Following President to Investigate

Kira watched the duel silently, chin in hand, thinking off to the side.

This was Seto Kaiba's duel, eight years after DM, basically representing the peak level among known Duelists in the current card game world.

In the GX anime, the President never directly dueled throughout. The only close instance was Judai's duel against "Kaibaman, the Partner of Justice." However, that looked more like a Duel Monster Spirit Kaiba had modeled after himself, and since Judai lost that match, it was hard to say how serious his opponent was.

Taking this duel as a direct reference, it's no wonder everyone in the Dueling world now says Kaiba is the top Duelist of the era. Even putting aside his unique "draw from the floor" technique, the strength of his current Blue-Eyes deck is truly so far ahead of its time it's like it belongs in a different genre than others.

Even the GX main cast members were just emerging from a "you play one, I play one" environment in the early part of the story, still at the stage of being amazed that someone could summon a 2000 ATK monster on the first turn. In the early episodes, even Judai's duels often started with just summoning a Vanilla Monster and setting no cards before ending his turn. And the Duelists at Duel Academy were already considered top-tier within the overall environment.

By comparison, the President was truly on a completely different level.

It really is great to have money and technology. Developing his own research and printing his own cards, his deck was naturally at the forefront of the era. Or perhaps it should be said, if an Overpowered Player like Kaiba, with almost infinite resources, still had a deck on the same level as everyone else in the general environment after so many years, that would be completely unreasonable.

"He won. As expected of Brother, though it's not surprising." Mokuba smiled, rubbed his nose, and went up to Kaiba.

The President, having satisfied his Dueling itch, finally turned to look at Kira.

"Fujiki Kira... right?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I have something to say, but first I need to deal with this rat problem."

Kira raised an eyebrow.

Something to say to me?

Hmm... could he be challenging me to a duel?

Considering it was President Kaiba, it was quite possible. Maybe he was annoyed after seeing Kira trash his AI in the Kaiba Land facility, or perhaps he simply had the Dueling itch.

Kira thought about it. If that were the case, it wasn't a life-or-death duel, so why not accept? There was nothing to lose even if he couldn't win. He could even consider charging a fee for playing – one rare card per duel. If he somehow managed to win a match, he might achieve rare card freedom directly...

At this moment, the personnel accompanying Kaiba on the helicopter also disembarked. Someone helped stand up Fujimoto, who had been blasted unconscious by Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's single breath attack.

Fujimoto struggled to open his eyes, adapting to the harsh sunlight, then blinked blankly.

"Huh? I'm still alive..."

"Your life, you rat, is useless to me," Kaiba said coldly, arms crossed. "Unlike your worthless life, you still have something I want."

Clearly, his new Duel Disk could not only give Duel Monster holograms physical substance but also adjust energy output power. He had limited the output to non-lethal levels, holding back and sparing Fujimoto's life.

"I know you have a base. Tell me the location," Kaiba said icily.

Fujimoto had recovered by now. He gritted his teeth and let out a couple of snorts. "Heh, so that's what you're after. You want me to betray the organization? Pfft!

Everyone in the organization is my brother, my family. We're like brothers..."

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Kaiba's cold smile, which seemed somewhat sinister to him.

In a daze, he seemed to see a colossal phantom shadow appear behind Kaiba, transforming into the image of a soaring white dragon. A terrifying pressure made him almost unable to breathe.

Before his eyes, the scene of being blasted unconscious by 13,500 damage at the end of the duel just now seemed to reappear. His whole body was still burning with pain...

Fujimoto shrank back, not daring to meet his gaze. "...Actually, we're not that close."

He suddenly thought about it more carefully and realized that his truly best friend in the organization was only Onizuka. Now that Onizuka was gone anyway, his relationship with the rest was actually just so-so.

Thinking of this, Fujimoto suddenly felt a bit more at ease and justified.

He was the fish on the cutting board, and Kaiba was the cleaver. It wasn't his fault for selling out his comrades; it was just that Seto Kaiba was such an Overpowered Player, he was forced into it. He was sure his comrades would understand.

"I can tell you the address," he said.

"No need," Kaiba waved his hand dismissively. "Lead the way."

Fujimoto: "!"

This look... does he want me to take him there myself?

Fujimoto immediately started sweating again. Revealing information was one thing, but personally leading him there was another matter entirely.

"What?" Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Any objections?"

"N-none."

Fujimoto struggled to stand up.

At this moment, he felt his battle-hardened legs... were uncontrollably trembling.

"I'm going too!"

Mokuba followed his brother, then let out an "oh," remembering something, and turned towards Kira.

"Sorry, it looks like we'll be delayed a bit longer before I can take you to the company. Do you want to wait a little 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 dismissively.

It was a rare opportunity, so naturally, he wouldn't miss the chance to be a spectator with a front-row seat. Especially since he had just realized that Fujimoto seemingly sought out Ryuzaki due to some unknown misunderstanding, and his actual target seemed to be Kira himself...

Speaking of which, that guy Ryuzaki sure ran fast. In the blink of an eye while the President was Dueling, he had vanished.

Although the organization didn't seem to realize who their comrades actually died at the hands of, they were still a potential threat. Now, Kaiba just happened to be planning to raid their base. If he could wipe out this group, it would undoubtedly remove a hidden danger for Kira as well.

So, Kira and Mokuba continued chatting cheerfully as they followed behind Kaiba to investigate the organization's base.

After a fifteen-minute journey.

Still that hidden alley, still that Mysterious Bar.

Appearing in the bar once more, Fujimoto's face was pale. He sat down at the bar, his expression blank, like a dead man's.

Middle-part Hair Friend sat down next to him, studying his face. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You look like someone in your family died."

Fujimoto turned his head expressionlessly, looking at the man he considered his brother.

"Not yet, but it should be soon."

Middle-part Hair Friend gave him a questioning look.

"Didn't you go find Ryuzaki for revenge? How did it go?"

Fujimoto shook his head, still expressionless.

"I ran into Seto Kaiba."

His friends nearby were all shocked, and they all crowded closer.

"Wow, awesome!" someone said. "Did you guys duel?"

"Is he really as strong as they say?"

Fujimoto shook his head again.

"You guys will find out very soon too."

He said blankly.

"He's waiting right outside for you."

The others exchanged confused looks.

The next moment, they heard a bang, and the door was violently kicked open from outside.

Kaiba, under their shocked gazes, strode purposefully to the center of the bar, his duel disk unfolding with a clatter.

"Come on, rats. Duel!"