Yugen silently watched the duel, resting his chin in contemplation.
This is the duel of Seto Kaiba, eight years after DM, representing the pinnacle of duelists in the card realm today.
In the entire GX anime, the President never directly took action, except for the duel with Judai and "Justice Partner Haima Hero." But that seemed more like a card elf modeled after Kaiba himself, and Judai lost, making it hard to tell how serious the opponent was.
Judging by this duel, it's no wonder everyone in the dueling realm says Kaiba is the best duelist today. Even without his unique "ground drawing" technique, the strength of his Blue-Eyes Card Deck is far ahead of the times, unlike any others.
Even the GX protagonist group in the early storyline just stepped out of the "you draw one, I draw one" environment but remained at the stage where "attacking monsters with 2000 power in the first turn" was impressive. In the early stages, even Judai often passed his turn without summoning any mortal bone or cover card. And even in Duel Academy, they are considered first-rate duelists in the broader environment.
In contrast, the President delivers a dimensional strike.
Indeed, having money and technology is good; researching your own cards naturally keeps the deck at the forefront of times. Or rather, if someone like Kaiba, who has almost unlimited resources, were on par with the other duelists after all these years, that would be very unreasonable.
"Won, as expected of my brother... but it's not exactly surprising." Keihei said with a smile, wiping his nose as he approached Kaiba.
Having satisfied his card addiction, the President then turned to look at Yugen.
"Fujiki Yugen... right?"
He squinted his eyes slightly.
"I have something to say, but first let me deal with the rat problem."
Yugen raised an eyebrow.
Something to say to me?
Pssh~ could it be he's looking for a duel?
Considering it's President Kaiba, it's not entirely unlikely. Perhaps Kaiba saw him thrashing his AI at Kaiba Park and got upset, or maybe he's just craving a duel.
Yugen pondered and thought that if it's not a life bet card duel, then why not agree? There's nothing to lose even if he can't win. He might even consider charging a play fee - play a game for a rare card, and if he luckily wins, he might directly achieve rare card freedom...
At that moment, Kaiba's entourage from the helicopter had all gotten out. Someone helped the unconscious Fujimoto, who had been blown away by a breath from the True Ultimate Blue-Eyes Dragon.
Fujimoto struggled to open his eyes, adjusting to the glaring sunlight, then blinked blankly.
"Eh? I'm still alive..."
"I have no use for the life of rats like you." Kaiba said coldly, hugging his arms. "Compared to your worthless life, you have something I want."
Clearly, his new Duel Disc not only grants the Duel Monsters real quality in their holographic imagery but also adjusts the energy output power. He limited the output to non-lethal levels, sparing Fujimoto's life.
"I know you have a base, tell me the location." Kaiba said icily.
By now, Fujimoto had already caught his breath. He gritted his teeth and hummed twice: "Ha, so that's the goal. Want me to betray the organization? Pah!
In the organization, they're my brothers, they're my family, we're all like kin..."
Then he caught sight of Kaiba's somewhat eerie cold smile.
In a daze, he seemed to see a huge phantom behind Kaiba, transforming into the figure of a flying White Dragon, a terrifying pressure making it hard for him to breathe.
Memories of being knocked unconscious by a 13,500 power strike in the duel flashed before his eyes, and his whole body still burned in pain...
Fujimoto shrank back, unable to meet Kaiba's gaze: "...Actually, we're not that close."
He suddenly thought to himself that his truly good buddy in the organization was only Onizuka. Now that Onizuka was gone anyway, his relationship with the rest was rather mediocre.
Thinking of this, Fujimoto found peace of mind.
With Kaiba's overwhelming power, it's not surprising he wants to betray his teammates; the duelist does not play fair, but he's forced. He believes the comrades will understand.
"I can tell you the address." he said.
"No need." Kaiba waved his hand, "Lead the way."
Fujimoto: "!"
This stance, is he really going to take Kaiba himself?
Fujimoto suddenly broke out in a sweat again. Disclosing intelligence was one thing, but personally leading the way was a whole different matter.
"What is it?" Kaiba squinted, "Any objections?"
"No... none."
Fujimoto stood up with difficulty.
At that moment, he felt that his battle-tested legs... couldn't help trembling.
"I'll go too!"
Keihei followed his brother, hesitated for a moment, and turned to Yugen.
"Sorry, it seems it'll take a little longer to take you to the company. Either you wait a while longer, or I can arrange for a driver to take you to the branch..."
"No hurry." Yugen waved his hand.
Such an opportunity, he certainly wouldn't miss watching from the front row. Especially since realizing Fujimoto approached Ryuzaki due to some unknown misunderstanding and that his actual target might be himself...
Speaking of which, Ryuzaki ran really fast, vanished while the President played a duel.
Although this organization seems unaware of who actually killed their brother, they're indeed a potential threat. Just in time for Kaiba's headquarters raid, if this group is wiped out, it would definitely remove a threat.
So, Yugen continued chatting and laughing with Keihei, following Kaiba to inspect the organization's base.
...
...
After about ten minutes of travel.
The same secluded alley, the same mysterious bar.
Once again appearing in the bar, Fujimoto's face was ashen as he sat by the bar, expression blank like a dead man.
His buddy with a middle-part hairstyle sat next to him, observing his complexion: "What's wrong? Look like someone died at home."
Fujimoto turned expressionlessly, looking at his supposed family who were like brothers.
"Not yet, but it should be soon."
Middle part hairstyle: "?"
"Weren't you going to find Ryuzaki for revenge? How did it go?"
Fujimoto kept shaking his head, his expression still blank.
"I bumped into Seto Kaiba."
The brothers beside him were all shocked, gathered around.
"Wow, that's impressive, did you guys duel?"
"Is he really as strong as they say?"
Fujimoto shook his head again.
"You'll probably find out soon."
He said numbly.
"He's waiting outside for you all to come out."
Everyone: "?"
The next moment came a boom, the door was violently kicked open from the outside.
Under everyone's shocked gaze, Kaiba strode into the center of the bar, the Duel Disc snapped open.
"Come on, rats. Duel!"