Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

He hurriedly pulled a roll of newspaper from his pocket, compared it with a photo printed on the cover and Rebecca's face, and suddenly left the group in a panic, seemingly giving up his duel with Hayato.

Hayato casually picked up the newspaper he had left behind, glanced at it, and handed it to Yugi. Yugi looked at it and said knowingly, "It really is you, Rebecca, the champion of the recently concluded All-American Duel Monster Tournament. I thought you looked familiar at first."

The newspaper was running an article titled "All-American Monster Fighting Tournament Concludes Successfully, 'Thief' Disappears, Champion is Actually Her?" It stated that the new All-American champion's name was Rebecca, and included a photograph.

It seems that Keith, who was expelled from the Duel Kingdom for attacking Pegasus, has been unable to continue participating in the competitions. In the past, news reports always showed him winning prize money from some competition.

"In short, hurry up and come with me to duel, then hand over [Blue Eyes]!" Seemingly having lost all her patience, Rebecca frowned, and without giving Yugi a chance to refuse, grabbed his hand and dragged him outside. Despite being seventeen, Yugi was easily pulled away by the twelve-year-old Rebecca, and he couldn't even manage to say that Kaiba had already torn [Blue Eyes] apart.

"Hey, game!"

"Let go of the game!"

Jōnei and Kyoko quickly stood up and chased after them outside, while Honda also hurriedly put down his milk tea and followed.

Hayato sat in his seat and watched the show with great enjoyment, even taking a big sip of milk tea.

Rebecca, whose full name is Rebecca Hopkins, is the daughter of Professor Hopkins, who was the one who entrusted the Blue-Eyes White Dragon to Sugoroku. The two were very close friends. However, Rebecca was unaware of this and mistakenly believed that Sugoroku had stolen her grandfather's card, leading to this misunderstanding that led to her visit to his door.

However, in the final duel with Yugi, Rebecca won by letting Yugi win, only to discover the truth in embarrassment. Overwhelmed with shame, she found herself drawn to Yugi, who was four years her senior.

"What's this? How did it get away?" "I bought a hundred packs to get this chance."

The commotion brought Hayato back to his senses. Yugi and Jonouchi had run away, but the mess was still there.

Looking at the remaining seven or eight duelists, Hayato stood up, stretched his limbs, and changed the deck he planned to use: "There are still so many people left. Duel one by one would be too slow. I'm in a hurry to watch the show. You guys, all of you, come at me at once!"

From the unseen perspective of these duelists, behind Hayato, a massive dragon covered in sharp blades roared.

Chapter 182 Seahorse Paradise

"Discard [Dark Knight - Gaia] from your hand, activate the effect of [Armed Dragon LV10], destroy all face-up monsters on your field! Eight-Point Light Wheel!"

"My [Two-Headed Thunder Dragon]!"

"Special Summon [Earth Spirit] from your hand, revive [Dark Knight Gaia], then activate [Inherited Power] and [Gigantify]!"

"It's a monster with an attack power of 10200!?"

"Trap cards, [Destruction Wheel], [Defense Wheel], go forth, [Gaia], sacrifice yourself for the greater good!"

[Passerby A: 4000LP → 0]

[Miscellaneous Fish B: 4000LP→0]

[Orthopedic C: 4000LP→0]

......

After a series of actions, Hayato easily wiped out the eight small fry, taking less than ten minutes in total.

Hayato directed the guys who had lost their duels to help move the chairs and benches back into the shop, closed the shop early, and set off to find Yugi and the others who had been taken away by Rebecca.

They left a full ten minutes early, and Yugi and the others were long gone. However, after a moment's thought, Hayato knew where they had gone. Rebecca intended to duel Yugi, and in Domino City, there was only one place truly suitable for a proper duel—

"KaiBa Land, the land of seahorses." Looking at the towering building in front of him, Hayato read out the name on the majestic and handsome statue of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon located in the center of the plaza in front of the building.

After inheriting the Haima Group, Haima shifted its focus from the arms industry to the entertainment industry. "Haima Paradise" is his way of realizing his ambitions—a comprehensive entertainment center that combines amusement parks, zoos and other elements. The goal is to open parks all over Japan and the dream is to have a presence all over the world.

As an entertainment center, Seahorse Park is naturally a place for card games, and in fact, card games are a primary way for Seahorse Park to attract visitors. This is because—compared to other entertainment centers, Seahorse Park's dueling arena is equipped with a virtual projection system, which maximizes the appeal of the monster battles. And virtual projection technology is a patent of the Seahorse Group.

To experience this technology elsewhere, one must either participate in other major competitions or spend a large sum of money to purchase a large dueling platform authorized by Haima Group.

Although the "Seahorse Paradise" project hasn't been running for long and hasn't yet successfully expanded nationwide, there's definitely a "Seahorse Paradise" in Domino City, where the headquarters are located. Because the expenses aren't very high, even Jonouchi occasionally comes here to play a couple of rounds of cards. Anyway, the loser usually pays.

If the game developers wanted to duel, this would be the only place they could come.

As soon as Hayato entered the gates of the Seahorse Park, he saw a familiar figure standing in front of the customer service center.

He skillfully handles various tasks and transmits his orders to different departments via the network. Although he looks like just a kid, as the younger brother of that genius who is ahead of his time, he is obviously not stupid. On the contrary, he is a super genius.

However, compared to his brilliant older brother, Kaiba Keihei's talent was somewhat inferior.

Before Hayato could even say hello, Keipai, who had just finished dealing with something, noticed Hayato walking into the Kaiba Park building and greeted him happily, "Ah, Hayato-nii!"

"Yo, Officer Minami Rika." Hayato raised his hand in greeting.

"Let's get this joke over the top!"

Keihei remarked, "He's clearly a pretty amazing guy, but he's so irresponsible. Hayato-kun, you're definitely going to stay single forever!"

"Hehe, that's great. Women only slow down my card-drawing speed." Hayato walked up to Keibai, affectionately ruffled his hair, and asked, "Are Yugi and the others here?"

"Yes, they're on Duel Arena 11. Hayato, are you here to find Yugi and the others?" Keihei straightened his hair, which Hayato had messed up, and without even looking at the tablet recording data beside him, directly reported Yugi's location.

"Hmph, Kaiba Park is very popular. The dueling arena is booked up for almost three months in advance. If I hadn't helped Yugi and the others, they wouldn't have a dueling arena to use today~"

"After all, it was Kaiba's idea. That guy is a genius."

"Hehe, of course!" Hearing Hayato praise his older brother, Keihei laughed even more happily than when he himself was being praised.

"Well then, I'll go find them. Sabo, you keep busy." Hayato raised his hand, but Keipai quickly covered his head with both hands to protect his hair, so the attempt to rub his head failed. Hayato smiled, pinched Keipai's soft cheek, and ran away.

"Ugh, that guy!" Guiping said, somewhat annoyed, watching Hayato's retreating figure as he took advantage of the situation. Turning back to look at the tablet beside him, he noticed a chocolate lollipop on it.

After taking the elevator up to the Duel Monsters theme park, passing through a bunch of decorations with Kaiba's strange aesthetic—a fountain of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a statue of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a chandelier of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and even a Blue-Eyes White Dragon sign pointing to the toilet—Hayato finally found Duel Arena #11.

He was lucky; the other players weren't much faster than him. When they came in, the dueling platforms on both sides were slowly rising, clearly indicating that their duel had just begun.

"You guys are really loyal, leaving me all alone in the store and making me deal with so many people all by myself."

"Ah, Hayato, you're here too." Jonouchi turned around and saw Hayato walking towards them. He quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I was so worried about Yugi after I saw him being taken away that my body started moving on its own."

Hayato patted him on the shoulder: "Fine, I'll let you off this time. How are Yugi and Rebecca doing?"

“Well, it’s what you see.” Jonouchi pointed at the two on the field. “We explained to Rebecca that Chicken’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon is an important card entrusted to him by his friend, but that arrogant brat won’t listen to me at all.”

"Jounouchi boasted that he was the runner-up in Duel Kingdom, and was even mocked as 'either the champion or the last place.'" Honda slapped his forehead. "We're only five or six years apart in age, right? How come the next generation of kids seems so different from us?"

Besides them, Mr. Sugoroku Mutou, who had gone fishing because someone was minding the shop, was also summoned over by phone. An empty bucket sat beside him. Having a perfectly valid reason, Mr. Sugoroku refused to admit he hadn't won, but looking at Rebecca, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

"How strange, I shouldn't have seen this girl before, so why does she look so familiar?"

Chapter 183 Your monster is crying, and to stop it from crying, I'll take it away.

Because they had just had a duel, Yami Yugi did not appear to stand in for Rebecca in this duel, but instead hid in the Millennium Puzzle and watched the duel from the sidelines.

Rebecca's tactics were quite strange—she kept summoning cards like "Three-Eyed Monster" and "Witch of the Dark Forest" to die, then searched for monster cards in her deck and added them to her hand, and then summoned three "Millennium Shield" monsters with 3000 DEF and big butts on the field.

Even as a gamer, he couldn't immediately grasp the meaning behind her actions. He even began to wonder if Rebecca, like his grandfather, used the [Exodia] deck. Meanwhile, outside the arena, Sugoroku Muto felt an increasingly strong sense of déjà vu as he watched the duel unfold.

This sense of déjà vu persisted until Rebecca equipped each of her two Millennium Shields with a Magnetic Ring, creating an unassailable defense, and then summoned a Cannon Soldier.

"Th-that combo is!" Sugoroku stood up from her seat in shock. "Rebecca, your full name isn't—"

“Rebecca Hopkins, that’s right, that’s my full name, Sugoroku Muto.” Although she was standing on the dueling platform, Rebecca had already noticed the old man Sugoroku who had come to the side of the platform. “My grandfather is Arthur Hopkins, the one whose Blue-Eyes White Dragon card you stole!”

"I've traveled all the way to Japan to avenge my grandfather and retrieve the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card!"

“Rebecca, actually…” Looking at Rebecca’s eyes filled with hatred, Sogoku wanted to explain something, but she wouldn’t listen.

"Hmph, it's just empty talk anyway, who's going to believe you!" Rebecca confidently summoned [Witch of the Dark Forest] from her hand again. "If you want to convince me, defeat me in a duel first!"

"Activate the effect of my [Cannon Soldier] to send [Witch of the Dark Forest] to the graveyard, dealing 500 damage to you!"

Without a shred of pity, Rebecca sacrificed her monsters and loaded them into the Cannon Soldier. With a deafening roar, a cannonball easily bypassed the Dark Magician on the field, instantly wiping out 500 of his Life Points.

[Game: 4000 → 3500 LP]

"First, you block attacks, then you release monsters to reduce their life points, and then you use monsters whose effects trigger when sent to the Graveyard to retrieve cards from your deck. Is this your strategy, Rebecca!" Yugi frowned. "Your monsters are crying!"

"Hmph, Duel Monsters don't feel pain."

Rebecca didn't care about her actions. In her view, as long as she could win, it didn't matter how the monster cards were treated during the duel.

This isn't the first time we've seen this attitude in the game. Keith, Pegasus—are all American-style duelists like this?

Then, to Hayato's speechless surprise, the game summoned the invincible [Ejector Turtle], which used [Brainwashing] to free Rebecca's [Millennium Shield], successfully breaking Rebecca's attack blockade.

As for the other [Millennium Shield], although its massive 3000-point attack power was indeed impressive, the game quickly countered with a [Magic Spellbook]. This mysterious spellbook, which even made [Dark Magician Girl] blush, was opened by [Dark Magician Girl] with a blank expression; she simply increased her attack power to 3200 points and smashed the [Millennium Shield] to pieces with a single blow.

In the blink of an eye, Rebecca's damage-dealing team composition was easily countered by the game, much to her annoyance. Meanwhile, the old man, Sugoroku, still hadn't given up on trying to persuade Rebecca, but she remained unmoved.

"It's been so noisy since the beginning, Sugoroku Mutou!" Rebecca glared angrily at the old man Sugoroku outside the arena. "Yes, it's true that my grandfather's unique insights into archaeology haven't been understood by the public, but you're just an ordinary colleague!"

"How could such an ordinary relationship possibly lead Grandpa to give you a card like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon? So, you must have stolen it!"

Rebecca said, drawing a card from her deck: "I want to win, all I need is victory, nothing else matters!"

"Activate the Spell Card, [Judgment Bomber]! Discard five cards from your hand, then destroy all monsters on the field!"

Rebecca activated a "Black Hole" card that had a built-in graveyard effect, successfully clearing all the monsters on the field at once. In return, she sent five monsters from her hand to the graveyard, leaving her with only one card in her hand.

“Then, I’m going to summon Shadow Ghoul! Its ATK increases based on the number of monster cards in my Graveyard!” Rebecca said with a smile as she triumphantly summoned her last monster. “I have eleven monsters in my Graveyard, so Shadow Ghoul’s ATK will rise to 2700. I’ve got this in the bag!”

[Game: 3500 → 800 LP]

Yugi sighed and looked at Rebecca: "So, all this time you've been sending monsters to the graveyard just to increase the attack power of [Shadow Ghoul]?"

"Hmph, it's too late now, Yugi Muto!"

“That’s not it, Rebecca… In Duel Monsters, the most important thing is to have faith in the cards,” Yugi drew a card from the top of his deck. “Don’t you think it’s excessive to keep sending cards to the graveyard just to boost a monster’s attack power?”

Hayato glanced at the game with a puzzled look: 'Why do I suddenly feel like this thing is hinting at something?'

"Are you an idiot? A duel is a duel. There's no need for any 'heart.' As long as you win, you're a true duelist!" Rebecca waved her hand impatiently. "I have no interest in your nonsense. If you want to lecture me, wait until you defeat me!"

Next, Yugi activated the [Light-Sealing Sword] he had just drawn, delaying Rebecca's attack. He didn't activate any other cards, but simply used [Monster Resurrection] to revive [Dark Magician] and kept drawing cards, as if he had some winning card in his deck.

"Hmph, using the [Light-Sealing Sword] to block attacks and then waiting for the cards to turn the tide? Muda muda muda, my [Shadow Ghoul] is invincible! After this turn, you will face defeat, Yugi Muto!"

Anzu looked at Yugi with some worry: "Yugi, will he be able to draw the card he's waiting for?"

"We can definitely do it, it's just a game after all," Jonouchi said firmly. "Don't lose to that arrogant brat, it's a game!"

Amid cheers, the game drew a card. But after drawing the card, he didn't add it to his hand; instead, he glanced at his grandfather, Sugoroku, outside the arena. The grandfather and grandson nodded in tacit understanding, everything unspoken.

Amidst the surprised gazes of the others, Yugi placed the card he had just drawn back into the deck: "I concede."

"Admit defeat?!"

“Yes. Rebecca, you won.” Yugi said with a smile, looking at Rebecca who was jumping up excitedly on the dueling platform opposite him.

Rebecca was overjoyed to receive confirmation from the game. The dueling platform had barely returned to its original position when she jumped down impatiently, ran to Sugoroku Muto, and proudly extended her hand: "I'm the victor! I beat Yugi Muto! So, hand over the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, you thief Sugoroku Muto!"