Kira quietly watched the duel, chin in hand, deep in thought.
This was Seto Kaiba's duel, eight years after DM, now at the pinnacle of the known dueling world.
In GX, Kaiba never dueled directly, except for Jaden vs. Kaibaman—which was more like a card spirit, and Jaden lost, so it's unclear how serious Kaiba was.
Based on this duel, no wonder everyone calls Kaiba today's number one duelist. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novelꞁire.net
Setting aside his unique floor draw technique, his Blue-Eyes deck is leagues ahead of the era.
Even the GX protagonists are still just moving out of "you play one, I play one" territory, thinking summoning a 2000-ATK monster on the first turn is amazing.
Kaiba's play is on a different dimension.
Money and tech matter—a Kaiba with limitless resources will be ahead.
If he wasn't, that would be strange.
"I knew my brother would win. Not surprising," Mokuba said, wiping his nose and approaching Kaiba.
After satisfying his dueling urge, Kaiba turned to Kira.
"Fujiki Kira, right?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"I have something to say, but I need to deal with the rat problem first."
Kira raised an eyebrow.
Something to say to me?
Is he challenging me to a duel?
Given it's Kaiba, maybe!
Maybe he's annoyed about me beating his AI in Kaiba Land, or maybe he just wants to duel.
Kira figured if it's just a regular duel, why not? Maybe he could even get a rare card as a fee.
Kaiba's entourage disembarked from the helicopter, dragging the KO'd Fujimoto up.
Fujimoto blinked at the sunlight, dazed.
"Eh? I'm still alive?"
"Killing you is pointless," Kaiba said coldly. "You have something I want, more valuable than your life."
Kaiba's new duel disk could give solid holograms and adjust output to non-lethal levels. He'd held back.
"I know you have a hideout. Give me the location," Kaiba demanded.
Fujimoto recovered and gritted his teeth. "Heh, so that's your aim. Want me to betray my organization?
The members are my brothers, my family—"
He caught Kaiba's cold smile and imagined a phantom white dragon looming behind him, terrifying pressure making him gasp.
He remembered being blasted by 13,500 damage just now—his whole body still ached.
Fujimoto looked away. "...Actually, we're not that close."
Thinking about it, his only real friend was Genichiro, and he was already gone.
So, he felt less guilty.
He had no choice—Kaiba is a cheat. His teammates would understand.
"I can tell you the address," he said.
"No need. Lead the way," Kaiba ordered with a wave.
He had to lead them there himself?
Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Any objections?"
Fujimoto stood up, legs trembling.
"I'll go too," Mokuba said, then turned to Kira.
"Sorry, it'll be a bit before I can take you to the company. Want to wait, or I can have a driver take you?"
"No rush," Kira waved.
He wouldn't miss the chance to watch this unfold.
He also realized Fujimoto's target was probably him, not Rex Raptor.
Rex had run off during Kaiba's duel.
This organization didn't know who killed their brothers, but it was a loose end. Kaiba raiding their base would remove a threat.
So, Kira joined Kaiba's group on the raid.
Same hidden alley, same mysterious bar.
Fujimoto, pale as a ghost, sat at the bar, dazed.
His friend with the parted hair sat beside him. "What's wrong? You look like someone died."
Fujimoto turned blankly. "Not yet, but soon."
"Didn't you go after Rex Raptor for revenge? How'd it go?"
Fujimoto shook his head.
"I ran into Seto Kaiba."
The others were shocked.
"You dueled him? Is he as strong as they say?"
Fujimoto shook his head.
"You'll see soon enough."
"He's waiting outside for you."
The next moment, the door was kicked open.
Kaiba strode in, duel disk unfolding.
"Come on, rats. Duel!"