Tomorrow's Courage

Having narrowly slipped past Jonathan's underwater overdrive, Bruford snares him again with his hair. Jonathan blocks the strike and drives an overdrive through a kick into Bruford's sword, disintegrating one of the knight's arms. Breaking loose, he pours a sunlight yellow overdrive barrage into his foe. As Bruford's body dissolves, his human soul returns and he finds peace, gifting JoJo his blade before fading entirely.

Tarkus steps up, grinding Bruford's remains underfoot and pledging himself to evil. Jonathan and Zeppeli carry Speedwagon and Poco to safety on a hang glider fashioned from leaves. During the escape, Zeppeli recalls learning to wield the Ripple under a man named Tonpetty, who had foreseen a grim fate awaiting him. Tarkus leaps after the group, forcing them to land at a knights' training ground to make a stand. He smashes through an outer wall and reaches the grounds first, dragging Jonathan into a Chain Neck Deathmatch in which the two are shackled together by the neck and one must behead the other to win. The collar chokes Jonathan and hands Tarkus the advantage. Realizing his friend will die unless someone acts, Poco steadies himself with his sister's encouraging words, climbs through a window, and unlocks the door so Zeppeli can enter. Stepping into the chamber, Zeppeli remembers Tonpetty's prophecy of his death, yet hardens his resolve and readies himself to face it.

Jonathan defeats Bruford, whose restored soul leaves him the sword Luck and Pluck before disintegrating. Tarkus enters the fight and traps Jonathan in a Chain Neck Deathmatch. Zeppeli's flashback introduces his mentor Tonpetty and the prophecy of his death. Poco overcomes his fear to unlock the door, and Zeppeli walks in to confront Tarkus despite the foretold doom.

The sixth episode of both the overall anime and Phantom Blood, it adapts chapters 29 through 33. The adaptation drops the manga moment where debris from Bruford's crushed armor injures Zeppeli, as well as Tarkus killing and drinking the blood of Poco's acquaintances. Tsuda's commentary praised Bruford's flower-strewn death scene, the one-off young Zeppeli design created for the flashback, and Poco's signature line, "Tomorrow is now."