Among the characters in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! story, Katsuya Jonouchi was, in some ways, very similar to Seto Kaiba.
Kaiba began with both parents dead and a younger brother to care for, while Jonouchi began with divorced parents and a younger sister. Kaiba later encountered Kaiba Gozaburo, his adoptive father in name but practically The Devil himself. Jonouchi, meanwhile, was nominally left with his father, who was really nothing more than a worthless old gambling addict.
Similar beginnings. What supported Kaiba as he pressed onward, grew stronger, and ultimately seized power to ascend the throne was his only family, Mokuba. Meanwhile, Joey Wheeler, an ignorant young boy thrown into society's cruel whirlpool, was also supported by his only sister, Shizuka.
Yet despite their similar beginnings, their paths of growth were completely different.
Kaiba's cruel childhood taught him that power was the only thing he could trust, and that he could stop at nothing for wealth and authority. In the end, he won, drove Gozaburo to his death, and became the victor.
But that same upbringing and philosophy of life also turned Kaiba into the sort of person who could not live without enemies. That was why he later became so obsessed with Atem that he would even dig up graves and go to the Underworld just to duel.
Joey Wheeler was different. Even when lashed by reality, betrayed, and left with a shattered family, he was still willing to believe and forge new bonds.
Among his companions, he often took the initiative to ease tensions. Perhaps because he lacked bonds in childhood, he treasured hard-won friendship more than most. That was why he was the kind of hot-blooded man who would take a blade for his friends without caring about the consequences.
When Yugi's Exodia was thrown into the sea,