Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

The truth is actually far from as simple as Kajiki Yuta said.

Although it started because the prize money of the "National Duel Monster Contest" held by Bekas to select powerful duelists was extremely generous, Kajiki Yuta was the only duelist who became one, and he won the third place as a newcomer.

However, later, after he continued to be active as a professional duelist and had no worries about food and clothing, Kajiki Yuta began to use most of his bonuses, after deducting daily expenses and the maintenance costs of his fishing boats, to fund the maritime aid search and rescue team.

Because his father was lost at sea, he chose to hold an umbrella for others after being caught in the rain. This was also the main reason why Kajiki Yuta took the job without hesitation when Hayato said he wanted to find him as a "safety officer".

After all, the dangers on this island include materialized Duel Monsters, but not just Duel Monsters. Even nature without any ferocious beasts is dangerous enough. Kajiki Yuta knows this better than most people, and Kobayashi Hayato asked him to be responsible for the waters around the island and a small river that almost divides the entire island in two.

"After all, the 'security guards' needed on this island have to deal with materialized Duel Monsters. Ordinary people really don't have the ability to do that, and they might even be scared to death." As he spoke, Kajiki Yuta also showed off his muscles. "So not only me, but also many very powerful Duelists have been called to the island to help."

Although he is not a rare "Elf User", his strong body that he has maintained through years of exercise allows him to exert strength far beyond that of ordinary people. In addition, with the assistance of the card monsters that can be materialized even by him under the special environment of the island, it is easy for him to deal with monsters of the level of [Regenerating Slime].

"Anyway, it's definitely not because of the card given by Hayato Kobayashi."

"Okay, I totally get it, you don't have to stress too much."

Hearing what Ed said, Kajiki Yuta knew that Ed didn't believe it at all, so he continued to argue and clarified, "No, I really didn't do it for Kobayashi Hayato's card."

Ed asked helplessly, "Then tell me whether those cards are strong or not?"

"It's not a question of whether those cards are strong or not. They are very, very special cards. You can feel their strength just by looking at them." Kajiki Yuta tried to describe the reinforcement cards he got from Hayato, but he couldn't think of the right words after thinking for a long time. "Unfortunately, I haven't had time to duel with anyone after getting those cards, so I can't say how they perform specifically."

"Luckily I found you, Ed boy. It's a joy to meet you this time!"

Ed understood the first part of the conversation, but Kajiki Yuta's last part was beyond his comprehension. How were the two things connected, that Kajiki Yuta saved him and that he had received the card from Mr. Hayato?
"Huh? What's with that expression on your face? You look like you don't understand anything?" Kajiki Yuta looked at Ed in a strange way. "Didn't Hayato Kobayashi tell you anything?"

"In fact, before meeting you, Mr. Hayato only told us that this was an undeveloped, uninhabited island under his name. He had no idea that there were other people on the island."

Seeing that Ed's tone was not fake, Kajiki Yuta did not hesitate, but motioned Ed to stand aside first, then clasped the edge of the board with both hands: "Anyway, come over here with me first, I will explain it to you slowly when we get there."

As he spoke, he exerted force with both hands and lifted a thick wooden board directly onto his shoulders. It was not until this moment that Ed realized that what he was lying on was not an ordinary wooden board, but a thing made of several wooden boards, which looked like a floating platform.

Carrying the floating platform, Kajiki Yuta walked in front, taking Ed away from the place where he woke up. Then Ed found that he was actually taken by Kajiki Yuta from his original location to the edge of the forest. Not long after walking, they left the forest and came to the seaside.

He threw the wooden pontoon he was carrying into the sea with all his strength to let it go as far as possible, then Kajiki Yuta ran on the shore and actually jumped towards the pontoon that had drifted to the sea. The momentum brought by Kajiki Yuta's successful landing on the pontoon made the pontoon drift even farther.

Standing on the homemade platform, which was crude but still spacious, Kajiki Yuta had excellent balance. Even though the platform was swaying up and down with the waves, he stood still as if he was walking on flat ground. He turned around and looked at Ed standing on the shore: "So, this is it."

"Perhaps you have already expected this, right? Consider this as a replacement for the duel we almost met in the professional arena, or as the price I paid for saving you." He reached behind his back and pulled out a duel disk from nowhere and put it on his wrist. "Anyway, as a duelist, you can't survive without dueling!"

On the way here, Ed had a vague premonition that this situation would happen. After all, Kajiki Yuta had almost no intention of hiding it. Although he didn't say it explicitly, "I didn't have time to find someone to duel after getting the new card" and "Luckily I met him", and finally, as a duelist, his mind is full of "playing cards", which is a very reasonable underlying logic, so it's no surprise that Kajiki Yuta is planning to duel Ed.

No, to put it in his words, Ed is the challenger.

There was no intention of refusing. Ed accepted the duel without hesitation, but he raised his bare arms and said, "But before that, you have to tell me where my duel disk is?"

Because Ed was attacked by the [Regenerating Slime] and fell unconscious, Kajiki Yuta rescued him and changed his clothes. Although the card deck was still safely in the card box on Ed's waist, his previous backpack and duel disk disappeared.

"As for your backpack, I hid it. I meant what I said, 'You can't survive without fighting'. You who were saved by the 'safety officer' will not lose the qualification to continue to participate in Kobayashi Hayato's game, but the prerequisite for resuming activities is to defeat the 'safety officer' first - that is, duelists like me who were pulled to the island by Kobayashi Hayato."

Kajiki Yuta looked at Ed and said, "This is one of the reasons why Kobayashi Hayato came to us in the first place, but it seems that he didn't even tell you about the existence of other people on the island, right?" "Anyway, your duel disk is hidden in the bushes behind you, but if you want to get the backpack with supplies, you must pass my test by dueling first."

Under the guidance of Yuta Kajiki, Ed quickly found his own duel disk in the bushes. After putting it on skillfully and inserting it into the deck, he returned to the shore and faced Yuta Kajiki.

"There's something that I'm concerned about." Looking at Kajiki Yuta standing on the sea, Ed couldn't help but ask before the duel began, "We can duel in the forest, right? Why did you come here?"

"Because you're still a child, you really don't understand, right? The romance of a man on the sea." Kajiki Yuta shook his head. "If conditions permit, I would definitely prefer to let my monsters fight in the environment they are most adapted to, even if changing the combat environment doesn't have a direct impact on the monsters like it did in the Duel Kingdom before."

Speaking of Duel Kingdom, Kajiki Yuta recalled something interesting: "By the way, do you know Yugi Muto? The Yugi Muto who was once ranked as the 'Duel King' together with Hayato Kobayashi and is now a big shot in the International Illusion Society. He is very famous, right? But a long time ago in Duel Kingdom, when facing my sea deck, Yugi Muto was in crisis several times."

"——Although, because the rules were not perfect at that time, he made up a weird 'tide' and caused me to lose. Even Kobayashi Hayato made a neta card [Moon Blade] based on that duel."

"Anyway, the current situation is very similar to that time, so just treat it as a tribute. No one has stipulated that I can't pay tribute to myself, right?" Kajiki Yuta smiled and also raised the duel disk, "The man standing on the sea, Kajiki Yuta, known as the 'fisherman', I am here to pay homage!"

"I see, a duel with a legend from the past. This makes me a little excited." Ed couldn't help but smile. He raised the duel disk and looked at Kajiki Yuta, and introduced himself. "Tell me your title or something. I don't really like that weird name, so just let me go. Anyway - I'm Ed Phoenix, a first-year student at the Duel Academy, and I hereby challenge you!"

"Duel!"
[Ed Phoenix: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Kajiki Yuta: 4000LP, hand 5]

"I'll take the first move, draw a card!" After easily taking the first move, Ed discovered that Kajiki Yuta had no intention of competing with him for the first move. He just glanced at his cards and nodded at him, signaling him to continue.

Ed had investigated Kajiki Yuta before, and the reason was as mentioned before, because he was just one step away from becoming his opponent. He thought that the deck information and duel style he learned from the special investigation would be wasted because of the difference in wins between the two this year. Who would have thought that he would meet Kajiki Yuta when he participated in the "Wild Survival" initiated by Hayato teacher?
It was mentioned in the information he had collected that Kajiki Kyouta was called "Fisherman" not only because his occupation before he became associated with Duel Monsters was indeed a fisherman and because there was also a "fisherman" in his name, but mainly because of the card deck he used.

I would say it is a "deck that can represent the sea", but to be more specific it actually refers to a "aquatic" deck that is almost entirely made up of fish, water, and sea dragons, and the battle revolves around the field magic card [Sea]. Its most famous cards are the monster cards [Legendary Fisherman] and [Riptide Burial].

However, these are only the most easily obtained parts of the opponent's intelligence, and are not sufficient to serve as the complete basis for judging Kajiki Yuta's strength. Just like the phrase "tip of the iceberg", it is obvious that the opponent definitely has hidden true strength.

Not to mention that all the information he obtained came from the opponent's performance in the duel two years ago, and his absence last year meant that Kajiki Yuta's deck must have many changes that Ed was not aware of. The fact that the opponent had previously told him that he had obtained a reinforcement card from Hayato teacher that even he was so excited that he couldn't resist the temptation was enough to make Ed nervous.

Actively giving up the first attack, is he trying to make a breakthrough in the backhand? Ed thought about it, and recalled the opponent's main tactics in the past, which were mainly to use [Sea Dragon - Daedalus] to blow up the field and cooperate with [Legendary Fisherman] to directly attack. This routine, he needs a means to effectively restrict the opponent's monsters.

Well, the answer is simple isn't it?
Looking at the six cards in his hand, Ed pulled out one of them and said, "First, I discard a [Hero] monster from my hand and Special Summon [V·hero Solitary Man] from my hand."

On the field of Ed, a brand new hero appeared, with light beads embedded all over his body and a mask completely blocking his vision. It was not the [E·hero] that both Judai and Ed had, nor was it the [D·hero] that Ed's father left to his son, but a brand new [V·hero].

"V? 'Vision'? The 'Phantom' hero?"

Hearing Kajiki Yuta's guess, Ed nodded and said, "This power is a gift from my friend. It is a card representing the power of 'pain'. They seem ethereal, but they are very real. They are the best help for my [D·hero]s."

The power in the deck that King Sai gave to Ed in the past was none other than the [V·hero] series represented by [V·hero Do-gooder] who appeared at this moment. It was neither "elements" nor "fate". The power of [V·hero] was the power of phantom. Even for Ed, it was the first time that he began to use this new power that he had hidden for a long time in a battle with others.

The main reason was not anything else - it was just that in recent times, the number of times he lost and the frequency of his setbacks were really too high. Saiou's divination clearly showed that there was nothing wrong with his luck, but he just kept getting into trouble as if Mercury was in retrograde.

Therefore, although he had been planning to hide this power until he had to use it, Ed felt that if he failed because he was not proficient in this power when the time came, wouldn't he make himself look like a funny character? So he simply decided to use the [V·hero]s in earnest from this duel with Kajiki Yuta.

——It’s definitely not because I took too many damage effects in the duel with that hideous Tenjouin Fubuki! (End of this chapter)