Yu - Gi - Oh ! ZEXAL - Episode 026 " Let the Duels Begin ! " , known as " Opening ! World Duel Carnival " in the Japanese version , is the twenty - sixth episode of the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! ZEXAL " anime . It first aired in Japan on October 10 , 2011 , and aired in the United States on August 25 , 2012 . This episode also marks the change of the card backing used by the characters . Summary . Yuma Tsukumo waits for confirmation of being registered in the World Duel Carnival since the morning , Yuma asks what is taking him so long , Astral asks who is taking so long , then he sees a deliverer passing by and ask if he has any mail for him . The deliverer checks and double check and reveals that there is no mail for Yuma , which upsets him . At school , Bronk hugs Caswell , much to the latter ' s chagrin . Tori ask why Bronk is happy and he says it ' s because the World Duel Carnival is starting and Caswell reveals that the winner will get a free passport to Heartland City . Flip then tells everyone that the winner also gets 1 wish granted from Mr . Heartland which he says he knows what he will wish and reveals that he will wish for a hundred more wishes , then Cathy says she wishes for a date with Yuma . Flip then talks about Heart Pieces which he , Bronk , Caswell , and Cathy got from the mail . Tori says everyone is competing only to find out that Yuma isn ' t as he is standing upset , Caswell asks if it came which Yuma says no and cries . Astral feels embarrassed and reminds Yuma that he is invisible . Caswell asks Yuma if he filled up an application for entry . Yuma say ' s he thought it ' s just a cool looking picture which Bronk says it ' s a picture showing him how to apply . Astral says at least Yuma doesn ' t embarrass himself . Yuma typed in his name and address and enters , but the bad news is registration is closed . Yuma freaks out with a pose similar to the figure in , he starts to run around , looking for Heart Pieces and runs into Shark . Yuma asks Shark if he is entering the World Duel Carnival , but Shark isn ' t interested in entering such a big stage anymore . As Shark leaves , a " Mirror Force " card gets thrown at him . It turns out that his opponent that he faced in the National Tournament , named " Quattro " , threw it at him . Quattro thinks it could be useful for Shark to use in the World Duel Carnival then Shark says he isn ' t competing , so Quattro tells Shark about what happened during the " incident " in the National Tournament : Quattro purposely had his Deck set up so that Shark could see it . Shark wants to Duel , but Quattro says that he has to do it in the tournament and throws a Heart Piece . Next , Vetrix is watching multiple cartoons at once . Quattro enters telling Vetrix that he has made Shark enter the World Duel Carnival , and asks Vetrix why he is interested in him . Vetrix tells him they need him after collecting all the " Number s " , and Quattro says that he is glad that he can drag Shark into the underworld again ( in the dub he says he can put Shark through the ringer again ) and laughs evilly . Meanwhile , Yuma goes to the Heartland office in order to receive heart pieces , and tells the lady in the door ' s monitor that he will die if he cannot Duel , and pretends to be dying , only to be ignored much to Yuma ' s dismay and yells loudly , Caswell then says that he should give him points for perseverance . Elsewhere , many of the Duelists entering the World Duel Carnival are shown arriving to the Heartland , while in the main Headquarters of Heartland , Mr . Heartland , Dextra , and Nistro are checking on the Duelists arriving in Heartland . Nistro is excited about the WDC , and Dextra tells him that their job is to watch over the World Duel Carnival . Kite Tenjo enters the room and asks Mr . Heartland why he was called , and Mr . Heartland tells Kite that he wanted him to see the scenes where Duelists are arriving and tells him that there should be many Duelists that have " Numbers " cards , and that the WDC should involve him collecting the " Numbers " cards , but tells Kite to be careful since many powerful Duelists have arrived . Then Nistro tells Kite that if he is scared , Nistro himself can go collect the " Numbers " instead of Kite . Kite tells Nistro that no one is an enemy of his . Nistro then says Kite is such a good hearted person with a funny face . Dextra tells Nistro to stop , then suddenly on the monitor a worker for Mr . Heartland tells him that there is a boy whose registration was late at the entrance , so Mr . Heartland tells him to send him away , however the worker says the boy claims he won ' t leave until he gets a heart piece . It is then shown that the boy is Yuma who is holding onto the workers ' legs and refusing to leave until he gets a Heart Piece ( in the dub , he offers his entire life savings for a Heart Piece which he says is about 75¢ ) . Kite immediately recognizes Yuma . Mr . Heartland again tells the worker to send him away , but before the worker does so Kite tells Mr . Heartland to let the boy have the right to participate , where he asks Kite if he knows the boy , where Kite says no , but that he has the possibility of having " Numbers " . Mr . Heartland asks Kite if he is hiding something from him , and that the other day when the building where Kite and Orbital exploded , where Kite just tells him that the machines in there malfunctioned and that there shouldn ' t be problems if he collects all the " Numbers " , telling Mr . Heartland that he has no need to report every single thing to him . Mr . Heartland agrees with him and Kite goes away . While Kite is heading out , Orbital asks him if he isn ' t going to report what happened with Yuma Tsukumo , where Kite tells Orbital not to ask anything unnecessary or he will permanently shut Orbital down which upsets him , and thinks to himself that the real enemy of him is Astral , and that he will defeat him at all cost . Orbital asks Kite if he thinks Yuma is his rival , which Kite disagrees and tells him that Yuma is just an idiot . Meanwhile Yuma is still hanging onto the workers in front of the Heartland building and claiming he won ' t go away until he gets a heart piece . Tori and the others are still there with the latter saying that a few hours passed and Yuma still doesn ' t give up . Then suddenly the doors open and Mr . Heartland appears with Dextra and Nistro , with Litterbots trumpeting , where Yuma ' s friends are surprised to see him face to face . Yuma then calls out to Mr . Heartland by rudely calling him " Old man " ( In the dub , Yuma casually says to him " Hey dude ! " ) . Mr . Heartland becomes angry to be called by that name . Tori says it isn ' t a good start . The workers below try to correct Yuma to call him " Lord Mr . Heartland " , but Yuma keeps getting the name wrong . ( In the dub , Yuma confuses his gender , calling him " Mrs . Heartland " . ) Yuma then tells Mr . Heartland about how he couldn ' t register for the WDC properly and asks him if he can receive a heart piece , though it shows Mr . Heartland still annoyed by Yuma calling him an old man ( in the dub , it ' s changed to Mrs . Heartland ) . Yuma ' s friends are amused by how rude Yuma is ( in the dub , Caswell says that Yuma need a good selection of words and Bronk says there is a little to choose from ) . Mr . Heartland tells Yuma that he has heard about it and that it has reached to his warm heart , and that he will grant his wish and gives Yuma a heart piece , then Mr . Heartland notices the pendant Yuma is wearing and asks him about it , where Yuma tells him that it is an important present that his parents gave him . Mr . Heartland says to himself that he has seen the pendant from before ( in the dub , Mr . Heartland says that there is something special about Yuma ) . Afterwards , with Yuma and Tori alone , Tori congratulates Yuma that he can finally fulfill the promise he made with his father to become the Duel Champion . Astral tells Yuma that he must win since the tournament should have many " Number s " holders . Yuma tells Astral that he doesn ' t plan on just winning , where Astral asks Yuma why he doesn ' t plan on fully winning since that would mean Yuma wouldn ' t be fulfilling the promise he made with his father . Yuma explains to Astral that he has thought to himself for a long time about what Dueling means to him , and that ever since he met Astral , he started to win despite losing all the time before , but when he lost against Reginald and Kite , he understood that he could lose something important from losing for the first time , but he never hated Dueling despite it . He tells Astral that Dueling mean bonds and connection to him , and that Dueling and fighting is different . Astral doesn ' t want to agree to him since he would disappear if he lost . Yuma tells Astral that he understand how he feels and will do anything to save him , but have realized that there is something exceeding from winning and losing . Astral asks Yuma what he will do about Kite , where Yuma answers that he will lose his soul if he lost , but it won ' t change his Dueling . Then Tori worries what would happen if Yuma really lost his soul , where Yuma tries to comfort Tori , so she tells Yuma to win at all cost in the tournament , which Yuma promises to . Inside Emperor ' s Key , Astral questions to himself what is more important than winning . Then it is shown Yuma and his friends all respectively rebuilding their Decks . While in that time Kite stares at his sleeping brother , Hart Tenjo . Next day comes , where the WDC starts with greetings from Flight shows and parades . Mr . Heartland greets all Duelists and explains the rules regarding the World Duel Carnival . The prelims will go for 3 days in the entire Heartland , and that all Duelists must all accept all challenges from other Duelists . The tournament will have an ante rule of betting their Heart Pieces and that if all Heart Pieces are lost , the participant will be disqualified . In order to enter the finales , the Duelists must gather all Heart Pieces to make a perfect heart . Mr . Heartland then officially opens the World Duel Carnival . Yuma ' s friends all run off to find opponents , and suddenly out of no where , Striker appears with his soccer ball stuck full of " Duel Monsters " cards , and kicks the ball to find his first opponent , which lands on Yuma ' s face , where Striker challenges Yuma for his first Duel . Featured cards . The following cards appeared in this episode . Cards in italics debuted here .