Chapter 93 Kaiba: Blue-Eyes White Dragon has high ATK.
For now, let's shift our gaze away from Keipei, who had a hand full of Weak Monsters and didn't know who would be better to Summon, and return to Hayato.
Climbing out of the Tent, stretching comfortably in the early morning light, Hayato and Bakura once again set off on their journey to find opponents.
As for Keipei stealing his Deck and Duel Glove, Hayato had actually anticipated this. After all, in the original timeline, this was how Keipei met Yugi and the others. The only difference was that the one who was stolen from was a Minor Character Yugi and the others didn't know.
Because of this, Hayato had been cautious last night. He only embedded one Star Chip in his Duel Glove, hiding the rest. As for the Deck stored in the Deck Box, aside from stuffing in the Ojama Brothers, it was filled with N-Rank Cards he had phased out.
If things went as expected, Keipei would probably still seek out Yugi and try to eliminate him to disqualify him, right? Hopefully, he'll have some fun using that Vanilla Deck.
Looking at the ten Star Chips in his hand, Hayato embedded them one by one into his glove. The glove Keipei stole was his old one with ten slots; the larger glove with twenty slots was still in Hayato's possession.
"What a refreshing morning. Waking up without hearing the noisy Ojama Monsters is as comfortable as greeting the first day of the new year wearing a new pair of perfectly sized underwear." With a piece of candy in his mouth, Hayato checked his Deck. "I wonder what kind of Duelist I'll run into today?"
Just as Hayato finished speaking, from his behind, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him: "Your name is Hayato Kobayashi, isn't it? And the other one, is Bakura Ryo?"
The unique voice was recognizable even without Hayato turning around. But why was this guy here? Turning around to look at the man behind him, wearing a long trench coat and carrying a briefcase, Hayato greeted him, "Yo, isn't it Seto? Haven't seen you in a while."
"Kaiba? Were you invited to the Island too?" Bakura on the side was a little confused. He didn't remember seeing Kaiba on the boat. If he had come by boat, he should have been the focus of all the Duelists on board.
"Hmph, whether or not I participate in a Match like the Duelist Kingdom doesn't depend on whether Pegasus invited me, but on whether I want to participate." Seto Kaiba said arrogantly. "Instead, you guys aren't staying with Yugi?"
"The Duelist Kingdom invited a considerable number of Duelists to participate. While you can see all sorts of Decks, relatively speaking, there are too many people. That's why Pegasus came up with this Idea." Hayato raised the Duel Glove on his hand. "Collecting Star Chips to qualify. Yugi and I separated because of this."
Kaiba was indeed Kaiba; he immediately understood the purpose of the Star Chips. "Eliminating the weak to select the strong? However, even if weak Novices defeat many Small Fry, it doesn't mean they are qualified to compete on the same stage as Giant Dragons."
That being said, Kaiba secretly took note of Pegasus's move, thinking that if he were to host a large-scale Duel event someday, he could definitely modify Pegasus's Rules and apply them.
"Well, anyway, those are the Rules. To enter Pegasus's Castle, you need to Assemble ten Star Chips." Hayato lowered his arm. "Regardless of what he wants with Pegasus. After all, every Duelist who came to the Island has a Wish riding on their Duel."
"Hmph, those are Pegasus's Rules. Why should I follow them?" Kaiba's Expression was blank. With a cold snort, he started walking towards the Castle. Hayato's meaning was practically laid bare: Kaiba, don't think about running off to the Castle early; collect your Star Chips properly.
And Kaiba's answer was, I won't listen.
"Tch, what an annoying guy." Hayato watched as Kaiba ignored him and walked towards the Castle. Although he knew that even if Kaiba didn't collect ten Star Chips, Pegasus would still let him in to get KaibaCorp, Hayato was still annoyed by it.
"Hey, Seto, Duel me." Hayato called out to Kaiba. "If I didn't know, I might pretend not to. But you're telling me you're going to use Privilege to take a Shortcut right in front of me. I can't just ignore that."
"Hmph, a mere fourth-rate Duelist dares to challenge me? You dare defy me, who possesses the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" Kaiba turned his head with an unpleasant look. The information revealed in his words also made Hayato frown—the plot seemed to have changed?
Hayato remembered that in the original plot, Kaiba was attacked while researching a new type of Duel Disk. Although he eventually escaped, the Deck containing the three Blue-Eyes fell into the hands of Pegasus, who was behind the attackers. That Deck was given by Pegasus to an impersonator pretending to be the "dead" Kaiba, then taken by Yugi for safekeeping, and only later returned to Kaiba.
But now, judging by what Kaiba said, he hadn't even met Yugi yet, so the Blue-Eyes was still in his own hands?
After a brief thought, Hayato also remembered that for some unknown reason in the original plot, Kaiba's briefcase was stuffed with a Box full of random Cards, from Great Moth and Change of Heart to Red-Eyes Black Dragon, everything was there. But despite having room for those Cards, Kaiba didn't carry his own Deck with him, which was truly strange.
But looking at Kaiba's stance now, it was clear that his Blue-Eyes hadn't been lost but was being carried with him.
"It's just Blue-Eyes, that's all. It's not like it's never been Defeated, right? There are Duel Monsters stronger than Blue-Eyes, like Exodia the Forbidden One, Exodia the Forbidden One, and Exodia the Forbidden One." Hayato maliciously provoked Kaiba.
"You! A mere Small Fry dares to be so arrogant. That settles it! I will use my invincible Blue-Eyes to inflict a complete Defeat upon you, so you'll never dare touch Duel Monsters again!" Kaiba's temper flared up instantly, especially after Hayato repeatedly brought up the time Yugi Divine Drew Exodia and crushed him.
The enraged Kaiba took his Deck out of the Box he was carrying. But just as he was about to throw the newly completed Experimental Model Duel Disk to Hayato, he saw that Hayato was already standing in front of a Duel Platform that had risen from the ground not far away.
"I don't want to use that weird-looking Duel Disk. What if you try to cheat or play dirty?" Hayato said, already standing on the Duel Platform's Elevator. "If we're Dueling, we'll use this Duel Platform!"
"Hmph, you fourth-rate Duelist, I, Seto Kaiba, would never do such a thing!" Kaiba said, and also stood opposite Hayato, riding the Elevator up.
'You can never be sure, Seto Kaiba, the guy who jumped off a building,' Hayato thought to himself. Hayato would never admit that the reason he didn't want to use Kaiba's Experimental Duel Disk was because he thought it would be tiring to use.
Anyway, the transition ends here, and it's time for Dueling again. This is also the Protagonist's last Match before entering the Castle.
(End of Chapter)