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.
- 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 warming 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, who 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.
- 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 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.
- 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: 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.
- Heel–Face Turn: The fanfic is about Dio slowly undergoing this, as he comes to genuinely care about Jonathan and Erina.
- 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 they're keeping a kidnapped Zeppeli in, 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 tad bit too excited when it comes to helping Dio through his rather macabre condition.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
