides to buy a skyscraper that turns out to pretty much print its own money, which is not a good thing for the two. So Gyro ''gives it away, along with 600 million dollars,'' during the fight against the Eleven Men to the casino patrons, who immediately agree to be their bodyguards, saving their asses when it looks like they're about to get gunned down.
9	* During the fight with Axl R.O., Johnny figures out a new way to use Tusk... but its first use gets him in trouble by saddling him with Axl's own "sacrifices" (which manifest as angry, murderous ghosts). Axl swipes his Corpse Parts and makes a break for it. Johnny's solution? ''Let Axl kill him'' - as he learned earlier, killing someone while Civil War is active makes them one of your "sacrifices" and brings them back. So he unhesitatingly lets Axl stab him in the throat, which causes him to appear unharmed right next to Axl ''and'' puts all of Axl's "sacrifices" back on their original owner.
10	* Shortly after fight with Axl.R.O., three assassins attempted to gun down Johnny and Gyro. They disposed of them in seconds, without turning to face them or even breaking the conversation. And they did it in a middle of a crowd, without anyone noticing.
11	* Minor villain Magenta Magneta actually takes ''himself'' down in his first appearance by forgetting basic laws of gravity. After being rescued by Diego and being sent after Steven Steel, however, he takes a major [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]], starting by appearing in Steel's carriage window suddenly and confusing him into holding a ruler to help with his [[EyeScream new lack of depth perception]] and shooting him almost fatally. It then turns into a major fight between him and the [[HeelFaceTurn newly allied]] Wekapipo, ending with Wekapipo and Magenta being thrown into the Delaware River and Wekapipo being forced to pull an Anubis/Notorious B.I.G by trapping Magenta underwater.
12	* Hot Pants and Diego show impressive teamwork against Valentine.
13	** Dio directly attacks Valentine, blitzing him left and right with his superior speed while Hot Pants detaches her hand and controls it to make sure Valentine can't put himself between objects and thus use [=D4C=].
14	** When Valentine manages to summon two alternate Valentines to help him, Hot Pants uses Cream Starter to disguise Dio into a Valentine as well. He takes advantage of the ensuing confusion to instantly kill the two Valentines with little effort.
15	** Ultimately, Hot Pants and Dio only lost the fight due to bad luck : if parts of Valentine's hair weren't caught between the wheels of the train and the rails, allowing him to use [=D4C=] to switch with another Valentine and win, Part 7 would've ended sooner. Valentine himself acknowledges it was really close and Dio — who briefly manages to cling to life despite being ''cut in half'' — [[LetThemDieHappy dies believing he won]].
16	* After countless trials and the death of Gyro, Johnny finally learns how to spin the steel ball, which results in his stand evolving. The evolved stand proceeds to open Love Train with its bare hands, and beat the shit out of Valentine.
17	--> '''Johnny''': Gyro...Thank you.
18	** However, that is not to undersell the power of the Super Spin, as its abilities as shown by Gyro and then Johnny show that the nigh invincible Love Train can't deflect the ultimate infinite energy. The power of Ball Breaker was enough to force Valentine to age substantially in the span of ''seconds'' and would have killed Valentine on its own if the steel ball wasn't ruined, and Tusk's Super Spin '''chased Valentine down no matter what dimension he ran to and forced him underground.''' Valentine was completely defeated, and the saint's corpse wasn't going to save him.
19	** Valentine's beatdown really has to be elaborated on: up 'til now, there haven't been many melee Stands in ''Steel Ball Run'' -- that is, Stands that attack on their own, like Star Platinum or Crazy Diamond. And then Tusk evolves to ACT 4, busts open [=D4C=] Love Train's dimensional wall ([[BeyondTheImpossible something previously thought impossible]]), and ''Stand Rushes him'', accompanied by a very familiar BattleCry:
20	-->'''Tusk ACT 4:''' '''''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORAAA!!]]'''''
21	** The way Tusk ACT 4's immense strength is portrayed deserves another special mention. It doesn't just bypass Love Train like Ball Breaker did or make it disappear or anything, it actually ''physically grabs onto the side of Valentine's pocket dimension'' and '''tears it open''' with its bare hands, with an unchanging expression. It's a hell of an introduction to a stand and pretty much the pinnacle of representing psychic powers in physical forms as Araki originally envisioned.
22	-->'''Johnny:''' '''Tusk ACT 4'''. The '[[HumanSacrifice sacrifice]]'... President Valentine! [[IronicEcho Which do you think it will really be?]]
23	** Tusk ACT 4 ''in general'' is damn badass.
24	* And even then, the fight isn't over yet! The final battle comes down to a battle of morals, wits and willpower, and plays out just like a High Noon duel between two ordinary humans, for all the abilities Johnny and Valentine can unleash. Affected by Johnny's infinite spin, which is 'hunting' him between dimensions no matter how many Valentines [=D4C=] jumps to, dragging Valentine back to the crater Tusk ACT 4 made when it inflicted the infinite Spin on him, Valentine realises that the Infinite Spin has [[DeadManWalking basically killed him already]] unless Johnny shoots him with an Infinite Spin in the opposite direction. Valentine returns to the 'base world' to barter with Johnny before the Spin finishes him off. He notes that he can bargain with Johnny, if he pleases, by bringing in a Gyro from another dimension to replace the one he killed, as well as giving Johnny a BreakingSpeech about Valentine's morality and why he ''has'' to be the owner of the corpse for the good of the citizens of America. Amazingly enough, '''it works'''. Johnny admits that between the two of them, Valentine is the morally better man, but before he complies with his request he decides on one last test. Picking up Valentine's discarded pistol, he tosses it at his feet and challenges him to pick it up, noting that it's the same gun Valentine earlier emptied all 6 shots into Gyro's heart to finish him off with and is thus empty. Despite admitting Valentine's moral superiority and believing him to be the type of man who'd honour his promise to him, Johnny decides to bet against the chance that Valentine would break his word [[TheNeedsOfTheMany for the sake of his country]].
25	-->'''Johnny:''' If nothing happens, everything can come to an end, and I'll be able to believe in you 101%... Just try picking it up. President Valentine.\
26	(''Valentine reaches out to the gun to pick it up, hesitates inches from the barrel... and then withdraws his hand, staring at Johnny with a stoic expression'')\
27	'''Valentine:''' My heart and actions are utterly unclouded!... They are all those of '''Justice'''.\
28	(''The paneling shows a shot of Valentine from behind, revealing the outline of a dimensional alternate gun hidden underneath his jacket, before both he and Johnny draw on each other'')
29	** Of note, with Johnny's left hand having been cut off, he only has five nail bullets to shoot, against Valentine's six, essentially leaving both men with one 'gun' to use against the other in a QuickDraw duel. Valentine attacks Johnny with both [=D4C=] and his gun at the same time, but thanks to the discarded gun starting to fuse to Valentine's the second he draws it, his aim is thrown off and Johnny is non-fatally shot in the stomach, barely able to dodge getting his head caved in by the Stand simultaneously whilst Valentine is hit in the neck, incapacitating [=D4C=] from the fatal wound. Despite their grave injuries both men struggle to [[LastBreathBullet line up a shot on each other with their remaining strength]] and fire three rounds each at their target: Johnny is barely able to avoid getting hit in his vital areas whilst all of Johnny's shots pierce straight through Valentine's heart, sending him slumped to his knees and unable to prevent Johnny from finishing him off with a final BoomHeadshot with his last nail bullet, as he mourns the loss of Gyro and accepts he'll never see his friend again, leaving the president's corpse and TragicKeepsake to get sucked down into the earth from the Infinite Spin.
30	* ''And even then, it's STILL not over!'' Johnny's final battle isn't against Valentine-- it's against THE WORLD. The same The World from part 3, time stop and all.
31	** At one point, AU Diego has Tusk Act 4 emerging from a hole in the wall next to it during a time stop. He considers it an excellent opportunity to take it's arm... Only to see Tusk Act 4 ''moving during the time stop''. AU Dio runs away from it.
32	** A villainous one for AU Dio managing to ''win'' the fight. During a final chase on a bridge, AU Dio uses his time skip ability to get close to Johnny and shot him, making him fall off his horse. Johnny manages to shoot his Tusk Act 4 one more time, and AU Dio calmly explaining how he's foreseen it and allowing himself to get hit, only to ''chop off his own leg as it's hit'' and throwing it at Johnny, who's trap by his own infinite rotation and unable to undo it since, being dismounted, can't use the horse power to shoot another one and undo the damage. Then, with his leg still severed, he jumps on his horse and goes on to still win the race.

Context Awesome / JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun