The World

The World (ザ・ワールド（世界）, Za Wārudo) is the Stand of DIO, featured in the third part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Stardust Crusaders.

An extremely powerful time-controlling Stand wielded by an equally powerful user, The World is an esoteric Stand, both revered and feared by almost every character in Stardust Crusaders.

Appearance

The World

The World bears the appearance of a tall, heavily muscular humanoid with a strong resemblance to DIO himself in terms of build and clothing. It wears a headpiece covering its face to below the place of its nose, slanting at a steep angle from the base of its forehead to a peak situated above the rear of its head, leaving the face of an inverted triangle visible to the front, similarly to the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.

It wears small twin diving cylinders on its back, connecting via short, twin-ridged cables to the rear of its mask. Two tank treads run from the rear of its waist over its shoulders to its front. The backs of both of its hands bear the shape of a simple clock face. Its chin, the base of its abdomen, its crotch, and its knees are topped by heart shapes. It has armor plates on its shins, and its clogs bear curved, sharply-pointed toes, similar to those of DIO's.

DIO's diary reveals that he intended to engrave 14 phrases on his Stand to remember them after destroying it and subsequently birthing something new,^[4] though they are never shown on the Stand itself.

Araki has stated that it was designed as a boss initially, to contrast with Star Platinum's color and other traits.^[5] According to him, the purpose of the diving cylinders on The World's back is to supply oxygen within stopped time.^[6]

Color Schemes

Personality

The World shows no particular personality, although it occasionally smiles as it pummels others, hinting that it may be a rather cruel entity that takes pleasure in causing pain.^[7][8] In the anime, it frequently shows expressions of formidability and fury in its attacks. Its Stand cry is Muda Muda Muda! (無駄 無駄 無駄!, lit. "Useless, useless, useless!"),^[7] however, the cry itself seems to be communicated by DIO.

The World itself doesn't make much attempts at speech. In the anime, The World makes grunting noises while fighting Star Platinum, and in the English dub, the grunting sounds are replaced with growling noises.

Abilities

The World is an exceptionally powerful close-range Stand much like Star Platinum as noted by Noriaki Kakyoin and Jotaro Kujo, but boasting an effective manifestation range of approximately 10 meters.^[9] Although it lacks any ability to directly injure opponents farther than close-quarters range, its overwhelming physical might and near unstoppable control over time undeniably make it one of the most dangerous Stands in the entire series.

Extreme Physical Power: The World possesses phenomenal strength, senses, precision, and incredible speed, being able to easily punch Kakyoin right through his abdomen. DIO claims that The World is even stronger and faster than Star Platinum since it bested the latter in a clash of rapid punches between the two.^[7] Its main offense is generally characterized by a flurry of speedy punches and the occasional kick.

Time Stop

The World stopping time

The World's signature power is its ability to stop time, allowing only itself, DIO, and anyone with the same power (such as Jotaro and Star Platinum), to act within the duration of stopped time.^[10]

In the stopped time, DIO can move his own body freely along with any object he touches that he wishes to move, allowing him to strike his defenseless enemies, move to a superior position, and toy with his victims. All force applied by DIO during the time stop continues to exist after the time stop. This is seen when the objects that DIO throws can momentarily move during the stopped time before grinding to a halt. A flurry of thrown knives could fly for several meters before stopping near Jotaro.^[11]

It is notable that DIO needs to consciously activate Time Stop, which means that surprise attacks can prevent him from stopping time.^[12]

Despite time not actively progressing, DIO quantifies the duration of The World's time stop using seconds.

Because of DIO's weakened state in Stardust Crusaders, this ability initially only works for up to 5 seconds in DIO's frame of reference before time flows again.^[13] However, thanks to DIO's immortality, the duration of stopped time increases as DIO becomes more accustomed to The World and the scar around his neck heals, reaching a maximum of nine seconds towards the end of Stardust Crusaders.^[14] However, had he not died, the period during for which DIO could have stopped time would have continued to grow, seemingly indefinitely.^[15]

Individuals with the same power can only act within stopped time for the "duration" that they are able to stop time, but appear be able to perceive all of the stopped time, even if they have not stopped it themselves, and this applies to DIO as well. An individual with the same power does not need to immediately start acting (or 'stopping time themselves') during stopped time, and can start the duration of their time stop later on during the stopped time, and the duration of the other individual's stopped time can exceed the duration of the initial time stop, stopping the original user of the ability from acting for the remaining duration of their time stop.^[16]

Novels

JORGE JOESTAR

The World in JORGE JOESTAR

The World appears in the light novel JORGE JOESTAR. In the novel, Dio already has his Stand after he takes over Jonathan Joestar's body in the ship. He uses it to gather food and torture Erina while traveling in his coffin with her in the middle of the ocean.

When Dio wakes up from his sleep after one hundred years, he temporarily gives the Stand to Giorno Giovanna by inserting half of his soul into the boy's body. As a result, Giorno becomes a clone named DIO and acts out the events of Stardust Crusaders. After DIO's death, Dio uses the effects of Cube House to travel through time and retrieve his Stand again.

Once Dio becomes an Ultimate Thing like Kars, The World is capable of stopping time for nearly one hour.

While battling Dio, Kars develops his own enhanced copy of the Stand, known as The World Ultimate. Dio also awakens this version of the Stand after seeing Kars use it.

Chapters / Episodes

Manga Appearances

Chapters in order of appearance

Part 3Part 4Part 6Part 7Part 9Spin off

• Chapter 130: Strength, Part 1 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 160: Lovers, Part 1 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 161: Lovers, Part 2 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 184: "The Fool" Iggy and "Geb" N'Doul, Part 2 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 198: Anubis, Part 6 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 210: Shooting DIO?! (Ability only)
• Chapter 216: D'Arby the Gambler, Part 6 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 229: D'Arby the Player, Part 3 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 248: DIO's World, Part 2
• Chapter 249: DIO's World, Part 3
• Chapter 250: DIO's World, Part 4 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 251: DIO's World, Part 5
• Chapter 252: DIO's World, Part 6
• Chapter 253: DIO's World, Part 7
• Chapter 254: DIO's World, Part 8
• Chapter 255: DIO's World, Part 9
• Chapter 256: DIO's World, Part 10
• Chapter 257: DIO's World, Part 11
• Chapter 258: DIO's World, Part 12
• Chapter 259: DIO's World, Part 13
• Chapter 260: DIO's World, Part 14 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 261: DIO's World, Part 15 (Mentioned)
• Chapter 262: DIO's World, Part 16
• Chapter 263: DIO's World, Part 17
• Chapter 264: DIO's World, Part 18 (Death)

• Chapter 276: The Nijimura Brothers, Part 3 (Flashback)

• Stone Ocean Chapter 48: Torrential Downpour Warning, Part 1 (Flashback) (Mentioned)
• Stone Ocean Chapter 94: Time for Heaven (Mentioned)
• Stone Ocean Chapter 96: Jail House Lock!, Part 1 (Mentioned)

• Steel Ball Run Extra Chapter 3: Untitled Stand Chapter (Mentioned)

• The JOJOLands Chapter 1: Departure (Cover only)

• Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 8 (Flashback) (Ability only)
• Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 11 (Ability only)
• Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 12 (Ability only)
• Crazy Diamond's Demonic Heartbreak: Chapter 14 (Ability only)

Anime Appearances

Episodes in order of appearance

Part 3Part 4Part 6OVA

• Stardust Crusaders Episode 7: Strength (Glimpse)
• Stardust Crusaders Episode 24: High Priestess, Part 2 (Ability only)
• Stardust Crusaders Episode 36: Hol Horse and Boingo, Part 1 (Ability only)
• Stardust Crusaders Episode 45: DIO's World, Part 1
• Stardust Crusaders Episode 46: DIO's World, Part 2
• Stardust Crusaders Episode 47: DIO's World, Part 3
• Stardust Crusaders Episode 48: The Faraway Journey, Farewell Friends (Death)

• Diamond is Unbreakable Episode 3: The Nijimura Brothers, Part 1 (Mentioned)

• Stone Ocean Episode 12: Torrential Downpour Warning (Flashback) (Mentioned)
• Stone Ocean Episode 23: Jail House Lock! (Flashback)
• Stone Ocean Episode 24: Jailbreak... (Flashback)

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 6 (OVA): The Mist of Vengeance (Ability only)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 7 (OVA): Justice (Mentioned)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 10 (OVA): D'Arby the Gambler (Mentioned)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 11 (OVA): DIO's World: The Miasma of the Void, Vanilla Ice (Ability only)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 12 (OVA): DIO's World: Kakyoin - The Duel in the Web
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Episode 13 (OVA): DIO's World: Farewell Friends

Novel Appearances

Chapters in order of appearance

MiscJORGECrazy HeartbreakersOVER HEAVEN

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Novel) (Mentioned)

• JORGE JOESTAR Chapter 5: Box (Flashback)
• JORGE JOESTAR Chapter 16: Beyond II

• Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 2: Dazed date (Flashback) (Ability only)
• Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 3: Dissonance (Mentioned)
• Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 5: Disquietude (Flashback) (Ability only)
• Crazy Heartbreakers Chapter 7: DIO (Ability only)

• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 2 (Mentioned)
• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 3 (Mentioned)
• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 33 (Mentioned)
• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 58 (Mentioned)
• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 59 (Mentioned)
• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 62 (Mentioned)
• OVER HEAVEN Chapter 65 (Mentioned)

Video Games

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)

An evolved form of the Stand named The World Over Heaven appears in Eyes of Heaven. It is wielded by an iteration of DIO from a parallel world who ascended to Heaven after defeating the Joestar family and achieving his plan. The Stand keeps its ability to stop time and gains a new ability to overwrite reality.

Puzzle & Dragons (Android/iOS)

The World was obtainable for a limited time as an Assist Evolution in the mobile game Puzzle & Dragons.

The World
ザ・ワールド

Attributes:

Rarity: 8★ (Assist Evolution)

No. 9554

HP

5,088 (Lvl.99)

ATK

6,159 (Lvl.99)

RCV

144 (Lvl.99)

Active Skill: "Ability to Stop Time"

Delays enemies' next move for 3 turns; 10x this ally's ATK for 3 turns.

Leader Skill: "N/A"

N/A

Gallery

Trivia

• The World was notably the only Stand in Part 3 that lacked any design input from Araki's editor at the time, Ryosuke Kabashima, as he unexpectedly ended up in the hospital during the final battle.^[17]
• Coincidentally, the tarot card of The World was at one point referred to as "Time" in the Court de Gébelin deck.^[18]

References

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