Chapter 15: Awakening the Giant... wait, no, there's only one way to get on the ship.
Entering the Quest Module, Hayato's first feeling was how spacious it was.
Compared to the dense feeling of the Achievement and Shop Modules, the Inventory and Quest Modules felt more similar. Across the vast Screen, the Quest list only had two Quests hanging there, looking rather lonely —
[Main Quest: Enemies Across the Sea]
[As a Duelist, how can you miss this grand event that is about to begin? Find a way to board the Cruise Ship to Duelist Kingdom 0/1]
[Reward Preview: 1000 DP, Rare Card Pack *1]
And
[Side Quest: To Do Good Work]
[Even the cleverest housewife cannot make a meal without rice. Collect powerful Cards to Enhance yourself! Collect Cards 0/20 (Rare or above)]
[Reward Preview: 1000 DP]
The two Quests hung in the Quest Module with a relaxed, almost Zen-like attitude. There were only Rewards, with no strange penalties, which moved Hayato somewhat — Systems that punish at the drop of a hat can crawl away; such laid-back Systems are the true way forward.
However —
Looking at the Main Quest, "Enemies Across the Sea," Hayato pondered.
Without needing to think much, "Duelist Kingdom" referred to the island where Pegasus, the CEO of Industrial Illusions and the inventor of the Duel Monsters Card Game, resided. That was the setting for the first major arc of *Yu-Gi-Oh*, the "Duelist Kingdom Arc."
After Yugi defeated Kaiba, Pegasus set his sights on him, using 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 Match hadn't begun.
The question Hayato pondered was — in the original plot, only Yugi was invited. His companions, Téa and Tristan, and even Joey, who also wanted to participate in the Match, all stowed away on the ship. Moreover, after arriving at Duelist Kingdom, one needed to collect Stars to qualify for a Duel with Pegasus. Joey and Yugi were even forced to split their only two Stars.
Of course, Hayato could sneak onto the ship with Joey and the others, but the biggest problem would still be after arriving at Duelist Kingdom. Unless he planned to be a mere bystander like Tristan and Téa, Hayato would inevitably face the dilemma of Yugi not having enough Stars to share.
Yugi needed to win back his Grandpa, and Joey needed to raise money for his sister's surgery. Hayato couldn't possibly take away their qualifications by saying "I just want to Duel," could he?
Hitching a ride with Yugi's ticket currently seemed unfeasible. That left Hayato with only one option — for Hayato himself to secure an invitation, allowing him to board the Cruise Ship.
But while it sounded simple, doing it was far from easy. The Duel tournament Pegasus intended to hold was something he poured a lot of heart into, precisely to boost the popularity of Duel Monsters as much as possible. Therefore, the strength of each participant could not be underestimated, because being invited to the island itself meant that Pegasus valued them.
Although Hayato believed his own strength was quite good, the biggest problem was that he currently had no fame whatsoever. While Pegasus possessed the Millennium Eye, he wasn't Professor X; he couldn't see through Hayato's strength from halfway across the globe, much less send him an invitation.
As for challenging other famous Duelists? That might be somewhat feasible, but there were two major problems. First was time; gaining enough fame before Pegasus finalized the invitation list was simply too difficult. Second, Hayato had no idea where the other celebrity Duelists were located.
Although various Duel Monsters Matches were often broadcast on TV, he couldn't fly to a Match every time, find a celebrity Duelist, and say, "I challenge you," could he? Who would recognize an unknown nobody like him?
Gaining fame might be out of the question, but ultimately, the invitation list itself was decided by Pegasus. Perhaps he could...
Hayato was thinking about something in his mind when suddenly, Tristan, who was standing in front of him, was pushed aside, snapping Hayato back to attention, and his thoughts controlled the System's Screen to disappear.
Having been rejected several times in his attempts to buy Cards, and then being held up with a long, rambling lecture, Kaiba's face was quite grim at this moment. In a bad mood, he felt nothing but annoyance looking at the Cards his KaibaCorp subordinates had just collected in his briefcase.
Self-absorbed, Kaiba put away his case, pushed aside the obstructive Joey with a sullen face, and headed for the door.
"Farewell!" Although he still bid farewell politely, the unrest in that "farewell" was evident to anyone.
*Bang!*
The door slammed shut, and the sound of a car engine starting outside told everyone that Kaiba had left.
"What an unpleasant guy, did you see him just now? He looked down on everyone," Joey complained. "And he takes a car just to leave the house, putting on such airs."
It was already pretty good that he was willing to sit in ground transportation; at least it wasn't a Blue-Eyes White Dragon jet.
Yugi's focus wasn't on Kaiba's attitude, but on the mind Kaiba had inadvertently revealed: "Kaiba, it seems, views Cards as mere tools."
"Truly important Cards have a heart residing within them."
Yugi's words made Hayato suddenly recall something. After his Duel with Yugi, 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, Hayato knew that a heart indeed resided within Cards, but Cards themselves were also symbols of power.
Yugi, who regarded Cards as symbols of the heart, was not wrong. Kaiba, who believed Cards were merely power, was also not wrong, because the heart and power had never been in conflict; rather, they had always complemented each other.
However, Yugi and his friends just hadn't realized the power of Cards yet, while Kaiba refused to accept that a heart could be entrusted to Cards.
"That guy seems to have gone a bit astray, it makes one worry about what he might do," Hayato hinted, knowing the later plot, reminding them.
He knew that later, Kaiba would have Solomon Muto taken away and forced into a Duel wagering the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Solomon Muto intended to use his heart-to-heart communication with his Deck to awaken Kaiba, but was instead startled by the gigantic Duel Monsters projected by KaibaCorp's Solid Vision technology, and was even rushed to the hospital.
But he couldn't say it aloud, because he had no evidence 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 this kind of indirect reminder, to make Solomon Muto a little more careful not to be abducted.
However, considering Grandpa's nickname, "Millennium Hostage," things would most likely still unfold as they originally did.
(end of chapter)