Johnny and Gyro

Set in the US, in 1890, the story follows Johnny Joestar, a paraplegic ex-jockey, and Gyro Zeppeli, master in a mystic art named the Spin, as they compete with a vast number of others in the Steel Ball Run race: a mad-dash across America for a grand prize of 50 million dollars. Gyro Zeppeli (ジャイロ・ツェペリ, Jairo Tseperi), born Julius Caesar Zeppeli (ユーリウス・カイザー・ツェペリ, Yūriusu Kaizā Tseperi) is one of the main protagonists of Steel Ball Run. Gyro is a master of the Spin hailing from the Kingdom of Naples. He joins the Steel Ball Run race to win amnesty for a child he is assigned to execute. His mastery of the Spin later allows him access to the Stand, Ball Breaker. Gyro is a man of average to above-average height and medium to athletic build. He has hair that reaches mid-back, light eyes, square patches of facial hair lining his jaw, and (in illustrations) often painted lips. He either wears grills or has chiseled into prosthetic teeth the phrase "GO! GO! ZEPPELI". Gyro's basic outfit consists of a short-sleeved studded black leather coat, leather pants, and cowboy boots. He wears a belt, the buckle of which bears a pair of hands pointing to his crotch, and at his hips a pair of special holsters for his Steel Balls. He wears a wide-brimmed hat, with slits on the the crown and the brim that let light and air filter through. Situated around the crown of his hat are a pair of slit goggles. Depending on the weather he may wear his goggles, in addition to a scarf. The Zeppeli family's Spin technique, usually applied with special Steel Balls, is a versatile skill Gyro has been trained in since his youth. Gyro equips himself with two Steel Balls as a means of self-defense, attack, and general strategic advantage. Throwing his Steel Balls with the Spin, Gyro may create a variety of impressive trajectories, able even to have them return directly to him, mainly after successful contact with his target. On impact with flesh, spiral ripples often appear. Gyro may apply a wide range of effects to human or animal targets, including muscular, nerve, and bone manipulation, and the forceful wringing of flesh to drain water. Gyro explains that although used by his family for execution, the Spin was not developed for destructive ends, and is in many ways equally suitable in medical treatment. Horseriding: Gyro is an experienced and capable equestrian, competent enough to ride across many types of terrain and be a serious competitor in the Steel Ball Run. His riding style can be summed up as aggressive, Gyro seeks to remain at the first place constantly, and takes dangerous shortcuts when he deems it necessary. When another rider challenges him, Gyro will actively try to get rid of him. His beloved horse is named Valkyrie. Related to that Gyro is knowledgeable about horses, particularly Valkyrie whose abilities and limits he can gauge at any moment. Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy: Being trained as a surgeon, Gyro is an accomplished surgeon, being able to make surgical operations on his own. This training also includes intimate knowledge of the human body Gyro uses in conjunction with the Spin in combat. Intelligence: Gyro is an adept tactician, being able to hold his own against several Stand users, and outsmarting them in several occasions. Gyro has been shown to be able to use his surrounding, or even the enemy's own power to his advantage. Gyro is a worldly individual, possessing a range of knowledge, including in tracking, opera, paleontology, and mathematics. Gyro is a cocky and flamboyant executioner marked by the harshness of life, who participates in the Steel Ball Run for the sake of a young boy. Gyro initially appears as a cocky and aggressive contestant in the Steel Ball Run. Unlike other competitors, Gyro looks to seize the first place aggressively, rushing ahead of everyone[8] then fending off anyone who challenges him.[9][10] He also has a tendency to take dangerous shortcuts.[11][12] Gyro is a rude man, deriding the vast majority of those he meets with insults and mocking commentaries. Even with his closest friend Johnny Joestar, Gyro doesn't mince his words and sometimes argues with him. Moreover, Johnny only made a lasting impression on Gyro through his dogged stubbornness[13] and otherwise looked down on him during their first meeting.[14] The only person for which Gyro had any degree of respect is his stern father Gregorio Zeppeli. Gyro's cockiness and rudeness extend to his fights, during which Gyro is prone to mock his enemies in some way or say something cocky. For instance, he openly mocked Mountain Tim's "ridiculous" hat.[15] Gyro is particularly proud of his mastery of the Spin, a family technique involving the rotation and throwing of steel balls to various effects and hails the Spin as the acme of human skill,[16] this pride is latter justified when the Spin proves to be able to defeat even the Stand D4C Love Train .[17] His method of teaching is improvisational, only instructing Johnny the basics of the Spin and introducing him to the Golden Rectangle when they were threatened by a new enemy. As an executioner and otherwise confrontational man, Gyro is not afraid to use violence even in a lethal fashion. However Gyro doesn't have the same ruthlessness as Johnny and initially doesn't seek to kill his enemies if he deems it unnecessary. Notably, Gyro did try to discourage a thief from fighting with him and only used his Steel Balls to make the man shoot himself if he ever drew his gun, instead of directly killing him. Gyro nonetheless possesses an altruistic side, and likes to help anyone who needs his assistance, most notably the paraplegic Johnny to whom he taught the Spin technique and helped acquire the Holy Corpse Parts, or Marco, the helpless child whose death sentence Gyro seeks to appeal by winning the Steel Ball Run. Gyro would often clash this side with the authority of Gregorio Zeppeli, who disapproved any display of sentimentality in life and ultimately defied him by going to America.

Johnny Joestar (ジョニィ・ジョースター, Joni Jōsutā), born Jonathan Joestar (ジョナサン・ジョースター, Jonasan Jōsutā) is one of the main protagonists of Steel Ball Run and a minor character in JoJolion. He is the seventh JoJo of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series. A former horse-racing prodigy turned paraplegic , Johnny joins the Steel Ball Run race to uncover the secret behind Gyro Zeppeli's Steel Balls as they're the only thing capable of restoring his legs. Over the course of the race, Johnny becomes a Spin User as well as a Stand User when he acquires Tusk. Johnny is a young man of below-average height and slim to medium build. He has light eyes, and light, shoulder-length hair curling upwards at its ends. Johnny always wears a knit cap , which is printed with many small five-pointed stars. His hair sticks out of holes on either side of the top, taking a shape like short horns. A horseshoe hangs from the front, framing an image of the dark silhouette of the profile of a horse's reared head. Johnny wears similarly star-patterned pants, of a piece with footwear bearing spurs. He commonly wears a light-colored, hooded, short-sleeved top; printed with thick lines in the approximate formation of a harness (later, with patches in the shape of hearts adorning both shoulders). A long feather (bordered by black with one black spot at its tip) emerges from under the back of his collar; and he wears wrist cuffs patterned with stars and stripes. During the course of the series, Johnny gradually changes into a more realistic appearance, with slightly wavier hair and a slightly fuller build. While not physically seen, Johnny possesses the Star Birthmark, due to Lucy Steel being aware of it.[8] In cold weather, Johnny wears a longer-sleeved top of a similar design. His collar is outlined with fur, and he keeps several feathers at his back. As a paraplegic, he is seen using a wheelchair before the beginning of the race; but during, he is usually mounted on his horse, Slow Dancer. Johnny first seeks Gyro Zeppeli's tutelage in the ways of the Spin in order to regain the use of his legs. Most often, Johnny channels the Spin by the use of his Stand, Tusk; developed first with the power of the Corpse's left hand, and further with Gyro's help. Its form varies, depending on the sort or style of Spin Johnny chooses to employ.

ACT1 is awakened in the Devil's Palm when the corpse part combines itself with Johnny's left hand, manifesting his Stand with the ability to spin his nails and fire them akin to bullets, and regrowing his nails in seconds. ACT2 manifests when Johnny shoots a nail whilst incorporating the Spin's Golden RectangleW in a fight against Sandman. Despite the longer regrow time, the nails possess more power and a new ability that lets the holes of the bullets follow the target for a small amount of time.

ACT3 is the final "base" form for Tusk and manifests when Johnny shoots himself with a Golden Rectangle-empowered nail, enabling him to transfer parts of his body through the holes to shoot from different directions. It was awakened by an advice from Jesus in a fight against Axl RO. ACT4 manifests itself as a result of Johnny utilizing Slow Dancer's power combined with the golden rectangle, which enables Johnny to fire Golden Spin nail-bullets that have infinite rotation. ACT4 possesses the power to force open D4C Love Train's dimensional wall, and trap anyone hit by it to a single spot indefinitely. Personal

Horse riding: Johnny Joestar has been described as a genius jockey, being one of the favorites of the Steel Ball Run race. His skill allows him to ride across many types of terrain, and challenge even fellow genius jockey Diego Brando. Johnny possesses great knowledge of his horse Slow Dancer, notably its abilities and limits, being able to gauge what Slow Dancer will be capable of at any moment. Intelligence: Johnny Joestar proves himself a competent Stand User, being able to use Tusk's abilities to the fullest. Johnny Joestar has occasionally used the terrain and his enemy's own power against them and was perceptive enough to quickly deduce Alternate Diego's time stopping power. Marksmanship: When using Tusk, Johnny proves to possess great marksmanship, being able to hit little and/or moving targets, even if firing from odd angles and perspectives, such as when Tusk ACT3 separates his hand from his arm. Johnny Joestar is a depressive ex-jockey, who clings to his hope of regaining the use of his legs through the Spin and then the Corpse Part throughout Steel Ball Run. Johnny is introduced as a distant paraplegic man whose career was ruined when he was shot in the spine after conceitedly antagonizing a passerby. Johnny witnesses Gyro's Steel Balls and Spin, and how they enabled him to stand up on his feet for a moment, he becomes determined to follow him and make him teach the Spin,[9] then after discovering the Corpse Part making his legs twitch, to acquire them. As the race goes on, Johnny is shown to have incredible determination and single mindedness to achieving his goal; this is known as Dark Determination. Johnny stubbornly follows his intentions of following Gyro then track the Corpse. Disregarding the risks or the consequences, Johnny focuses on his goal and puts it above anything else. Several times Johnny endured severe wounds in order to reach his goals, notably trying to get on his horse Slow Dancer which earned him many bruises as well as a wooden shard through the leg;[10] despite his repeated failures his determination at participating in the race didn't waver. Inversely, Johnny has no qualm being violent or killing his opponents to get the Corpse Parts. Ringo Roadagain has mentioned that Johnny had "dark determination" in his eyes indicating a ruthlessness which would make Johnny able to kill in cold-blood.[11] This amoral selfishness still extends to the interest of his loved ones and followed him during his whole life, demonstrated years after the Steel Ball Run, as when his wife Rina Higashikata was struck with the Rock Disease, Johnny then stole the Corpse to beg it to transfer the disease away from her, not caring who would receive it and suffer in her stead.[12] Yet Johnny isn't completely amoral, for instance objecting to involve the defenseless Lucy Steel in their struggle for the Corpse. During the course of the story, Johnny is burdened by depression and a subsequent lack of confidence. Notably calling himself a useless person, Johnny's bleak outlook of life stemmed from his youth. During his childhood, Johnny was a timid yet kind child, adopting a wild mouse and calling it Danny. Though he was afraid of his harsh father George Joestar, he would try to live up to his expectations. Johnny idolized his older brother Nicholas but when he died, falling from a horse which was seemingly startled by Danny, Johnny became guilt-ridden, believing that his brother's death was his own fault and that he should have died instead. He then believed throughout the years that Fate itself was taking revenge on him for his crime and that every misfortune he received was in fact deserved.[2] It resulted in his obsession with the blessing of the Corpse which would reset his karma to a neutral state of "zero" as opposed to the "negative" state of his curse. It also explains Johnny's rampant lack of confidence and near constant bouts of panic[15][16] as he thought that Fate could at any moment take away his hope of acquiring the Corpse. In addition, when his father disowned him, Johnny, shocked, shut himself off, creating a facade of conceitedness to hide the sadness this rejection caused him.