An unexpected turn of events. A monstrous transformation come too soon. A shared secret between an unlikely trio. A bizarre adventure far greater than anything they could have possibly fathomed. And the blossoming of deep seeded ties that will ultimately bind a young boy to the very people he had once set out to eradicate.
Who would have ever thought a single punch could change the course of history for these tentative allies?
A Thousand Answers
is a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure What If? fic with an interesting idea: what if Dio accidentally became a vampire during his initial childhood fight with Jonathan? From then onwards, the story radically changes.
A Thousand Answers contains examples of...
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Santana appears in Chapter 66, awakening almost sixty years earlier than he did in canon. He awakens when Speedwagon tries to loot gems near his pillar and kills the group's undead familiars, proving to be quite the Wake-Up Call Boss for the Hamon users in the group. Then the rest of the Pillar Men wake up in Chapter 113, again sixty years earlier than canon, with Kars becoming the fanfic's ultimate Big Bad.
- Haruno aka Giorno Giovana is born in the 1893 as opposed to 1985.
- Adaptational Heroism: Thanks to the Point of Divergence, Dio never becomes the megalomaniacal monster he is in canon and develops the capacity to care for things other than himself.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Mostly due to the change in circumstances, William A. Zeppeli doesn't come off quite as friendly in his introduction. His goal of hunting down the products of the Stone Mask unfortunately ends up extending to Dio, who in this universe hasn't done anything remotely villainous with his vampirism and is looking for a way to cure his condition. He even beats up Jonathan and Speedwagon when they rush in to try to defend Dio. However, his original characterization begins sliding back in after this initial encounter.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Unlike his canon counterpart, Speedwagon isn't instantly admiring of Jonathan, since, age gap aside (Jonathan is 12 and Speedwagon 17 when the story starts), they encounter each other under more casual circumstances. As a result, Robert initially assumes Jonathan to be just another Upper-Class Twit until he warms up to him due to further interaction. If anything, he develops a stronger bond with Erina (or rather "Erin") over the course of the story, whom he treats as a little brother.
- The Atoner: Jonathan blames himself for turning Dio into a vampire since their fight caused the Stone Mask to fall on his face. This is why he makes it his mission to help cure Dio.
- Byronic Hero: Dio fits the "Byronic Hero" archetype to a T in the fic; handsome, intelligent, charismatic, and sophisticated, but also incredibly troubled, stoic, cruel, and self-centered. Yet, the ever-present kindness shown to him on the perilous journey to find a cure for his condition slowly causes him to show his inner, softer sides.
- Character Development: Dio becoming a vampire and discovering the vampire's weakness to sunlight first forces him to rely on the boy he considered his biggest obstacle and the girl who spurned and humiliated him to find a cure. As a result of the changed dynamic, he gradually begins to see Jonathan and Erina in a new light and reconsider his earlier treatment of them, not that he's willing to show that he has yet.
- Con Man: At one point, Dio plays Three Card Monte with Jonathan and Erina and explains not only the rules behind it, but also how the player actively deceives the mark.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Zeppeli quietly stalks the Joestars when they board a ship to New York and finally attacks them in the city itself with the intent of killing Dio. Accidentally harming George Joestar in the crossfire and getting knocked out by a well-aimed book to the head lets Zeppeli calm down enough to reconsider the efficacy of the kids' Find the Cure! mission, and promises to spare Dio's life in the interim as long as he controls himself.
- While "friendship" is a stretch Jonathan actually manages to de-escalate the fight with Santana, to the point of apologizing for invading his home and getting him to talk about the mask. When Santana reveals the existence of the other Pillar Men and laments the disappearance of his brother, he is moved—if pessimistic—when Jonathan vows to reunite him with said brother.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: The setting takes place in the late 19th century (1880), with all the cultural values that are rather unsavory to a modern audience.
- As a girl in Victorian-era London, Erina is limited in her career choices due to her gender and expected to be a proper Stay in the Kitchen wife when she grows older. In addition, when sneaking out of home and joining the Joestars on their trip to New Mexico, Erina disguised herself as a boy to make it easier to blend in with the background.
- Being a natural left-handed person or mostly using your left hand is believed to be a sign of the Devil, leading to Speedwagon facing abuse by the nuns in the orphanage he lived in before running away at age 7.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Chapter 66 climaxes when Speedwagon inadvertently awakens Santana from his slumber, and just like when Joseph fought him in canon, he proves their most formidable opponent yet.
- Doorstopper: The fic is completed at 941,507 words across 145 chapters.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Even though Dio feels he holds no affection towards Jonathan and Erina, he can't help but express disgust when his former lackeys start making incredibly crude comments upon being led to believe that Erina was "sharing" Dio and Jonathan. The way Dio sees it, such conduct should only exist on Ogre Street.
- Also, for all of Dio's experience living in the poor streets of London, even he's disturb by Jonathan's innocent, but morbid fassicnation of seeing him sucking animals dry.
- Fair-Weather Friend: Subverted. In Chapter 7, Speedwagon believes Jonathan to be a fair-weather friend to "Erin", mainly because he sees the boy as an Upper-Class Twit. Jonathan is rightly upset by the accusation, and "Erin" comes to Jonathan's defense.
- First Kiss: Unlike with Dio's Forceful Kiss, Erina finally has her tender moment with Jonathan in Chapter 33.
- Heel–Face Turn: The fanfic is about Dio slowly undergoing this, as he comes to genuinely care about Jonathan and Erina.
- Hero Antagonist: Zeppeli takes on this role in his introduction due to him attempting to kill Dio for being a vampire born from the Stone Mask, even though Dio has done nothing villainous with his vampirism in this timeline. He softens up after Jonathan, Erina, and Speedwagon go through hell to protect Dio from him.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Despite fighting a vastly different opponent, Esidisi is still forced to eject his brain out of his body to survive and tries to take a girl hostage (Erina replacing Suzie Q in this universe), meeting his end in his most pitiful form.
- Dio still fathers a boy named Haruno despite his mother not being the same woman as in canon. The major differences are that this happens many decades earlier than in canon, and Dio didn't conceive him while using Jonathan's body.
- Internal Reveal: As Jonathan learns from George in Chapter 14, the reason why his father became so strict with him after Dio came to live in the Joestar Manor is because he rectified his mistake of spoiling him when seeing Dio, who came from a poor background, showing the ideal mannerisms of a gentleman. When hearing this explanation from his father, Jonathan understood that the man never harbored any ill will towards him as a son, but instead a desire to see him improve himself... even though he still wasn’t exactly fond of George's methods.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: During the Missouri arc, the gang encounters an ancestor of The D'Arby Brothers, a gambler with almost supernatural luck. Dio feels something brush against him abstractly after beating him in a game, but it's vague as to whether D'Arby is simply a talented gambler or using some sort of Stand.
- Mythology Gag:
- In chapter 33, one of the hats Jonathan tries on is William's original hat.
- While snowed in at a hotel in the Indiana arc, Jonathan, Erina, and Dio sneak into a wine cellar and notice one of the bottles is a century old. Dio notes with some horror at the prospect of being confined in darkness for that long, wondering what it would be like to be conscious for it. For that matter, the same hotel has an early iteration of a planetarium referred to as The Stardust Room.
- Nobody Poops: Invoked. Robert notices that whenever he visits the closet where they're keeping a kidnapped Zeppeli, his bedpan never sees use. Between that and Zeppeli's impeccable hygiene, Robert is deeply unnerved by The Baron's grace under pressure. Turns out he's repeatedly broken out of confinement to, among other things, relieve himself, and could have escaped whenever he wanted, but chose not to out of curiosity.
- Point of Divergence: The entire story starts when the Stone Mask falls onto Dio's face instead of the floor during his and Jonathan's fight, turning him into a vampire seven years earlier than in canon. Since Dio didn't get to witness how powerful the mask can make its wearers firsthand and ends up burning his hands in the sunlight, he doesn't find vampirization nearly as appealing as his canonical adult self would, leaving him dependent on the two people he's alienated the most to help him find a cure.
- The Pollyanna: Jonathan gets a tad bit too excited when it comes to helping Dio through his rather macabre condition.
- Rags to Riches: When George confides in Jonathan and Dio in Chapter 14, he reveals to the latter that he was born in poverty and was resentful of the world. It was only through his hard work and diligence that George eventually created and developed his own trading company, and by extension, his own fortune. In addition, this also allowed him to marry into nobility due to Mary's family, because her father gambled and speculated their illustrious fortune away, and the estate desperately needed the revenue George could provide. Dio is genuinely caught off guard by this, having just pegged George as just a naïve Upper-Class Twit.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Speedwagon has an eye for fashion, particularly hats, despite his rough upbringing, though said background does lead him to stealing most of the clothes that catch his eye.
- Reduced to Ratburgers: Dio is eventually forced to drink the blood of rats while on a ship to America.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Due to Dio undergoing a Heel–Face Turn, George, Dire, and Jonathan never die at his hands, and William A. Zepelli is never killed by Tarkus due to Dio never raising a vampire army. Santana is also never re-petrified, and Wamuu never meets his canonical end.
- Taking the Bullet: As demonstrated by George in Chapter 13, he took a Hamon attack to the chest aimed at Dio from Baron Zeppeli.
- Talking the Monster to Death: Rather than let Zeppeli finish Santana off when he's trapped, Jonathan stops the fight and instead apologizes to Santana for invading their home, instead asking for a truce. Santana, already confused by the gang defending Dio, a vampire who preys on humans like them, feels compelled to answer their questions and accept Jonathan's apology on the group's behalf. He simply goes back to sleep when the group is satisfied with their answers, though he is not optimistic when Jonathan vows to reunite him with his brother.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Dio Brando slowly learns to be kinder to others throughout the fic, from the many hardships he faces, along with the strong emotional support from his companions.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Jonathan is noted to have not been repulsed when Dio sucked the blood dry from a bird, in fact being quite fascinated by what the bird looked like in its bloodless state. Even Dio can't help but be perturbed by this.
- Tsundere: As Dio's character development kicks in, he still acts like an Upper-Class Twit to the people around him, but does show his appreciation of Jonathan and Erina's help in subtle ways.
- Van Helsing Hate Crimes: William A. Zepelli attempts to kill Dio due to him being a vampire, even though he hasn't claimed a single life in this universe, rationalizing that Dio will give into his bloodlust eventually and become a threat to everyone. However, when Jonathan explains to him the circumstances that led to Dio becoming a vampire, Zepelli is willing to entertain Jonathan's quest to find a cure.
