Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Huh?" Yugi didn't know what Hayato meant by suddenly saying this.

"In other words, taking the long way is actually a shortcut. I'm going to take down your 'Dark Knight Gaia' head-on!"

"Draw a card! Then summon this monster!"

Hayato drew the top card from the deck, skipping the step of flipping it over, and summoned it directly onto the field. That card was—

"Dark Knight Gaia!!!"

Hayato's sudden, powerful shout didn't frighten Jonouchi and the others, because they were more concerned with something else:

"Wow, there are two Gaia cards?! Two monsters with 2300 attack power!" This was Jonouchi, but Hayato inexplicably mistook Jonouchi for Kaito Amagi.

"Hayato has such a powerful monster? This duel is getting interesting again." This was Honda's thought. Hayato's previous defensive stance had made the duel a bit dull, but the appearance of the second Gaia undoubtedly brought new excitement to the duel.

Kyoko's thought was—"Did Hayato summon it without even looking at what he drew?! Does he have X-ray vision?!"

Yugi's face showed a hint of surprise, but not complete astonishment. He smiled at Hayato: "It's Gaia! The same monsters appearing at the same time is truly rare. However,"

The game paused for a moment, then pointed to Gaia on its own field and said, "Both Gaia have an attack power of 2300 points. If you use Gaia to attack me, Hayato, the only outcome will be mutual destruction, right? And because of the rules, you will lose at the end of the round."

The early rules of Yu-Gi-Oh! differed significantly from later versions. This wasn't just due to the 2000 Life Points and the fact that monsters could be summoned without tributes, but also the rules for winning. One condition was that one player's Life Points (LP) reached zero; another was that one player had no monsters on the field at the end of their turn, in which case they would lose the game.

Conversely, monsters are now restricted from directly attacking players.

Although Hayato has summoned "Dark Knight Gaia," if he launches an attack recklessly, the result will indeed be as the game suggests.

“Of course I’ve taken your situation into account, game boy!” Hayato drew another card from his hand and showed it to everyone. “But I also have this card in my hand!”

He placed the blue-bordered magic card into the field, with a divine sword flashing with lightning engraved on it.

The "Dragon Slayer Sword" increases the attack power of a Warrior by 700 points and grants absolute suppression against Dragon monsters!

"Gaia's attack power has increased again, by a full 3000 points!" Jonouchi exclaimed at the opportune moment, and even Yugi's face showed a completely surprised expression.

Compared to the 8 or 900 attack power of ordinary monsters, the 3000 attack power of "Dark Knight Gaia" wielding the "Dragon Slayer Sword" is like heaven and earth, the difference is huge!

"'Dark Knight Gaia,' attack 'Dark Knight Gaia'!" Saying words that would be hard for those who hadn't seen the battle to understand, Hayato launched an attack on the arrogant Gaia on the game field.

Just as easily as Gaia in the game destroyed Hayato's other monsters, Gaia in Hayato easily defeated Gaia in the game. Gaia sent Gaia to the graveyard.

"Then, my turn is over."

[Hayato: 1600LP, hand card 3→4→2]

[Game: 1600LP → 900LP, 6 cards in hand]

"My turn, draw a card." Yugi's life points were reduced to below 1000, but he didn't panic. He glanced at the monster he drew but didn't rush to summon it. Instead, he asked Hayato, "'Dark Knight Gaia' and 'Dragon Slayer Sword' is a really powerful combination."

"Of course, this is the trump card combo in my deck. There's no stronger one among Warriors." At least up to now, none of the newer ones count.

"It seems you're taking this duel very seriously, Hayato." Yugi nodded knowingly and said calmly, "Then, I'll use my strongest combo as well."

Although his words were calm, Hayato could see the seriousness in Yugi's eyes.

"I'm summoning this monster, come forth—"

"The summons of the demon!"

The Skeleton Demon with 2500 attack power was summoned by Yugi. Before Hayato could point out that 2500 < 3000, Yugi played another card.

"Then I activate this spell card, 'Force,' and I will designate Gaia on your field and 'Summoning of the Sinner' on mine."

"What?! Why do you have this card?!"

Hayato's eyes widened in disbelief. "You're a godlike drawer! How come you have all sorts of comeback cards?!"

Gaia, whose attack power had finally risen to 3000 points, had his attack power instantly reduced to 1500 points due to the effect of "Force". The power that was taken away flowed into the summoned demon on the game field, 2500 + 1500, and the attack power directly soared to a full 4000 points!

"4000 points!" Jonouchi, who was in charge of making a splash, did not disappoint the others and exclaimed in surprise, "That's five times that of my 'Shadow Warrior of Purple Flame'!"

“Then, I will use ‘Summoning of the Demon’ to attack ‘Dark Knight Gaia’ on your field, Hayato.”

Accompanied by the game's lighthearted words, the drug-fueled "Demon's Summoning" gave the listless Gaia an excessive electrocution, dealing 2500 points of damage that not only instantly depleted Hayato's health points but also caused a significant amount to overflow.

"Phew, that was close, we almost lost." The victor, Yugi Muto, said modestly to Hayato as he put the cards back into his deck.

"Don't try to fool me with Versailles. I saw it a long time ago. It seems you've had that 'Summoning of the Devil' in your hand for a while now, Yugi?" Yugi doesn't have the habit of washing his hands after drawing cards, so Hayato knows very well that both "Summoning of the Devil" and that "Force" have actually been in Yugi's hands all along.

Theoretically speaking, the game cannot be considered a miraculous comeback, because he always had countermeasures in hand, he just didn't use them.

If you keep defending, no matter how many powerful monsters the game summons, you won't be able to end the battle quickly. However, if you use Gaia as bait to lure yourself into attacking, then the game can use the "Force" and "Summoning of the Devil" combo to deplete your own health.

It has to be said that the game nowadays has a hint of the later, more complex gameplay; they even use tactics, how cunning!

The game simply chuckled and tried to get away with being cute.

Hayato put Gaia back into his deck, then stored the deck away in the metal box. He recalled the inexplicable feeling he had when he drew Gaia earlier. But before he could think about it further, he heard his grandfather Sugoroku's booming voice from inside the house: "I found it!"

Chapter 11 Partners of Justice (Confirmed)

The people gathered around the table turned their heads when they heard Grandpa Shuangliu's voice.

Grandpa Shuangliu, who had been inside the house for quite some time, pulled back the curtain of the inner room and came out, carrying a small, dusty box in his hand. As he came out, he kept patting the dust off the box: "Oh dear, although it's a precious collection, I usually can't bear to take it out, so it's really hard to find it right now."

"Oh, Chicken Sauce, is this the rare card?" Jonouchi excitedly ran over first, while Honda and Kyoko, who had become somewhat interested in the game "Duel Monsters" after watching Hayato play Yugi, followed behind Jonouchi.

Seeing that everyone else was heading towards the counter where Grandpa Sugoroku was, Yugi quickly said to Hayato, "Hayato, let's hurry over too. Grandpa's card is really super rare!"

"Tch, you really know how to fool me. Fine, I'll let you off this time." Since Yugi had taken the initiative to change the subject, Hayato temporarily let go of the matter of him "going easy on you in the duel" and followed Yugi toward the counter.

There was still a tinge of regret in his heart. Although his deck was just the system's initial deck, the cards Yugi used weren't the complete version he had built himself. While there was a difference in the quality of their decks, it wasn't drastically large. In other words, this was very likely the time when Hayato had the highest chance of defeating Yugi.

Although he was somewhat disappointed, he wasn't discouraged. He'd have plenty of opportunities to compete against the game in Duel Kingdom, Duel City, and many more. Next time, he was determined to win!

Grandpa Shuangliu was cleaning the small box. The leather casing was covered in dust, and he carefully cleaned it again and again to avoid damaging the card he was going to retrieve later. It was clear he valued the card inside quite a bit.

"Chicken Sauce, when you went inside, we just finished watching a game and Hayato's duel." Kyoko and Honda were a little choked by the dust and moved slightly away from the counter. Jonouchi, however, seemed to have no nose and was not afraid of the dust at all. Instead, he moved the closest, wanting to see the cards in the box as soon as possible. While waiting, he also gave a verbal retelling to Sugoroku, who had not seen the duel.

"Huh? 4000 attack power! Yugi is really amazing, no wonder he's my grandson." While praising Yugi, Sugoroku didn't forget to compliment himself, but he also didn't forget Hayato, "Of course, Hayato, you're amazing too. Monsters with 3000 attack power aren't something you see just anywhere."

"That's right. If you ask me, even the highest attack power among Duel Monsters is no more than this." Jonouchi's confident expression made it seem as if he had summoned the monster with 3000 attack power. "Without using Spell Cards, I'm afraid no monster can possess such terrifying power."

"Hehe, that's not necessarily true." But after hearing what Jonouchi said, Sogoku shook his head and handed over the box, which had been cleaned of most of the dust.

"These are my treasures, and today I'll let you kids see what they're made of."

"Oh! What is it? What is it?!" This time, not only Jonouchi, but also Honda and Kyoko came over, with Yugi and Hayato standing on the outermost circle.

Carefully opening the box, Muto Sugoroku solemnly put on a pair of white gloves, pulled out a card, and displayed it to everyone: "Look, this is it."

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"Wow, that's amazing! The attack and defense power, and even the sheer pressure of the card art!" Jonouchi's eyes practically popped out of his head. He'd just said no monster could reach 3000 attack power, and Muto Sugoroku had pulled out a card like this. And its defense was a whopping 2500, a level even "Dark Knight Gaia" would struggle to surpass.

"This card is called 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon,' and it's considered an extremely rare card among all Duel Monsters." Jonouchi's praise pleased Sugoroku, and he continued with a smug look on his face, "It has top-tier attack and defense, and there are only four 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' cards released worldwide, which is one-quarter of the rarest cards."

"It's simply priceless." Unlike before, when he had no idea what to do with it, Honda didn't rashly take the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" that Sugoroku had shown him. Having learned more about Duel Monsters, he understood the value behind the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon's" luxurious panel, not to mention that it was a super limited edition with only four copies in the world.

As is well known, "limited edition" generally means "expensive." With the increasing popularity of Duel Monsters, there are probably many people willing to trade a house for this "Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

"Chicken sauce, bring it closer so we can see it." Jonouchi wanted to get closer to see it, but with the counter blocking his way and Grandpa Sugoroku keeping a safe distance, he couldn't get any closer and could only ask Grandpa Sugoroku for help.

But Sugoroku carefully protected the card behind her back. Jonouchi's eyes were so hungry, it was as if she wanted to devour the card: "No way, this card is not for sale. It's already an exception that I'm showing it to you."

"Haha, actually even if I wanted to buy it, I couldn't afford it." Jonouchi realized that he seemed to have been a bit too direct, and even made Sugoroku misunderstand that he wanted to buy the card. "But speaking of which, I also want to buy some powerful monster cards. Chicken, find me a card pack with powerful monsters on it."

"Well, that's an option."

Honda hesitated for a moment, then chimed in, "Hey, I'd like a few packs too. Can you recommend some that's good for beginners?"

"Oh, Honda, you want to play Duel Monsters too?" Jonouchi turned around and glanced at Honda with a smile on his face, but it quickly turned into a strange facial expression. "That way, I can teach you a lesson to my heart's content, so you won't call me an idiot every time I lose."

"Hmph, that's hard to say. Maybe I, the newbie, will be the one to teach you a lesson." Honda wasn't going to back down either, and he returned the same facial expression, but his level of facial expression wasn't as high as Jonouchi's.

"Chicken sauce, I also want to buy two cards." Hayato also took out the wallet he had previously borrowed from the director and the others, which contained about 30,000 yen.

Hayato didn't feel guilty at all. You see, if the original plot had continued, the director would have been punished by the game's dark personality—the Pharaoh's soul—with a dark game, causing him to see only pixelated images for the rest of his life. But now, he'd only been beaten up and lost some face and money.

Hayato felt like he was truly a champion of justice.

Chapter 12 can represent the cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!

"Hey, Hayato, are you buying cards?" Yugi noticed that Hayato wanted to buy cards, not "card packs." "Buying card packs is more cost-effective than buying individual cards, right? Besides, the cards here are all pretty strong..."

"What kind of grandson is always undermining his grandfather? Really!" Although Grandpa Shuangliu was old, he was in good health and didn't lower his voice when he spoke, so he could hear everything clearly.

However, he couldn't refute the game's claims. Most of the cards he was showing were acquired from discarded cards by others. While they weren't all things like "Baby Larva" or "Frog Slime" that would pollute the deck, they were mostly low-tier cards with 1000+ attack power, with few worth buying.

Unless some duelist is a die-hard fan of the "One and Only God"—the "Lion Wizard"—there are at least several "Lion Wizard" cards on display here.

"No, I don't want to buy monster cards." Hayato waved his hand and pointed to a few cards in the corner of the counter. "Grandpa Sugoroku, I'll take all of these cards. Oh, and these few too."

"Hayato, what cards did you choose? Uh... why did you choose these cards? Will these cards really be useful?" Jonouchi held several packs of cards in his hand, but instead of opening them immediately, he moved closer to Hayato, wanting to see what kind of cards he had chosen.

He had assumed that what would catch the eye of Hayato, a “powerful duelist,” would be a strong monster, but to his surprise, Hayato only received a few weak monster cards and magic cards that looked useless from his grandfather, Sugoroku.

"Don't underestimate these cards, Jonouchi. Every card has its unique function." Hayato held up three monster cards in one hand and waved them at Jonouchi. "Don't let their current weak appearance fool you; when they unite, their power is immense."

"I really can't imagine what's so great about a monster with 0 attack power." Jonouchi squinted at the three cards in Hayato's hand. "Besides, they're so ugly."

Hayato smiled but didn't explain the purpose of the three cards in his hand to Jonouchi. After all, individually, they could indeed be considered "useless."

These three cards are—

"Disruption Yellow", "Disruption Green", and "Disruption Black"!

Without exception, all three monsters are Beast-type, Light-attribute 2-star Normal Monsters, and their stats are exactly the same: 0/1000.

With an attack power of 0, it means that even if the opponent does nothing and lets the three monsters attack at will for three days and three nights, they won't be able to reduce their life points even a little bit.

However, all three cards share the well-known "Disruption" attribute. Having this attribute basically means there's a synergy card involved, making them significantly stronger than other individual cards without this attribute. But what if there's no synergy card...?

Okay, they're just trash. The only reason I bought them was because in my past life, Hayato quite liked the character in the anime who used the "Disruption" deck. However, that character probably won't appear for several more years.

After carefully storing the three "Disruptive" monsters, Hayato looked at the other cards he had bought along with him with a hint of regret on his face. He couldn't help but ask Grandpa Sugoroku, "Grandpa Sugoroku, is there really only one 'Pot of Greed' here?"

Hayato purchased the "Pot of Greed," a card that was almost ubiquitous in the anime but was banned early on in the real-world market due to its powerful effect of easily trading one card for two. He also purchased the "Angel's Charity," another frequent visitor to the ban zone and a card that could be used to draw three cards at once, as well as the "Heavenly Treasure Card" which had an anime-like effect.

Among them, there are three copies of "Heavenly Treasure" and "Angel's Charity," but only one copy of "Pot of Greed," which Hayato finds quite disappointing. Also, "Monster Resurrection" and "Bitter Choice" are not sold at the Kaguya game store.

“Because nobody usually buys cards like ‘Pot of Greed.’ The one you bought, Hayato, was just something Grandpa kept there because of his collecting hobby,” Yugi explained. “However, ‘Pot of Greed’ isn’t a particularly powerful rare card; it’s quite common. If you need it, Hayato, I can give it to you if I get another ‘Pot of Greed’ in the future.”

"Really? Game, you're so kind." Hayato almost wanted to lean back in shock. What does it mean to be a top-notch friend? Game.