The plot takes several twists in the latest volume of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. We’ve got new characters, new Numbers and a plot development that really shakes the whole dynamic around. Let’s dive on in and see where we jet!

In the Name of the Moon!

In the dead of night, a mysterious young woman contacts Shark and challenges him to a Duel. Claiming to be a messenger from the moon, she’s out to determine if ol’ Jaws is as skilled as they say. Shark accepts her challenge out of pride, curiosity… and possibly because fighting a moonlit Duel with a hooded young beauty in a deserted city street is a dream we all have at some point in our teenage years. *cough*

Meanwhile, Back At The Club...

Yuma and Astral soon discover the age-old lesson: ridiculously rich friends are awesome. Their biggest cheerleader, Cathy, unveils her latest purchase—a brand new, fully-staffed base of operations for the Numbers Club.

Luna admits to having been Dr. Faker’s assistant, but turned against him once she realized his brain was loopier than a spaghetti strainer. She fears the Numbers, both for their ability to draw out the darkness in unsuspecting human hearts and for how they’re giant magnets for villains looking for a quick ticket to cosmic power. Deciding that they're too dangerous for either Earth or the Astral World, Luna recruits Shark to destroy the Numbers forever.

And Along Came A Spider…

Realizing they need more information, Yuma uses Cathy’s database to uncover Shark’s past. He and his friends discover that Shark had actually been favored as a champion of the Dueling world only one year ago, but disappeared from the public eye after he had confessed to stealing a Duelist’s Deck. But was Shark really the one at fault? A closer look points the finger at another Dueling prodigy, Kyoji Yagumo.

Shark and Yagumo grew up in the same orphanage, sharing a dream of becoming world champions to give their fellow orphans something to be proud of. But, while Yagumo has a charisma that draws others in, Shark is surly from the start and suffers a bad rep. In the end, Shark decides that the kids at the orphanage need a real white knight, so he lets Yagumo stay in the spotlight, even if it means throwing a few important Duels…or taking the fall when he saw Yagumo fleeing a tournament after dropping a Deck that isn’t his.

A Game of Numbers

Meanwhile Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland realize that Kaito’s loyalty isn’t long for this world, so they decide it’s time to cut their losses and enlist another Duelist: Kyoji Yagumo. The previous paragon has an epiphany sometime after stealing a Deck, and he decides to take his life in a new direction: straight off the sanity cliff. The destruction of both the human and Astral worlds sounds like the bees’ knee...er...arachnids’ knees to him, so he arms himself with a new nihilistic philosophy, a sinister spider motif, a cruel coiffeur and a deadly Deck to match. To take over where Kaito left off, he dispatches his henchman, Eviluder, to remove what he views as his weakest rival in the Numbers War: Yuma and the Numbers Club!

I was impressed with this volume. The ZeXxal manga’s gone its own direction for a while, but Luna and Yagumo mark a permanent shift in flavor. We’ve got four sides: one that wants to save both worlds, one that just wants to save one little boy, one that wants to stop the Numbers from doing any more harm, and one that’d rather turn the multiverse into a smoking crater. (Talk about a crazy free-for-all!) I’m pumped: the battle between the four factions is on, and I can’t wait to see where it goes!

Number 47: Nightmare Shark
Volume 4 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal introduces Number 47: Nightmare Shark in both the manga and the real world! This toothy fellow lets one of your Level 3 WATER monsters attack directly in exchange for one of its Materials. (You also can’t attack with any other monster, but a free shot’s a free shot!) And while you only need two Level 3 monsters to Special Summon Nightmare Shark, its effect also lets you add a third Material if you have another Level 3 WATER monster in your Hand or Field.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal volume 4 is available now!