Saito Ryuya was the leader of the local gang, the Shadow Dragon Group.
The Shadow Dragon Group made their living off the railways, controlling town rail lines for smuggling operations, and were one of three major underworld groups along the tracks.
At this moment, Saito Ryuya was drinking and boasting with his subordinates.
"…And then? Then I just smashed my fist into that cop's face. One of his front teeth flew out. He looked at me in disbelief."
Saito Ryuya, in the heat of his excitement, was practically spitting as he spoke, full of pride.
"I told him, 'If you know what's good for you, stay the hell away from me in the future.' Hah, you guys should've seen the look on his face!"
His underlings showered him with praise.
After a round of food and drinks, one of the younger members said, "Our Shadow Dragon Group is expanding fast, boss. We're taking over more and more of the rail territory. At this rate, swallowing up the Polar Night and Ghost Wolf gangs is only a matter of time. Shadow Dragon's domination of the rail lines is just around the corner. Boss Ryuya, you're unstoppable!"
Ryuya laughed loudly at this.
The railways had always been jointly controlled by three gangs, each managing their own section. Of them, Polar Night was the strongest, infamous for their brutality, and the other two always had to give way.
But those days were over.
"It's all thanks to this gentleman here."
Ryuya smiled and toasted a man sitting at the table.
The man had blond, afro-styled hair—a duelist's look if ever there was one. He simply smiled, nodded at Ryuya, but said nothing.
He wore a Duel Disk on his arm.
Not long ago, this man had appeared in their town and demonstrated an unbelievable power before the Shadow Dragon Group. For the first time, these small-town thugs realized that Duel Monsters could possess such supernatural power.
Thanks to this man's abilities, the Shadow Dragon Group had risen rapidly, now with the momentum to swallow the other two gangs.
"But what I still don't understand," Ryuya said, "is why sir is so interested in that dead man in the villa?"
The blond man only smiled.
"Sometimes, the less you know, the better," he replied quietly.
But just as he finished speaking, there was a dull thud, as if something heavy had hit the floor. All the lights suddenly went out, plunging the room into darkness.
The gangsters were startled.
"What the hell? Power outage?"
But then a voice rang out behind them, sudden and unexpected.
"I'd like to know, too—why is the top card professor under Maximillion J. Pegasus so interested in someone who's been dead for three months?"
The unexpected voice shocked everyone in the room.
"Who's there?!"
Their eyes adjusted, and they turned to see someone who had appeared in the room without a sound—Kira.
He stood at the far end of the table, calmly facing the blond man.
"I'm not wrong, am I? Card Professor, Ted Banias?"
Ryuya slammed the table, about to get up. "Who do you think you are? Do you know where you are?"
But before he could move, the man called Ted simply lifted his hand and waved gently.
"You're no match for him."
Ryuya paused, and then noticed that Kira, too, was wearing a Duel Disk. Suddenly, he seemed to understand.
This guy and the blond man were the same kind of people.
These duelists had powers beyond the ordinary. They weren't from the same world as the rest of them.
"Duel King, Fujiki Kira, I presume?"
Ted sneered.
"Interesting. I had a chance to challenge the Duel King once, but it slipped away. Let me make up for that regret this time, and see if you're all you're cracked up to be."
This card professor was a character from the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga side stories, originally sent by Pegasus to stop Yugi. But that duel was intercepted by Pegasus's brother, leaving Ted with the only missed chance at a Duel King out of all the professors—a sore spot to this day.
"Why aren't you still working for Pegasus, instead of meddling here?" Kira frowned. "Or is Pegasus after KaibaCorp again?"
"Hmph, beat me and you'll find out."
Ted smirked and activated his Duel Disk.
"All right, let's go."
Kira did the same, used to solving everything by card battle.
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Ted, LP 4000]
"I'll go first. Draw!"
Kira glanced at his card and played it immediately.
"I summon 'Amazoness Swords Woman.'"
[Amazoness Swords Woman, ATK 1500]
"Amazoness?"
Ted raised an eyebrow.
"That's not the deck you used in Duel City… Hmph, don't think you need to take me seriously?"
"Who knows? Maybe I just feel like using this deck today."
Kira smiled, then set four cards to the back row in one go.
"One monster out front, four set cards. End of turn."
Any duelist who'd ever faced Kira's Amazoness deck would probably be sweating by now.
But Professor Ted Banias clearly lacked that experience.
"My turn, draw!"
Ted said.
"I normal summon 'Botanical Lion' from my hand!"
A monster with a lion's face appeared on Ted's field. Its head was surrounded by colorful petals, and its legs were plant roots.
[Botanical Lion, ATK 1600]
"Botanical Lion's effect: it gains 300 ATK for every face-up Plant monster I control. It's a Plant itself, so it gains 300."
[Botanical Lion, ATK 1600 → ATK 1900]
"Botanical Lion attacks Amazoness Swords Woman!"
"I activate my set card—Trap Card, 'Zero Gardna!'"
Kira flipped a card.
"Make one of your monsters' ATK become 0 until the end of the turn. This turn, that monster can't be destroyed by battle."
Ted was surprised.
"You'd reduce your own monster's ATK to protect it?"
So you're using your own LP to shield a very average 4-star, 1500 ATK Warrior? Is it worth it?
But the next moment, he understood why.
"Using Zero Gardna, Amazoness Swords Woman's ATK becomes 0."
[Amazoness Swords Woman, ATK 1500 → ATK 0]
Kira: "Then, Amazoness Swords Woman's effect: Any battle damage I would take from battles involving this card, my opponent takes instead."
Ted: "!!!"