Chapter 11: From Rags to Riches
About three months have passed since Mutou's escape from prison and his time on board with the Rare Hunters. Because of Pa Li Ah's teachings, and he already knew Bandit Keith nearly ten years ago, Yugi had no need to use an interpretor for verbal communication. When they asked him for his name, he replied, "Zatarra."
"Meaning driftwood in Italian?" asked Keith. "Oh, well. It's your name."
'For some reason, that name came to mind.'
At first, Keith was a bit reluctant and suspicious about his new recruit... given that the island prison sounded its alarms as soon he appeared. Even with this coincidence, the leader of the Rare Hunters even suspected Yugi of being some kind of law enforcing spy. But, having a prison inmate aboard is always better than a spy working for the law, right? Besides, the new duelist seemed to be the perfect successor for the leader of the Rare Hunters.
One fact reinforced Keith's hopes: the new member quickly won the admiration of all the others, especially the one who first found him: Jack O. Poe. The two quickly became the best of friends. As the months passed, Yugi taught Jack some of the worldly knowledge he learned from Pa Li Ah. Because of this, the eighteen-year old considered Zatarra as more than just a friend; an older brother of sorts.
Naturally, Yugi used his new friends' admiration and his newfound air of enigma to his advantage. This way, Mutou secretly knew about the people he worked with, while they knew nothing of him. He then decided to have his hair cut by his new friends, to see if anyone, including himself, would recognize him. Once his hair was shortened to his desirable length, he sought a mirror, and smirked with a feeling of satisfaction.
'Looks like no one'll recognize me now.'
The Rare Hunters' boat had traveled to various places, in order to search for rare Duel Monsters cards... using trickery and deception to gain immense profits as well. In some places, Yugi helped his new friends steal and then sell some Red-Eyes themed cards to some guy named Kagemaru... Once they (the RH) traveled to some Tibetan mountains, and almost succeeded in obtaining a supposedly forbidden deck of darkness.
Although the Rare Hunters traveled mainly on boat, they often rode on motorcycles across various countries. And occasionally, stolen jets were used for urgent modes of transportation. This was the case when the group planned to go to Italy to participate in a major DM tournament there. Mutou quietly relished at this news.
After the tournament was over, Yugi believed it was time to cut ties with the Rare Hunters. Although deeply upset, the Rare Hunters eventually complied to 'Zatarra's' wishes. As a parting gift, the organization gave their best member the private yacht. However, the eighteen-year old Jack decided to accompany his friend.
"Wherever you go, Zatarra, I shall follow you. Even if it means going to the ends of the Earth, Aniki."
Touched by Jack's sincere words, Yugi accepts his young friend's request. Using the prize money that they won in the tournament, both men purchase several things, an authentic boating permit, two shovels, two mining picks, and some explosives.
Confused, Jack asked, "Why are we buying this, Zatarra? Couldn't we just have gone back with the Hunters to go to Monte Cristo?"
"No, my young friend. These are something that I need to obtain an inheritance."
"An inheritance, you say?"
"Yes, now to the isle of Monte Cristo!" exclaimed Yugi.
The both of them then raced to the small island on board a luxury yacht, equipped with the one of the most advanced pieces of modern technology of the year 2012. Traveling at high speeds, the boat lands on the small island in about 20-30 minutes.
Yugi and Jack begin a long trek across the island, looking for things that resembled the clues on Pa Li Ah's parchment.
The twenty-four year old man muttered, "Twentieth one... from smallest water source... and a second hole."
"What do they mean, Zatarra?"
"Hmm...perhaps, twentieth one means twentieth rock. And maybe a creek could be the smallest water source on this island. Plus, I remember that there were two caves, so we go through the second one."
"Wait a minute. I thought that there weren't any caves here, Zatarra!"
"Perhaps because they've been hidden for so long, Jack. They've got to be here somewhere. And I'll find it."
"Right... Aniki. I'm going back to the yacht. I'll set up dinner; you comin'?"
"A bit later, I'll continue my search."
And with that, the two friends go their separate ways temporarily. Another hour passes, and the young man almost gives up his treasure hunt. That is until, he notices a small creek that leads to a huge rock. But before he jumps to conclusions, Yugi counts the number of rocks that are lined up in a random pattern alongside the creek.
"Eighteen, nineteen... and... twenty! Yes! That's gotta be the twentieth one!" cried Mutou.
'The only problem is... how can I lift that! Even though I can lift about-- wait, a minute.'
He then theorizes how the nameless leader of The Cult and possibly his followers have hidden the treasure. Even though Yugi can lift several hundreds of pounds, the rock's weight seemed to be at least a ton.
'Perhaps... rqther than lifting the enormous rock, The Cult must've... yes, I see now.'
Yugi climbed on top of the twentieth rock, and found its original location. 'Yes, now it makes sense. The nameless leader probably made an artificial slope here. That way, this large rock naturally slid downward, thus blocking the entrance to the underground caverns on this island.'
'But, in order to remove this rock... I can't use my mining pick, or this shovel... need to use this explosive... and hopefully, it should work.'
Placing the explosive device next to the huge rock, Yugi runs several feet away, and then triggers a massive explosion that utterly destroys his obstacle to nothingness. Once the rock was gone, Mutou saw a huge hole in the ground... a cave.
Suddenly, Jack O. Poe appears to be running towards his friend. The young kid's face seems deeply worried and shocked simultaneously.
"Zatarra! I thought that I heard-- whoa! What the hell! Did you do this, Zatarra?!"
"Yes, I did. Now, do you believe me?"
"Yes, I do! Good thing no one heard this thing but us, or the Italian government will be on our asses for this!"
"Right, now follow me, Jack."
"But, what about dinner?"
As Yugi's descending deeper, "We'll find the treasure first, then dinner."
"Aye..."
The two friends begin to walk inside the underground caves, with some of their digging materials. Holding a light, Mutou leads the way through a cavern that was neither large, nor small. As they were walking further, Jack noticed that the walls seemed to glimmer like the stars of a night sky.
Yugi also noticed the sparkling lights, and he turned off his halogen light device. 'They must be precious stones, such as diamonds.'
'Now... according to Pa Li Ah, there's supposed to be a second cave here... and like the large rock that I've destroyed about ten minutes ago, I believe that this second hole is cleverly hidden as well.'
"Jack! Use the pick and tap it against the walls. Listen carefully to each sound the pick makes when an impact is made. I'll do the same on this side!"
And with that, the two treasure hunters continue to tap against the cave walls to find out where the second hole is located. This course of action lasts for a few minutes. Yugi manages to find the second hole, and informs Poe of it.
Mutou said, "The second holes' here, Jack. I'm sure of it. Now hand me a low explosive this time."
The teenager complies by taking out and handing the device to his superior. After attaching the low explosive onto the fake wall, Yugi signals his young friend to back away some several feet; he follows suit. This time, Mutou triggers a small, but still important explosion.
The wall crumbles to pieces, much to both men's expectations. Now that the second obstacle is rid of, Yugi becomes more anxious than ever. It was only a few minutes more, that the treasure would finally be revealed to the two men.
They entered a large, spacious room, that was filled with all kinds of precious objects, such as gold bars, jewelry, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, sapphires, and scores of gemstones. But, that was just a small percentage of the vast treasure that was inside this cavern.
Before he escaped from prison, Pa Li Ah told Yugi that his fortune amounted to about 1 trillion yen (about 11 billion USD). But after doing some calculations, he realizes that the treasure's worth nearly tripled the estimation made by the Korean minister."
(A/N: For those who aren't quick, the fortune is around 30 billion in American dollars)
'How did The Cult accumulate this amount of treasure?! Oh, well... like it matters. It's all mine--'
Mutou then looks at his young friend, who's already hysteric about this discovery. 'No... it's not all mine... I'll share some of it with Jack O. Poe.'
"Do you want half of it, Jack?" asked Mutou.
"No thanks. My real treasure is the precious knowledge that you taught me, Aniki."
'Ah, such a noble and selfless heart... like how I was with Pa Li Ah before. I thought that he would want half of all this. Must be a simple kid, a rarity to find these days.'
Much to his surprise, Yugi found himself kneeling on the ground, uttering a prayer in a language, in which only God could fathom.
'It must be God's will that enabled me to discover this fabulous treasure. And as such, I shall devote myself to several more years of 'training'... to prepare myself for my revenge.'
'But first... I have to return back to Japan... so I can confirm who betrayed me, if my grandpa's still alive, and if I have any friends left.'
'Vengeance will be mine. It's only a matter of time now.'