Hypocrite, Lunatic, Fanatic, Heretic

When you think of Prosciutto, your first thought might not be kind and doting. However, Araki goes on to emphasize that prosciutto is too soft on Pesci and praises him too much.

"This makes it a total of FIVE TIMES he supported pesci in an hour."

"People might wonder if Prosciutto was being over protective"

This makes sense in the context of the episodes, and Araki also goes on to state Prosciutto cares very deeply about pesci, to the point his love is deeper than that of a mothers love.

Araki tells us readers that the only time prosciutto has used the "stick treatment" was when pesci got ambushed by Mista but he quickly brushes it aside by highlighting the fact prosciutto was brave and grabbed the gunslinger risking his own life to save that of pesci.

"My prized hook and line" written by yoshihita okita, does a reversal of what araki has shown us. Instead of pesci constantly being praised by proscuitto, pesci gets scolded multiple times throughout the short story, and it is only at the end that we see proscuitto praising pesci for doing the right thing. This signals a turn in how proscuitto views his subordinate.

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Prosciutto's actions and Pesci’s Reactions

Now, this is where the novel differs from what we see in canon and where I start to project some of my own thoughts and feelings on these scenes. It's not exactly a one to one comparison, but it'll do.

Leading up to the impact in the anime, we see pesci praising prosciutto on how amazing he is for disguising himself as one of the passengers. Even though pesci nearly got himself killed, he still excitedly walks up to prosciutto. So when prosciutto hits him, he looks genuinely confused because he didn't expect that to happen. THIS makes sense in combination with what araki has told us.

Prosciutto is overprotective and praises pesci too much because he deeply cares for him and his safety. Of course, pesci would feel comfortable walking up to prosciutto. He hasn't given pesci a reason to make him feel otherwise. However, the stakes are much higher than normal they went on this train knowing they'd either come out victorious or die trying to obtain their goal. But pesci still doesn't act like it, and so in the heat of the moment, prosciutto hits him, which gets followed by the 5 times of praise Araki loves to mention.

In the novel, Prosciutto doesn't actually hit Pesci, but he does instinctively cover his face out of fear of being hit. This doesn't exactly contradict what Araki has told us, but this pesci is much more fearful of Prosciutto, which would make sense because this takes place when pesci has freshly joined the team and hasn't really realized which buttons he can and cannot push.

(I think it's also important to keep in mind this wonderful short story wasn't written by Araki himself, so obviously, the way the characters interact and behave aren't going to be 100% accurate. However, it did get approved, so it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to accept this as canon or not)

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What happens after?

In the novel, there's not really anything that happens after because nobody's getting hit, so we're going to be focusing on the anime.

If you've seen the episode, we all know what happens after. Prosciutto starts giving pesci pep talks and praising him and touching foreheads invading pesci's space. This exclusively happens after Prosciutto hits him. Why is that? Why do that after decking pesci in the face?

Well, it's because pesci lost the confidence he had after being scolded so harshly by his mentor. In the anime, the difference between before and after isn't very noticeable because pesci has been changed to come across as more meak and shy. But in the manga, pesci goes from a playful and cocky newbie to a meak and anxiety filled mammone in almost an instant. THAT is why prosciutto goes overboard with the praise and PDA. He's aware of what type of impact it has on pesci and tries his best to steer pesci back in the right direction with kind words.

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(I'd place some examples here but I've reached my limit unfortunately)

Conclusion

I'm not really sure how I want to end this, but regardless of how you see pesci and proscuitto's relationship, I think it's very important that we continue to have fun and mess around with their dynamic as two characters in our favorite show. You can choose to ignore that prosciutto has done this, or you can choose to come up with your own explanation for his behavior, but at the end of the day, we're all here to have a good time.