"Hayato!"
Someone called his name from not far behind him. Turning his head, Hayato recognized the person.
A white and brown vest was worn over a pure green trench coat. Messy, shaggy hair was covered by a red cap, with only a single strand of dyed, oddly-colored hair falling across his forehead.
"Rex, are you also here for the Battle City competition?"
"What do you mean, 'this guy'!" Rex said, displeased, his eyes burning with fighting spirit as he looked at Hayato. "I was originally planning to find Joey to get my revenge, but I didn't expect to run into you first. What good luck."
"Good luck? Are you sure you didn't mispeak, Rex?" Hayato said with a smile. "If you're facing me right at the start of Battle City, that would be your misfortune. After all, the outcome is obvious."
Rex said somewhat exasperatedly, "Don't you look down on me! If Joey hadn't won my *Red-Eyes Black Dragon*, I wouldn't have missed out on the Top 8 competition."
"And Mai Valentine too, you all are my targets! With my evolved, brand new Dinosaur Deck!"
"Did I hear someone calling my name?" Speak of the devil, no sooner had Rex finished speaking than Mai Valentine popped out of nowhere, putting her elbow directly on top of Rex's head, who was barely over 1.6 meters tall. "Don't think you can get a head start; you're not the only one who has Hayato in their sights, Rex, dear~"
Hayato noticed that because of Rex's recent shout, a significant number of Duelists on the street had turned their attention to him, their eyes like jackals spotting prey.
"Because one of the 'Duel Kings' appeared before them, are they impatient to challenge Hayato…?" Ishizu murmured to herself, then suddenly raised her Duel Disk, stepped forward, and blocked Hayato's path. "Hayato, I'll hold them off for you, go find a suitable battle location!"
Although Kaiba always claimed that "you can Duel anytime, anywhere," anyone who wasn't an "Intuition Style" or "Reckless Type" Duelist like Joey or a certain Jellyfish Head in the future, would realize with a little thought that what Kaiba said was complete nonsense.
For example, in the current situation, if Hayato stayed put and started Dueling with this motley crew, he could easily handle the first, second, or even third opponent. However, as soon as a Battle occurred, there would inevitably be Attack and Defense, and the Duel Disk's Solid Vision would simulate Impact Damage accordingly.
Even if it was only 500 points at a time, as the number of instances increased, the accumulated Damage wouldn't be a small amount, and the physical burden would become increasingly heavy due to continuous Gauntlet Duels. Would these guys, who fantasized about reaching the heavens by defeating Hayato, a Duel King, stop just because Hayato wasn't feeling well?
No, they would only intensify their offensive upon seeing Hayato's decline.
Besides stamina, a more crucial point was that continuous Gauntlet Duels would quickly expose the Cards used in one's Deck. The more Battles fought, the more easily information would leak out. Unless one had a unique Battle method like Hayato, who frequently changed his Deck composition, even Kaiba or Yugi would still be targeted.
Just like Kaiba, because his Deck primarily consisted of Dragon-Type Monsters, anyone could think of putting a *Dragon-Type Sealing Jar* into their Deck. However, because of this, Kaiba very rarely included a Monster like *Trap Master* in his Deck, which, despite its weak ATK/DEF, could Counter Trap Cards.
"The Duel King wants to run?"
"Stop him quickly!"
"Who can wait for the next stage of the competition?!"
Emotions ran high. No sooner had Ishizu finished speaking than the excited Duelists surrounded Hayato and Ishizu, as well as Rex, who had just struggled free from Mai Valentine's grip, and Mai Valentine herself. They were surrounded completely, leaving only a small empty space in the very center of the crowd.
"It's a pity, Ishizu. It looks like I can't escape even with you covering my retreat. It seems I have no choice but to Duel these guys today."
Watching Hayato speak while raising a hand to shield her behind him, Ishizu looked apologetic and said in a slightly lowered voice, "My apologies, Hayato. I should have spoken more quietly just now; I've caused you to Duel in such an unfavorable situation."
"It's alright, it's alright. Besides, didn't you tell me to find a suitable place to Duel?" Looking at the Duelists who had surrounded them, Hayato's eyes lit up as if he had seen a pile of DP Points moving before him. "I think this is a very suitable place."
The number of Duelists gathered on the commercial street was at least several hundred. Although not all of them participated in surrounding him, a significant portion clearly saw that their strength wasn't enough to waste time here, and instead went ahead to scout for suitable Duel locations to find prey.
However, the number of Duelists surrounding the four of them still numbered nearly a hundred. If one were to search KaibaCorp's database for information on these people, it would be easy to find that most of them were guys with a Duel Level of "LV5" or "LV6."
In Kaiba's words, they would probably be described as "a bunch of fourth-rate Fodder-level Duelists who flock together." However, if he actually called them that to their faces, Hayato felt he would most likely get beaten up.
"You bunch of Fodder-level Duelists, mere fourth-rates not even worthy of being called third-rate, do you really think gathering together like this will allow you to defeat me, 'Dinosaur' Rex, the former runner-up of the Japan National Duel Monsters Selection Tournament?!"
Ah, someone actually said it.
Completely oblivious to the hostile glares around him, Rex, with an arrogant expression, declared, "If you know what's good for you, hurry up and get out of the way! I, your great Rex, am about to Duel Hayato, that gu—uwahh!!!"
He was grabbed by the collar, lifted, and thrown backward, out of the crowd's encirclement.
"Where did this brat come from? The first person to Duel the Duel King should clearly be me, your great self!"
"Huh? Who the hell are you? It should clearly be Lord Bandit Keith!"
"No, I'm first!"
Watching the rowdy bunch before him, Hayato sighed helplessly. He was about to take out his Deck from his waist, insert it into the Duel Disk's slot, and deploy it when, at that moment, two boys' voices came from the clamoring crowd—
"Ouch, that hurts!"
"What's going on? Let go of me quickly!"
Two small boys, who had pushed their way to the front of the crowd, fell stiffly onto the ground like stones, lying motionless. Opposite them, a young man in a light pink suit walked out of the crowd with his eyes closed, saying in a rather mystical tone:
"To dare to block 'Psychic' Espa Roba's path, I shall punish you slightly with this lowest-tier Psychic Power!"
(end of chapter)