In the blink of an eye, five days had passed.
Hayato strolled along the roadside in the evening.
Ever since Kaiba announced Battle City, the atmosphere of the entire Domino City had completely changed in just a few days.
The massive influx of outsiders first put Domino City's traffic and housing to the test. However, since KaibaCorp was the event's organizer, the immensely wealthy Kaiba generously spent a fortune, opening up one of KaibaCorp's buildings as pre-arranged accommodation for the Duelists.
Of course, not everyone could enjoy this benefit. Just like how Pegasus's Duelist Kingdom would issue different classes of boat tickets based on past achievements, the building Kaiba opened would arrange different rooms depending on the Duelist's Level.
The minimum requirement to stay in that building was Duel Level 6. In KaibaCorp's database, there were only about a hundred Duelists Level 6 or higher who had obtained a Duel Disk and participated in the Battle City Match.
As for Duelists Level 4 and 5, although they had Duel Disks, they had to arrange their own accommodation. After all, in Kaiba's eyes, Duelists of this Level participating in Battle City were simply making up the numbers.
Hayato had walked all the way from his home and had already seen no fewer than a hundred wandering Duelists around the streets. Tomorrow was the official opening day of Battle City, and to increase their strength as much as possible, most Duelists were doing their best to enhance their Decks' strength.
Buying card packs from card shops, spending large amounts of savings to purchase rare cards, trading cards with others, or even starting duels early using card gambling rules to snatch powerful cards from others.
"Big Bro! Big Bro!" The voice of (Ojama Yellow) came from his ear. Turning his head, he saw a red ribbon with "Effort" written on it tied to its head, and behind it were the other five Ojama Monsters in cheerleading outfits.
A few days ago, during a pack opening, Hayato finally pulled the last Ojama Monster — (Ojama Pink). Just like (Ojama Red) and (Ojama Blue) initially, not long after acquiring (Ojama Pink), Hayato awakened its Card Spirit.
Incidentally, Hayato also acquired several expansion cards for the "Ojama Armed Xyz" hybrid Deck. However, after adding a few new cards, Hayato split the original three-Archetype-in-one Deck back into three separate Decks.
"Big Bro, the Match starts tomorrow! We wish you a triumphant victory, Big Bro!" (Ojama Yellow) ordered the newly joined (Ojama Pink) to wave a flag, then cheered for Hayato with the other Ojama Monsters.
"Triumphant victory! Triumphant victory!"
Hearing these little guys' cheers, Hayato rarely smiled at them. Although he always called them "Fodder Monster" and "Discard," besides (Gaia), (Ojama Yellow) and the others were the ones who had followed Hayato the longest.
All along, it was also thanks to their help that he was able to get to where he was now.
Just as he was about to say a few words of praise, Hayato heard (Ojama Yellow) with a mischievous grin, lowering its voice, but not quite low enough, saying to the other Ojamas: "Hehehe, with us cheering on Big Bro like this, Big Bro must be really touched, ne~"
"What's a (Kuriboh)? What's a (Gaia)? How can they compare to us!"
"It's a sure win! Big Bro's Soul definitely belongs to us!"
"Like hell it does, you idiots!" Hayato listened to the continuous noisy sounds in his ears and impatiently waved his hand, sweeping all of them away. If he was even slightly nice, they'd get noisy. As expected, he couldn't give these annoying little brats a good look.
Ignoring the strange gaze of a passing office worker clutching a briefcase, Hayato dug in his ears and continued walking along the road.
In the past few days, he had been quite busy every day.
During the day, he accompanied Yugi, using the title "King of Games" to attract the flow of Duelists flocking into Domino City to the Kame Game Shop, where they would Duel and adjust their Decks, while also earning some DP Points.
At night, he called upon his "Ally of Justice" Kaiba to scour Domino City for traces of the Rare Hunters. In five days, the two of them had destroyed two more Rare Hunters strongholds and uncovered over twenty Rare Hunters members in total, among whom were even a few arrogant guys who claimed to be executives.
However, with Kaiba and Hayato working together, all these people were caught, and none escaped. They even followed the clues to an underground card factory, destroying the Rare Hunters' fake card industry chain in Domino City in one fell swoop.
Using the data collected at the factory, Kaiba upgraded and improved KaibaCorp's database, successfully enhancing the card identification function of the satellites linked to the Duel Disks. A Piracy Identification Function was added to the original card recognition system, meaning any Rare Hunters' fake cards could now not be used on a Duel Disk.
This made Marik increasingly furious. Every time Hayato and Kaiba defeated Rare Hunters members, he would promptly jump out and make threats.
Speaking of that guy, Marik, it seemed he had given instructions to the Rare Hunters to add a large number of Counter Cards against Kaiba's and Hayato's Decks into their own Decks, which did manage to cause a tiny bit of trouble for their "extermination" efforts.
However, looking at the number of people arrested, one could tell that adding Counter Cards had no impact whatsoever on the final outcome.
As he was thinking, Hayato also arrived at the docks of Domino City. Five days ago, he learned from Marik that he would arrive at Domino City's docks today, five days later. However, Hayato had checked through Kaiba's channels and found that "Marik Ishtar" was not on the passenger lists of the most recent ferries to and from Domino City.
Well, after all, as the leader of an international crime syndicate, if Marik's name were to appear on the list, that would be the strangest thing.
Feeling the sea breeze, Hayato took out his Deck from his waist and looked at the cards one by one. But not long after, a subtle fragrance was added to the sea breeze, and the cards in Hayato's hand were covered by a shadow.
"You're here, Miss Ishizu." Hayato didn't need to look up to guess who had come to his side. Looking up, he saw it was indeed Ishizu Ishtar.
"Did I block the light? My apologies, Hayato." Ishizu smiled gently and slightly turned her body, allowing the streetlight to illuminate the Deck in Hayato's hand once more. "However, Hayato, you forgot something. Just call me Ishizu."
"Alright, Ishizu." Hayato recalled the time at the Antiquities Exhibition, when he told Ishizu not to be so formal and just call him Hayato, and Ishizu had said that in exchange, Hayato should also call her Ishizu. "Why are you here?"
"Although the (Millennium Ring) can obscure the foresight ability of the (Millennium Puzzle), I'm not a primitive person who doesn't know how to use modern technology." Ishizu smiled and took out her phone. On the illuminated screen of the phone was a map of Domino City docks, with two small dots, one red and one blue.
Hayato smiled, put away his Deck, stood by the railing, and looked out at the distant sea shrouded in darkness. "That being said, you still foresaw what would happen here tonight, didn't you?"
Just like at the exhibition, although due to the influence of Hayato's (Millennium Ring), Ishizu's (Millennium Puzzle)'s foresight ability was no longer accurate, her general foresight was still correct, only differing in small details, such as something foreseen for ten minutes later actually happening a minute later.
After all, the (Millennium Ring) was the same Level as the other (Millennium Item)s. Although it possessed interference capabilities, it could only envelop its owner, just like Pegasus, when he still possessed the (Millennium Eye), couldn't read Hayato's mind but could clearly see Yugi's thoughts.
Ishizu also stood beside Hayato and looked at the horizon with him, saying with a hint of sadness in her voice: "In the foresight of the (Millennium Puzzle), I saw Marik appearing here today and Duelling."
"And during the Duel, I saw two powerful divine level powers appear on the Field, and then a third God appeared."
"At the end of the Duel, I could no longer clearly see who the two Duelists were. I only saw the side with two Gods completely crushing the side with one God."
"Two Gods? Does that mean that guy Marik will Summon all the Egyptian God Cards he possesses during the Duel?" Hayato heard Ishizu's words and instead showed a relaxed smile. "That guy actually dares to Summon the Traitor Dragon — I mean, (Slifer the Sky Dragon) — then I'm sure to win."
"Hayato, that's a God." Ishizu's expression was quite serious, and her gaze towards Hayato was a little worried. "Any one of the Egyptian God Cards possesses ultimate power that transcends other Duel Monsters."
"But you've also seen a part of the future. I also have a 'God' that can rival the Egyptian God Cards." Hayato's face still held a relaxed smile.
Ishizu couldn't help but feel a little anxious. How could this person be so nonchalant? "It's precisely because I know you, Hayato, also have Monsters that can contend with a God that I'm worried. At the end of the Duel, you were the one who lost."
"You're wrong, Ishizu, it seems you've fallen into a misconception." Hayato wagged his finger. "That thing called the future, it can only ever be taken as a reference. If you truly blindly believe in the future, then you'd be making a huge mistake."
"Humans are not unchanging beings. Since that's the case, the future will naturally change with people's changes. Following a predetermined path has never been my style, because the path of the future should be forged by oneself."
Hearing Hayato's words, Ishizu fell into a brief silence. "'The future is absolute'," this was the "Truth" she had firmly believed in ever since acquiring the (Millennium Puzzle). For over ten years, everything "now" that she had seen was identical to the "future" she had foreseen.
Until Hayato's appearance.
"The (Millennium Ring), is it a (Millennium Item) that can interfere with the future?" Looking at the (Millennium Ring) on Hayato's chest, Ishizu took a deep breath and looked solemnly at Hayato. "If it's you, Hayato, perhaps you truly can change the future."
"That's right, you're absolutely correct, my dear Big Sis." A familiar voice entered Ishizu's ears. She suddenly turned her head towards the direction of the voice.
Near a broken streetlight not far away, the white-haired Marik, holding the (Millennium Rod), calmly walked out of the darkness, with an exaggerated smile on his face. "This guy's destiny was changed by his own hands, changed to a destiny where he would be crushed by me, and even his Soul devoured!"
(end of chapter)