Chapter 15: Waking the Giant... Ah, No, There's Only One Way to Get Onboard.
Entering the [Quests] module, Hayato's first feeling was one of emptiness.
Compared to the dense feeling of the [Achievements] and [Shop] modules, the [Inventory] and [Quests] modules felt closer. On the massive screen, only two quests hung there all alone in the [Task List]———
[Main Quest: Across the Sea Lies the Enemy]
[As a Duelist, how can you miss this grand event that is about to be held? Find a way to board the Cruise Ship heading to Duelist Kingdom 0/1]
[Reward Preview: 1000 DP, R-Rank Card Pack * 1]
And
[Side Quest: Preparation is Key]
[Even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice. Collect powerful Cards to strengthen yourself! Collect Cards 0/20 (R-Rank and above)]
[Reward Preview: 1000 DP]
The two quests hung in the [Quests] module, looking quite laid-back. There were only rewards, no strange or weird penalties, which touched Hayato a little——— Systems that punish at the drop of a hat can crawl away, a laid-back System like this is true civilization.
However———
Looking at the Main Quest [Across the Sea Lies the Enemy], Hayato fell into thought.
There was no need to think too hard; "Duelist Kingdom" referred precisely to the island where Pegasus, the President of Industrial Illusions and also the inventor of Duel Monsters Cards, was located. That place was the setting for the story of the first major plot arc of "Yu-Gi-Oh!", the "Duelist Kingdom arc".
After Yugi defeated Kaiba, he was targeted by Pegasus, who used a Shadow Game to seal Solomon Muto's Soul, forcing Yugi to go to Duelist Kingdom. Of course, the current "Millennium Hostage", Grandpa Sugoroku, hadn't been sealed yet, as even Yugi and Kaiba's first Duel hadn't begun.
The problem Hayato was thinking about was this———in the original plot, only Mutou Yuugi was invited. Whether it was his companions Anzu and Honda, or Jonouchi who also wanted to participate in the competition, they all actually snuck onto the ship. Moreover, after arriving at Duelist Kingdom, one needed to collect Stars to qualify for Dueling Pegasus. Jonouchi and Yugi were even forced to split their only two Stars back then.
If he wanted to, he could certainly sneak onto the ship with Jonouchi and the others, but the biggest problem would still be after getting onto Duelist Kingdom. Unless he planned to be a mere spectator like Honda and Anzu, Hayato would have to face the predicament of Yugi not having enough Stars to share.
Yugi needed to get his Grandpa back, and Jonouchi was trying to raise money for his sister's surgery. Hayato couldn't possibly use "I want to play Cards" to take away their qualification to participate, could he?
Hitching a ride on Yugi's ticket seemed unfeasible for now. So, there was only one method left for Hayato———that was for Hayato himself to obtain an invitation spot in order to board the Cruise Ship.
But while thinking about it was simple, doing it was not simple at all. The Duel tournament Pegasus planned to hold this time had a lot of his effort poured into it, precisely to boost the popularity of Duel Monsters as much as possible. Therefore, the strength of every participant shouldn't be underestimated, because being invited to the island itself meant they were people valued by Pegasus.
Although Hayato considered his own strength to be quite good, the biggest problem was that he didn't have even a shred of fame right now. Although Pegasus had the Millennium Eye, he wasn't Professor X; he couldn't see through Hayato's strength from halfway across the globe, let alone send him an invitation.
As for challenging other famous Duelists? Perhaps it had some feasibility, but there were two biggest problems. First was time; gaining enough fame before Pegasus finalized the invitation list was simply too difficult. Second, Hayato simply didn't know the locations of other star Duelists.
Although various Duel Monsters matches were often shown on TV, he couldn't possibly fly there every time a match was held just to find a star Duelist and then tell them, "I want to challenge you," right? Who would know you, a nobody?
Gaining fame might not be feasible, but ultimately, the matter of the invitation list itself was decided by Pegasus himself. Perhaps he could...
Hayato was thinking about something in his heart when suddenly, Honda, who was standing in front of him, was pushed aside, also snapping Hayato back to reality. With a thought, he made the System screen disappear.
Not only had his intention to purchase been rejected several times in a row, but he had also been held up and lectured with a long string of nonsense. Kaiba's face was quite terrible at this moment. In his bad mood, looking at the Cards that KaibaCorp's people had just collected in his briefcase only filled him with immense annoyance.
Putting away the case by himself, Kaiba, with a gloomy face, pushed aside the bothersome Jonouchi and was about to walk out.
"Farewell!" Although he still bid farewell politely, the unrest in this "farewell" was something anyone could hear.
"Bang!"
The door was heavily slammed shut, and the sound of a car engine starting from outside told everyone that Kaiba had left.
"What an annoying guy, did you see that just now? He looked down on people like he was sniffing them." Jonouchi complained. "And he has to take a car just to leave? What airs is he putting on?"
It was already pretty good that he was willing to honestly take ground transportation, at least it wasn't a Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet.
What Yugi was focused on wasn't Kaiba's attitude, but the inner thoughts Kaiba had unintentionally revealed just now: "Kaiba-kun, it seems he views Cards as tools."
"Truly important Cards have Souls residing within them."
Yugi's words suddenly made Hayato think of something. After the Duel with Yugi just now, during his final Turn's Draw Phase, he seemed to have felt something from the Card.
Compared to Yugi and the others who didn't truly understand the power of Duel Monsters yet, Hayato knew that Souls indeed resided within Cards, but the Cards themselves were also truly symbols of power.
Yugi was not wrong in viewing Cards as symbols of the Soul, and Kaiba was actually not wrong in believing that Cards were power, because Soul and power have never been in conflict; instead, they have always been mutually complementary.
However, Yugi and the others just didn't know the power of Cards yet, while Kaiba refused to accept that Souls could reside within Cards.
"That guy seems to have gone astray a bit. It really makes one worry about what he might do," Hayato, who knew the later plot, hinted, reminding them.
He did know that later Kaiba would find someone to take Solomon Muto away and then force him into a Duel wagering the [Blue-Eyes White Dragon]. Solomon Muto originally wanted to use his Mind Communication with his Deck to awaken Kaiba, but he ended up being scared by the giant Duel Monsters projected by KaibaCorp's Virtual Imaging Technology, and was even urgently sent to the Hospital.
But he couldn't say it out loud, because he had no evidence to prove that Kaiba would do that. He also didn't have the [Millennium Necklace] to make a Prophecy under the guise of "seeing the future". All he could do was give this kind of indirect reminder, so that Solomon Muto would be a little careful not to be kidnapped.
However, considering Ji-chan's nickname, [Millennium Hostage], the development of events would most likely still be the same as the original.
(End of Chapter)