Yu-Gi-Oh!: This is the real duel!

Page 21

At dusk, at the Tongshiye Wharf.

The golden-red sunset gilded the sea with a magnificent color.

It was already evening, but a large crowd had gathered in front of the dock.

In front of a luxury cruise ship, countless dueling enthusiasts lined up in a long queue, receiving inspection from the staff of the International Illusion Society.

They all had only one destination: a small island hundreds of kilometers away from Domino City—Duel Kingdom.

You Che also stood in the group. His backpack was much larger than the others. Because he was familiar with the original work, he knew very well that during the two-day competition, the organizers would not provide any accommodation or food. The duelists would have to be self-sufficient. So he prepared a lot of things in advance to solve the problem of survival during the competition.

Yugi Muto stood behind Yuzuru, looking worried.

He had no intention of participating in the Duel Kingdom Tournament, but Pegasus kidnapped the soul of his grandfather, Sugoroku Muto, through the dark power of the Millennium Item. In order to save his grandfather, he had no choice but to embark on this journey with his deck.

"Game, don't worry, we'll definitely be able to rescue Grandpa Shuangliu," Yu Che turned around and comforted him.

"Mmm," the game player replied softly, head bowed.

Just then, something seemed to happen at the front of the group.

Several burly men in suits lifted up a troublemaking duelist and dragged him off the dock.

"Let me go! Let me go!! I'm one of the top eight in the national competition! Why am I not qualified to board the ship!" the duelist shouted.

The burly man in the suit snapped angrily, "Stop talking nonsense! Don't we know the top eight? You liar!"

Yuzuru and Yugi looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the troublemaker was none other than Katsuya Jonouchi!

Jonouchi wasn't lying; he was indeed among the top eight in this year's tournament, but not at the national level, only the regional level...

"Jonnori!" Yugi rushed forward. "What are you doing here?"

"Game..." Jonouchi remained silent.

"Stop arguing!" the burly man in the suit shouted. "No Star Chips, no boarding! If you don't get out of here, I'm going to get rough!"

"Wait a minute!" the game asked the man in the suit. "As long as you have a star chip, you can participate, right? Then I'll give one of my chips to Jonouchi so he can board the ship, right?"

"What...?" The man in the suit was stunned.

You Che also came out and said, "These are the rules set by Pegasus. Now that there are star chips in the city, you have no reason to stop him."

The man in the suit frowned; this was clearly the first time he had encountered such a situation.

He had no choice but to take out his phone and ask his superiors.

Before long, he angrily released the city gates and tacitly approved his boarding of the ship.

Chapter 28 The Duel Kingdom, Different from Memories

"Waaaaah————————"

With a melodious whistle, the massive cruise ship embarked on its journey to the Duel Kingdom under the golden sunset.

Leaning against the deck railing, Jonouchi couldn't help but apologize to Yugi: "I'm sorry, Yugi... if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have lost a star compared to others."

Yugi shook his head and said sincerely, "No, having Jonouchi by my side is obviously more important than that one star. Besides, didn't you come to participate in the competition because of your sister's eye condition? Since we both have things to carry, let's work hard together!"

Standing to the side, You Che listened silently to their conversation.

Looking towards the receding Tongshiye Wharf, Youche took a deep breath. As he felt the sea breeze on his face, he suddenly realized something.

and many more!

In the original story, Yugi Muto defeated Seto Kaiba with Exodia, which led the Insect Moth to resort to underhanded tactics and throw the five cards into the sea.

But now, because Yugi Muto has never made a move, no one knows that he has collected all those cards...

If that's the case, wouldn't a game with godlike draws win every duel by collecting five Exodia cards?

Thinking of this, You Che couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

it's over...

The desire to defeat the king was ultimately just a dream.

With Exodia sealed away, no matter how advanced his understanding is, he can't defeat Yugi...

By then, it was completely dark.

To ensure they had enough energy for the next day, the three of them, who were preparing to rest, went to the accommodation provided by the event organizers—a huge dormitory-style room.

Having been mentally prepared, You Che remained unmoved.

The dormitory-style sleeping quarters were no problem for him, because he had a tent in his backpack.

Jonouchi, who came to the competition wearing only his clothes, couldn't help but protest, "What?! Is this the kind of room you're providing for the contestants?! How can dozens of people sleep in one dormitory room?!"

"Hehehe, in my opinion, this is actually a good place~"

A slightly lewd and shrill voice came from behind the three of them. Yu Che turned around and saw that it was the clown duo from the DM series - Insect Haga and Dinosaur Ryuzaki.

"What are you saying?" Jonouchi didn't understand the meaning behind the insect moth's words.

The insect moth pointed to the other duelists who had already started exchanging cards and sparring with each other, and smiled, "In this place, duelists can make their final preparations before the competition. Whether it's testing the strength of other players or exchanging cards they want, this is undoubtedly a good place!"

The city was suddenly enlightened.

“However, as the national champion, there’s no need for me to stay here. Lord Pegasus has already prepared rooms for us top duelists.” Insect Moth suddenly shifted its gaze to Yuzuru. “You’re the rookie duelist who defeated Seto Kaiba—Yuzuru, right? Your Armed Dragon is really a headache. I need to think of a good strategy while we still have time tonight.”

The insect-like moth smiled and turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Ryuzaki, the dinosaur who was traveling with him, glared at Yuzake and left, seemingly still holding a grudge about losing to Yuzake a while ago.

"Yosh!" Looking back at the dormitory-style room, Jonouchi's mood was completely different from before. "That guy with the middle parting seems to have a point! I hope I can find some useful cards tonight!"

"Cough cough!"

Just as the man inside the castle was about to plunge into the crowd to begin the transaction, a man in a suit dressed as a butler walked to the middle of the large communal room and announced to all the duelists in the room:

"You are all distinguished guests personally invited to the Duel Kingdom Island by Lord Pegasus, so we should treat you with even more generous hospitality."

"However, due to the limited number of rooms, we can only decide on the allocation of single rooms in a way that is as fair as possible."

As he spoke, he clapped his hands lightly, and the wall of the dormitory suddenly opened, revealing rows of simple computers that looked like ATMs:

"Currently, there are only twenty rooms left."

"Duelists may wager one star to battle against the Duel AI using their own deck."

"The duelist who wins first will have priority in choosing a room to stay in."

"As an additional note, each duelist only has one chance to try. Regardless of the outcome, the AI will score the duel and provide a reward card to players who score above A."

Upon hearing that there was a chance to win cards by playing against the computer, almost all the duelists became excited.

"Really?! Then I'm going to start!"

"Wait a minute! It's a bet of a star! What if we lose..."

"What's there to be afraid of? There's still one star left, isn't there?"

"Hey! What kind of reward card is it? It's not some really low-quality minions, is it?"

The butler adjusted his sunglasses and smiled mysteriously, "No, no, no, these cards as rewards are a new series of monsters recently designed by Lord Pegasus! They not only possess powerful combat abilities, but also have a unique evolution mechanism!"

evolution?!

This time, even You Che was stunned.

Does this mean that Pegasus has already created the "Lv" series of cards?

It seems that the appearance of armed dragons has accelerated the development of duels in this world.

With just a few simple words, the butler aroused the strong interest of a group of dueling enthusiasts.

For these card players, whether they sleep in a single room or a dormitory-style room doesn't make much difference, but if they can get the latest series of Evolution Monster cards before the start of the competition, they can gain a huge advantage in the subsequent battles!

It's important to know that almost everyone here has seen the video of Yuzuru and Seto Kaiba's duel. The Armed Dragon, which was comparable to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, left a deep impression on every duelist.

A lively shout echoed through the dormitory room. The mere dozen or so duel computers were far from enough to go around, and many people had already formed a queue.

"Damn it!" Jonouchi gritted his teeth with envy. "If there wasn't only one star, I'd want to try it too!"

Yugi Muto laughed and said, "It's alright, Jonouchi. Since the rewards are so generous, it won't be easy to get an A-rank rating. Let's use this time to exchange for some useful cards."

Yu Che glanced at the group of duelists huddled in front of their computers, then smiled and said, "Yugi, Jonouchi, I'll go try out that dueling AI first. I'll come find you guys once I get the room key, and then we can all rest together in the room."

Upon hearing this, Jonouchi and Yugi responded with great gratitude:

"Really? That's great!"

"Then I'll leave it to you, Youche-kun! I hope you can get the reward card!"

You Che nodded and walked into the crowd.

After about seven or eight minutes, it was time for Youche to use the machine. He placed his deck and a star chip into the corresponding area, and the screen refreshed with a new image.

The system identified Youche's identity through the camera.

A few seconds later, a simple battle interface resembling YGO popped up, and the human-machine battle officially began.

You Che rubbed his palms expectantly, eager to know what kind of "Lv" series card he would receive.

But when the duel began and the AI played its first card, he immediately realized something was wrong.

"That's... Dark Magician?! This AI is using a deck from the game?!"

Youche was stunned.

Looking at the cute cartoon avatar of the dueling AI, he seemed to realize something.

Pegasus...

They actually want to use AI to compare their strength with Yugi Muto's!

The plot seems to be deviating from the original work...

What exactly was Pegasus planning?

Youche didn't have time to think it through, because it was already his turn.