“ZZZZT— ZZZZT—”
The harsh, static-filled sound of a live microphone blasted through the air above the open central pitch, shattering the dead silence.
Every member of Blue Lock—who should have been basking in the joy of defeating the U-20 National Team—was now standing in the middle of the pitch.
Disbelief and sheer exhaustion were written on every single face.
Just minutes ago, they had been summoned here by Ego Jinpachi.
They hadn’t even had time to wash the sweat-soaked jerseys they had just taken off before slipping them right back on.
“What gives…?
We literally won the match…”
Igarashi Gurimu sat on the grass clutching his knees, muttering under his breath, “Even if you aren’t paying us a bonus, at least let us get a good night’s sleep, right?”
“Shut up, monk.” Raichi Jingo ruffled his hair in irritation.
“That four-eyed guy must be losing his mind again.”
Isagi Yoichi stood in the middle of the group, his gaze involuntarily turning toward the goal.
Standing there was a single figure.
He wasn’t wearing a goalkeeper uniform, but a black training tank top.
Hands tucked into his shorts pockets, he was scanning everyone with a look that made it clear he viewed them as complete garbage.
Rin Kazuki!
Right then, the massive display screen lit up, revealing Ego Jinpachi’s gloomy face.
“Listen up, raw stones.”
“Did you think that winning against the U-20 meant you could kick back and relax?
Did you think you were heroes now?
Idiots.
You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“I’ve already reviewed the match from earlier.
The conclusion is—if you remove that bastard of a goalkeeper, you bunch would have been turned into a sieve by Sae Itoshi’s U-20.
The final score would have been roughly 2 to 10.
The Blue Lock project would be dissolved on the spot, and every single one of your football careers would have ended right then and there.”
An uproar burst through the pitch.
“Ha?
What kind of joke is that?!”
“We scored four goals!”
“Isn’t that way too exaggerated, Ego-san?!”
Faced with their protests, Ego merely let out a cold sneer before cutting the feed, leaving behind a single line:
“Don’t believe it?
Then let the man who ‘saved your careers’ tell you the truth himself.”
Everyone’s eyes instantly snapped to Kazuki in front of the goal.
Kazuki slowly pulled a hand out of his pocket, let out a yawn, and casually took the microphone handed to him from the side.
“Testing, testing.
Check.”
Thanks to the amplifiers, his lazy yet venom-laced voice detonated right beside everyone’s ears.
“Ego Jinpachi put it way too politely.”
Kazuki tilted his head, the corner of his mouth hooking into an intensely mocking arc.
“The truth is, without me, you so-called ‘strikers’ were running around out there like headless chickens.
The defensive end was pure Swiss cheese, and the attack was a complete waste of opportunities.
I had to wipe your asses while keeping the opponent from scoring at the same time.
It was honestly exhausting.”
“If I hadn’t been standing in front of the net, the ‘Blue Lock’ brand would have been smashed to pieces half an hour ago.
What you should be doing right now isn’t complaining, but getting on your knees and thanking me for granting you the right to keep playing football.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
BOOM—!
Those words acted like a depth charge, instantly detonating the rage of everyone present.
“You bastard!
What did you say?!”
“You’re way too cocky, Kazuki!”
“Don’t think you can take a dump on our heads just because you made a few saves!”
Even the perpetually calm Yukimiya Kenyu had veins popping on his forehead, while Itoshi Rin radiated a visible black aura, his eyes cold enough to kill.
Faced with the overwhelming wave of verbal abuse, Kazuki didn’t get angry at all; instead, he put on a look of utter enjoyment.
“Oh?
Mad?
Furious?”
He casually tossed the microphone aside.
It rolled across the grass a few times, making dull thudding sounds.
Kazuki spread his arms wide, as if embracing the malice directed right at him.
“Since you aren’t convinced, I’ll give you a chance to prove you aren’t useless trash.”
He extended a single finger, waving it in the air.
“Right now, all of you, come at me together.
Don’t worry about formations, and don’t worry about rules.
Even if you throw it with your hands or hit it with your heads, as long as you can get that damn ball into the net behind me—”
“Even if it’s just a single goal.”
“I’ll take back what I just said and admit you’re a bunch of garbage with…
a tiny shred of salvageable value.”
“But if you can’t get it in…”
He bared his teeth, revealing a flash of bone-white.
“Then obediently admit that you’re just a pack of parasites who can only cower and shiver under my wings!”
The entire field went silent first, followed by an explosion!
“Don’t look down on us!!”
“Kill him!
We’re definitely killing him!”
“I’m gonna kick the ball right down his throat!”
No whistle was needed, nor any organization.
Several Blue Lock members, blinded by rage, charged furiously toward the ball outside the penalty box with the momentum of wanting to tear Kazuki apart alive.
The pitch instantly descended into complete chaos, but amidst the mess lay a single objective—to pierce Kazuki’s goal!
The first one to charge up was Bachira Meguru.
“Kee-hee…
I’m not angry or anything, but all I have to do is get past you, right?”
The ball at Bachira’s feet seemed to come alive.
His body swayed to an extremely free rhythm, the flash of inspiration exploding in that instant making him look like a monster dancing on the pitch.
“Check this out!
Aerial Blind Spot!”
Bachira suddenly struck the ball at the edge of the penalty box—an imaginative chip shot heading straight for the top corner of the net!
However.
Kazuki didn’t even jump with full power.
Simply extending a long arm, he plucked the ball smoothly out of the air with a single hand right before it entered the net.
“This is your ‘monster’?”
Kazuki landed, gripping the ball in one hand.
Looking at the dumbfounded Bachira, he sneered:
“You look like a monkey performing tricks in a circus. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
All flash, no killer instinct.
Is your monster only fit to perform street tricks, Bachira?”
Before Bachira could counter, Kazuki launched a powerful throw, hurling the ball hard toward the midfield.
“Next!”
The one charging up immediately after was Nagi Seishiro.
The genius hailed for possessing top-tier trapping talent actually burned with a rare competitive fire at this moment.
“What a pain…
It’s really annoying, but I don’t like being called a parasite.”
Nagi leaped high into the air, displaying incredible flexibility as he trapped the high ball perfectly with the tip of his toe, before unleashing a volley the instant he landed!
“Two-stage Fake Shot!”
“Too slow.”
Kazuki’s voice sounded like the whisper of a grim reaper.
He didn’t even dive.
Relying purely on his terrifying core strength, he forcibly twisted his waist the moment his center of gravity shifted, kicking that heavy, powerful volley straight back!
“This is a genius?
Looks like an idiot to me.”
Kazuki looked down at Nagi sprawled on the ground, his eyes filled with contempt.
“Your talent is crying, fluff-head.
Relying on intuition with zero thought—every touch of yours tells me exactly what you want to do.
A guy like you who only eats off raw talent will be nothing more than a flash-in-the-pan shooting star on a professional field.”
“You…” Nagi’s pupils shrank violently—the shock of having his pride trampled on.
But Kazuki didn’t give him a single moment to catch his breath.
“What’s wrong?
Isn’t there anyone who can actually play?
Is this all Blue Lock has to offer?”
His mockery lashed at everyone’s hearts like a whip.
Chigiri Hyoma used his speed to forcefully overtake and shoot, only to be read and shut down by Kazuki.
“You run pretty fast, but what’s the point if your brain can’t keep up with your legs?
Are you a headless fly?”
Barou Shouei’s heavy left-footed cannon shot was caught firmly between Kazuki’s palms.
“Decent power, shame your accuracy is like a blind man’s.”
Mikage Reo’s imitation shot was easily confiscated by Kazuki.
“A fake is a fake in the end.
Only capable of copying other people’s special moves, you’ll only ever be a sidekick.
You’ll never be the main character in your entire life!”
One after another.
Time after time.
Tonight, the central pitch became Kazuki’s one-man show.
He stood like an insurmountable wall before the goal.
No matter how angry these teenagers got, how they coordinated, or how they squeezed out their potential, that football seemed cursed, utterly incapable of crossing that white line.
What was even more terrifying was his mouth.
For every single save he made, a soul-crushing piece of trash talk was bound to follow.
“This bastard…
his mouth is genuinely poisonous!”