When Kira was young, he'd already thought Grandpa Solomon Muto was quite something.
From his first appearance, the old man seemed harmless, barely capable—serving mainly as the "Millennium Hostage" to drive the plot forward.
From episode one, he got pummeled into the hospital by Kaiba. He'd barely warmed the couch at home before Pegasus snatched his soul. You could say he was an NPC spanning the entire series. If DM stretched to over 200 episodes, at least a third of that was thanks to Grandpa—without exaggeration.
But think a little deeper and you realize Grandpa wasn't simple at all.
Never mind that he shared his grandson's Duel King-tier hairstyle. For starters, he casually gifted his grandson a present that turned out to be a 3,000-year-old world-saving super artifact—with a boss-tier king sealed inside.
Then, out of the four Blue-Eyes White Dragons in the entire world, this small-time card shop owner happened to have one—enough to make Seto Kaiba offer a whole crate of cards in trade.
And when Yugi took Grandpa's deck to fight Kaiba, we found out Grandpa's deck also hid the legendary godlike card, Exodia the Forbidden One—
Confirmed further in the Egypt arc: that wasn't a coincidence. Grandpa was one of the reincarnated priests from 3,000 years ago, and back then Exodia's spirit was his. The old man was once a big name who could go toe-to-toe with Zorc the Dark Master.
Of course, as the saying goes, peace is bliss. Grandpa Solomon no longer meddled in the world's affairs. He just ran his card shop, made a little money, and enjoyed retirement.
"Haha, long time no see, Joey," Grandpa said warmly, serving tea. "How's Mai?"
"Ahaha, same as always—doing fine."
"Same as always won't do," Grandpa said earnestly. "When are you two getting married?"
Joey almost choked on his tea, coughing for a while without answering.
"So, this young man is the current Duel King," Solomon beamed, nodding repeatedly. "Truly a fine-looking lad."
"You mean he looks presentable," Joey muttered behind him.
Solomon blinked. "What was that?"
"Ahaha, nothing—I said the tea's great."
Joey laughed dryly twice, took a big gulp, then changed the subject. "By the way, that guy Yugi—any news lately?"
"No," Solomon smiled. "Well, he's training, in a manner of speaking."
"Eh? Mr. Yugi?" Jaden, curious about his idol, perked up. "Even Mr. Yugi needs training?"
"Hahaha, of course. People can always improve—even Yugi."
Solomon stroked his beard, smiling. "Yugi's life still has a long road ahead. He's traveling the world now, hoping to go even further."
"Hah, that guy never stops," Joey sighed.
"Indeed," Solomon looked out the window, momentarily distant, murmuring to himself, "After all, that child once said there's a promise he must keep no matter what. Perhaps he still hasn't walked out from under it…"
Joey fell silent.
Jaden, a first-time visitor and a fan of Yugi's, didn't know much about their past, so he didn't fully understand. But as Yugi's close friend, Joey immediately did.
The promise Grandpa referred to was the undefeated legend that Yugi and Atem had built together.
When they said goodbye in the Ceremonial Duel, Yugi proved he could stand on his own. From then on, even if he was alone, he would guard that legend.
"That guy's got it rough," Joey muttered, draining his tea.
"Wooow! Amazing—everything's a rare card!" Jaden leaned over the counter, awestruck.
"Hahaha, of course. I might not have much else, but I've got good cards aplenty—that much I can guarantee," Grandpa puffed out his chest, like a kid proud of his toy collection.
"Since you're Joey's friends, for Joey's sake…"
Joey immediately straightened, smug.
Grandpa finished, "Flat price—with a 20% markup."
Joey nearly fell off his chair. "Eh? Why? My face costs extra?"
"Ahaha, just kidding," Grandpa grinned. "Wait here, I've got more treasured cards in the back. Pick whatever you like…"
Hearing "rare cards," Kira perked up too and joined Jaden to browse.
By rights, a small neighborhood shop's resources couldn't compare to giants like Industrial Illusions or KaibaCorp—but then he remembered, Grandpa was a hidden master.
After all, from this unassuming shop had come the Blue-Eyes and Exodia. Not to mention Yugi's Black Magician family, Chaos Soldier line, Gaia, Buster Blader, etc.—countless rares and a bunch of limited cards, all sourced from Grandpa's.
With a chance of real out-of-print gems.
But after a circuit, Kira found that while there were some nice cards, few made his eyes light up. He'd been visiting big-company warehouses lately—his standards had risen.
He did see plenty of the limited rarities Yugi used. Lots of Black Magician support, like Thousand Knives and Dark Magic Attack.
However, there was no Dark Magician himself. So while the support cards were rare, without the core they were just for collecting.
What did catch Kira's eye was a plant-themed setup.
Well, "setup" was generous—more like a handful of quality plant-type singles.
For example, Lonefire Blossom: once per turn, tribute a face-up Plant you control to special summon any Plant from your deck.
No need to explain—the power's obvious. If this effect belonged to a popular type like Dragons, the banlist would lock it away for life.
He also found a classic that surprised him, a Field Spell that used to enable all kinds of antics:
Field Spell—Black Garden.
...
2 Bonus chapters at 500 PS