Homeless Child

A.N.: Let's continue with this story.

It will be very slow at the beginning, but bear with it, and I willt try to make it fun.

Enjoy~

..............................

Joshua Joestar feels trapped. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He can’t do much with his life right now. He knows that he needs to wait patiently... But it doesn’t make him happy.

The kids in the orphanage ignore him or start fights, which he never loses. His request to start school was denied. He remembers that kids started school earlier in his past life, but it seems here in the orphanage, the kids only go to school when they are 7 years old, to start First Grade

“Maybe there’s no need to attend kindergarten and all that when you can ‘socialize’ with all those children around.” He says sarcastically as he walks out of the orphanage alone.

Wearing only his usual oversized shirt, barefoot, and in his underwear. He wears the shirt almost like a dress. That’s how poor he is.

He can’t stop thinking that he is wasting time...

“There has to be a way to farm some Bizarre Points that I’m not seeing... This is not a game. You can always cheat in real life.” 

He considered begging or making tricks... But he is too prideful to beg, and he has no talents.

“Wait... I have talents!” He has an idea “But I have no tools...”

Once again, the dream dies quickly, and he finds himself stagnated.

As he walks around the block (it’s not a waste of time to know your turf), he notices some other kids from the orphanage running around. What attracts his attention is that they’re running in the same direction and carrying some plastic bags that are too dark for him to see what is inside.

“Hey!” He decides to stop one of them, one that he already beat up and intimidate “Where is everyone going?”

“What?!” The kid that Joashua didn’t even bother to remember the name turns annoyed, but his face gets fearful after seeing who he is talking to. Hiding his bag behind his back, he asked again “What do you want?”

“Where is everyone going?” Joshua feels like he is asking a stupid question, but he can’t let shame hinder his path.

“Duh! We are going to the recycling center!” The kid shakes his bag at Joshua, but away from his reach, like he is afraid of being robbed.

“...recycle?” As he thinks the kid escapes from him. “Oh, they are exchanging aluminum cans for money.”

After a moment of hesitation, he decides to follow them to check.

Nothing extraordinary happened; he just watched the kids go and exchange their loot of cans for some coins, and some even got bills.

“Hm, better than begging or stealing, I guess... I will start doing it tomorrow.” He decides.

Suddenly, realization hits him. “Wait, I forgot about that underrated Stand, [Harvest]! It can’t be expensive, right?” 

He immediately goes to check!

“...” 

5.6 million...

He was already dreaming of having five hundred little bugs going around collecting lost coins for him… Once again, the dream died quickly. Reality is cruel.

“Damn, underrated only for the fandom... The System knows its value.” He cries on the ground.

He is bitter that he gained [Tusk] again. [Tusk] Act 01 is so cheap! Only 100 Bizarre Points. He could’ve bought it by himself!

It was his opportunity to gain a useful stand that could improve his quality of life!

Truth to be told, he is not an uptight person who would not use a stand to cheat in some way to acquire money. He would absolutely pull a “Giorno” and pick-pocket some people.

But the risk is too big. If an adult catches him, there is a high chance he would be beaten to death. That is how tough things are around here. [Harvest] would have been a very safe alternative.

He sighs loudly to calm himself. “Nothing comes easy... Let’s start working.”

.......................................

Now Joshua has an extra activity to entertain himself.

Collecting cans not only occupies his mind, gives him some change, but is also a form of training... In some way...

He runs around and he... fights.

“That’s my area!” A burly kid with arms covered in something similar to a shell attacks Joshua

“What area? Are you thinking that you're some sort of gangster? It’s only collecting trash, dude! It’s not that deep!” Joshua dodges a swing

The fist of the burly kid hits the ground, making a loud impact sound.

“What are they feeding you??” ‘Fuck, superpower society, everyone is special...’ Joshua is frustrated.

Everyone doesn’t fucking care and use their quirks to fight him, but if he uses his... There will be blood. 

“Hmpf!” But enough is enough.

He decides to use the Spin.

Tac

The nails of his toes spin, and he kicks a rock on the ground.

The rock flies at the burly kid, but the kid clumsily protects himself with his shell-like arms.

The rock hits his arms and remains stuck therem spinning in place.

“What?” The kid looks at it curiously

At some point, it seems the rock can’t withstand the collision and starts to become Dust... The thing is that it doesn’t lose the Spin.

Dust is scattered in all directions thanks to the spin. Hitting the kid straight in the face... In his eyes.

“Argh!” He steps back while making a scrunched face, his eyes closed, and he can’t see anything.

Pow

Joshua doesn't waste time and delivers a Punch on the top of his head, making the kid fall down hi pain.

“Hmpf! Territory? Are we in Game of Thrones, bitch?” He scoffs “ I‘m gonna take your cans.” He grabs the spoils and walks away.

Joshua goes around searching for more cans while parallel thinking about his future.

“A have a little more than 200 Bizarre Points... I gain roughly 10 Bizarre Points a day by showing off. At this rate, at the end of the year, I will be able to buy 1 or 2 semi-useful stands.”

He has a list of Stands that the prices is on the thousands that he wants and can make his life easier.

He can’t think too much ahead; he can only plan to make his life a little easier before he starts chasing big objectives. 

[Acthung Baby] is an example of that. The ability to turn himself and everything he touches invisible will open many doors for him.

But at the same time that he makes a plan to quietly improve his life, a problem arises... He needs to show off to gain Bizarre Points.

“Haah First, surviving. After that, I will start living.” 

He has ten years till High School, and probably the “plot” of this world starts. Being in the thick of it will give him the opportunity to show off. he also wants to go to Japan.

He feels that it would be a waste not be there. The plot only lasts two years maximum. After that, he can decide how he will live.

“Even if I save up, at this rate, I would have like 40 thousand points when I become 15. It’s a tenth of the price of stands like [Sticky Fingers]. But I can do this!” He reaffirms himself with determination.

He only needs one stand that is strong, and he can enter UA.

Heck, he already has [Tusk]. Ten years is more than enough to reach Act 4, right?

“Hey girl, collecting cans?” A woman's voice says out loud close to him, but he ignores it; it’s not talking with him anyway... “It’s you, girl! Are you deaf?”

He instinctively turns around to see the altercation, only to notice that yes... The woman is talking with him.

“Are you deaf?” The woman who is wearing very revealing clothes asks again, a can of beer in her hand.

“...” He is confused for a while before he realizes “I’m a boy...” He says with a flat face.

He rarely looks at the mirror, but...

“Eh? Are you sure?” The woman looks him up and down.

Long and straight hair that reaches his shoulder, painted nails, lips that appear to have lipstick, beautiful features, an oversized shirt that looks like a dress...

“...” ‘Damn it again, Araki. I want to be a burly man! If I’m not 1.95m at 17 years like Jotaro, I will Ora ora someone.’

“I’m pretty sure...” Then he shamelessly raises his oversized shirt and pulls his underwear a little to show his kid-sized dick, that he hopes it will grow up nicely one day. ‘If Goku can do it, so can I...’ He still haven't fully got used to his new body, there is some dysphoria, he feels like it is not his so he doesn't care in showing it.

+2

“Pfft, what a funny boy!” The woman laughs “Here, I just finished it.” She squeezes the beer can and extends it at him. He opens his bag to allow her to put it inside.

“Thank you.” He says

“Nah, you saved me from walking till a trash can...” She waves her hand dismissively

“...” He looks around the trash-littered street. ‘At least she cares.’

“Bye, boy, you’re pretty! When you get older, come visit me. I can teach you some things.” She wves as he walks away.

“?” He tilts his head and looks back. With a bigger view, he can finally understand.

It’s a brothel; that woman is a prostitute.

He turns around and walks without answering.

“A brothel two blocks away from an orphanage... This is Brazil.”

.........................................

Days Later

Joshua is sitting in an isolated corner of a park, seemingly playing with empty cans, or scamming the recycling center...

You know, the cans are priced by weight, so some kids put small rocks or sand inside them before crumbling it. Any other kid watching Joshua sitting in a sandy ground like that would be thinking that he is doing the same.

Unknown to them, he is doing much more important things than trying to pinch some extra cents. 

In truth, he is doing two things. First, he is observing the world, nature, and everything... He is trying to visualize the Golden Rectangle. The Golden Ratio of the Spin exists in everything natural, it seems. So in the moment that he can visualize it and spin with this Golden Ratio, he will unlock [Tusk] Act 2.

“That’s harder than I thought... I ain’t seeing shit!” He sighs as he looks hard at a leaf.

Obviously, he will not give up... Maybe he doesn’t have the super talent to Spin, or he is not in a life-or-death situation that forces him to learn, or he doesn’t have the plot on this side... But he knows that he can’t give up.

If it will not come easily, he can only spend years training, like Gyro.

The other thing is working on is the making of a Steel Ball.

Or it would be better to say, an Aluminum Ball.

Using the Spin and his nails, he is trying to create a perfect sphere using the empty cans. Between his small hands, the cans deform, are shredded, and are spun around, like there’s a gravity center in the middle, or a magnet.

“Hmmm... It’s not perfect.” He observes his work. 

The ball... He can’t tell if it’s oval, but he can tell that it's bad. There are some parts sticking out; the fragments of aluminum are not sticking together perfectly. If he pulls one of them, the ball would be unmade easily.

“Tch. Should I try taking the ball from a bigger piece of metal and chip off the extra with my nails till it’s a perfect sphere?” He thinks out loud “No, this is a form of training too.”

He checks the Store and he once again sees some Spin Manuals... The Zepelli one and the Royal Guard are there too.

“But I can’t afford it now... And I feel that if I train myself through these hardship would help me in the long run.”

Without following anyone's footsteps, maybe he can come up with new usages for the Spin or develop his own style. Obviously, he can’t help but be influenced by what he saw in the Jojo manga, but it’s worth the try.

He is his own person, who will have unique and different experiences from other people... Inspiration can strike him at any time.

“Yare Yare daze... Let’s go take the money, I can’t go back to the orphanage with this amount of cans.” He stands and turns around to see some kids surrounding him “...”

They are not friendly, and their number is big. At least ten. There’s no way he can get out unscathed if he doesn’t go with the intent of hurting them

“Dudes... Haah” He is about to say that they are taking this thing too seriously, but he gives up. He sighs again at the thought of going to sleep with some bruises and in pain.

He can’t reach those kids. So he will just show off through actions.

“Come then! Wryyyyyyyyyyy~~”  With a battle cry… and then he runs away.

“...” They are all shocked that he ran away, and only start running to catch up after some seconds

“I confused you all, right? Using the Joestar Secret Technique with the Brando Battle Cry!!” He laughs as he speeds up.

After that, using some guerrilla tactics, he defeats all of them, collecting a big haul.

“It was only a strategic retreat...” He says above the fallen kids that are groaning in pain after being hit by spinning rocks “I’m a long-range fighter, after all.”

.................................................

Another day… another shitty day to be more accurate.

At this point, Joshua is almost used to this hard life. Maybe because his last life is not that good either. But it was not that bad, and he was not that powerless… He has potential.

In this life, he always felt hungry, always felt unsafe... And he is always treated like shit by everyone.

It’s starting to get on him. His mature mind and high potential were not enough to stop him from developing a distaste for everyone around him.

“I won’t sell shit to ya. Shoo Shoo!” The street food vendor throws back his money with scorn, making it scatter all over the dusty floor on the street. 

“...” Joshua stares at it and at his outstretched hand silently for a moment before picking it up and going on his own way. “I just wanted to eat a coxinha again...”

It’s really hard not start hating everyone.

The people that treats him better are the ones who look at him with pity, pity that doesn’t last much. Just enough for them to feel better with themselves, not to mistreat a poor orphan child.

In truth, thinking twice, maybe the ones who treat him better are the ones who ignore him.

The will and desire to act flamboyantly and show off to gain some Bizarre points also slowly wanes, but he still pushes forward, striking poses after winning a fight or giving some big speech.

It’s starting to become one of the highlights of his day, a moment of distraction from this hard, and without a future, life.

Joshua walks down the street thinking about what to do now, maybe explore to find a place that sells food to him. After all, if he can’t buy anything, why is he even collecting cans? And he needs food to have energy to train and grow strong, too.

As he is thinking about his next step, some kids run past him like rats, bumping into him and all that.

“...did they pickpocket me?” He checked his money, it was tight in his hand, but you can’t underestimate kids here. They have quirks. “Safe...” He was not robbed.

“Hey, you!” Sunddely he is yanked back by a strong force

“???” Looking back, the same street vendor from before is grabbing him by the back of his collar like a puppy “What the heck!” It hurt, it’s squeezing his neck and will propably will leave a bruise after being pulled back so brutally like that. 

He even let go of his hard-earned money, the coins scattering on the ground.

“You little thief!” The man shouts angrily, spit flying from his mouth

“??” Joshua was confused at first, but theneverything clicked in his racing mind.

The kids from before that run past him... They didn’t rob him because they robbed this street vendor before. And maybe this is also connected with why the vendor didn’t sell anything to him... It’s a normal occurrence that he needs to watch out for.

He thinks he is on it... Maybe like the distraction or something.

“It’s not me, dude! Let me go!” Joshua struggles with his grip. “I tried buying normally before, stupid.” He feels so powerless; his scrawny arms can’t do anything against an adult.

"And how did ya know about what I’m talkin’, huh? I’m not gon’ easy ya because ya're a lil girl!” The man shouts back

“...ugh.” Being smart backfired. Or maybe it’s useless to argue with logic from the start.

“Argh!” Joshua starts feeling a burning sensation in his neck. It seems this man’s quirk has something to do with creating heat on his hands. That’s why he sells street food.

Joshua snaps; he is angry and doesn’t care to explain himself anymore. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the people looking at this situation, and they didn’t move a finger to help him; it even looked like they were ready to lynch him.

He saw what happened with a slightly older kid some days earlier.

“Fuck it.” He raises his arm, making his body form the shape of an “I” and he slips out of his oversized shirt. Landing on the ground in only his underwear, he doesn’t waste time before running.

To the eyes of everyone, what he did is an admission of guilt, even if they would never give him a fair trial or even time to explain himself.

“Come back here, ya brat!” The vendor shouts.

Joshua turns his torso a little and shoots at the vendor with all five nails of his small hand. All aimed at hislegs, not that it did much. At this point in his development, his nail bullets have the attack potency of a strong slingshot... But it at least hindered the vendor, allowing Joshua to create distance and run.

Without looking where he is going, he runs past people, sales booths, bicycles, animals, jumping trash, going through alleys...

Only after he is far from the bustling and shopping street, he stop to recover his breath.

Panting, he holds his knees as he feels his heart beating fast on his chest.

“Unreasonable people...” He takes deep breaths “I can never go to that street anymore...”

He is too recognizable.

After he recovers enough to straighten himself, he kicks the ground in anger, hitting some grass and screaming to the wind.

“Aaaarrhgg!”

The little breakdown is reasonable in a small kid who can’t control his emotions. The world is simply too unfair... He is the one who went to buy something properly, but was denied... Then some kids who stole it went scot-free, and he lost his money and his shirt. How unfair is that??

He wants to hit something! And he does just that! Shooting the ground and a wall with his nail. Even aiming at some birds... he feels like hurting someone or something. He never hit a bird, by the way. His shouting put them on high alert, and he is not aiming properly.

“Fuck! Fuck!” He shouts a little more before he gets tired of acting up. “Okay, you’re an adult... It’s only a setback, people have it worse...” He starts calming himself.

Looking down on himself again, he “Tsks”... He is almost naked, how shameful, how humiliating that he needs to walk back to the orphanage like this. He is almost getting angry again, but he controls himself.

He decides to bite the bullet and go back to the orphanage and sleep, even though it is early afternoon. This day is one of those days that you need to end it fast, don’t even try anything anymore, because it is sure that it will not work.

But fate is not done with Joshua as he decides to take a discreet route to not be seen by many people... He saw the robbers.

Just there in a small circle, the coxinhas that they stole in the middle, inside of a plastic bag as they fill their faces with it.

“...” Pop That is the sound of a vein on his forehead jumping.

“Go away!” One of the kids sees him and shouts, ready to defend their food.

“We are not gonna give you anything!”

“Yeah!”

They all stand up and shout with their mouth full as they try to look intimidating. Those brats set him up and now are acting tough... They obviously ran in his direction to use him as bait, a normal tactic on the streets.

Confusing the pursuer by changing places with other kids and all that.

Pop Another vein...

Joshua right now has a look on his face that would be recognized by any Jojo fan... It’s the face when a Joestar is pissed, most popularly seen on Jotaro.

Unblinking eyes filled with anger, furrowed eyebrows, pursed lips...

“Yare Yare...” Joshua grabs one of his bangs, hiding his eyes as he tries to calm himself again. He is an adult... He is an adult... “AS IF! YOU DAMMED BRATS! YOU ALL OWE ME!” He shouts and jumps at them.

There’s a lot of confusion, kids rolling on the ground, limbs hitting each other, rock and sand being thrown, shouts...

But some minutes later, Joshua is the last one standing.

Wearing a new(old and dirty) shirt and finally some shorts, carrying the plastic bag with the rest of the coxinhas in his hand.

“Don’t ever cross me again.” He spats at them and walks away. Still Invincible.

Now in a better mood, he walks back to the orphanage.

“It seems that it’s only a trial of Destiny. I prevailed, and the reward was bigger...” He comments as he takes a coxinha to eat.

He was waiting for this for a long time; he was only eating bland food in the orphanage. Finally...

“...” Munch Munch “It does not taste that good...” He sighs.

Maybe it's the whole shitty situation, the fact that it's kinda stolen or something else... But it's a disappointment, like when you build a PC gamer to buy and play a game that you’re hyped, but you can’t bring yourself to enjoy as much as you expected.

“Tch.” But he continues to eat it. So what if it's a disappointment? It’s still edible. And hunger is the best sauce.

As he is trying to enjoy his debatable hard-earned meal, he hears a low sound...

“?” He turns around fast, still on guard, thanks to everything happened earlier. In the streets, you need to always keep an eye open, he will try to never let his guard down again.

But the sound is just the whine of a small dog. 

“You scared me, fucking dog.” Joshua growls.

It’s just a caramel dog, very common in the streets here, it’s small because it’s young, probably a pre-teen in dog years, Joshua estimates.

“Don’t get  close, rabies is not a joke.” Joshua tries to shoo the dog away, threatening to beat it... “...” But is simply too pitiful, and he can’t go on with his threats.

It continues to whine with pleading eyes, ears down, tail between the legs, it evens crouch down pitifully, maybe a reflex to brace down when someone gonna beat it.

“...” Joshua pauses and “tsks” “ Alright, alright! Here! I’m not gonna eat all of this alone either.” And there’s no microwave in the orphanage.

He takes a coxinha and puts it on the ground for the dog, still not trusting it not to bite him or something.

“...” He watches the dog slowly and warily get close. “You asked for it, and now you don’t take it...” He sighs again and takes some steps back, maybe he is scared of him.

The puppy gets close to the snack, but instead of biting it and carrying it away like Joshua expected, it started to lick it.

“...” Joshua once again pauses as he is turning around to go away. “It’s not like that, you’re gonna spend all day till you reach the good part.” He angrily walks back to the puppy and the snack.

Once again, the puppy lowers himself to the ground, almost flattening himself to not be hit. But Joshua simple reach for the coxinha and opens it to show the insides that are filled with shredded chicken.

“Here, eat this shit now.” He puts the two halves in the ground close to the puppy.

Now it goes and starts licking and biting the Chicken.

“Hmpf... You also had a bad life, huh?” For some reason, Joshua sits on the ground close to the puppy

“Did your mother also abandon you?” He asks as he takes another coxinha to eat. I will go bad if he waits too long.

“Truly unreasonable, huh? Our mothers are bitches. Haha! Yours, literally!” He laughs alone at his own joke “Well, at least they breastfed us before going back to the streets.” Joshua shrugs as he bites his snack; the puppy's attention is only on the food.

The people pass through the entrance of the Alley where they are sitting, completely ignoring the two; they are invisible to the world. Just a very common sight, a homeless child and a stray dog.

Boy and puppy eat in silence after that; the two are not that different, Joshua noticed. Shooed away by everyone, fighting with their peers for scraps, alone without parents... Joshua even thinks in a Naruto joke of “We are the same, you and I.” but he keeps it to himself.

Joshua looks at the puppy eating the snack with gusto, a strange sense of satisfaction blooming on him... He doesn’t understand it yet... The puppy is not even that cute.

Munch Munch

“Hmm... It tastes better now...” He says as he takes more bites.

.....................................