Tower of Gray

While DIO drains the life from a young woman, his subordinate Enya the Hag reports that the Joestar group is approaching but assures him an assassin is already in place. Aboard the plane, the travelers notice a large stag beetle darting about, which Avdol identifies as the Tower of Gray, a Stand tied to past massacres and calamities. Jotaro takes it on first but cannot match its blinding speed. The user taunts everyone by ripping out passengers' tongues and scrawling "massacre" on the cabin wall.

Kakyoin volunteers, reasoning that his Stand is the sensible pick given how destructive Avdol's and Jotaro's are. He opens with a flurry of Emerald Splash, all easily dodged, and the enemy strikes Hierophant Green. Then Kakyoin reveals the barrage was a feint as Hierophant's tentacles erupt from the seats and skewer the Tower of Gray from every side. With the Stand shredded, its user Gray Fly is exposed as an old man Kakyoin had already knocked out, and the group finds he was not under DIO's sway but simply wicked by nature. Joseph notices the plane tilting and rushes to the cockpit, where the pilots lie murdered and the aircraft plummets. Gray Fly briefly revives to warn that survival would not save them from being too late, then falls back dead as Joseph struggles to land despite his history of crashing planes.

The plane comes down off the Hong Kong coast, and the group weighs a new route to Egypt. Over a meal, Joseph and Avdol settle on traveling by boat until a French tourist interrupts, asking for help reading the menu. Joseph lets the man join them as he orders the wrong dish, only for the stranger to unveil himself as another of DIO's assassins. Avdol's Magician's Red strikes first, but the swordsman summons his own Stand, Silver Chariot, and deflects the flames into an overturned table, where they take the shape of a clock. Its user vows to beat Avdol before the clock strikes twelve.

The Tower of Gray, the first true enemy Stand of the journey, slaughters passengers before Kakyoin destroys it with a feinted Emerald Splash and Hierophant Green's tentacles. Its user Gray Fly is revealed and dies as the plane crashes near Hong Kong. Polnareff makes his first appearance disguised as a French tourist, an assassin who summons Silver Chariot and challenges Avdol.

The fourth Stardust Crusaders episode and 30th overall, it covers the second half of chapter 122 through chapter 124. The anime adds Enya explaining fear and DIO's effect on his victims, along with a scene of the trio at a Chinese food vendor, and retains a plane-crash reference to Pan Am Flight 103 despite the anime's shifted 1987 setting. Tsuda's commentary noted the 3D-built cabin, the repulsive design of the Tower of Gray, and the care taken to render Hong Kong and its food convincingly.