Noah? Nai Ya!

Gozaburo Kaiba, who was he?

The founder of Kaiba Corporation, a self-made entrepreneur and politician.

It's important to know that Kaiba Corporation wasn't the "card game company" that card players would later recognize; it was a legitimate arms company.

Although the original story didn't delve much into Kaiba Corporation during its arms dealing period, the early story was complete enough, and the anime's original content and supplementary details showed just how absurdly large it was.

Casually using small nations as weapons testing grounds and arbitrarily creating satellite weapons—its financial scale and ability to mobilize connections were simply outlandish.

And then, this man, destined to be associated with the word "treacherous," died, and not peacefully.

First, he was schemed against and had his company seized by his adopted son, Seto Kaiba—the notorious "Dragon Cancer" patient, who at the time hadn't yet become the second male lead and was still an antagonist. Then, Gozaburo himself was forced to his death.

Yu Ming couldn't recall how he died; he even forgot if the original story ever mentioned it.

But what was certain was that this guy was clearly no good.

"Hiss."

Remembering a few scattered descriptions of that guy from the anime, Yu Ming suddenly felt a bit of a toothache.

"An arms dealer who once sold weapons, caused countless tragedies, and probably had a few lives on his hands, suddenly transformed into a cornerstone against the great demon king. That's just too abstract."

One could say that compared to this heavyweight, someone like Keith, who merely cheated and fought, seemed as docile as a lamb.

Damn it, how could they possibly build a resistance and defeat the great demon king with such scum?

"There's no funnier joke than that, is there?"

"Indeed."

Looking at Keith's brazen face, Yu Ming suddenly found him much more agreeable.

"So, besides Gozaburo, is there anyone else here?"

"Like who?"

"Like your American president with his wild ideas?"

"..."

"Just kidding."

Seeing Keith's clearly stunned, almost thoughtful expression, Yu Ming shook his head.

"Anyway, whoever it is, Kaiba Corporation can't be the only dominant force here, can it? That guy hasn't been dead for long."

Yu Ming remembered that in the early stages, at least Gozaburo was still alive. The power struggle and forced abdication happened early in the original story.

And from Kaiba's takeover to the Duelist Kingdom period when Keith was confirmed dead, and then to now, saying it's been a year would be an exaggeration.

"What if I told you that Kaiba Corporation here wasn't actually founded by Gozaburo either?"

"Hmm?"

Yu Ming looked at Keith, who was simply observing the confined view inside the elevator, as if the elevator lights and the Kaiba Corporation logo were incredibly beautiful.

Then, in a slightly eerie silence, the descending elevator suddenly stopped after a jolt.

After a spray of disinfectant mist, the doors slowly opened, revealing another sight hidden within mountains of corpses and seas of blood:

Steel.

Just standing inside the elevator, a glance revealed the peculiar coldness of a steel factory.

Seemingly endless corridors, strategically placed cameras, mounted machine guns, cannons, and roadblocks all demonstrated the strictness of the defenses here.

And beyond those mounted defensive devices, came the sound of heavy footsteps.

Clang

Clang

Clang

A green glow flashed, and a robot dressed like a commander appeared.

Sergeant Machine

Yu Ming recognized the robot's origins, but Keith's greeting was a bit different:

"Yo, Ota, I'm back."

The champion reached out to greet it, seemingly trying to convey friendliness.

Unfortunately, the robot didn't seem to appreciate it.

"I heard, Keith. You seem to have come back empty-handed."

"Well, I'm new here and unfamiliar with the place. You can't expect me to find what the boss wants based on a few words from someone else, can you?"

Keith said helplessly.

But the next moment, Yu Ming noticed him pat his shoulder.

"However, I picked someone up outside. I don't know what's been happening lately, but it feels like a lot of people have just mysteriously died..."

"That's enough. There's no need to say anything else. That's all your kind is worth."

While the mechanical cause clearly distorted the voice, Yu Ming definitely caught a hint of mockery in it.

The robot drew a short saber from its waist and gestured lightly. The defensive installations, as if possessing their own will, automatically parted to create a path.

"Lord Noah is looking for you. You can tell him all your excuses yourself."

Watching the mechanical figure disappear into the shadows, Yu Ming simply looked at the champion beside him.

"Your popularity isn't as good as I thought."

"Well, what can I say? They're corporate executives, human elites, who use robot proxies when they go out, while I'm just a common thug."

"But theoretically, aren't you quite strong here?"

In other settings, such a disparity in status might be quite intimidating.

But this was a world obsessed with card games, so Yu Ming really couldn't muster up much respect.

"Anyway, care for an introduction?"

While it wasn't strictly necessary to know, he at least wanted to know who the person was.

And Keith didn't refuse this.

"His full name is Soichiro Ota, the factory manager of Kaiba Corporation's weapon factory."

"Oh…"

"What, remember him? He was quite famous in the news."

"No, never heard of him."

Yu Ming shook his head.

Neither the Ota surname nor the full name rang any bells for him.

"He's also one of Kaiba Corporation's five major shareholders with real power, and is called one of the Big Five with the others."

"Now I understand."

For card game enthusiasts, the term "Big Five" might not be particularly familiar, but mentioning one card should jog their memory—F·G·D.

The famous Five-Headed Dragon was their card, with each head representing a shareholder with real power.

However, just like their name—Big Five, which could also sound like "big failures"—from a certain perspective, the Five-Headed Dragon card might be far more useful than they themselves were.

"He's actually not someone worth paying attention to."

"I can tell…"

Although his status was not low, the anime hinted multiple times that Seto Kaiba only managed to take over the company and become a true 'high school president' with their help.

But that was about it.

While the anime's portrayal clearly had a mocking tone, it was essentially five cunning old shareholders being liquidated by a young and promising president.

The anime said they lost their physical bodies and were lost in the virtual world, but thinking about it carefully, weren't they just directly disposed of?

"But the person you're about to face next is not simple."

Coming back to his senses, he heard Keith remind him again, referring to the title Mr. Soichiro Ota had used earlier.

"That 'Lord Noah'?"

Yu Ming raised an eyebrow slightly.

In the rigidly hierarchical Japanese corporate structure, anyone addressed that way would undoubtedly bear the Kaiba surname.

"He's the true founder of Kaiba Corporation here."

Noah Kaiba?

No, Yu Ming was familiar with another translation.

"Noah! Noah!"

Crunch

Along with the sound of the mechanical sliding door opening, Yu Ming heard a somewhat hoarse voice.

And when he followed Keith into the room at the end of the corridor, he heard a somewhat hoarse cry.

"Someone! Someone!"

It was a crow.

The black bird circled the room, finally landing in a boy's hand as if guiding him.

"Noah! Noah!"

The black contrasted with bright light green and pure white, and the steel wristband he wore hinted at something extraordinary.

"Keith, you're back. I've read the report you sent."

After casually stroking the crow's feathers, the boy's gaze swept over.

"I apologize for disappointing you. I found nothing in the Crimson Ruins."

"It's alright, Keith. It was just a baseless legend anyway. Not finding anything isn't a big deal."

Behind the young voice was an elegance and maturity cultivated since childhood.

"Noah Kaiba…"

So you guys really are lining up for the Resurrection Tournament here, huh?