Chapter 231: The Second Way to Obtain a Duel Disk...
Hayato and Kaiba raided a Ghouls base disguised as a card shop yesterday. It wasn't a coincidence that a nearby card shop was sealed; Hayato had specifically sought out this one.
If Hayato hadn't gotten Kaiba to shut down this card shop, according to the original timeline, Joey Wheeler and Yugi Mutou would have come here to get their Duel Disks. And according to the level Kaiba assigned Joey Wheeler out of malicious fun, he wouldn't have been able to get a Duel Disk at all, but due to the shop manager's actions, Joey Wheeler's level was temporarily modified, and he obtained a Duel Disk.
However, that wasn't a good thing either, because the shop manager was actually a Ghoul. He didn't help Joey Wheeler out of good intentions, but because he was after the Rare Card in his Deck—Red-Eyes Black Dragon. He would have been targeted and defeated by a Ghoul Rare Card Hunter, lost Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and fallen into dejection.
That's how it was supposed to happen.
However, Hayato prevented this possibility from ever appearing.
"Of all the places, this is the only card shop around here," Téa Gardner said, looking through the Domino City map saved on her phone. "Besides this one, the closest one is five kilometers away, ugh."
"That's way too far. By the time we get there, they'll probably be out of stock, right?" Tristan Taylor estimated the time it would take to get there. "We were planning to take it easy since it was so close to home."
Just as the group was feeling troubled, Hayato pointed towards a street corner. "Hey, it looks like you can get Duel Disks over there."
"Huh? Isn't this the only KaibaCorp-certified card shop around here?" Joey Wheeler looked doubtfully in the direction Hayato was pointing, and found that beside a stall on the side of the street, there was indeed a banner hung up. It had a lot of small text on it, but the words "Duel Disk" were printed in the largest font size.
"Hello, excuse me, can Duel Disks be purchased here?"
A young boy was boredly slumped over the stall in front of the banner. Yugi Mutou, who was good at using his height to close the distance (physically) with children, walked up and asked.
The little boy didn't even lift his head. While fiddling with a Monster Dragon Gate Dice action figure in his hand, he said weakly, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we have Duel Disks here. They're genuine KaibaCorp Duel Disks, and they're free."
As he spoke, he looked up at Yugi Mutou impatiently. "Seriously, aren't the conditions already written on the side? Always asking, asking, asking. This great one is supposed to become the next King of Games, so why am I being sent to do this kind of stuff every day..."
As he spoke, the boy's voice grew weaker and weaker. His jaw dropped, and his eyes were full of surprise as he looked at Yugi Mutou and Hayato. "Y-y-y-you, you're the King of Games?! Yugi Mutou, and Mr. Hayato!"
Sweeping away his previous tired appearance, the little boy quickly pulled out paper and a pen from under the table and placed them in front of the stall. His eyes, looking at the two of them, were full of little stars.
Meanwhile, Joey Wheeler, standing nearby, looked at the five or six-year-old boy in front of him with some dissatisfaction. "What the heck? I was a Top 4 competitor in the Duelist Kingdom too, so why does nobody ever recognize me?!"
"You, you must be Jounouchi Katsuya, right?" To Joey Wheeler's surprise, the little boy actually said his name. "A Top 4 competitor in the Duelist Kingdom. Looking at you, you shouldn't be Samejima Iemitsu, so you must be Jounouchi Katsuya, right?"
Just moments ago, he had an unhappy expression, but after hearing the little boy's words, when Tristan turned his head to look at Joey Wheeler beside him again, he found that this smug guy was actually striking a cool pose with his hands in his pockets, adopting the stance of a peerless master as he spoke to the little boy:
"Ah, I was seen through after all. That's right, I am indeed the Top 4 competitor of the Duelist Kingdom, the legendary Duelist who brought a tough fight to the King of Games—Jounouchi Katsuya. Young man, my autograph won't wait around, you know~"
Who knew, the little boy actually rolled his eyes at Joey Wheeler. "Who would want your autograph? Everyone except first place is last place! Your name, as a Top 4 competitor, nobody would remember it unless my older brother mentioned you often!"
"You annoying kid!" Joey Wheeler's daily attempt to show off failed. He never expected that the fan he thought he had would be the one who looked down on him the most, and that line was exactly the same as Rebecca's.
If it weren't for the kid in front of him having black hair and speaking Japanese quite fluently, Joey Wheeler would have actually thought he was Rebecca's younger brother.
"Hahaha, I'm dying here, Joey Wheeler, hahahaha." Joey Wheeler's good friend, Tristan , mocked him from the side. "Your expression just now, it's a shame I didn't bring my camera, otherwise I'd definitely take a picture and appreciate it properly, hahahaha."
" Tristan , you bastard!" Joey Wheeler slapped Tristan 's shoulder hard, looking very angry, but after so many years of being friends, Tristan knew Joey Wheeler well and wasn't scared of him at all, continuing to laugh.
The little boy looked at Tristan again. "You're Tristan ? Heh heh, just like my older brother said, you're really cut from the same mold as Joey Wheeler, just as idiotic and foolish."
"You kid!" This time, Tristan was the one who got angry. Of course, Joey Wheeler wouldn't miss the opportunity to mock him back, but he didn't even realize that the little boy's words just now had included him in the insult.
Tristan said irritably, "You bastard, your words are really annoying! And just which bastard is your older brother? Make sure I don't catch him."
"Heh heh, Tristan , you idiot, what if this great one appears before you?" A familiar voice came from behind the group, and a familiar arrogant smiling face appeared in their line of sight.
"It's you!?"
The blue school uniform he usually wore was taken off and replaced with a dark blue suit. Holding two cups of milk tea in his hand, he placed them on the table. Manjoume Shouji smugly swept back his bangs. "It is I, Manjoume Shouji. What's wrong? Do you have an opinion on this great one's evaluation of you?"
"I have a big opinion," Tristan said unhappily, clenching his fists until his knuckles cracked.
But Manjoume Shouji wasn't afraid of Tristan 's threat of force at all, saying contemptuously, "Hmph, vulgar fellow. Only barbarians like you would rely on force to solve everything nowadays."
As he spoke, Manjoume Shouji raised his left hand. A Duel Disk plated in gold appeared before the group. "Look closely, you commoners. This is a Duel Disk released by KaibaCorp. I bet you've never seen—"
Seeing the two Duel Disks worn by Hayato and Yugi Mutou, which weren't gold but looked like a higher grade than his own, Manjoume Shouji decisively changed the topic. "The most popular thing now is playing the game of Duel Monsters using Duel Disks! This is the best way to resolve most conflicts!"
"Tch, who would duel a rookie like you?" Joey Wheeler said disdainfully, pointing his thumb at his chest. "This great one is a Top 4 competitor from the Duelist Kingdom. According to that guy Kaiba's rules, even if I'm not top tier, I should at least meet the conditions for receiving a Duel Disk, right?"
"Ho ho, you remind me of something quite interesting, Joey Wheeler." Manjoume Shouji suddenly laughed as if he had remembered something interesting. "You probably don't know this, but because the Manjoume Group and KaibaCorp had quite pleasant cooperation on the last Duel Field order, this time, the Duel Disks were also production of the Manjoume Group."
"When I was doing the data entry, I had nothing to do, so I took a look at the Duelist Levels defined by KaibaCorp. Joey Wheeler, do you know what your level is?"
"There are 12 Stars in total, and you're actually the lowest level, 1 Star! And compared to others who just have a level, you actually have a 'Normal Monster' suffix! Even my younger brother, an elementary school student, is stronger than you, hahahaha."
Joey Wheeler was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood what was going on. "That bastard Kaiba!"
As for tampering with the database, if it were a hacker, nobody would be so idle as to hack into KaibaCorp just to humiliate Joey Wheeler. So, the only answer could be Kaiba's malicious fun.
"With a level of only 1 Star, let alone receiving a Duel Disk for free, you don't even have the qualification to purchase one with money. By the way, my Duelist Level is exactly LV6." As he spoke, Manjoume Shouji even shook the Duel Disk in his hand.
His eyes were dazzled by the reflected light. Hayato looked speechlessly at Manjoume's younger brother, who was asking for his autograph on the side. "You don't have it easy either, Manjoume little friend."
"Mr. Hayato, I'm already five years old this year, don't treat me like a three or four-year-old kid. Also, I have a name, I'm called Manjoume Jun. Please remember this name, Mr. Hayato, because I will defeat you and become the next King of Games!"
"Manjoume Jun, hmm, I've remembered that name." Hayato nodded with a smile, confirming that the kid in front of him was indeed the "Ichijyu Hyakusen" Manjoume Thunder from future GX. However, the current "Mr. Manjoume" was just a kid.
"However, defeating me won't be easy," Hayato said, stroking Manjoume Jun's hair. "Your older brother said you have a Duelist Level too?"
"Heh heh, don't be too surprised when I tell you, Mr. Hayato," Manjoume Jun said smugly. "In the Domino City Elementary School Duelist Tournament, I defeated countless guys older than me and took second place!"
"And because of that, my Duelist Level is 3 Stars." At this point, Manjoume complained annoyedly, "It's all that Jellyfish Head who got first place's fault! I was only 1 Star away from being able to participate in Duel City. It was a rare opportunity to duel without having to study..."
"Do you like dueling that much?" Manjoume Jun looked very downcast. Hayato wondered if that was also why he had been slumped over the table so dejectedly just now.
"Yeah, dueling is super interesting, isn't it? And after a duel victory, lots of girls adore me."
"Haha, you bastard, I didn't expect you to mature already," Hayato said, laughing and lightly patting Manjoume Jun's head. He called out to Manjoume Shouji, who was still arguing with Joey Wheeler and Tristan . "Hey, Manjoume."
"It's Mr. Manjoume! What do you want, Kobayashi Hayato?"
Hayato took his Deck from the card box on his waist and inserted it into his Duel Disk. The automatic shuffle feature surprised Manjoume Shouji a little. "Didn't you say everything can be solved with a duel? I have a plan."
Kobayashi, the Domino Idea King, Hayato was back online. He pointed to the boxes of Duel Disks on the side. "The stake will be those Duel Disks over there. This is an opportunity to challenge the King of Games, you want to show off in front of your younger brother, right?"
Noticing Manjoume Jun's eyes full of expectation, Manjoume Shouji confidently swept back his hair, drew his Deck, performed a manual shuffle, and then placed it into his Duel Disk, letting it perform automatic deployment. "Heh heh, let's consider this our revenge match from back then. I'm also looking forward to defeating you, Kobayashi Hayato."
"Duel!" X2