Compared to Judai, Manjome's Deck isn't noticeably different from the one he used back during the GX Tournament.
Even though his opponents were two people, Manjome still won beautifully—truth be told, for someone like him who uses the Ojama system, he's really not that afraid of a resource war. Even if it's one against two, as long as he's ahead across the board in stamina, technique, and topdecking luck, he basically isn't going to lose to his two older brothers.
After the victory, Manjome's two older brothers were half-kneeling on the ground. The eldest sighed, "So the little brother who's always dragging us down has finally reached this day, huh," while the second brother couldn't help muttering under his breath, "Damn it, starting today I'm actually the one at the bottom?"
In the original work, the three Manjome brothers actually give off a sort of "Ojama trio" feeling. It doesn't line up perfectly, but when he first Dueled his big brother, that was exactly when Manjome obtained the Ojama Trio.
Although his two older brothers usually look down on Thunder and often call him the dead last, they're still his real brothers after all. Especially after they personally took part in the Other Dimension travel and witnessed how dangerous it is for real Duelists in the Other Dimension, they no longer felt like before that Manjome was just using the family name to gain fame without giving anything back in return.
So after losing to Manjome, they were pretty straightforward about it.
After all, Manjome's victory doesn't actually mean their "status" is gone.
In the past, the eldest represented the business world, the second brother represented the political world, and Manjome Thunder represented the Duel Monster Realm. The three of them developed in different directions, with Thunder and his brother serving the eldest, so when Thunder was a kid he often took part in various commercial tournaments.
But from now on—
From this day forward, the Manjome Group's core focus will completely shift into the "Duel Monster Realm" represented by Manjome Jun, and all of the Group's resources will be tilted in that direction.
With the new strategic goal confirmed and Manjome Thunder's victory secured, naturally the next step was the "banquet."
After all, Thunder can't just win the Duel and then really act like some hands-off boss. At least for today, he still has to meet the important members of the Group and some other partners.
Naturally, that means Tenjo Hikari and the others are free now and can wander around this "luxurious high-class banquet."
But none of them are really into that, so they just look for food they like at the banquet. What gets Judai excited is that Manjome specially told the chef to make extra Tempura and keep serving it to Judai on demand, so Judai gets to happily chow down on fried shrimp here.
Tenjo Hikari roams around the banquet, and whenever he spots something new or interesting, Tierra will tell him to bring it over for her to try.
She's usually bored out of her mind, and now that she's got this taste-testing gig to do, she dives into it with great enthusiasm.
Even though the group is just eating and drinking, with Serena and Ruri even feeding each other for fun, nobody comes over to mess with them.
On one hand, there basically aren't many of those "look down on commoners, see someone just eating and decide to cause trouble out of boredom" types here. On the other hand, Tenjo Hikari is actually pretty famous; most of the people here, when they see him, will at least say "GX Champion." Next, even Judai and Fubuki are Duel participants after all, faces everyone has seen at least once, so nobody's going to just forget them.
So at this banquet, all of the friends are feeling pretty good.
The only one a bit uncomfortable is Judai. He keeps feeling that whenever he's eating fried shrimp, someone is secretly watching him from time to time. At first he thinks it's a fan, or someone trying to steal his fried shrimp, but every time he looks up, that gaze vanishes.
It's really weird.
But he doesn't dwell on it for long.
He's in a very good mood today.
During the time Tenjo Hikari went to the S Dimension, he's been Dueling almost every day with his other self—the "The Supreme King."
Even though they only Duel once a day, he's gradually "gotten familiar" with the other side.
Of course, putting it like that isn't exactly accurate. After all, after getting to know him, he feels that the other side and himself perhaps were never really "two people" to begin with.
But that's not important. What matters is that they can talk.
Before this, he had absolutely zero interest in The Supreme King's claims, so he was furious at him, extremely unwilling to acknowledge the other side.
But after losing so many Duels, no matter how stubborn he is, he has to sit down and seriously consider and think things through.
Because in these Duels, he's the one losing. Keeping up a front is really kind of embarrassing.
So in their Duels, he starts to think and discuss the differences between his and the other's views, and where exactly his and the other's Decks diverge.
First and foremost, without a doubt, is "Super Polymerization."
Quick-Play Spell Card, Super Polymerization. Discard 1 card from your hand to activate. Use 1 Monster on your own field together with other cards selected on the field as Fusion Material, and Special Summon that 1 Monster from your Fusion Deck. When this card is activated, effects of Spells, Traps, and Monsters cannot be activated in response.
This card can even ignore certain Fusion Limits and successfully fuse "Monsters that must be Fusion Summoned with specific Fusion Cards."
No doubt about it, this card is the biggest gap between him and The Supreme King.
Every time he feels like he's about to turn the Duel around, the opponent's Super Polymerization will slap a Mask of Pain right on his face.
They're both using Hero Decks, both using Fusion strategies, but the other side can directly fuse his own Heroes into different Monsters. Compared to him having to rack his brains to deal with the opponent's Monsters one by one, that card can handle everything all on its own.