Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“Well, just like the West can’t lose Jerusalem, how can Kaiba Park be without the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?” Hayato said with a serious expression. “Without the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, how can Kaiba Park be unique? I can only say that my youth is over.”

"Oh~ Hayato boy, I didn't expect you to actually agree with Kaiba boy's aesthetic?"

Hayato had barely finished speaking when, as if by ghostly apparition, a rather unserious voice suddenly rang out from behind him, startling him.

"What's up! Pegasus?"

Yes, I am~

Appearing behind Hayato was none other than Pegasus, who, despite being quite old, always acted without a care in the world. Striking a pose reminiscent of "Red the Chicken Seller," Pegasus greeted Hayato: "Aloha, Hayato boy~"

Hayato glanced at Pegasus with disdain, then asked Keihei beside him curiously, "What's this perverted old man doing here?"

"Oh, they actually called me a pervert, so sad~"

Seeing Pegasus's irreverent behavior, Keihei, who was standing next to Hayato, awkwardly turned his head away: "It's not like I wanted this guy to participate in Kaiba Park."

“Hayato, you know what? Although many people have realized the potential of Duel Monsters after Duel City, the amount left for the Virtual Projection System is not enough.” As he spoke, Keihei pointed to the ground beneath his feet. “It may be something that people care about, but it’s far from enough to convince the American government to approve a large piece of land for the Kaiba Corporation to build Kaiba Park.”

"Although Seahorse Park has successfully settled in the United States, it wouldn't have been possible without the help of a certain person."

“It’s me, it’s me!” Pegasus excitedly raised his hand, his face beaming. “I really agree with such a great dream as the Seahorse Boy’s Seahorse Paradise, so I also contributed my share to help out.”

"By the way, the International Illusion Society also has a stake in the American section of Kaiba Park." Pegasus patted Hayato on the shoulder. "So, Hayato boy, you're actually a shareholder here too."

Hayato glanced at Keihei beside him. Although Keihei looked helpless, he still nodded.

This made Hayato suddenly arrogant.

"What? So I'm a shareholder here too. Ahem, well then, Guiping, tell this shareholder, what exactly is wrong with Seahorse Park?"

"Hayato, you change your tune way too fast!" After teasing Hayato for adapting to his capitalist identity in the blink of an eye, Keihei sighed and pointed to a room not far away. "The problem lies in that area. I originally brought that thing out because I was thinking of making use of it and not letting my brother continue to squander money. I even wrote a new program for it."

"That can't be right. I don't think I've made a mistake."

Hayato was a little curious; even a child prodigy like Keihei made a mistake?

"So what exactly is it?"

"That thing is actually—"

Following the direction Keihei pointed, Hayato saw a huge sign on the wall—

A whole new level of fun with Duel Monsters! Want to battle against the legendary duelists?

Legendary Duelist Portal!

Upon entering the open playground, Hayato's first sight was a red ring suspended in the air, scattering light projections. Beneath the projection, a rather familiar-looking person was wearing a duel disk on their wrist, proudly flipping up their bangs.

"That thing is actually—"

"It's my clone?! The Sith are coming for revenge! Go find Anakin Skywalker!"

"That wasn't Star O Wars, that was Duel Robots!"

Chapter 391 Kobayashi Hayato vs Kobayashi Hayato

"Seriously, this thing really does look like it."

"It really does look like it."

"It's just that the way they mimic my speech that's annoying."

"It's so annoying."

Standing next to "another version of himself," Hayato tentatively reached out to touch "Kobayashi Hayato," but his hand passed right through it, leaving only some red light and shadow on his palm.

Keihei glanced at "Kobayashi Hayato," who was mimicking Hayato's movements and had his hand inserted into Hayato's body but passed right through it, and said helplessly, "The prototype of this thing is actually the virtual projection system used by Duel Monsters, and the Duel Robot that my brother used but has been abandoned."

"Duel Robots?" Hayato vaguely remembered it. "Ah, isn't it the one that Kaiba blew up with a single punch using Obelisk the Tormentor back then?"

"The one who got blown up with one punch?" the virtual projection of "Hayato Kobayashi" repeated.

"That's it. Even though it included data from all the famous duelists, my brother used it to simulate the possibilities of dueling with Yugi and Hayato. However, after discovering that the Duel Robots couldn't even contend with Obelisk the Tormentor, my brother simply abandoned it."

"It would be such a waste to just throw away a dueling robot that simulates the mind of a duelist, given how much money we spent on it." Guiping looked at the red ring above his head with a sense of regret. Hayato followed his gaze and looked up, and could barely make out the slight resemblance between the red ring and the dueling robot he had seen before.

"So, I thought I'd try out this modified dueling robot at Seahorse Park in America."

As he spoke, Guiping walked to a screen embedded in the wall not far away and tapped it repeatedly with his finger. "Users can challenge legendary duelists whose data is recorded in this machine, based on their own skill level and dueling style."

"That's how it should be."

"That's how it should be? What happened?"

"What happened?"

Guiping turned around and looked at Hayato, who had deliberately superimposed himself on the virtual projection, with a hint of helplessness: "Just now, the Duel Robot went out of control. The duelist who was supposed to be chosen was supposed to be the easiest duelist, Jonouchi Katsuya, but it was you, Hayato-nii, who was projected out instead."

"In the original process, regardless of whether the duel is successful or not, the Duel Robot's projection should be canceled. But Hayato, your projection just won't be canceled. It seems that it will only be scattered when it is defeated in the duel."

"Unfortunately, the computing power of the Duel Robots is connected to the mainframe of the Seahorse Park. If we don't resolve this issue quickly, not only will this place be unable to operate normally, but other amusement facilities at the Seahorse Park, and even the Seahorse Dome where the competition is currently underway, will also be affected."

Keipai's words made Hayato even more confused: "Wouldn't that be simpler? It's just a robot, we can just defeat it."

"Just defeat him."

"It's easy to say, but it's not that simple at all," Guiping said with a hint of helplessness. "Hayato-kun, why do you think Pegasus is here?"

"Yes, Hayato boy." Pegasus nodded helplessly. "Even though it's just a robot, it's really amazing. Even I've become a loser~"

"A Duel Robot that even Pegasus couldn't defeat? Well, even if you still had the Millennium Eye, let alone without it, you still wouldn't be able to see through the Robot's thoughts." Hearing this, Hayato moved away from his original spot and looked at his virtual projection again.

"Even so, he seems like an interesting opponent. The experience of dueling with yourself isn't something you can do all the time."

"You can have any of those."

Hearing Hayato's words, Keihei was somewhat surprised: "Hayato-nii, are you going to take action? I was thinking that the code reconstruction would take too long, so it would be perfect if you, Hayato-nii, could defeat the robot."

"However, Hayato-kun, you need to be careful. Although we couldn't simulate the power of some of the cards you possess, neither the [Earthbound God] nor the 'Three Egyptian Gods' were included,"

"However, the deck you used was the same 'Dark Knight Gaia' deck that you used in the semifinals of Duel City against Yugi, Hayato-kun. It included both 'Sky Dragon Knight' and 'Dragon Magic Knight'."

This really surprised Hayato.

I thought that Kaiba, that dragon addict, would stubbornly insist that the "pure dragon" deck he used in the Duel City finals was the strongest, but I didn't expect that his own [Gaia] deck would be ranked at the highest level?

"Because Duel Bots records not only your decks, Hayato-kun, but also what cards you draw at what time," Keihei explained, noticing Hayato's surprise. "Even your Rainbow Kuriboh is recorded, so be careful."

"Don't worry about that. Just so you know, I'm pretty strong." Upon learning that the Duel Robot was using the [Gaia] deck, Hayato's competitive spirit was ignited. He took out the deck from the system and inserted it into the deck area of ​​the Duel Disk on his wrist, and the Duel Disk unfolded.

"This time, I'm using a 'pure Gaia' deck."

For once, the Duel Robot stopped mimicking Hayato's words. Detecting that someone had already unfolded their Duel Disk, "Kobayashi Hayato" also entered battle mode, unfolding the Duel Disk on his wrist with a blank expression.

Meanwhile, in his deck area, Duel Monster cards appeared out of thin air.

"Duelist detected. Duel mode activated. Duel rank confirmed..."

"Error! Error!"

"Hazard on!"

"Duel level error, Danger Mode activated, level fixed at LV10!"

"The duel begins!"

Several abnormal garbled blocks flashed across the virtual Hayato's body, and his facial expression changed, revealing a battle-ready smile that was remarkably similar to Hayato's: "Let me make it clear beforehand, I'm very strong!"

"Honestly, mimicking people is really annoying." Hayato pouted unhappily, finding it increasingly irritating to see his identical "self" taunting him. He turned to look at Keihei. "Hey Keihei, even if I overdid it and broke this thing, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Before Keihei could answer, Hayato drew five cards from his deck and held them up in front of him: "Now, let's begin the Duel Robot's Error Removal Surgery, Surgery Difficulty Lv100."

"My level is 1000% of yours!"

The Duel Robots also drew their cards. The two Kobayashi Hayatos, who looked almost identical, exchanged a glance and said in unison:

"Duel!" x2

[Hayato: 4000LP]

[Virtual Hayato: 4000LP]

Chapter 392 I Must Directly Become a Cowboy

"I'll take the first turn, draw a card!" After checking his hand, Hayato decisively took the first turn and drew a card from his deck.

Although Keipai stated that Duel Bot included his duel data and used a deck not too different from his own, Hayato had no way of knowing its actual performance. Rather than being countered when attacking on the second turn, it was better to seize the initiative and set up a defense to see just how strong Duel Bot's offensive was.

"I'll summon a monster in defense position, and then I'll activate the Continuous Spell Card 'Nightmare Mirage'." After placing a monster card face down on the field, Hayato inserted 'Nightmare Mirage' into the Spell & Trap Zone of his Duel Disk. "Although you're a robot, you should know the effect of this card very well, but I think it's best to explain it anyway."

"During your preparation phase, [Nightmare Mirage] can replenish my hand to four cards, but during my preparation phase, I must discard the number of cards drawn from my hand due to the effect of [Nightmare Mirage]."

"Then, I will face down all four cards in my hand."

With Pegasus watching from the sidelines with a strange look on his face, Hayato triumphantly set all his cards face down, filling his back row with a perfectly standard T-shaped spread of five cards in the back row and one in the front row.

Fortunately, Hayato was facing a virtual Hayato projected by a Duel Robot; if it had been a real person, his blood pressure would have spiked.

"Then, my turn ends here." Hayato, who had successfully emptied his hand in a T-shape, declared the end of his turn. "Now it's your turn. Let me see how strong you are, 'Kobayashi Hayato'."

[Hayato: 4000LP, 0 cards in hand]

[Inside defense indication]

[Nightmare of the Mirage Tower] [Given Card] X4

"My turn, draw a card." Although there is Hayato's duel data, the virtual Hayato is just an AI used in Duel Monsters, so it is naturally impossible for it to respond to Hayato's words.

With a flick of his wrist, a card was added to his hand. At the same time, Hayato quickly said, "When you enter your Main Phase, the effect of [Nightmare Mirage] activates."

After the virtual Hayato, Hayato drew four cards: "My hand size is now four cards."

[Hayato: Hand card 0→4]

"Entering my main phase." From the virtual Hayato's face, there was no trace of jealousy or indifference towards Hayato's card draw; there was only a smile that seemed like a mask. "Activating the spell card [Pot of Greed], I draw two cards from my deck."

"Then, I activate the spell card [Fusion], using [Cursed Dragon] and [Dark Knight Gaia] from my hand as fusion materials."

Is it coming? Hayato couldn't help but take it seriously as he watched the virtual projection of "himself" activate the card.

On the virtual Hayato's field, the images of the [Cursed Dragon] and [Dark Knight - Gaia] appeared and were sucked into the vortex of [Fusion]. When they reappeared, [Gaia] was already riding on the back of the evolved [Hellfire Cursed Dragon].

【Sky Dragon Knight - Gaia】【ATK2600】