✨Stand Bullshit✨

so it has been. Literal months since I last talked about Neutral Ground but a Thought just hit me with all the subtly and delicacy of a brick and I can’t get it out of my head

so after Tonio adopts Giorno, he’s definitely going to be MUCH more aware of the danger Passione presents. Yes he knows he technically has a deal going with the Boss and Doppio, but this is the fucking mafia and he now has a kid who could be put in danger. No matter how much protection they given them, someone is always going to be after them for their connections ad Tonio isn’t going to risk his child’s safety for his mistakes

so what if he starts preparing to leave. Not obviously, of course, he treats this with more delicacy and secrecy than the most valuable ingredients because he CANNOT afford to fuck this up. It takes months of meticulous planning, of covering his tracks, of ensuring that no matter what they'll be safe. Money thankfully isn't an issue, and he and Giorno don't really have anyone to worry about leaving behind.

(and if Tonio at some point asks Giorno if he could visit any place in the world and the boy responded "Japan" well that was just an innocent question for curiosities sake)

Then finally the day comes. With all of their most important essentials packed, they flee Italy, and after taking a VERY long roundabout route filled with more fake names and IDs than either can fully remember, they make it to Morioh, Japan

The first couple years are very anxious, paranoia filled ones. Months of looking over their shoulder, of not unpacking their bags, of working small part time jobs and keeping their distance from the locals

but then they start to relax. They start to get more comfortable. They unpack their bags, Giorno starts to make friends with the neighbors, Tonio starts cooking again and even starts making plans to open a new restaurant

sure there's a small hiccup when the issue of Kira pops up, but they gain so much more in return. A community, other people with abilities, a support network they can trust, and eventually their family of two becomes one of four with the addition of Okuyasu and Stray Cat

Life is good and they're happy

but of course, not all good things can last

Passione finds them. They don't know how, but one day Okuyasu and Giorno come home to find the restaurant trashed, their home destroyed, and Tonio on the floor battered and beaten and bloody, on death's door yet just barely clinging to life

They'd had a feeling this was coming, and yet they'd allowed themselves to grow complacent

Logically, Giorno knew they should run. That Morioh wasn't safe anymore, that Passione would come for them again, that they needed to leave before any more damage was done

but they had a life here. Giorno had friends, a family, people he cared about and selfishly didn't want to leave behind. Morioh had been the happiest he, the happiest Tonio, had been in years. He'd seen his papa laugh and smile and sing, when he cooked he swayed and hummed, such a stark opposite to the methodical silence when he cooked in Italy

And Giorno was angry. Angry that Passione tried taking this away from them, tried killing his father who wanted nothing more than to live a quiet life in peace, tried tearing apart the family his father had built with his bare, bloody hands

he wasn't going to let that stand

and well....... Okuyasu certainly isn't going to let his little brother do this on his own :)

Giorno has the calculating mind, Okuyasu has the raw power, and both are fueled by protective vengeance. Needless to say, Italy was not ready for these two

(also this is. Completely separate from what I was talking about but as I was thinking I wanted to possibly experiment with somehow putting Volpe into the AU, since he's Tonio's little brother in the Purple Haze Feedback novel and also part of Passione and according to the wiki is resentful of his brother for his choices. I'm not fully sure, I just think it would be neat and add a bit of fun and some conflict.

Maybe Volpe was one of the people Diavlo sent after Tonio after doing a bit of digging and learning about their connect? Maybe there was a bit of non consensual drugging, which led to Tonio being landed in the hospital in a way that Crazy D couldn't fix and could then lead to Giorno and Okuyasu's loathing of drugs and add more to the desire for revenge upon learning that guy was their uncle)

Oh man imagine if news of this got back to Italy. Because yeah, Tonio left, but that in itself could cause some strife. Because Tonio wouldn't leave unless he felt he was in danger, right?

As soon as news of Tonio's assault gets out, there is so much strife within Passione. Nobody would know if the attack was ordered by the Boss or not but either way, someone (*coughcough* Cannolo *coughcough*) made it public that Volpe is Tonio's brother. The Narcotics team are persona non grata at first, but then more fingers are pointed, especially if/when Sorbet and Gelato are executed. Everything could fall into chaos, fast.

Giorno and Okuyasu might not be infiltrating Passione so much as turning the tide of a Passione Civil War.

OOOOOOOOOOO I LOVE THAT 👀👀👀👀

And heck, there might even be non-Passione members of the underworld getting involved in this too. After all, Trattoria Trussardi was completely neutral ground. While Passione “funded” it, Tonio made it clear that it’s doors were open to everyone as long as they obeyed the Rules

So learning that there was something going on bad enough to scare Tonio, Antonio fucking Trussardi who wouldn’t hesitate to threaten CAPOS who broke the Rules, who didn’t so much as bat an eye at any manner of gore and violence, who had an almost innumerable amount of support, into fleeting Italy in the dead of night with his kid without telling anyone?

yeah, that’s going to start some rumors

after all, people are going to want answers, especially considering the fact that they’re not even 100% sure Tonio and Giorno are alive. The two was very well protected, so whatever spooked Tonio would’ve had to been BIG, which lead to three major theories. Either 1) it was a secret rising power behind the scenes, 2) it had to do with Tonio’s personal life which they knew nothing about, or 3) it was Passione’s Boss

But for years there’s almost nothing for them to work off of. Any dealings Tonio had with higher ups were kept under lock and key and were essentially useless to try and find, and aside from the kid he seemingly had almost no personal life to speak of. No family, no friends, nothing. Questioning Tonio wasn’t possible for obvious reasons, but neither was questioning the Boss. Tonio covered his tracks really well, to the point that even with the assistance of Stand for YEARS nobody could find anything

things do die down a bit after several months. Things stay tense, people talk about it in hushed whispers, occasionally some newbie will take a crack at the mystery, but no new information comes up (at least as far as the “public” is aware of). And at some point, in a strange sort of loyalty, several different groups of people pooled money together to continue paying the rent for the restaurant’s building and regularly made sure no one squats or trashes the place. They’re keeping it safe for his return, they say. After all, Tonio was a well beloved figure, and for any enemy he could’ve had, he had at least 10 more allies

but then every starts coming to head in good ol 2001 :)

Rumor spreads like WILDFIRE that Tonio was found, and even more so that someone had attacked him. The details were vague and differed from person to person, but the bottom line was that Tonio was in the hospital and that was enough to piss a LOT of people off. Volpe’s relation to Tonio being revealed and the fact he just so happened to return from a “business trip” the day after word spreads about Tonio’s condition was just fanning the flames, ESPECIALLY when they learn Tonio had apparently been disowned from the family and cut all contact

In the weeks after, Gelato and Sorbet being killed and there being rumors that La Squadra might defect are enough to bring things to a lynch pin

So when the Bucciarati Gang are declared traitors? Yeah everyone goes fucking mental

And for even MORE bat shit insanity……. what if as they’re making their escape from the Boss and are trying to formulate a plan, Okuyasu ends up deciding “fuck it, all these lies are getting hard to keep track of, let’s just come clean since we’re already overthrowing the Boss” and while Giorno is hesitant, he agrees

see, Giorno and Okuyasu wouldn’t want to reveal their connection to Tonio, mostly for their and his safety and to make the whole “getting revenge on the guy who hurt dad” easier. So they weren’t using their actual names. Okuyasu just said his last name was Nijimura, and meanwhile Giorno used his old name from before Tonio took him in, being Haruno Shiobana. Naturally they’re both completely oblivious to the internal struggle going on in Passione, nor do they know that Tonio actually has a LOT of people still on his side and that things have been bubbling over for years

So the look on the Gang’s face when they reveal their names to be Giorno Trussardi and Okuyasu Nijimura-Trussardi were pure and utter SHOCK and nobody has any idea what to do about it. Half of them may not have been around when Tonio was, but they’d heard rumors and seen the man’s impact, and the ones that WERE around during Tonio’s time are ready to loose their minds

Naturally they start asking all sorts of questions. What the fuck, how the fuck, what’s happened to Tonio, where have you been all this time, why’d you leave, when did Tonio take in a second kid, etc etc, and in the process Giorno and Okuyasu get caught up on the political disaster that’s had Passione in a choke hold for the last several years

and if that particular tidbit of knowledge gets out? That the two sons of a hospitalized Tonio are in Italy going against the Boss?

well, there’s only one logical conclusion left to draw there

At the very least, Giorno’s accession to power might actually be easier than in canon. While there might be a bit of unrest from some because Tonio was supposed to be neutral, the Rules never said that his son(s) were bound by those rules and honestly his connection to Tonio would probably just serve in his favor. He’s not this newbie upstart who no one’s heard about with a mysterious powerful Stand, he’s the son of a well respected man taking revenge on someone who wronged said father, and while knowing why he did it just makes him that much more terrifying and powerful looking, it would also make people more satisfied with his new leadership. Giorno’s still going to be getting assassins and hit men sent after him, but way less than he would normally

maybe Tonio returns to Italy, maybe he doesn’t, but whichever he picks his sons will back him up every step of the way

(Tonio does find it rather ironic looking back. That his attempts to make sure Giorno wouldn’t be affected by Passione led to him being the Boss with Okuyasu as his on/off body guard whenever he visits Italy. He doubly finds it ironic that they’re the ones pulling all the stops to keep him safe)

((from their perspective, the brothers are just paying back all the kindness Tonio has shown them. He’s given them food, a place to stay, clothes, protection, love when nobody else had. They’re proud to call him their father and protecting him is the least they feel they can do))