Sand Storm.Ryu is seen in the middle of a sandstorm facing an Arabic shaman next to an Arabic woman. Some time before, while going for a walk around the village with Manta, Ryu meets a girl called Anise (the woman seen in the beginning of the episode), who is a member of Team Arabian and shares with him the wish of finding the Best Place. As he tries to flert with her, her fiancé, Haloun, emerges and beats him for trying to approach her. He also slaps her in the face for talking to another man, says Ryu comes from a rich country that is always yearning for more resources while he hails from a country were every drop of water counts and leaves. Later, Ryu finds out Team Arabian will be their first adversary in the second round. In the battle, set in a vast desert, Haloun has his second team mate create a sandstorm so he can fight Ryu personally while the third member deals with Yoh and Faust and Anise watches. Haloun keeps dismissing Ryu's dream as foolish, while Ryu asks Anise if she truly trusts her fiancé to make her dream come true, comparing their marriage to his voluntary choice of trusting his dream to Yoh. Ryu eventually wins the battle and Haloun is frustrated. Anise tells him she would have wanted to marry him even if their parents did not arrange it and Haloun says it is reciprocated.