Interlude 2: Sealed Technique The Yellow Dragon King

The West District’s branch of the Yellow Dragon Tournament was famous for having an incredibly high number of participants compared to other districts.

Because of that, even famous players could go unnoticed in the crowd, their identities only becoming known in the later stages once most of the field had been eliminated.

The current team tournament was no exception.

"Wh-What are these guys…!?"

A lone man stared up at the seven players standing up from their seats, his face etched with panic.

On either side of him, his teammates sat frozen, unable to move a muscle. They had been dealt such a shocking defeat that their lips were bone-dry.

The man’s team was a collection of heavy hitters from the West District, considered one of the favorites to win the whole thing.

And yet, they had suffered a total defeat. Seven to zero. They hadn't just been beaten; they hadn't even been able to show the will to resist.

"And with a stupid name like that…!"

The man’s hand shook as he checked his opponents' team name.

—"Team Funakko." That was their name.

Despite the seemingly ridiculous name, this team had finished their first-round match in a mere ten minutes and had just settled the second round in fifteen.

And that wasn't all.

The team hadn't suffered a single loss. All seven members were advancing with an undefeated record.

"Alright, everyone’s winning. Moving right along!"

The man serving as "Team Funakko’s" ace stretched his back. He looked like a perfectly normal, pleasant young man, not particularly imposing.

However, the board in front of him was a hellscape—even after prevailing in a massive struggle exceeding a hundred and fifty moves, the young man showed no sign of distress or fatigue.

The player who had faced him returned to his team with a face as white as a sheet.

—The young man’s name was Tenryu Kazuki.

The reason this once-weak West District had come to be known as a powerhouse was because Tenryu had claimed the title of "Yellow Dragon."

Yes, this young man—Tenryu Kazuki—was the undisputed "Yellow Dragon King," the first person in the prefecture’s history to become the national champion during the previous tournament.

Tenryu scratched his head as he walked over to his undefeated teammates, a look of slight embarrassment on his face.

"Hey, don't you think 'Funakko' is a bit too lame?"

"What are you talking about? Funakko is fine. It’s cute, right?"

"And it sounds tasty too!"

"The name comes from the Funagakoi—the Boat Castle—right? It’s perfect, since we’re all restricted to using the Boat Castle."

"No, we aren't doing a 'restriction.' …Though everyone did use the Boat Castle in the first and second rounds."

His teammates, having run out of patience while trying to pick a name, had come up with it on the fly with a disastrous sense of aesthetics. That was "Team Funakko."

While Tenryu was a bit perplexed by it, he figured that since it was just a temporary team for this tournament, he’d let them have their way.

Just then, one of his teammates who had been scouting the other matches spoke up.

"Yo, Tenryu. Looks like Ryutei got wiped out."

"For real? Does that mean we don’t have to do anything anymore? Reina, should we just head home?"

"Yeah, let’s go."

"Hey, hey, stay and finish your matches. If you guys leave and it becomes a forfeit, the staff in charge of the brackets will lose their minds."

The organizer of this tournament, Tetsuro Suzuki, ran over with an exasperated expression, scratching his head.

"Even if you say that, President Suzuki, we’ve got nothing left to do."

"Yeah, that was the only team here with any ties to the Ginpaku Committee. Tetsuro Suzuki, aren't you going to be in trouble if you stand out any more than this?"

"…True. It might be one thing if it were just me, but since I’ve even dragged Kawauchi-kun into this, the assembly might not stay quiet if we draw too much attention. …But could you at least fight until the finals? I’ll let you skip tomorrow’s individual tournament."

The members couldn't exactly refuse a request from Tetsuro Suzuki, so they agreed, albeit with looks of pure annoyance.

"Man, what a pain."

"I’ll treat everyone to dinner on the way home."

"Alright, Tenryu, let’s do this for real."

"O-Oh… sure…"

The members seemed to lack any sense of unity. Perhaps that was the weakness of a group of ten different people forced together for a team tournament.

However, for them, a weakness like that didn't matter.

—"Team Funakko." The members of this team were a literal dream team of all-stars who had once taken the entire nation by storm.

Mikado had no idea that such a legendary team was waiting for him.