Ok, I made it here! In the big leagues with the other manga readers. 😎 The majority of Jojo left for me to tackle is just to catch up on the manga, and Part 7 I've certainly heard good things about! (This and Jojolion btw are also the Parts I've heard the least amount of spoilers about, at least in bearing any kind of weight for context, so this will be a more blind experience than normal, I think)
From the comments then, I take it that this is indeed a normal AU continuity and not a spin-off creation of what Pucci did back in Part 6. Gotcha. I thought I heard as much before, but I appreciate the further clarification.
Personally, I was never a fan of Cowboy/Western settings - that and SciFi and military are some of the easiest turn-offs for me with a story, but hey, I enjoyed Part 2 well enough and there were enough hypemen for Part 7 where I still feel like it won't disappoint.