Chapter 27: Recruitment

As Andrew had predicted, it took the group about another month and a half before they reached the port of Tortuga with not a moment to spare. Arriving in the docks was easy enough, though traversing the town of Basse-Terre itself was a bit of a hassle. Not only did they have to deal with locals but a surprising amount of tourists as well. Eventually, the party located a tour bus to take them over to Tortuga and promptly boarded with haste.

Tortuga itself ended up being rather quiet. Most of the locals simply milled about the derelict town, but a few hungrily eyed the party as they arrived. The group seemed a little unnerved save for Andrew, who simply walked through the town without paying the slightest heed to any of the locals. One man came up and stopped right in front of Andrew to block his path.

"E jis ki kote ou kwè ou prale?" the man asked, holding his arms out to prevent the group's forward progress.

"M' ap chache soutèren de pirates," Andrew responded, almost perfectly mimicking the accent of the local. "Ou gen yon lide ki kote mwen ka jwenn li?"

The man backed away startled before laughing loudly. "Soutèren de pirates?! Moun ou sòt!" he mocked loudly. "Genyen pirates pa isit la! Ale konnye a si w konnen sa ki bon pou ou!"

Andrew then simply shoved the fellow easily out of the way and continued walking, the rest of the group quickly following as the man started shouting out profanities of an obscene nature at them.

"Well basically he's no help," Andrew sighed dismissively to the others. "He didn't have any clue as to what we were looking for."

"And what exactly are we looking for?" Shannon asked, inching away from a crawling local laughing with his nearly toothless smile.

"Oi oi!"

The group turned towards a dark alley wherein a small robed man beckoned them over. Andrew smiled and headed over while the others were far more hesitant.

"You're not seriously going to..." Shannon began.

"He's a friend," Andrew replied just as dismissively. "Come on, we don't have all day."

Looking amongst each other, the group finally followed after Andrew and the mysterious stranger. Down the alleyway, the stranger led the party towards a small dirt path that snaked its way out of town. As the sun began to set on the horizon, the sounds of drunken merriment slowly swelled as they approached a cliff with a large opening inside of it. A green flash of light could be seen as the group descended the cliffside to the cavern below.

Within this cavern was another little town, one filled with stacked houses and much howling and laughter. The scent of alcohol was strong in the air as a loud and unruly mob walked down the middle of town, narrowly dodging the party as they continued towards an even louder part of town: the tavern.

"Man, dis place is crazy!" Joey yelped, narrowly dodging a drunken wench's grasp.

"My brother quoted to me that a man once said to him, 'If every town in the world were like this, no man would feel unwanted,'" Andrew recalled with a grin.

"Maybe next time they can mention something about the women," Shannon murmured, kicking off the hand of a random passerby.

The group finally managed to weave themselves into the tavern, only to find before them something none of them could have expected: a large fight had broken out, and Duel Monsters were everywhere. The tavern locals were fighting amongst each other with their monsters and their fists, bashing each other to bits and pieces.

"Well this is surprisingly more violent than usual," Andrew noted, raising an eyebrow.

"More violent?!" Joey yelped.

"This place is a madhouse!" Tristan concurred.


Not long before the arrival of Andrew and the others, the tavern was actually rather peaceful in its own special way. The locals were merely enjoying themselves with drink and song, unaware of what was to occur in a few short minutes.

"And what exactly do you think qualifies you for crewmanship aboard the Poseidon?" asked a sober man to another more drunken man, a toothy grin emphasized by his sideburns that anyone who knew him would recognize as belonging to the Poseidon's first mate.

"I've been bored right out of my mind here in this land," the drunk responded sloppily, a heavy slur in his bitter tone. "I don't wanna have anything more to do with this world."

"Perfect! Sign here," the sober Willaby instructed, watching the drunk sign away a sloppy signature. "Next!"

There was a short line in front of the table Willaby had seated himself at, only three following the drunk man and none of them any more sober. Behind Willaby sat none other than Captain Matt Zero, tinkering away with the Compass Medallion in some sort of odd attempt to get it to respond in a clear manner. Truth be told, Matt was here to collect enough souls to wager his freedom from Rommel's grasp. He just happened to also have a bigger plan such that the souls was more of a backup plan, namely locating the heart of Rommel.

"Ever since I was a lad, I always wanted to sail the seas...forever."

"Sooner than you think. Sign here."

Yet another damned naive soul signed their life away onto the parchment before Willaby. Matt looked over as the last man in the line walked towards the other new recruits.

"So how many more men does that give us?" he asked Willaby. "I'm hopeful to replace a few of the ones we've lost."

"Including those four, that gives us...four," Willaby replied snidely.

Matt scowled at Willaby and continued poking at the medallion, hoping to make it react in some form or other. Willaby turned back around as a rather gaunt fellow walked up.

"And what's your story then?" Willaby asked.

"My story..." the man repeated, the bitterness in his voice becoming self-evident. "It's the same as yours only one chapter behind."

Suddenly Matt perked up as he recognized the voice. It wasn't a welcoming voice to hear, but then again there were few voices from his past that he liked to hear echo back at him. He looked over and observed the appearance of the man now in front of Willaby, taking in the dirty haggard face, a long drawn-out face that was both graceful and detestable. The man was dressed in an old navy uniform, one that had clearly been worn for many weeks and unwashed in all that time; if it were cleaner perhaps the man could've been mistaken for an admiral or maybe even a commodore. Its blues had mudded into darker blues and browns and the gold buttons lost their shine long ago, not unlike the eyes of the man, once blue but now faded into a dull and darkening grey.

"I chased a man across the world, looking to make him pay for his crimes against justice," the man continued on, gravely. "I sought to have him tried and sentenced to a life in prison where he belongs. I pursued him for so long, sacrificing everything I ever had. The more I followed, the further he got, and the more I lost to him. I lost my crew, my job, my family...my entire life."

The man gave pause to his heavy story as he took a drink from the bottle he was carrying. Willaby inspected the man more closely before he finally recognized who he was.

"Malcolm?" he asked.

The man put the bottle down and leaned closely into Willaby's face. He smiled and breathed, "I'd like to see you hanged."

"What in blazes happened to you?" Willaby asked, coughing over the stench of Malcolm's breath.

"Weren't you listening?" Malcolm asked. "I lost everything because of you. You lot couldn't stay out of Lord Montalban's way, and I had to clean up the mess."

Malcolm threw the bottle on the ground, causing it to shatter and for some nearby patrons to look over with curiosity and concern. Willaby looked up at Malcolm as he rose to his towering height with that stupid smile on his face.

"And to think now that I'm not even in his employ anymore I should find you here at last," Malcolm laughed, chuckling over the irony. "Perhaps if I'd have been more careful over near Madagascar, I would have been able to get away from that storm and take the lot of you down."

"You tried to sail through that?" Willaby remarked curiously, but Malcolm simply ignored him and continued, "So do I make the cut or not?"

Willaby paused and worked to come up with an excuse, but Malcolm cut him off again, "You haven't said where you're going. Somewhere NICE!"

With that, Malcolm flipped the table over onto poor Willaby and brought out a sinister bladed Duel Disk, swinging it around wildly as he called out, "So am I not worthy enough to crew under Captain Matt Zero?"

Malcolm then whipped around towards Matt and aimed a pistol right at his head. "Or perhaps I best kill you now and save myself the trouble?" he asked.

Matt held up his hands, looking down the sight of Malcolm's gun aimed at him. "Perhaps you'd rather duel for the privilege instead?" Matt asked hopefully.

Malcolm smirked. "Sorry, old habits and all that."

"Now then that's enough of that!"

A stray patron grappled Malcolm's pistol arm, forcing the gun to aim away from Matt and off towards the ceiling. The struggle forced Malcolm into shooting the gun, the bullet ricocheting off the ceiling and through a nearby glass, causing it to shatter. The wielder of this glass noted its broken status and in his drunkenness punched the person he thought responsible, which in turn led to others to fighting with each other until finally the tavern grew into a large brawl. Several patrons brought out Duel Disks and began to challenge others to duels, ignoring the hazards of what others were doing with their fists and with nearby bottles and cups. The band took in the sight of the chaos and began to respond appropriately: by playing a more frantic song of merriment and bewilderment.

"Time to go, Willaby!" Matt yelled out over the chaos to his fallen comrade.

"Aye sir!" Willaby groaned loudly, moving the table off of him and dodging through the crowd.

"Oh no you don't!"

Suddenly a chain-linked handcuff soared through the air and locked onto Matt's right hand with surprising accuracy! Matt turned to the chain-cuff's wielder, only to find Malcolm on the other end.

"You and I have a score to settle!" Malcolm yelled out.

"Maybe you're more inclined to that duel?" Matt asked, but at that moment a couple of brawling patrons clambered through the chain, dragging both Matt and Malcolm down onto the ground. Matt looked up as Malcolm pulled out his pistol.

"I'll duel you in hell before I duel you in here!" Malcolm called back.

"I don't think it'll make that much difference, honestly," Matt responded.

"JUST DIE!" Malcolm then pulled the trigger, only to hear the resounding click of the hammer hitting nothing. Checking over his pistol, he attempted to fire it off again and again, a futile effort given that it was clear that the pistol was unloaded. In the meantime, Matt began attempting to pick the lock on his handcuff, though with his dominant hand being entrapped in its clasp he was forced to make due with his left hand.

Unfortunately for him, Malcolm got restless of his pistol and tossed it away, dragging Matt via the chain into a safer and less crowd-filled environment. He dragged Matt all the way up two sets of staircases and onto the uppermost balcony, thrusting him with surprising strength across the floor.

"Get up on your feet!" Malcolm cried out, triggering his bladed Duel Disk. "There won't be any more interruptions up here! I'm going to finally be rid of you, and once you're dead I'll drag your corpse up to Lord Montalban's doorstep and reclaim my honor!"

"Now just hold on a moment," Matt worked to calm things down. "What if I could offer you a way to get back into Montalban's graces without killing me?"

"I'd say GO TO HELL!" Malcolm shouted, striking down at Matt with the blade of his Duel Disk. Matt rolled out of the way, dodging the blade in the nick of time and causing it to strike into a chair instead.

"Just give me three seconds to explain!" Matt spoke quickly.

"You have two seconds," Malcolm countered, removing his blade disk from the chair. "One..."

"I know what Montalban's looking for!" Matt exclaimed.

"And two!" Malcolm raised the blade into the air.

"And I know where to find it!"

Matt closed his eyes and raised his own Duel Disk in an attempt to shield himself from the oncoming attack. Fortunately for him, Malcolm had stopped his own strike from coming down.

"Alright, you've got my attention," Malcolm grunted sternly. "Start talking."

Matt opened his eyes and looked up. "You know that would be too easy," he replied. "Beat me in a duel, and I'll just straight up tell you. Otherwise, you'll have to join my crew in order to find out."

Malcolm grimaced at the idea, but with no other choice, he put his blade disk down. "Fine," he agreed unwillingly. "We'll duel on your terms."

Matt smiled. "Alright then, shall we begin then?"

With that, the two brought out their dueling decks and placed them in their Duel Disks, Matt's deck being noticeably larger than Malcolm's. Malcolm smirked as he noticed this detail, saying, "Still have the same old deck, eh? What with its bulk and all?"

"It's managed to beat its fair share of opponents, or have you forgotten you're one of the notches on the belt?" Matt recalled, drawing his hand.

"Enough of your drivel," Malcolm snarled. "Let's begin!"

"DUEL!"

Malcolm: 4000
Matt: 4000

"Nothing can prepare you for what I'm about to do," Malcolm taunted, drawing his first card. "My deck's gone through some changes since our last encounter. As a start, let me introduce you to Armageddon Knight (4/1400/1200)!"

Out of a shadowy portal, a masked knight warped onto the field, wielding its dark sword and shield. Its armor appeared old and rusty, and it clanked together while the knight's red scarf fluttered in a mysterious breeze.

A DARK monster? Malcolm's always been about the LIGHT monsters in the past, Matt thought to himself. Is this what he meant with changing his deck?

"Now with my Armageddon Knight's ability," Malcolm continued, "I can send 1 DARK monster from my Deck to the Graveyard the moment he's Summoned to the field. So I think I'll toss another Armageddon Knight into the Graveyard."

The knight then opened a vortex in the ground, and another copy of its card was sent into the vortex from Malcolm's Deck. The vortex was then closed and disappeared.

"Next I'll Special Summon Dark Grepher (4/1700/1600) to my field by discarding 1 Level 5 or higher DARK monster from my hand," Malcolm continued, bringing forth another warrior of shadows.

This warrior was garbed in sinister armor and smiled wickedly amidst his red eyes and white hair. He wielded a great broadsword in one hand with ease.

"I'm not done yet though," Malcolm continued on. "I'll use Dark Grepher's ability to discard another DARK monster in order to send 1 DARK monster from my Deck to my Graveyard."

He's sending a lot of monsters into his Graveyard, Matt noted to himself. Right now, that means he has 4 DARK monsters in his Graveyard once Dark Grepher's ability goes through. What's his plan?

"Now I'll send the Dark Elf (4/2000/800) in my hand to the Graveyard to send another Dark Elf from my Deck to the Graveyard," Malcolm continued, prompting Grepher to wield his broadsword and strike through the two elves, sending them plunging into another vortex.

"With four DARK monsters in my Graveyard, I can now send Dark Nepthys (8/2400/1600) from my hand to the Graveyard as well, provided I remove Armageddon Knight and a Dark Elf first!" Malcolm continued, banishing the two monsters from his Graveyard and sending the black phoenix to his grave. "With all of that said and done, I Set one last card to end my turn."

"Hope you liked playing solitaire, cause now it's my turn!" Matt taunted, drawing his next card. "I'll just Set 1 monster and 1 face-down on the field to end my turn."

"As to be expected," Malcolm smirked drawing his next card. "You've nothing to defend yourself against my assault, and now the power of my monster will prove it! I summon Dark Nepthys from the Graveyard!"

A pillar of black flames burst forth from behind Malcolm, summoning forth the black phoenix from another vortex. The phoenix crowed loudly as its wings spread out to unleash its hellfire feathers on the field.

"As I've demonstrated, my Dark Nephthys has the ability to send itself to the Graveyard if I have 3 or more DARK monsters in it, simply by removing 2 of those monsters from play," Malcolm explained. "Then during the next Standby Phase, it Special Summons itself from the Graveyard again, and when that happens I can destroy a Spell or Trap card on the field, such as your face-down card!"

The phoenix then flapped its wings, raining hellfire down upon Matt's face-down card! The card was destroyed without any hesitation in the flames!

"And now that that's taken care of, I'll attack your face-down monster with my Armageddon Knight!" Malcolm declared.

The knight brandished its sword and lunged forth, preparing to strike down upon Matt's monster! The monster flipped up to reveal a small pink dragonic creature, one that was swiftly decimated by the knight's attack.

"Seems you've fallen for my real trap," Matt asserted, smiling. "My Kidmodo Dragon (3/100/200) was my real strategy, and now that it's been sent to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon a Dragon-Type monster from my hand. So now, I summon forth the mighty Tyrant Dragon (8/2900/2500) to protect my Life Points!"

As he announced its presence, a large bronze-scaled dragon appeared behind Matt, roaring triumphantly as it arrived onto the field in all of its glory. It spread out its mighty wings, forcing back Malcolm's monsters, but Malcolm merely smirked.

"I should have known you had a backup plan of some kind," Malcolm grunted. "But you shouldn't forget, I've faced you many times in the past! And now I'm ready for your tricks! I activate my face-down card, Dark Mambele!"

From the spell came forth a curved dagger imbued with dark energy!

"When I have 3 DARK Monsters on my field, I can use this Spell card to remove from play any card on the field," Malcolm explained, "and I think your Tyrant Dragon will make the perfect choice for my spell!"

The dark dagger boomeranged about the Tyrant Dragon, creating another dark vortex and engulfing the dragon in a dark tornado! When the tornado dissipated, Tyrant Dragon was gone.

"Looks like that will end my turn," Malcolm grinned. "And now you're short one powerful dragon."

"You should remember, my deck's full of powerful dragons," Matt responded, drawing his next card. "And it's full of powerful magic cards too, like Pot of Greed which lets me draw 2 cards!"

A green grinning pot appeared, allowing for Matt to draw two cards from his deck. Just as he did so, one of the cards flashed before him!

"Looks like I drew my Quickdraw Opportunity! magic card as well!" Matt added. "And since I drew the card from my Deck with the Pot of Greed, I can activate it and draw 2 more cards from my Deck."

"Resourceful as ever I see," Malcolm grimaced as Matt drew another two cards.

"If there's one thing I can count on, it's my deck," Matt nodded. "And it has come through for me again! I summon the Blizzard Dragon (4/1800/1000) to the field in Attack mode!"

An icy blue dragon appeared on Matt's field, its serpentine tail swishing this way and that. It extended its wings and roared out onto the field.

"And now I use the special ability of my Blizzard Dragon," Matt continued. "Go, freeze his Dark Nepthys!"

The blue dragon then breathed out a mighty blizzard, freezing Dark Nepthys in place!

"With Blizzard Dragon's ability, I'm able to prevent your monster from switching battle positions or attacking until the end of your next turn," Matt explained. "Speaking of attacking, it's time to take out that Armageddon Knight!"

The dragon then fired off an ice ball over at the shadow knight, knocking it over and piercing it through with a powerful icicle. Some residual shards scattered about and hit Malcolm for the damage.

Malcolm: 3600
Matt: 4000

"I'll be sure to pay you back double for that," Malcolm scowled.

"Go ahead and give it your best shot," Matt replied, setting two cards on the field.

"You'll regret those words," Malcolm retorted, drawing his next card. "Now you will feel my wrath! I Tribute my Dark Nepthys and Dark Grepher in order to summon the Darklord Zerato (8/2800/2300)!"

The two shadow creatures then merged in a sacrificial flame that merged itself together into a large flame. From this flame expanded two blood-red wings, revealing amongst them the darkened form of a corrupted angel. It brought out a devilish blade as it rose up above the field.

"Now I will use Darklord Zerato's power to send a DARK monster from my hand to the Graveyard to wipe out your monsters!" Malcolm continued, powering the wicked blade of his new creature.

The angel then raised its sword into the air and brought it down, unleashing a dark lightning onto Matt's Blizzard Dragon, destroying it in an instant!

"Now go, Darklord Zerato! Claim his Life Points in Lord Montalban's name!" Malcolm declared triumphantly, prompting the angel to dive down at Matt and swing its blade across him, damaging his Life Points!

Malcolm: 3600
Matt: 1200

"I end my turn with that," Malcolm finished, a statement which then caused the angel to explode with dark energy. "Unfortunately that does mean my Darklord Zerato, having used his effect, will be wiped out at the end of my turn, but I think it was worth it to bring your Life Points down a peg."

"Really now? Seems to me you've opened up the path for my victory," Matt taunted, drawing his next card.

"I have more than enough Life Points and more than enough cards in my Deck to take you down," Malcolm countered. "Already I look forward to bringing your corpse to Montalban's front door."

"Trust me, I have a cleaner way of going about that," Matt responded. "But enough of this. I summon Decoy Dragon (2/300/200) in Attack mode!"

A diminutive teal dragon appeared on Matt's field, its eyes shining brightly as it growled adorably. Malcolm wasn't as amused, growling, "You dare to mock me with that imp of a dragon?!"

"I don't just dare to mock, I dare to attack as well!" Matt retorted. "Go, Decoy Dragon! Attack Malcolm directly!"

The dragon lunged forth and bit Malcolm on the arm, only to be shrugged off in retaliation by the latter.

Malcolm: 3300
Matt: 1200

"And now for something real clever," Matt continued. "I activate my face-down Dragon's Gunfire, along with my Burial from a Different Dimension and my other face-down Emergency Provisions!"

Both of the cards revealed themselves, one of a dragon shooting a fireball while the other a small set of rations. Another card joined the two on the field, upon which was a strange ornate coffin being sucked into a vortex of its own.

"Since I chained Emergency Provisions last, it resolves its effect first," Matt explained, "and with it I can send my Dragon's Gunfire and Burial from a Different Dimension to the Graveyard to gain 2000 Life Points."

Malcolm: 3300
Matt: 3200

"Next my Burial from a Different Dimension puts Tyrant Dragon back into my Graveyard," Matt continued. "And finally thanks to Dragon's Gunfire's effect, I inflict 800 damage to your Life Points if I control a Dragon-type monster on my field!"

With that said, Matt unleashed a mighty fireball at Malcolm that sunk his Life Points even further.

Malcolm: 2500
Matt: 3200

"Lastly, I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn," Matt concluded.

"Well then, I'll make sure you regret it," Malcolm growled, drawing his next card. He looked at it and continued, "I activate the Allure of Darkness card I just drew, allowing me to draw 2 more cards from my Deck."

After he did as such, Malcolm looked at his two new cards. Then he continued, "Now as per the effect of Allure of Darkness, I have to remove 1 DARK monster that I just drew from play or else I forfeit my present hand. Fortunately, I drew into my Dark Horus (8/3000/1800), so I'll remove it from the game."

Another vortex opened up into which the card flew into. Matt watched as this card flew into the portal before he looked up at Malcolm and spoke up, "Tell me something Malcolm."

This caught Malcolm's attention as he paused and let Matt continue, "You used to duel with LIGHT monsters, and your tactics used to rely on keeping those monsters on the field. Now you've reversed those maneuvers into sending them to the Graveyard. Is this all apart of your reformed self? The one who appeared because of his hatred for me?"

Malcolm was stunned at this turnabout in Matt's personality and at his remark. Then he seethed and clenched his fist saying, "It damn well is."

Matt now paused as he looked on at Malcolm, who in turn continued his speech, "I used to believe in justice being the one true path to happiness. Certainly one had to sacrifice some of their freedoms for such happiness, but was it not worth it? Was it not fair that such happiness be available at the cost of so little? I asked myself that question every day for those four years I pursued you. You, the one person who defied the laws of justice in favor of those freedoms you would have lost."

Malcolm looked up and directly into Matt's eyes. "You remember what you first told me in our first encounter when I asked that question of you? Why you fought for these freedoms when justice could bring about that happiness?" he asked. Matt looked on and nodded.

"True freedom is the key to happiness," he answered.

"That's right," Malcolm nodded. "True freedom. And yet what did that mean to me, the one who obeyed the laws of justice, who believed in truth and order, that the authority to make men see the light would be enough to lure them to the promise of freedom within justice. And yet there you stood, ready to defy me.

"I couldn't understand for all that time why you had chosen such a path for yourself, and it drove me to pursue you. Perhaps it was to find out what you meant by true freedom or perhaps to show you what freedom under the law was really like. To prove you right or to prove you wrong. I though I had to find you and bring you in to find out. And yet you eluded my grasp for four years until I couldn't follow you any further. And that's when I fell into despair.

"Never knowing whether or not to believe in such freedom or to recklessly pursue its answer, I wallowed in self-loathing for letting you escape my grasp. I was forced to retire from my position with Montalban Corp. in disgrace and ended up here in this secret part of Tortuga. Here I found the corrupted underbelly of the world, and here I lived for the past two years, integrating myself into the darkness until I became one with it.

"And now here I am before you again, seeking the answer to that true freedom you spoke of so long ago. Have I found it? Will you tell me if I've found it? Or will you taunt me further? No longer do I care for such an answer now. My only desire now is to take my revenge upon you for leaving me here! And it all starts with this card! Because I have Armageddon Knight, Dark Elf, Dark Nepthys, Dark Grepher, and Darklord Zerato in my Graveyard and no monsters on my field, I'm allowed to Special Summon The Dark Creator (8/2300/3000) from my hand!"

With that, five orbs of dark light appeared and circled about each other, creating a vortex from which arose a large black mechanical humanoid that stood mightily over the battlefield. It opened a pair of mechanical wings on its back as it charged an orb of dark energy in front of itself.

"Now then," Malcolm exclaimed, "with The Dark Creator on my field, I can remove 1 of my DARK monsters from the Graveyard such as my Dark Elf in order to bring back another DARK monster from my Graveyard! So welcome back the Darklord Zerato!"

The creator then plunged its hands into the dark energy sphere, coating them with dark energy. It reached down into two separate vortexes, bringing the Dark Elf out of one and destroying it while bringing back the Darklord Zerato from the other.

"Now go, Darklord Zerato! Attack the Decoy Dragon!" Malcolm declared, sending forth his resurrected angel to battle the teeny dragon.

The angel lunged forth with its sword ready to strike when suddenly the smaller dragon was enveloped in flames!

"What's going on?" Malcolm asked aloud.

"I'm afraid you've activated Decoy Dragon's special ability," Matt replied. "When it's attacked, I'm allowed to bring back a Level 7 or higher Dragon-type monster from my Graveyard and make it the new attack target. And of course the only monster that qualifies is my Tyrant Dragon!"

Out of the flames appeared the mighty bronze dragon from before, which roared and intercepted the angel's strike! It then fired off a mighty fireball that consumed the angel and damaged Malcolm's Life Points even more!

Malcolm: 2400
Matt: 3200

Malcolm growled. "You think you're so clever," he sneered, but then something caught his eye: Matt had activated one of his face-down cards.

"You activated another Trap?" he gasped.

"That's right," Matt explained. "Because of Tyrant Dragon's own ability, I had to sacrifice my Decoy Dragon to properly Special Summon it back to my field, thus leaving me with no choice but to use my Call of the Haunted to bring back Decoy Dragon to the field."

The teal dragon hiccuped a little as a puff of smoke left its nostrils. It giggled cutely to itself as Malcolm looked at this bizarre move.

Why would he bring it back? He doesn't have any other Level 7 or higher Dragons in his Graveyard to use its ability with, he thought to himself. Could it be he has another trap ready and waiting for my attack? Or perhaps he brought it back for another purpose! Whatever it is, I don't have much choice.

"I won't let you keep that dragon on the field to taunt me further!" Malcolm declared. "Go, Dark Creator! Eliminate that dragon once and for all!"

The mighty humanoid then charged up another sphere of dark energy in preparation for its attack! But then-

"I activate my trap card, Parlay!" Matt declared.

"'Parlay!'?!" Malcolm yelped.

"I'm sure you remember this card from our Duels," Matt continued. "It negates your monster's attack and allows me to give control of one of my monsters over to you. Now that dragon you were going to attack has joined up with you!"

The dark energy sphere dissipated as the teeny dragon flew over to Malcolm's field.

"You can't be serious!" Malcolm yelled, shocked at this turn of events.

"No, I can't," Matt smiled, drawing his next card. "Just only when I win. Go, Tyrant Dragon! Attack the Dark Creator!"

The bronze dragon then fired off another powerful fireball at the humanoid, destroying it in a blaze of glory as Malcolm's Life Points dropped!

Malcolm: 1800
Matt: 3200

"And as per Tyrant Dragon's special ability, when you have another monster on your field after its first attack, I can strike again!" Matt continued. "Now go, finish him off!"

And so another fireball descended upon the tiny dragon, wiping out the rest of Malcolm's Life Points!

Malcolm: 0
Matt: 3200

Malcolm dropped down onto the ground and stared, unable to take the sting of defeat again. "I've lost to you again," he muttered to himself. "Will I never be free of this curse?"

Matt decided that now was a good time to break off the handcuff attached to him still, and so he bashed it against the nearby table until it snapped off. He walked up to a sniveling Malcolm and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Now that I've defeated you, it's time for you to join my crew," Matt declared.

Malcolm looked up in confusion. "What could I gain from being in your crew?" he asked bitterly, spitting down at the ground to emphasize his disgust.

Matt simply smiled. "You want to get back with Montalban, right?" he asked. "Then you'll have to join my crew to find out how."

Malcolm grimaced visibly before finally he vomited on the floor away from Matt. Matt reeled back from this quickly and wiped his hand on a nearby tablecloth. Just as he was finishing up, the door to the room swung open as Andrew and Joey barged in.

"There you are!" Andrew called out. "We've been quelling folks left and right looking for you!"

"And dat wasn't easy," Joey commented, looking behind through the door to the hall where several drunk and weary patrons now lay in a heap.

Matt turned to the new entrants. "You made it!" he responded.

"Heh, believe me, I was almost sure I didn't," Andrew joked as he approached his brother. He caught sight of the weary Malcolm before taking note of Matt's Duel Disk. "Were you just dueling the locals for entertainment? Seriously, they're not much of a challenge when they're drunk."

"Never mind that," Matt dismissed. "What are you all doing here?"

"Well after I broke your girlfriend out of jail, I thought I'd come see if my hunch was correct and that you'd end up here," Andrew replied, digging around in his ear with his pinky.

"My girlfriend?" Matt wondered for a moment before he realized who Andrew was talking about. "Shannon..."

"Yeah, she's not too pleased about being in my care for the past few months," Andrew continued as he flicked off a bit of earwax. Then his look turned more serious as he asked, "So is it true? Were you really able to...you know."

Matt sighed. "It's...complicated," he responded.

Andrew gave a discontented grunt. "Well, considering Montalban's still got that chip on his shoulder from El Dorado, he's probably not too pleased with hearing about my jailbreak. I'm guessing Creighton and Izzy made it over to you?"

Matt hesitated. "Well...yes and no."

Andrew raised an eyebrow as Matt continued, "Right now, Creighton is...currently on the Gladius Divinum."

Andrew's face went pale just as the others made it up the stairs. "You're joking."

Matt shook his head. "He'll be alright, he's got Bonesman there-"

"Bonesman? I thought he didn't survive."

"He didn't."

"Ahh..."

"Regardless, we've got what we came here for, so now..."

Matt made a movement towards the exit, but Andrew halted him for a moment. "There is one other reason I'm here right now. In case you hadn't noticed."

Matt winced a little. He did, in fact, notice that Joey had been next to Andrew on the way in, and more so he had noticed Yugi and the others as they had ascended the stairs. Perhaps most importantly, he saw Yugi looking back at him.

"Your note was a little...lacking," Andrew continued. "So I would say that the God Card you stole ought to be returned to its rightful owner."

Matt looked at his brother for a moment, then back at Yugi, almost lost in some thought. "...nope, not yet."

Andrew raised an eyebrow as Matt brushed him aside and made for the door. "What do you mean 'not yet'? You already had it for way past the one day! And it's not even yours to hold onto! Why exactly do you need to hang onto Slifer?"

Matt looked over his shoulder and simply replied, "Because I'm not done using it yet." Then he continued out the door.

"Not doing using...THAT'S NO EXCUSE!" Andrew yelled out, pursuing his brother alongside Joey, leaving Malcolm to watch them all leave.

He has Slifer the Sky Dragon too? Malcolm smiled to himself a wicked grin. Perhaps it's in my best interest to join Captain Matt Zero's crew.

He chuckled to himself before feeling the urge again to vomit and proceeding to do so on the ground. ...but first I'll clean up and then find him...


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Yes, that is actually Haitian they are speaking...according to the internet. HEY LOOK CARDS

Armageddon Knight (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1400 Atk, 1200 Def, Warrior, DARK
Effect: When this card is Summoned: you can send 1 DARK monster from your Deck to the GY.

Dark Grepher (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1700 Atk, 1600 Def, Warrior, DARK
Effect: You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by discarding 1 Level 5 or higher DARK Monster. Once per turn: you can discard 1 DARK monster; send 1 DARK monster from your Deck to the GY.

Dark Elf (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 2000 Atk, 800 Def, Spellcaster, DARK
Effect: You must pay 1000 LP in order to attack with this card.

Dark Nepthys (Effect Monster)
Level 8, 2400 Atk, 1600 Def, Winged Beast, DARK
Effect: If you have 3 or more DARK monsters in your GY, and this card is in your hand: you can banish 2 of them and send this card to the GY. During your next Standby Phase after this card was sent to the GY by this effect, Special Summon this card from your GY. When this card is Special Summoned: Target 1 Spell/Trap card on the field; destroy that target.

Kidmodo Dragon (Effect Monster)
Level 3, 100 Atk, 200 Def, Dragon, EARTH
Effect: If this card is sent to the GY: you can Special Summon 1 Dragon monster from your hand. You cannot Special Summon monsters other than Dragon monsters or conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this effect. You can only use the effect of "Kidmodo Dragon" once per turn.

Tyrant Dragon (Effect Monster)
Level 8, 2900 Atk, 2500 Def, Dragon, FIRE
Effect: During your Battle Phase, if your opponent controls a monster after this card's first attack, this card can attack once again. Negate the effect of any Trap card that targets this card, and if you do, destroy that Trap. This card cannot by Special Summoned from the GY, unless you Tribute 1 Dragon monster.

Dark Mambele (Normal Spell)
Effect: If you control 3 or more DARK monsters: banish 1 card on the field.

Pot of Greed (Normal Spell)
Effect: Draw 2 cards.

Quickdraw Opportunity! (Quick-play Spell)
Effect: Draw 1 card. If you draw this card by a card effect: you can activate it and draw 2 cards instead.

Blizzard Dragon (Effect Monster)
Level 4, 1800 Atk, 1000 Def, Dragon, WATER
Effect: Once per turn, you can target 1 monster your opponent controls; it cannot change its battle position or declare an attack until the opponent's next End Phase.

Darklord Zerato (Effect Monster)
Level 8, 2800 Atk, 2300 Def, Fairy, DARK
Effect: If you have 4 or more DARK monsters with different names in your GY, you can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 DARK monster. You can send 1 DARK monster from your hand to the GY; destroy all monsters your opponent controls. Once per turn, during the End Phase, if this effect was activated this turn: destroy this card.

Decoy Dragon (Effect Monster)
Level 2, 300 Atk, 200 Def, Dragon, FIRE
Effect: If this card is targeted for an attack: Target 1 Level 7 or higher Dragon monster in your GY; Special Summon it, and if you do, change the attack target to it and perform damage calculation.

Dragon's Gunfire (Normal Spell)
Effect: Activate only if you control a face-up Dragon monster. Activate one of the following effects:
● Inflict 800 damage to your opponent.
● Target 1 monster on the field with 800 or less DEF; destroy that target.

Burial from a Different Dimension (Quick-play Spell)
Effect: Target up to 3 banished monsters; return them to their owner's GY.

Emergency Provisions (Quick-play Spell)
Effect: Send any number of Spell/Trap cards you control to the GY; gain 1000 LP for each card sent to the GY this way.

Allure of Darkness (Normal Spell)
Effect: Draw 2 cards, then banish 1 DARK monster from your hand, or if you do not have any in your hand, send your entire hand to the GY.

Dark Horus (Effect Monster)
Level 8, 3000 Atk, 1800 Def, Dragon, DARK
Effect: Once per turn, after resolving a Spell card that was activated during your opponent's Main Phase: you can target 1 Level 4 DARK monster in your GY; Special Summon that target. This card must be face-up on the field to activate and resolve this effect.

The Dark Creator (Effect Monster)
Level 8, 2300 Atk, 3000 Def, Thunder, DARK
Effect: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by having 5 or more DARK monsters in your GY while you control no monsters. Once per turn, you can banish 1 DARK monster from your GY to target 1 DARK monster in your GY; Special Summon it.

Parlay! (Normal Trap)
Effect: During your opponent's Battle Phase, when an opponent's monster declares an attack: negate that attack, then give control of 1 monster you control to your opponent.

It looks like Matt's crew is ready to set sail! But are they ready to face the dangers that await them? And whatever happened to Creighton anyway? We'll find out in the next chapter!