Steel Ball Run

Steel Ball Run (スティール・ボール・ラン) is a seinen manga series by Hirohiko Araki. Originally presented as an unrelated story, this series was recently officially declared a part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure storyline. The series stars Gyro Zeppeli, who uses a set of steel balls that spin incredibly fast, and Johnny Joestar (Jonathan Joestar), a former hot-shot jockey who was crippled by an ambusher and lost his fame and fortune. They race, along with others, in a mad-dash across America for 50 million dollars, reminiscent of The Cannonball Run.

This series is likely caused by the after effects of the Stand "Made in Heaven", which was intended to create a perfect universe for everyone, along the lines of the Mayan prophecy of 2012, which predicts the universe's transformation. Originally, Pucci had planned for the universe to remain the same as he'd known it, except for everyone having precognition (i.e. awareness of immutable destiny; Pucci thought this would make people appreciate their existence more) and the excision of Jonathan Joestar and his descendants (to give Dio his Heaven-on-Earth). However, when Pucci was slain, Made in Heaven had not completely rewritten the cosmos, which therefore "snapped back" into a strong similarity of its previous self. This explains the inclusion of characters such as Norisuke Higashikata (someone of Josuke's lineage), Urmd Abdul (an Avdol lookalike), and Diego "Dio" Brando.

Steel Ball Run is being published by Shueisha in Ultra Jump. The first 23 chapters (4 volumes) were serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump.