112 The Five Titans: We're Craving the President's Body! Ψ(◉﹃◉)Ψ

“Everyone, are you all right?”

After some effort, Yuuichi, accompanied by Kyoko and Shizuka, found the others—Jounouchi and the rest—on the wild highway of the virtual city’s outskirts.

The main reason was that their initial spawn point in this world was extremely remote—on the ocean’s glacier!

If they hadn’t defeated Shuuzou Ootaki, the virtual world’s gateway to the city—the world’s center—they wouldn’t have known how to escape.

“Hey! Where’s Honda? And what about Yugi?”

Although Yuuichi noticed the mechanical monkey cradled in Jounouchi’s arms, he still feigned surprise as he asked why Honda and Yugi were missing from the group.

“You mean Honda? Well, this mechanical monkey is him.”

Jounouchi lifted the mechanical monkey in his arms.

“Waaah! My body!”

The mechanical monkey, speaking with Honda’s voice, wailed. Among the group, only his body had been taken!

“As for Yugi, we haven’t come across him either.”

Jounouchi explained that he had completed his duel alone. After winning, he met up with Honda—now transformed into the monkey—and Otogi, and then waited for Yuuichi and the two girls to arrive.

“Could he be with the Kaiba brothers?”

In the Noah arc, things had already diverged from the original anime storyline. Shuuzou Ootaki, the penguin fanatic, was originally defeated by Kyoko alone, with Yugi’s Dark Magician offering some help.

Now, Yuuichi, Kyoko, and Shizuka formed a trio, so could Yugi—still missing—be together with the Kaiba brothers, who were also missing?

As the group discussed entering the city via this wild highway to search for the three, a familiar figure suddenly appeared atop a giant rock by the roadside.

“Honda?”

Shizuka instinctively called out the name, but the mechanical monkey Honda, upon seeing the figure, flared up in anger:

“Souichirou Oota! You thief! Give me back my body!”

Indeed, it was one of the Five Titans, Souichirou Oota, who had stolen Honda’s body.

System:

“Hahahaha! This time, I’m not alone!”

“What?”

Amid the group’s puzzled looks, four more voices, unfamiliar yet somewhat recognizable, echoed from Honda’s body.

Kounosuke Oshita: “Although this body belongs to that brat called ‘Honda’…”

Shuuzou Ootaki: “The soul within isn’t just Oota’s…”

Chikuzen Ooka: “But five personalities…”

Kogorou Daimon: “That is us—The Five Titans!”

With that, five virtual duel monster projections emerged from Honda’s body—

Representing Kounosuke Oshita’s “Deep Sea Warrior,” Shuuzou Ootaki’s “Nightmare Penguin,” Chikuzen Ooka’s “The Judge,” Souichirou Oota’s “Mechanical Sergeant,” and Kogorou Daimon’s “Android Soga—Telekinetic Enforcer”!

“One body with five personalities… this is a tangled mess!”

As Yuuichi thought this to himself, the Honda figure on the rock turned his gaze toward him.

“Phantom Society President—Yuuichi Sakaki! Duel us Five Titans again now!”

Originally intending to duel Yugi Mutou, news from Lord Noah suggested Yugi was currently battling Noah alongside Kaiba.

Considering the circumstances, Yuuichi was undeniably the prime target among them all!

First, he was handsome—that was priority number one!

Second, he was young! According to Shuuzou Ootaki, he was apparently under twenty, around the same age as the former president Kaiba.

Third, he was currently the president of the Phantom Society! If they could seize his body and return to the real human world, they’d instantly hold the position of a cross-world conglomerate president.

In short, in the eyes of the Five Titans, Yuuichi was their sole focus.

“What?”

Five personalities, one body, seeking him out to duel?

Suddenly recalling this plot twist, Yuuichi quickly grasped the old men’s intentions.

“You want to duel? Fine! But as the price for your challenge, if I win, you return Honda’s body to me!”

Though he said this aloud, internally Yuuichi planned that once victorious, he would immediately use the system and card spirits to forcibly reclaim Honda’s body, leaving no room for the five to back out.

“Agreed. Let’s make it so.”

Chikuzen Ooka’s personality, formerly Kaiba Group’s lawyer, responded on behalf of the five.

Win, and they’d seize this body. Lose, well, losing meant… never mind. The Five Titans had no honor to speak of.

“Come on! Let’s choose our decks!”

The ‘Honda’ controlled by Oota conjured a duel disk and deck representing the five of them on his arm.

Looking at the rows of cards appearing, Yuuichi pretended to pick cards while the system covertly manifested his hero cards into the duel disk one by one.

“Deck integration complete! Oh, before we begin the duel, I have something to say.”

“What is it?”

“You are five personalities sharing one body and can use five monsters as deck leaders. In exchange, I get to draw two cards per turn. That’s acceptable, right?”

“Fine.”

Without hesitation, Oota agreed. Drawing an extra card was trivial—it wouldn’t matter before their ace monsters!

‘Just as I thought!’

Duel entertainment players like the Five Titans could never grasp the concept of card disadvantage. Moreover, being five against one and filled with pride and arrogance, they had no reason to refuse what seemed like a fair request.

“Yuuichi! Please make sure to get my body back!”

Now a monkey and held in Shizuka’s arms, Honda could enjoy the moment but longed to return to human form. Still, he intended to savor this brief reprieve.

“No problem! Leave it to me!”

Giving a thumbs-up behind him, Yuuichi smiled and faced the ‘Honda’ who had also activated his duel disk.

“Duel!”

‘Honda’: 4000 LP

Yuuichi Sakaki: 4000 LP

“I’ll go first. Draw! …Hahaha!”

Seeing his opening hand, the controlled ‘Honda’ burst into laughter, leaving those behind Yuuichi utterly stunned.

‘Perfect hand!’

Gazing at the six cards, ‘Honda’s’ eyes sparkled as he whispered.

“President Yuuichi Sakaki! Your body will be ours without reservation!”

“My turn! I activate the spell card ‘Lost Lamb,’ special summoning two ‘Lamb Derivatives’ to my field!”