Kira silently watched the duel from the sidelines, resting his chin on his hand as he thought.
This was Seto Kaiba's dueling style eight years after Duel Monsters, and it essentially represented the ceiling of all known duelists in the current era.
Throughout the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, President Kaiba had never personally taken the field. The only thing close was Judai's duel against "The Righteous Partner - Kaibaman." But that looked more like a card spirit Kaiba had molded in his own image, and Judai had lost that duel, so it was hard to say how seriously the other side had been fighting.
Using this duel as a direct reference, it was no wonder everyone in the Dueling World called Kaiba the number one duelist of the modern age. Even setting aside his unique Floor Draw technique, the strength of his current Blue-Eyes Deck was so far ahead of its time that it practically belonged in a different genre from everyone else's.
Even the GX Protagonist Group had only just emerged from the era of "I play one, you play one" in the early part of the story. They were still at the stage where summoning a 2,000-ATK monster on the first turn was astonishing. Even Judai often started his early duels by summoning a Normal Monster, setting nothing, and ending his turn. And the students at Duel Academy were already considered top-tier duelists in the broader environment.
Compared to them, President Kaiba was simply crushing them from another dimension.
As expected, having money and technology was great. He could conduct his own research and print his own cards, so naturally his deck stood at the very forefront of the era. Or rather, if an Overpowered Player like Kaiba, with nearly limitless resources, still had a deck on the same level as everyone else after all these years, that would have been far stranger.
"He won. As expected of Brother, though it wasn't really surprising." Mokuba smiled and rubbed his nose as he stepped up to Kaiba.
Only after satisfying his Dueling Addiction did President Kaiba turn to look at Kira.
"Fujiki Kira, correct?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"I have something to say to you, but first, I need to deal with the rat problem."
Kira raised an eyebrow.
He has something to say to me?
Hiss... Could he be trying to arrange a duel?
Considering this was President Kaiba, it actually seemed possible. Maybe he had been annoyed after seeing Kira beat up his AI at the Kaiba Land arena, or maybe his Dueling Addiction had simply flared up.
Kira thought it over. If that was the case, it was not a Life-Gambling Card, so he might as well accept. Even if he lost, there was nothing to lose. He could even consider charging a sparring fee—one Rare Card per match. If he got lucky and won once, perhaps he could achieve Rare Card freedom immediately.
By then, Kaiba's accompanying personnel had also disembarked from the helicopter. Someone hauled up Fujimoto, who had been blasted unconscious by a single breath attack from Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.
Fujimoto struggled to open his eyes, adjusted to the blinding sunlight, then blinked blankly.
"Eh? I'm still alive?"
"I have no use for the life of a rat like you." Kaiba folded his arms and spoke icily. "Compared to your worthless life, you have something I want."
Apparently, his new Duel Disk could not only give Solid Vision Duel Monsters actual mass, but also adjust its energy output. He had limited the output to a nonlethal level and spared Fujimoto's life.
"I know you have a base. Tell me where it is," Kaiba said coldly.
Fujimoto had caught his breath by then. Gritting his teeth, he let out a couple of derisive snorts. "Heh, so that's what this is about. You want me to betray the organization? Spit!
"The people in the organization are all my brothers, my family. We're all as close as flesh and blood—"
Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught Kaiba's rather eerie sneer.
For a moment, he seemed to see an illusory giant shadow rise behind Kaiba, taking the form of a soaring white dragon. The terrifying pressure nearly robbed him of his breath.
The image of being blasted unconscious by 13,500 points of damage at the end of the duel flashed before his eyes again, and his entire body still burned with pain.
Fujimoto shrank back, not daring to meet Kaiba's eyes. "...Actually, we're not that close."
Then he thought about it carefully and realized that Onizuka had been his only true best friend in the organization. Since Onizuka was already dead anyway, his relationships with the rest had actually been pretty ordinary.
With that thought, Fujimoto immediately felt much more at ease.
He was the fish on the chopping block. It was not his fault for selling out his teammates; Seto Kaiba was the one cheating like an inhuman monster. He had been forced into this. His teammates would surely understand.
"I can tell you the address," he said.
"No need." Kaiba swept out a hand. "Lead the way."
Fujimoto: "!"
With that posture, was Kaiba planning to make him personally lead him there?
Fujimoto immediately began sweating again. Giving up information was one thing, but personally leading someone to their doorstep was entirely another.
"What?" Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Do you have an objection?"
"N-No."
Fujimoto struggled to his feet.
At that moment, he realized that even his battle-hardened legs were trembling beyond his control.
"I'm coming too!"
Mokuba followed his brother, then suddenly remembered something and turned to Kira.
"Sorry, it looks like it'll take a little longer before I can take you to the company. Could you wait a bit longer, or I can arrange for a driver to take you to the branch office first—"
"It's fine, I'm not in a hurry." Kira waved his hand.
He naturally could not miss such a rare chance to watch the drama unfold from the front row. Especially now that he had realized Fujimoto seemed to have sought out Ryuzaki because of some unknown misunderstanding; Fujimoto's actual target appeared to have been Kira himself.
Speaking of which, Ryuzaki had really run fast. In the blink of an eye while President Kaiba was dueling, he had already vanished without a trace.
Although the organization apparently had not realized who had actually killed their brothers, it was still a potential threat. Now that Kaiba was planning to raid their home, wiping out this group would undoubtedly remove a hidden danger for Kira as well.
So Kira and Mokuba continued chatting and laughing as they followed behind Kaiba to check the meters at the organization's base.
After a journey of more than ten minutes.
It was still that hidden alley, still that Mysterious Bar.
Fujimoto reappeared in the bar with a deathly pale face. He sat at the counter, staring blankly ahead like a corpse.
Middle-part Hair Friend sat down beside him and looked over his complexion. "What's wrong? You look like someone in your family died."
Fujimoto turned expressionlessly to look at the family he had supposedly been as close to as flesh and blood with.
"Not yet, but probably soon."
Middle-part Hair Friend: "?"
"Didn't you go get revenge on Ryuzaki? How'd it go?"
Fujimoto continued to stare blankly as he shook his head.
"I ran into Seto Kaiba."
The brothers nearby were all startled and crowded over.
"Damn, that's awesome. Did you duel him?"
"Is he really as strong as they say?"
Fujimoto shook his head again.
"You'll probably find out soon enough."
He said woodenly.
"He's outside waiting for you to come out."
Everyone: "?"
The next moment, a loud bang rang out as the door was violently kicked open from outside.
Under everyone's shocked gazes, Kaiba strode into the center of the bar, his Duel Disk snapping open with a clatter.
"Come, you rats. Duel!"
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