Soft Machine

Soft Machine answers to Mario Zucchero, an assassin featured in Vento Aureo. It looks like a plated humanoid studded all over with blunt spikes, staring out through robotic eyes and lacking any mouth or nose, with bullet-shaped shapes jutting from its crown. Its right hand grips a dagger-length rapier that anchors the whole ability. The colored manga paints it white and purple, while the anime recolors it green with orange eyes.

Because a single jab is enough to shut a victim down, Soft Machine is terrifying when it strikes from hiding, yet its ordinary combat skill is unremarkable once it steps into the open. The rapier can serve as a plain weapon in a pinch, and it even managed to nick the hand of Moody Blues during one exchange.

Its defining trick, Pinch Deflating, empties the air out of anything the blade pierces, its own user included. A stabbed person or object visibly leaks air from the puncture until it goes limp, rubbery, and flat, clothing and all, though the victim stays alive throughout. Once deflated, a body can be stretched and threaded through tight spaces such as pipes. Zucchero's cleverest use was draping a deflated copy of a ship over a real one, then hiding between the two layers to travel completely undetected.

Mario Zucchero, a member of the assassination group, is the only user. His Stand's low fighting numbers leave it helpless in a straight brawl, so he leans on surprise, deflating members of Bucciarati's team such as Narancia Ghirga and Leone Abbacchio before they even realize he is aboard the ship.