Gyro Zeppeli

Built solid and athletic, Gyro keeps his hair long enough to fall to mid-back and frames his jaw with squared patches of stubble, while illustrations often give him painted lips. His most striking feature is his teeth, either capped with grills or carved to spell out 'GO! GO! ZEPPELI.' He dresses like a gunless gunfighter, in a studded short-sleeved leather coat, leather trousers, and cowboy boots, with a belt buckle of two hands pointing downward and paired holsters at his hips that cradle his Steel Balls rather than pistols. A broad, slitted hat vented for light and air sits on his head, a set of narrow goggles wrapped around its crown, and in rough weather he adds a scarf.

Gyro comes across as brash, flashy, and hardened by a rough life. He races to seize first place by any means, charging to the front and shoving aside anyone who challenges him, and he thinks nothing of taking reckless shortcuts. His tongue is sharp, and he needles nearly everyone he meets, sparing not even Johnny, whom he first dismissed and only respected once the paralyzed jockey proved impossibly stubborn. The lone figure he truly reveres is his stern father, Gregorio.

For all his rudeness, a genuine kindness runs underneath: he aids those in need, teaches Johnny the Spin, and shoulders Marco's cause. Early on he lacked a selfish, personal hunger, having inherited his skill rather than earned it through suffering, and only after his duel with Ringo Roadagain did he adopt a real, self-driven reason to win. Offbeat and theatrical, Gyro loves terrible puns, absurd gags, grand declarations, and flashing his metal grin, and he leans on his father's fatalistic 'tennis ball over the net' outlook, trusting that a virtuous path can carry him through even when a miracle is required.

Born around 1866 into the distinguished Zeppeli line of the Kingdom of Naples, Gyro grew up in comfort as his family served the crown as both doctors and executioners. His father trained him in the Spin from late childhood, and by thirteen he was secretly learning the executioner's trade while apprenticing as a surgeon. His path bent when a nine-year-old named Marco was condemned for treason on false grounds. Unable to overturn the sentence on appeal, Gyro learned that a grand national achievement, like taking first in a celebrated cross-country race, might earn the child amnesty, so against Gregorio's wishes he signed on to the Steel Ball Run.

Reaching America ahead of the race, he crossed paths with the paralyzed Johnny Joestar, whose legs twitched at the touch of a spinning Steel Ball; that spark drew Johnny into the race to learn the Spin. Across the transcontinental stages Gyro alternately dominated and stumbled, tangling with rivals like Diego Brando, Pocoloco, and Ringo Roadagain while a growing hunt for the Saint's Corpse parts turned every leg into a battlefield. After binding with the Corpse's right eye he gained Scan, letting his Steel Balls act as remote, X-ray-like eyes, and he steadily pushed the Spin toward its ultimate expression.

In the final confrontation with Funny Valentine, Gyro summons the Golden Spin and its cavalry variant, manifesting the Stand Ball Breaker, whose force can pierce dimensional barriers. The technique wounds Valentine but cannot finish him before Gyro succumbs to his own injuries. With his dying breath he delivers one last lesson that pushes Johnny's Tusk to ACT 4, then bids his friend farewell as a spirit and ascends.