Chapter 44: Following the President to Check the Water Meter

Yuxuan silently observed the duel, resting his chin in his hand as he pondered.

This was Seto Kaiba's dueling style eight years after the DM era, and it basically represented the ceiling-level standard among all known duelists in the current trading card world.

Throughout the GX anime, the President never directly fought a duel himself. The only thing close to it was that duel between Judai and "Kaibaman, the Ally of Justice." However, that felt more like a card spirit conjured by Kaiba in his own image, and Judai lost that match anyway, making it hard to tell how serious Kaiba actually was.

Using the duel right before his eyes as a reference, it was no wonder everyone in the dueling world currently hailed Kaiba as the supreme duelist of the era. Setting aside his signature "drawing from the floor" technique, the sheer power of his Blue-Eyes deck was already generations ahead of the curve, operating in a completely different aesthetic from everyone else.

Even the core companions of the GX protagonist group in the early arcs had just barely moved out of the "I play one, you play one" era, yet they were still stuck at the stage where "summoning a two-thousand-attack monster on the first turn" was considered impressive. In the early episodes, even Judai's duels frequently consisted of starting with a vanilla monster and ending his turn without setting a single card. Moreover, the students at Duel Academia were already considered top-tier duelists in the broader environment.

In comparison, the President's display was a complete dimensional downgrade.

Indeed, having wealth and technology was wonderful; doing his own research and printing his own cards meant his deck naturally marched at the absolute forefront of the times. Or rather, it would have been utterly unreasonable if someone like Kaiba—a cheat code with virtually limitless resources—was still on the same level as everyone else in the general environment after all these years.

"He won! Just as expected of big brother... Though it's hardly surprising." Mokuba smiled, rubbed his nose, and trotted over to Kaiba.

Having finally satisfied his craving for a duel, the President turned his gaze toward Yuxuan.

"Fujiki Yuxuan... right?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I have something to say to you, but first, I need to deal with this rat."

Yuxuan raised an eyebrow.

*You have something to say to me?*

*Hiss~ Could it be that he wants to challenge me to a duel?*

Considering it was President Kaiba, that might actually be a distinct possibility. Perhaps he was still displeased after seeing Yuxuan thrash his AI at the KaibaLand facility, or maybe he simply had an itch to play cards.

Yuxuan thought for a moment, reasoning that if it really came to that, it wasn't a death match, so a duel was fine. There was nothing to lose even if he couldn't win. He could even consider charging a companion fee—one rare card per match. If by some sheer stroke of luck he managed to win one round, he might directly achieve financial freedom in terms of rare cards...

At this moment, Kaiba's entourage from the helicopter had also descended. Some of them hoisted up Fujimoto, who had been blasted unconscious by the breath attack of the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Fujimoto laborately opened his eyes, adjusted to the dazzling sunlight, and then blinked in a daze.

"Eh? I'm still alive..."

"I have no use for the life of a rat like you." Kaiba crossed his arms and said coldly, "Valuable though your life isn't, you possess something I want."

Clearly, his new Duel Disk not only gave actual physical mass to the solid-vision projections of duel monsters, but could also adjust its energy output. He had limited the output to a non-lethal threshold, showing mercy and sparing Fujimoto's life.

"I know your organization has a hideout. Tell me the location," Kaiba stated coldly.

Fujimoto had recovered his breath by now. He gritted his teeth and let out a scoff. "Hoh, so that was your objective all along. You want me to betray the organization? Pah! Everyone in the organization is my brother, my family, we're all as close as hand and foot..."

Following that, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Kaiba's cold smirk, which appeared somewhat eerie to him.

In a trance, he seemed to see a phantom giant shadow rising behind Kaiba, transforming into the image of a soaring white dragon, and a terrifying pressure made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

Before his eyes, it was as if the final moment of the duel replayed, where he had been blasted senseless by an output of thirteen thousand five hundred points, and his entire body was still burning with pain...

Fujimoto shrunk his neck, not daring to meet Kaiba's gaze. "...Actually, we weren't that close."

He suddenly thought about it carefully and realized that his truly best buddy in the organization was only Ryuzuka anyway. Since Ryuzuka had already kicked the bucket, his relationship with the rest of them was genuinely average.

Pondering this, Fujimoto felt considerably more at ease.

As the saying goes: the man is the cleaver and I am the fish. It wasn't that he was selling out his comrades; it was simply that this Seto Kaiba was cheating and acting inhuman, leaving him with no other choice. He was sure his comrades would understand.

"I can tell you the address," he said.

"No need," Kaiba waved a hand grandly. "Lead the way."

Fujimoto gasped: "!"

Given this attitude, was he actually expected to lead Kaiba there personally?

Fujimoto immediately began to sweat profusely. Revealing intelligence was one thing, but personally acting as a guide to bring the enemy to their doorstep was an entirely different matter.

"What?" Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Any objections?"

"No... none at all."

Fujimoto struggled to his feet.

At that moment, he felt as though his battle-hardened legs... were uncontrollably trembling.

"I'm coming too!"

Mokuba caught up to his older brother, let out an "ah" as he remembered something, and turned to look at Yuxuan.

"Sorry, it looks like we'll be delayed a little longer before I can take you to the corporation. Would you mind waiting a bit longer, or I can arrange for a driver to take you to our branch office first..."

"It's fine, I'm not in a hurry," Yuxuan waved his hand.

Given this rare opportunity, he naturally wouldn't miss out on front-row seat to watch the drama unfold. Especially since he had just realized that Fujimoto targeting Tyranno Kenzan seemed to be due to some unknown misunderstanding, while his actual target should have been himself...

Speaking of which, that fellow Kenzan had really run off fast; the moment the President blinked during the duel, the guy was already gone.

Although this organization didn't seem to realize who had actually killed their brethren, they were still a potential hazard. Since Kaiba happened to be planning a home raid to clean them out, wiping out this group would undoubtedly eliminate a hidden danger for him as well.

Thus, Yuxuan and Mokuba continued to chat and laugh as they followed behind Kaiba to investigate the organization's hideout.

...

After a dozen minutes of travel.

The same secluded alleyway, the same mysterious bar.

Fujimoto reappeared inside the bar with a pale complexion, taking a seat by the counter with a vacant expression like a dead man.

His parting-line-hair good buddy sat down next to him, eyeing his expression. "What's wrong? You look like someone in your family just died."

Fujimoto turned his head expressionlessly to look at the family he was supposedly as close to as hand and foot.

"Not yet, but it should be soon."

The parting-line hair: "?"

"Didn't you go find Ryuzuka for revenge? How did it go?"

Fujimoto shook his head with the same vacant expression.

"I ran into Seto Kaiba."

The surrounding brothers were startled upon hearing this and gathered around.

"No way, seriously awesome! Did you guys duel?"

"Is he really as strong as the rumors say?"

Fujimoto shook his head again.

"You guys will find out soon enough," he said numbly.

"He's waiting right outside for you all to come out."

The crowd: "?"

The next instant, a loud crash echoed as the door was violently kicked open from the outside.

Amidst everyone's shocked gazes, Kaiba strode into the center of the bar with a grand bearing, his Duel Disk unfolding with a clatter.

"Come forth, rats. It's time to duel!"