"Ah~ah, Youyu really is as strong as ever." Jonouchi stretched his arms and yawned, "He's no match at all."
"Actually, it was very close." Youyu smiled, "I've almost exhausted my tactics too. Jonouchi, you've really gotten a lot stronger."
"Of course, I haven't slacked off all these years. Just you wait, Youyu, the next time we meet, I'll definitely be stronger. Maybe by then, I'll even be able to beat you!"
They chatted as they walked towards the restaurant.
Youyu hesitated briefly but couldn't help asking, "By the way... I've been curious since our duel, Jonouchi, where are your dice?"
Jonouchi's face darkened instantly and he feigned ignorance, "Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about... I can't understand at all..."
Youyu: "..."
What's the Dice War God pretending for?
Yugi found it amusing and explained, "Jonouchi said, he's decided not to use gambling cards anymore."
"... Huh?"
Youyu looked at Jonouchi in disbelief.
Now he kind of understands how people feel when they hear that Stark Industries is planning to switch to selling baby pacifiers.
The Dice War God not playing with dice? Isn't that a sign of old age?
Yugi gave a simple explanation, and Youyu mostly understood.
Back during the Duelist Kingdom and Duel City days, Jonouchi was a newbie. As long as he could win duels, nothing else mattered.
But now it's different. Now, Jonouchi's name is widely known, and everyone gives him a thumbs up, respectfully and admirably calling him "the Legendary Duelist."
It's imaginable; he's a successful person now, so Jonouchi has to have his own trademark. Like Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, he needs a logo that people immediately associate with him at first glance.
Not long ago, Jonouchi took on a commercial cooperation activity, negotiating business with a boss. The boss suggested, shouldn't there be some kind of logo in your advertisement to relate to your identity?
Jonouchi agreed, saying it should be the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, as it's his Soul Card!
But the boss blinked twice, paused for quite a while, and then said, "Uh? I meant putting a dice..."
Jonouchi: "..."
A dice? Really?
It makes it seem like Jonouchi wins card games relying purely on luck!
Since then, Jonouchi resolved firmly that this ingrained impression must be corrected!
Otherwise, when these legendary figures of old gather again, with Yugi backed by the Dark Magician, Kaiba's powerful Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Youyu's stylish Masked Hero, behind him, Jonouchi...
... only has a die rolling around?
Damn, that's embarrassing just thinking about it!
From then onwards, Jonouchi dedicated himself to improvement and resolutely kicked all those coin-flip, dice-throwing nonsense cards out of his card deck, while shoving a bunch of newly printed Red-Eyes series cards into it.
Now, the Red-Eyes concentration in his card deck has rocketed, drastically reducing the gambling component.
He wants to prove to everyone that he, Jonouchi, is one of today's strongest duelists, even without relying on dice!
However, after some time adapting and practicing, he might grudgingly have to admit deep down.
Maybe, possibly, perhaps...
... he was indeed stronger when playing with dice...
Youyu was speechless after hearing all this.
Wow, Jonouchi, didn't expect you to be someone who discards things so easily!
Back in the day, you reached legend status with the blessing of the goddess of fate, and now you're famous, standing at the pinnacle of your life, you want to kick her aside?
If you don't want her...
... Introduce her to me!
Youyu glanced at his pathetic 20 luck value on his panel, silently closing it.
Forget it, forget it, I don't understand the troubles of Europeans.
There are actually people who complain their European luck is too overbearing and hinders their development, isn't that infuriating?
As they chatted and walked, suddenly the island's alarms went off loudly, cutting through the night with piercing, deafening sounds.
"What's going on?" Jonouchi asked, "Are we under attack?"
"Ah, I almost forgot about it."
Youyu just remembered, there's a scene like this in the original GX animation, right?
The replica of Duel King Muto Yugi's card deck was on display on the island, and it got stolen at night by a student named Kagurazaka. That student seemed to fantasize that by grabbing the Duel King's card deck, he would become invincible, not realizing that Yugi's prowess in dueling wasn't all about the card deck...
But in this way, Kagurazaka is quite a talented student.
His specialty is mimicry, perfectly copying the card decks of strong opponents, then imitating their tactical thinking, daily behavior, and even speech patterns to the extent of becoming that strong person in mind and spirit.
In fact, Kagurazaka's talent seems rather strong.
Why do I say that?
Because even with Yugi's hodgepodge card pile mixed with all sorts of chaotic systems, Kagurazaka managed to play quite well without any mishaps...
Since it was just an insignificant daily matter without any major events or severe consequences, Youyu entirely forgot about it...
Sure enough, the academy called immediately, informing Youyu that Duel King's card deck was stolen.
"What's going on?" Jonouchi asked impatiently when Youyu hung up the phone.
"Oh, nothing big deal." Youyu responded casually, "Didn't I tell you before, Yugi... uh... Atem's previous deck was put on exhibition on the island.
It seems that replica deck was stolen."
"Really?" Jonouchi was worried, "Isn't that serious? Then let's help out too!"
"No need, no need, it's probably just some poorly-mannered student." Youyu waved his hand, "Such a minor matter isn't worth wasting your valuable time. Leave it to the academy and the students to handle."
Actually, Youyu hadn't intended to bother with such trivial matters himself.
As long as events unfolded according to the animation, Judai would find the student Kagurazaka who stole the deck and have a duel using Atem's deck. After winning, Kagurazaka would be genuinely convinced and willingly return the decks...
... and then Judai would gain a new little fan.
It's merely a trivial side story from early GX, and Youyu didn't even have the interest to watch from the front row.
But the two guests seemed to think otherwise.
"It's alright; we don't have any plans today anyway," Jonouchi said, "Let's help out! Even if it's a replica, it's still that guy's deck, right, Yugi?"
"Yeah." Yugi nodded in agreement.
Since both guests insisted...
"Alright then." Youyu didn't mind, "Let's go find the culprit then."