Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

"Eh~ I'm not the one to fight, what a pity."

Thinking that he would be able to start his first duel in the Tenkaichi 2nd Martial Arts Tournament, Judai sighed with a little regret as he looked at France and John who were already ready.

"Well, I'm really sorry." Hearing Judai's words, John turned his head and said apologetically, apologizing for disturbing Judai's enjoyment of the duel.

"Ah, it's nothing. Although I couldn't duel in person, isn't it exciting to see a duel with the 'God Card'?" Judai waved his hand and looked at France across from him expectantly. "A duel full of freshness is also delicious. And after your duel, I can continue to duel with the winner among you, so there's nothing to be sorry about."

"Well, it's settled then. I'm also looking forward to seeing what kind of duel will happen between my peers who also have special abilities." John nodded with a smile, and made an agreement with Judai to duel each other once after the duel with France.

As he turned his head to look at France, John said to Judai, "But if you want to say it's a duel full of freshness, then I think my family and I won't disappoint you."

"Treat the cards as family members?" Judai noticed the details and asked curiously.

Hearing this, John felt a little shy: "Ah, does it sound childish?"

"No, it's more like I envy the bond between you and the cards, John!"

"Ahahaha, I'm happy to hear you think so, um." John paused, feeling a little embarrassed, because he suddenly realized that although he had a very happy chat with this peer who he had just met but got along very well with, it seemed that he was the only one who introduced himself and did not ask the other person's name.

It seemed that I arrived a little late, just when Judai had introduced himself but had not yet accepted the duel. Although I heard a part of it saying something like "You" on the way here, I didn't hear anything else.

And Judai also realized this, and immediately patted his chest and introduced himself: "Yujo Judai, my name is Yujo Judai, and my current dream is to become friends with all the duelists in the school."

"It's a great dream, Judai-kun. It's very inspiring to be able to express your dream so firmly. I'm sure you're a very popular person in school." John looked at the cards he had drawn and said, "Anyway, please watch carefully, Judai-kun. This is a duel between me and my family!"

"I get the first move, draw a card!"

During the conversation between Judai and John, France did not try to take the initiative, obviously intending to give up the initiative. Coincidentally, John also wanted to take the initiative, and after focusing his attention on the duel, he drew a card from the deck.

After looking at the card he had drawn, John activated it directly: "Magic Card [Tie of the Jewel]. You can only activate one card with this name per turn."

In the activated magic card picture, the image of the blue animal that had appeared in front of John before in the form of a card elf appeared, being held in the arms of a person. The person's clothes seemed to be very similar to John's, and it could even be said that it was drawn with John as a reference.

"This card, [Bond of the Jewel], was drawn by Mr. Muto Yugi. After all, not many people can see the existence of card spirits. Even in the International Illusion Society, there are not many people who are capable of drawing this kind of card illustration of the interaction between the duelist and the card spirit."

John proudly showed off the story behind the card he activated, which made France unhappy and said, "What nonsense have you been saying from beginning to end? The elves and Mr. Muto Yugi drew the card for you. Who do you think you are?"

"I'm not trying to show off. I'm talking about the reality. As expected, it's still so hard for people to understand each other. Even the mere fact of being able to see the existence of elves can create an insurmountable gap." John said regretfully, shrugged, and continued, "Anyway, under the effect of [Gem Bond], I can add a [Gem Beast] monster from my deck to my hand, and use a [Gem Beast] monster with a different name from that monster from my deck as a Continuous Magic Card and place it face-up in my Magic Trap Zone."

"I added [Gem Beast - Ruby Beast] from the deck to my hand, and placed [Gem Beast - Jade Pegasus] in the Magic Trap area!"

"Come to me, Ruby, and show up, Sapphire!"

From John's deck, a small beast called "Ruby" - [Gemmon-Rubymon] jumped out, holding the card it was living on, and jumped onto John's shoulder. After rubbing John's cheek affectionately, it put the card into John's hand.

At the same time, a cyan light flew out from John's deck and landed on the backfield, transforming into a round sapphire gem, in which one could vaguely see a snow-white one-horned winged Pegasus with its yellow wings folded and eyes closed resting.

"Ruby means 'ruby'. And 'Sapphire' means 'jade'?" Having learned two new English words, Judai looked at the sapphire on John's backfield curiously. "It's the same as Ed's [V·hero], a monster that can appear face-up on the backfield? But one is a continuous magic card and the other is a continuous trap card."

When France heard the name of [Jade Beast], his face changed. He looked at John's face and couldn't say anything for a long time.

John didn't wait for the other party to respond, and continued, "The next one is this equipment magic card, [Golden Jade Strip]. The name of this card is also used as a [Gem] card according to the rules."

"The effect is, select two more [Gem Beast] from my deck and use them as Continuous Magic Cards and place them face-up in my Magic and Trap Zone, then select a [Gem Beast] monster from my hand or graveyard with a different name than the placed card and Special Summon it, and equip this card."

"Emerald! Amber! Answer my call, and then it will be you, Ruby!"

Orange agate, emerald green, two more gems appeared on John's backcourt, and the mammoth and tortoise were vaguely visible. At the same time, Judai also saw that the [Gemmon-Rubymon] on John's shoulder also jumped out to the field after John pointed his finger at the field. Its body became clearly visible due to the blessing of the virtual projection system, and its own card appeared under it as a foothold because it was in defense position.

[Gemmon-Rubymon] [3☆/Light]

【Angel Family/Effect】

[300/300]

"Wow, they're both angels, but [Hojomon-Rubymon] is level 3☆. Even its defense is 100 points higher than yours, Aibo." Upon seeing [Hojomon-Rubymon] appear, Judai said to [Winged Kuritama] who appeared next to him, "John and his friends, no, his family are so amazing."

"Curry, Curry!"

Judai remembers that John treats the cards as family, and [Winged Kurikoku] is very proud of him, but what do you mean by comparing me to the other side? Are you going to change your mind! Although I have a good impression of [Holy Jade Beast-Ruby Beast] when I first met him, you dared to seduce my master, I must break up with you!

The small wings behind [Winged Kurikokumo] kept flapping to make it fly in the air, and her short arms were waving around randomly, but Judai still understood what she meant, "The key to determining the outcome of the duel is not the monster's attack power, but more importantly the effect of the card." Something like that.

But just as [Winged Kurikoku] finished speaking, John waved his hand and said, "Right at this moment! When Ruby successfully Special Summoned, there is an effect that can be activated, which is to Special Summon as many [Gemmon] monsters as possible in my magic trap area!" With the call of [Gemmon-Rubymon], the three gems on John's backfield shattered at the same time, releasing the sleeping [Gemmon]s inside!

"Emerald, the mature Emerald Shield——[Gem Beast-Emerald Turtle]!"

[Jade Beast-Jade Turtle] [3☆/Water]

【Aquatic/Effect】

[600/2000]

"Amber, the steady orange fangs - [Gem Beast - Amber Mammoth]!"

[Gem Beast - Amber Mammoth] [4☆/Earth]

[Orc/Effect]

[1700/1600]

"Finally, there's Sapphire, the azure wind of freedom - [Gem Beast - Jade Pegasus]!"

[Gem Beast-Jade Pegasus] [4☆/Wind]

[Orc/Effect]

[1800/1200]

John played two cards in total, but in just two steps, he Special Summoned four monsters on the field, and none of them were duplicates! He even had four cards in his hand!

"Sure enough, when I heard it was [Gemmon] before, it sounded familiar. You must be John Anderson!" France looked at John's operation and pointed at him in surprise, "I was wondering why you looked so familiar. Over the past few years, because of your [Gemmon] deck, you have come to the International Illusion Society more than once to provide inspiration for Mr. Becas, so I have an impression of you!"

"You sound like a very powerful person, John~" "No, no, I'm not that powerful."

"I'm not praising him!" France said unhappily after hearing what Judai said to John, "That's why I can't understand why you made such a choice for a deck like [Gemmon]!"

"What choice?" Judai blinked, puzzled, "And what's wrong with the [Gemmon] deck?"

"It's a long story, but I have to state in advance that I'm not bragging. My family - the [Gem Beast] deck is a unique card in the world because it is made of seven gemstone slabs collected by ancient Rome as a symbol of imperial power. It is a super rare card."

"This is amazing! Is this card even rarer than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, of which there are only four in the world and only three now?" Judai said in admiration, and also looked at his own deck, "But I am the same, I have a unique card with special meaning."

"Well, I can see that you and your deck have also experienced something special." John glanced behind Judai. Although the elves did not come out of the cards, their auras still formed phantoms and followed Judai. "But my [Gemmon]s were not determined to be made into [Gemmon] cards at the beginning. Mr. Bekas, who holds the gems, was inspired by the Duel King Mr. Hayato Kobayashi and had two gem-themed inspirations at the same time."

"Yes, that's it!" France glared at John, "Do you know what you did? Mr. Becas later designed all the cards of [Gem Knight]. As the chief card designer of the International Illusion Society, I have seen their data countless times before. The power of those cards is so strong, but because the only one piece of material has been made into your [Gem Beast], they cannot be released!"

"Why do you want to kill the possibility of their coming? Just for your useless [Jade Beasts]? The power of those [Jade Beasts] is so weak, but you take them so seriously! No matter you, a little kid who knows nothing, or even Mr. Becas!"

"No matter what choice John made at the time, there would always be a possibility that one of the two would be deprived of his birth. Wouldn't it be the same if he chose [Gemmon] or that [Gem Knight]?" asked Judai.

"That's not the case! Can the strength of [Gemmon] and [Gem Knight] be compared?"

France retorted, and Judai showed a helpless expression when he heard it. He more or less understood France's idea and disagreed: "After all this fuss, is the strength of the card the only thing you care about?"

"What's important is not the strength of the card, but the heart of the card. John might have responded to them because of the call of [Gemmon]. This is the mutual choice of the card and the duelist. It's fate!"

John agreed with Judai's words: "You are absolutely right, Judai. Although you were not there at the time, you described it as if you had seen it in person. I still remember my encounter with [Gem Beast - Jade Pegasus] at that time. It was indeed a fateful encounter as you said!"

"Nonsense, all nonsense. What is the soul of the card? That's not destiny!" France sneered and said disdainfully, "What is real destiny? It is the strong who ravage the weak. Only powerful cards can dominate everything, and when a weak card meets a powerful card, it will only be destroyed!"

Thinking back to how the powerful card he designed lost to the support card for the average-strength [E·hero] deck designed by Hayato Maeda in the International Illusion Society's internal card design competition, France was indignant and said with gritted teeth, "The era pursues only powerful cards!"

"If fate is really what you said," looking at France who couldn't be convinced, Judai said to John, "Then John!"

"Is there anyone who would be satisfied with such a fate? I don't want it." John nodded to Judai and looked at France and said, "If fate is really like that, then I will reverse it with my family!"

"Fly, Sapphire!"

On John's field, [Gem Beast - Jade Pegasus] spread its wings and created a cyclone! (End of this chapter)