Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Hayato and Yugi walked out, but right at the theater entrance, they saw someone.

Although the hat the other person was wearing concealed their long silver hair, although they were wearing a mask that covered half of their face, and although they were wearing a prosthetic eye in their left eye to avoid frightening the child.
However, the shirt he was wearing, which had few admirers and was loved only by himself, printed with a chibi version of the "Narcissus Demon," directly exposed his true identity!

"Huh? Pegasus?" The game player called out the other player's name instinctively.

"What?!" Pegasus, who had disguised himself so perfectly and had not been recognized for so long, was startled when someone suddenly called out his name.

Fortunately, the three met at the theater entrance rather than inside the theater; otherwise, given the theater's acoustics, nearly a hundred people inside would have heard the news that "Pegasus, the father of Duel Monsters, has appeared."

While Hayato's "biased perception" ability prevents the general public from associating Hayato with the game and the people they know, it has little effect on a minority like Pegasus.

This is not only because the three are old acquaintances and jointly control the International Illusion Society, but also because Pegasus himself still has the magic power remaining after the removal of the Millennium Eye—although his so-called "remaining" power has been there for six or seven years and has not been completely squandered.

In short, although Pegasus initially thought it was one of his fans recognizing him, he quickly recognized Hayato and Yugi: "Oh~ I never expected to see you guys here, Hayato and Yugi~"

"Could it be that you're also here to watch the upcoming 'Invincible Toon Army? The Magic of Bonds!' event?"

Hayato wasn't particularly interested in the upcoming performance to begin with, and hearing Pegasus, the imposter American, speak such broken foreign language only made him feel more embarrassed for him: "Keep your voice down, Pegasus. Just like you don't want to be recognized, why do you think Yugi and I don't want to be recognized?"

"Ah, you're right, sorry~"

As he spoke, Bekas reached out and handed over a bucket of popcorn: "Want some? I specially asked Mrs at the counter to pour extra caramel and honey on it."

Upon seeing the popcorn being handed to him, the game player couldn't help but smell its rich, sweet aroma even before putting it in his mouth. His lips twitched. "Even after all this time, I still can't get used to Americans' excessive demands for sweetness. Aren't you worried about Yuexing lecturing you for eating like this, Pegasus?"

"Besides, this isn't a commercial special effects movie. Who eats popcorn while watching a play?" Hayato complained. "Are you going to stick to the 'nouveau riche' persona to the very end, Pegasus?"

“But it’s a matter of personal taste, right? I think as long as it doesn’t affect other people, it’s fine even if I eat sushi.” Pegasus said, then laughed smugly. “Besides, I didn’t tell Yuexing I was coming here, so nobody can stop me!”

Although he is only thirty-three years old this year, he has always had a childlike love for sweets, and he likes to add rich Gorgonzola cheese to his side dishes—perhaps the name "blue cheese" is more familiar to people—and he also likes to drink full-bodied red wine. In short, he has a very strong palate.

Several years ago, Bekas was diagnosed with a risk of tooth decay and the need to pay attention to oral hygiene. As a result, not only his butler, Mr. Crogates, restricted his food intake at home, but also his secretary, Tsukiko Tenma, who worked at the International Illusion Agency, began to manage his diet and health.

"Alright, I hope you don't get caught by Tsukiko." Having already secretly taken a picture of Pegasus carrying two buckets of sweetened popcorn and a super-sized family-sized bottle of cola, Hayato sent it to Tenma Tsukiko, pretending nothing had happened, and waved at him.

"We're leaving now. You can enjoy the part where you get beaten up."

"Yeah, have fun." Yugi waved his hand dismissively. Although he and Hayato had just joked about Jonouchi not watching his remixed duel storyline, when it came to his own duel with Hayato, he thought, "Wouldn't I be incredibly embarrassed?"

Indeed, you can't truly empathize until it happens to you personally.

Seeing that Hayato and Yugi were about to leave, Pegasus quickly said, "No, wait a moment, Hayato, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Originally, Pegasus came to Kaiba Park today because Yue was discussing the event to be held in Domino City with Kaiba Keihei and didn't have time for himself, so he came here to relax by enjoying sweets and watching movies and plays.

However, his chance encounter with Hayato and the game instantly changed his mind.

"While you and the Duel Academy Boys were adventuring in another world, I racked my brains to complete a brand new cartoon monster that I had been planning for a long time. And, in my sparring with Moonwalker Boy and Yugi, I got some pretty good results, desu~"

In stark contrast to his usual demeanor, Pegasus now displayed a rare aggressiveness befitting the "Father of Duel Monsters," saying, "And now, I've met you all here. Perhaps, this is Fate?"

"In this theater where 'Invincible Toon Army? The Magic of Bonds' is about to be staged, we meet. Does this mean that the one who is suitable to be the final test of the Toon Monster who is me is Hayato and Yugi, who once teamed up to defeat me?"

Yugi looked at Pegasus with some surprise: "Pegasus, you want to challenge both me and Hayato at the same time?"

Although he didn't say it out loud, the way he kept glancing at the popcorn bucket in Pegasus's hand revealed his true thoughts—was Pegasus "drunk" on candy?

It's important to know that even someone as confident and even arrogant as Kaiba only chooses one of Yugi and Hayato as his opponent in a duel; he wouldn't dare to be careless and challenge both of them at the same time.

After all, Duel Monsters places great emphasis on resources. Even in a one-against-two situation, the single player's Life Points will be doubled. However, Life Points are the least important resource in Duel Monsters, and as long as they don't reach zero, they are practically infinite.

One side has six cards in hand, while the other side has six cards each, totaling twelve cards. One side draws one card per turn, while the other side draws one card each per turn, which is equivalent to two cards. In a one-on-two situation, whether it is a short-term battle or a long-term strategy, it is a disadvantage.

—This shows just how bold Paradox was to challenge Hayato, Yugi, Jaden, and Yusei simultaneously, even though it wasn't a one-against-many battle but a series of alternating opponents.

In short, Pegasus must have been out of his mind from eating too much sweets, right? That was the game's first reaction upon hearing his words.

Upon hearing the game's response, Pegasus quickly explained, "No, no, no!"

"Although it was Yugi and Hayato who defeated me together, I was perfectly clear-headed. After all, I only wanted to test the power of the cartoon, not to get completely crushed in a duel. That's not funny at all."

"Besides, Yugi, I've already fought you before. Unfortunately, my animation is ultimately a bit inferior." Pegasus glanced at Yugi and sighed, "Even though I haven't dueled in public for years, you're still as strong as ever." "So, the one I want to duel is simply Hayato-you." His gaze shifted back to Hayato, and Pegasus smiled. "To use that saying, 'When eyes meet, it's the signal for battle.' The reason duelists fight is simply 'seeing each other,' desu~"

Upon hearing this, Hayato turned to look at Yugi: "While I have no reason to refuse a challenge, I still want to confirm first—Yugi, how strong is the new card Pegasus made for himself?"

"Hmm, these cards fit our stereotypes about Pegasus. Although these cards aren't strictly 'Toon Monsters,' they can still be considered 'Toon' monsters."

The game counted on its fingers, "Although there aren't many cards, only five new cards were made for myself, the changes they brought to Pegasus's previous cartoon decks were truly earth-shattering."

"Sounds like a fake card? Then I'm relieved. After all, if Pegasus spent half a year drawing and came up with a new card that turned out to be the real card 'Claws,' even the most addicted card player would find it hard to muster the desire to duel."

Hayato laughed, then remembered something else: "But Pegasus, why did you only duel with Yugi and Tsukigami to test your new cards? Jonouchi and Kaiba would have been great opponents too."

“I’ve dueled with Katsuya Jonouchi before.” Pegasus sighed as he mentioned this. “Unfortunately, in the two duels, I was defeated in one turn by the powerful effect damage ability of the Red-Eyes deck when I was going second.”

"On another occasion, me launched the largest field of the new Toon deck, but he cleared the back field with three consecutive 'Harpie's Feather Duster's Broom, completely preventing me from unleashing the power of the new card."

"The synergy between the two decks is just too bad, desu~"

Pegasus paused, then gave a subtle look: "As for Seto Kaiba, perhaps it wouldn't be appropriate to use one of my new cards on him?"

"Ah, that's true, it'll probably provoke Kaiba." Yugi chimed in, agreeing as if remembering something.

“Very good, now you’ve really piqued my interest, Pegasus.” Hayato smiled. “Although I just had a match with Dartz, I still wasn’t quite satisfied. So try using your new card to ‘satisfy’ me, Pegasus.”

“Let’s go to the ‘private room’. There are a few rooms in the Seahorse Park that have been empty all the time. One of them, Seahorse said, is reserved for me and I can use it whenever I want. Let’s go there and use the dueling ring to duel.”

Although he couldn't recreate the duel where Pegasus fought two opponents, at least in terms of the duel format, Hayato wanted to use the classic dueling ring instead of the dueling disk—after all, the duel in the original was also performed on a dueling ring.

Pegasus and Yugi had no objections and went downstairs to the duel room.

On the way, Jonouchi also ran into the three of them. Just as Hayato and Yugi had expected, Jonouchi was indeed embarrassed to be in the theater because the play he had just witnessed was related to him. He appeared immediately after the play ended.

Upon learning that Hayato was going to duel Pegasus, he immediately raised his eyebrows and said smugly, "By the way, Hayato, how did you know that when I had a best-of-three test duel with Pegasus, I managed to land two OTKs and easily defeat Pegasus, one of which was even an FTK?"

That expression was strikingly similar to that of a fisherman boasting about catching a 50-pound behemoth.

If it weren't for the game holding Jonouchi back, he could have precisely revealed the time it took to defeat Pegasus and the combo he used in one go.

"Don't spoil it, Jonouchi. I still want to keep some mystery." Hayato also gave Jonouchi a disapproving look. "There are only five new Pegasus cards. If you casually reveal two or three of them, wouldn't that take away the novelty?"

“Yes, yes.” Pegasus’ right eye darted around. “I’ve only prepared five new cartoon cards. For Hayato, who’s looking forward to the new cartoon, spoilers would be a terrible duel experience!”

After Hayato passed the room verification using facial recognition, the group of four entered Hayato's private dueling room, and Jonouchi immediately noticed that this place was different from the other places.

Not only is the space much larger than other places, but it's also like the ceiling has been knocked down compared to other rooms, occupying the space of two or even three floors at once, and the interior decoration is also quite luxurious.

Leaving aside soundproofing and other infrastructure, you can order food and request delivery directly from a control panel in the room without leaving the room, and even the dueling arena is a top-of-the-line model that is different from other rooms. The strength of the virtual projection system it is equipped with is almost the same as that of the one set up in the Seahorse Dome!

It's important to know that, unlike the Seahorse Park which is geared towards the general public and casual gamers, the Seahorse Dome, although part of the "Seahorse Park" project, is aimed at professionals.

Only top-tier international tournaments featuring professional duelists qualify to use the Omega Seahorse Dome for duels. The virtual projection system inside is capable of easily recreating Duel Monsters of the "God Card" level, and its clarity, computing power, and realism far surpass ordinary equipment.

But what kind of virtual projection system is being used in this room that Hayato has kept for so long, on the dueling platform?
"Hayato, your relationship with Kaiba is really good."

"Actually, Kaiba also reserved rooms for you and Yugi. However, we're both busy with our own things and rarely come to Kaiba Park." Hayato was already standing in front of the dueling platform, obediently stepping onto the platform slowly via the elevator. "It's really rare to be able to gather so many 'legendary duelists' here all at once today."

"So, let's have a duel here without regrets, Hayato!" Opposite Hayato, Pegasus had also stepped onto the dueling platform and placed his card on the table.

"Come and witness my reborn, near-perfect, and unconquerable cartoon army!"

"Duel!"

[Pegasus J. Crawford: 4000LP, Hand: 5]

Upon hearing this, Hayato also put down his slightly modified deck and said, "Then I'd like to see how your toy deck is now 'unbeatable'."

"Duel!"

[Hayato Kobayashi: 4000LP, hand: 5] (End of this chapter)