Taking place in Italy in the year 2001, the story follows Giorno Giovanna, the illegitimate son of the long-deceased Dio Brando, who aspires to overthrow the boss of the corrupt mafia ruling his hometown of Naples with the aid of a team of fellow Stand users.

In 2001, Koichi Hirose arrives in Naples to investigate a teenager named Haruno Shiobana, who Jotaro Kujo suspects to be the son of Dio Brando.

Defeated, he finds himself won over by Giorno's dream of becoming Passione's boss in order to better Naples and end the scourge of drug trafficking plaguing the city's youth.

Giorno is placed in Bucciarati's group, consisting of fellow Stand users Guido Mista, Leone Abbacchio, Narancia Ghirga and Pannacotta Fugo.

He is then given Polpo's final mission: the boss, a mysterious figure whose identity is unknown to even his subordinates, requests that his daughter Trish Una be brought safely to him in Venice.

On the boss's orders, the group retrieves a key in Pompeii and use it to access a lounge inside of a Stand-wielding turtle; it is used to reach Venice relatively safely, escorting Trish to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Realising he intends to kill his own daughter to maintain his anonymity, Buccarati chooses to fight but suffers grievous injuries, barely escaping with Trish.

Araki cited Guido Mista and Prosciutto as characters he enjoyed drawing; the former due to his positive attitude and for being "true to himself without doubts" and the latter for his "brotherly relationship" with his subordinate Pesci and fun Stand power.

[46][47] The novel Le Bizzarre Avventure di GioGio II: Golden Heart/Golden Ring[bm] was written by Gichi Ōtsuka and Miya Shōtarō, and released on May 28, 2001.

[52] Both Screen Rant's Steven Blackburn and Jordan Richards of AIPT Comics called Golden Wind a breath of fresh air for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by deviating from the basic formula and following Giorno, son of villain Dio Brando, as he looks to cement a reputation and build a criminal empire.

[53][54] Jenni Lada of Siliconera also praised the protagonist Giorno and said the first volume of Golden Wind shows how skilled Araki is at getting people quickly invested in a character and story.

"[55] Richards wrote that Part 5's vivid and imaginative Stand fights continue JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's "wholly unique" style of art not seen in any other series.