A card game?
To be honest, when Jaden heard Baki say that, he felt a little conflicted.
He had never actually played a card game before.
As for the deck the Old Man gave him... it was full of sentimental value, sure, but in terms of strength, it was only average at best.
Jaden had watched the anime.
He was genuinely worried that Baki might pull out something like Number 39: Utopia or Firewall Dragon, then fill his back row with traps. Dealing with something like that would be annoying.
That thought crossed his mind.
And with that thought, he accepted Baki's challenge.
After all, this wasn't a Shadow Game.
Even if the opponent's deck was disgusting to play against, it didn't matter.
Since it wasn't a Shadow Game, this was really just for fun.
Baki, seeing Jaden agree, smiled with clear confidence.
"Yuki, if I win, how about you demonstrate that light sphere technique for me again somewhere?"
Jaden nodded.
"Sure. But if you lose-then..."
He paused.
Jaden honestly hadn't thought about what he wanted Baki to do.
But since conditions were being set, he suddenly remembered something else.
The Kengan Association fighters had mentioned they were going to hold a large tournament before he returned to his original world.
Jaden himself wasn't very interested in participating.
But finding a few opponents for those guys...
That sounded pretty good.
With that in mind, Jaden smiled.
"Baki, if you lose, you'll come with me and participate in a fighting tournament."
Baki raised an eyebrow.
He continued shuffling his deck, then shrugged.
"Is there some tournament you can't enter but need to win?"
"If that's the case, I can handle it."
Baki had been confused lately.
After watching Jaden fight his father, he wasn't even sure anymore why he himself was fighting.
But helping Jaden win one match?
That wasn't a big deal.
He thought that way.
But Jaden shook his head slightly.
"There's no tournament I want to enter but can't."
"And there's no championship I want that I can't win."
"So you won't be fighting for me."
"Or for anyone else."
"I'm just asking you to participate."
"As for the result, that should naturally be decided by your own ability."
"If you want to win, then win."
"If you feel like losing is fine, then lose."
"Even though we've set conditions, if you can't even fight for yourself under those conditions, then are those fists really strong?"
"Fighting like that wouldn't be fun."
"So my condition is simple."
"Just participate in one match."
"As for what happens after that, it has nothing to do with the condition."
"Even if you surrender the moment the match starts, that's your own business."
"The condition is fulfilled the moment you participate."
Jaden was simply stating his view.
Baki was silent for a moment after hearing this.
Then he nodded.
"...I understand."
Jaden glanced at Baki's expressionless face.
He wasn't interested in digging into what Baki was thinking.
Seeing that Baki had already started drawing cards, Jaden did the same.
The duel format used here was the classic one.
4000 Life Points.
The first player draws.
No Battle Reversal.
Tribute Summons required.
Jaden skimmed through the rules once and basically understood everything.
The field was set.
Decks were placed.
Opening hands were drawn.
The turn order was decided simply.
"Yuki, you go first."
"Begin."
Baki's attention returned fully to the duel.
A faint smile appeared on his face again.
For now, everything else could wait.
When it came to card games, he was confident.
Very confident.
Baki thought so.
Jaden thought so too.
So Jaden looked at his hand and let out a slow breath.
"My turn. Draw."
As he drew his first card, he smiled helplessly.
This deck really was something.
The Old Man said it was a pure HERO deck.
But in reality, a lot of the cards weren't HERO cards at all.
They were cards stuffed in by both old men.
Not just Obelisk the Tormentor.
Not just Marshmallon.
There were all kinds of things mixed in.
Maybe both of them knew that his real deck was Neo-Spacian.
Maybe they expected him to switch decks later.
That was probably why they did this.
But it didn't matter.
A deck like this had its own meaning.
"My turn."
"I set one monster."
"And set three cards face-down."
"Turn end."
From the very start, Jaden's playstyle looked extremely shady.
One face-down monster.
Three face-down Spell or Trap cards.
Clean and simple.
Then he ended his turn.
Baki didn't seem to care at all.
He looked at his hand.
A smile appeared on his face almost uncontrollably.
Then his eyes met Jaden's.
The confidence was obvious-even without Jaden using Observation Haki.
"Yuki."
"I might have already won."
Baki said it seriously.
Then he placed his hand on his deck.
"My turn. Draw."
As he drew the card, his smile widened.
"Take this, Yuki!"
"I summon Minotaurus!"
With that declaration, Baki placed a monster card directly into the Monster Zone.
Attack Position.
Jaden hadn't played the card game much and was only familiar with what he'd seen in manga, so he looked at the card.
And then-
He saw it.
A Normal Monster.
1700 ATK.
No effects.
Jaden froze for a moment.
Then he remembered.
This card belonged to Old Man Kaiba.
While Jaden was thinking that, Baki noticed his reaction and burst out laughing.
"How about that, Yuki?"
"Shocked by the powerful ATK of my monster?"
The highest ATK monster Baki had encountered so far was Summoned Skull.
So a 1700 ATK monster that didn't require a tribute was already amazing in his eyes.
And more importantly-
He had already drawn Summoned Skull.
Minotaurus could hold the field for one turn.
Then, next turn, he could tribute it and summon his strongest monster.
In Baki's mind, victory was already visible.
Jaden looked at Baki's overly confident expression.
Then he looked back at the Minotaurus card.
And at that moment, a thought surfaced naturally.
Using this monster.
Being this confident.
So-
Is this kid's ace card...
Blue-Eyes White Dragon!?