1 Month Later
…
They were the longest thirty-one days of Haise’s life.
Every single day, he was subjected to a rigid and extreme training program personally created by Jinpachi Ego.
There was no such thing as true rest within that routine.
Every second of his day felt calculated to push him beyond his own limits.
Blue Lock was not trying to create an ordinary player.
It was trying to create something abnormal.
The schedule’s structure was brutally simple.
Three and a half entire hours were devoted solely to physical training.
Running, acceleration, muscular endurance, balance, jumping power, body strengthening, and reaction exercises.
Ego destroyed his body daily only to rebuild it into something even more efficient.
Muscle pain became normal.
Constant exhaustion became part of everyday life.
But that was only the beginning.
At minimum, five hours every day were dedicated exclusively to absorbing football.
Haise spent hours watching old and modern matches, studying formations, strategies, positioning, offensive movement, defensive transitions, tactical concepts, and specific historical moments of the sport.
Ego forced him to analyze every single detail.
The remaining four hours were reserved for sleep and meals.
Failure to complete the training resulted in immediate expulsion from the project.
Ego made that clear from the very first day.
No second chances.
Even the meals within Phase 0 were distributed based on daily performance.
If his performance was poor, he received nothing but plain rice and water.
Just enough to keep functioning.
But if he produced better results, he was given meals worthy of it.
Steak, ramen, full-course dishes, and food specifically prepared for muscle recovery.
It was a simple system.
Results determined value.
Countless hours of ball training became engraved into Haise’s mind.
Everything from coordination, ball control, and first touch to dribbling in minimal spaces, finishing from impossible angles, and instantaneous reactions.
Movements repeated until his body could execute them without even needing to think.
For thirty-one days, Haise ate, breathed, and lived football.
SHIIIIIIIIK.
The automatic door to the covered field slowly opened.
Ego and Anri entered the room while the sound of their footsteps echoed throughout the enormous enclosed space.
Haise was alone on the field.
His training uniform was partially soaked with sweat while several balls remained scattered around the goal area.
The heavy atmosphere of the room made it obvious that he had been training for hours.
Even after an entire month of that hell, he was still training.
“Well, well…” Ego commented calmly while checking the tablet in his hands.
“I must say, I truly didn’t expect much from you.”
Haise merely cast a brief glance in his direction.
“But your performance has been…” Ego continued while analyzing the data on the screen.
“…Mediocre.”
Anri blinked immediately, and Haise narrowed his eyes.
“Your dribbling is average,” Ego stated without hesitation.
“Just like your passing.”
His voice was completely cold, typical of him, with no intention whatsoever of softening his words.
“For now, your physical attributes remain your strong point,” Ego continued.
“All of them are exceptional.”
He then slightly raised his eyes above the tablet.
“But you still don’t know how to use them properly.”
Haise remained silent as he listened.
His fingers tightened slightly around the ball near his foot.
“At the very least…” Ego said while adjusting his glasses, “…you managed to find your weapon.”
Haise’s violet eyes shifted subtly.
“Although it’s more like a walking weapon using a cane,” Ego commented.
“Even so, it’s better than nothing.”
Then he concluded:
“It’s a start.”
The field remained silent for a few seconds.
Then Haise let out a quiet breath through his nose.
“I showed you what you wanted,” he commented calmly while looking toward the goal.
“A weapon.”
The ball slowly rolled forward.
Haise’s violet eyes narrowed, his body leaned slightly forward, and then he started running.
BAAM!
The shot exploded through the field.
The dry sound of impact echoed throughout the entire room as the ball almost instantly vanished from sight.
SHOOOOOSH!
The speed was absurd.
Anri’s eyes widened as she followed the trajectory.
At first, the shot looked like it was going completely off target, but seconds later, the ball slowly began to spin before suddenly accelerating.
An extremely tight curve appeared in the air as the trajectory abruptly changed mid-flight.
The ball sliced through space like a blade.
THWACK!
It slammed violently into the top corner of the net, making the entire goal shake from the impact.
Haise watched the net still trembling while mentally analyzing the shot’s trajectory.
“And now?” he asked calmly while turning toward Ego.
His eyes carried genuine interest, like someone trying to better understand his own weapon.
Ego stared at the goal for a few seconds before turning his eyes back toward Haise.
“While you were training…” he began calmly, “…I finished the preparations for Blue Lock.”
Anri immediately straightened her posture upon hearing that.
“Two hundred and ninety-nine strikers from across the country arrive tomorrow,” Ego stated.
The atmosphere seemed to grow heavier.
“You’ll have to stand above all of them to claim the fruits.”
Ego’s glasses reflected the field’s cold lighting.
“It would be pathetic…” His voice became colder.
“…if you were the very first one eliminated.”
Then a small smile appeared on his face.
“A wasted ‘masterpiece.'”
Ego finished speaking and simply tossed the tablet behind him without even looking.
“Wha—?!”
Anri’s eyes widened instantly.
She lunged forward in pure panic trying to catch the device.
For a second, the tablet nearly crashed straight into the floor.
“Ah! Got it!” Anri clumsily hugged the tablet against her chest while nearly losing her balance.
Haise silently watched the scene.
A faint laugh escaped from him.
Even Ego seemed to click his tongue in irritation after seeing that situation.
…
The next day, Haise was dropped off at the entrance of the JFU building.
His clothes were black, as usual.
But there was something different about him that day, something that wasn’t in the fabric or the cut of his outfit.
It was in his eyes.
They were completely consumed by a cold fury, one that boiled in silence and burned for far longer than ordinary rage ever could.
If he could, he would have set that entire building on fire with every single employee still inside and watched it burn without blinking.
But there was a reason he was there.
And that reason was greater than hatred.
Three hundred strikers from all across Japan had arrived at the designated location, most of them exchanging confused glances with one another.
The invitation had been vague, and the absence of any recognizable authority figure only fueled the uncertainty.
There was only them— young players aged sixteen, seventeen, eighteen— gathered in the same space without truly understanding why.
Whispers spread throughout the room.
“Do you know why we were called here?”
“I heard it’s some special project from the Japanese national team.”
“Why were only strikers invited?”
“Who are these weird guys?”
Among everyone present, two players drew more attention when they entered the hall together.
It was Yoichi Isagi.
And beside him, the Jewel of Japanese Football himself, Ryousuke Kira.
The murmurs continued as the young strikers tried to figure out who was who, who was worth watching, and who represented a real threat.
Then everything changed the moment he entered the room.
White hair with natural black streaks near the roots, as if dark paint were slowly dripping across snow.
His violet eyes carried an irregular glow, almost artificial.
He wore a black high-collar tactical jacket, slim-fit black pants, and mid-calf boots of the same color.
[Image]
The murmuring across the hall slowly died down.
On the opposite side of the room, Ryousuke Kira widened his eyes.
For a fraction of a second, the flawless composure he always wore like a second skin cracked apart.
‘What…?
How is HE here?!’
The anger came immediately after the shock, hot and instant.
After Haise’s expulsion, Matsukaze had turned the match around and won.
Kira had tried searching for him afterward, driven by something he himself couldn’t properly name, but Haise had simply vanished.
Long enough for Kira to conclude that he had abandoned football altogether.
Clearly, he had been wrong.
After several excruciating minutes of complete confusion, constant murmurs, and endless speculation, a voice finally echoed throughout the enormous hall, welcoming the 300 strikers gathered inside the Japan Football Union.
“Congratulations, raw diamonds.”
A spotlight instantly lit up above the main stage, illuminating a thin man wearing glasses and dark clothes.
Behind him, a gigantic white screen covered almost the entire wall, radiating a strange pressure simply by being turned on.
It was Jinpachi Ego.
His mere presence felt out of place in that environment.
There was no charisma, heroic posture, or inspiring energy.
Only the uncomfortable sensation of someone completely different from everyone else.
Ego then continued speaking.
“You are 300 strikers aged eighteen or younger, selected according to my arbitrary and biased decisions.” His calm voice echoed clearly through the silent hall.
“And I am Ego Jinpachi, the man hired to ensure Japan wins the World Cup.”
Murmurs immediately exploded throughout the entire room.
“Who is this guy?”
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“He was really hired by the JFU?”
“Is this actually serious?”
The players began exchanging confused looks while trying to understand what was happening.
Most of them had clearly expected some famous coach or well-known former Japanese football player.
But Ego?
He was practically a nobody.
Haise quietly listened to the conversations around him while remaining leaned against one of the hall’s walls.
His violet eyes silently analyzed every reaction from the people present.
And it only confirmed something for him.
No one there knew Jinpachi Ego.
His name had never once been mentioned in the world of professional or student football.
Even among Japan’s most talented players, he seemed nonexistent.
But strangely…
That only made everything even more interesting to Haise, both as a player and as that man’s son, even if only adopted.
“In short…” Jinpachi Ego continued while information began appearing across the enormous white screen behind him.
“Japanese football needs one thing in order to become the best in the world.”
The lights in the hall dimmed slightly.
“The birth of a revolutionary striker.”
The screen then displayed the massive blue logo of Blue Lock.
“I will conduct an experiment here…” Ego calmly declared.
“…to transform one of you three hundred into the greatest striker in the world.”
The room fell silent once again.
“And that is precisely why Blue Lock exists.”
Information about the project began appearing on the screen behind him while countless players stared at it in complete disbelief.
Gigantic facilities, extreme training, constant elimination, and a system focused solely on creating the ultimate striker.
Everything about it seemed insane.
“Starting today…” Ego continued while crossing his arms, “…you will live here with me.”
The expressions of several players immediately changed.
“And you will undergo the special high-level training program I created.”
The pressure inside the hall seemed to intensify.
“You will not be allowed to return home…” His voice became even colder.
“…and you will say goodbye to the football lives you’ve had until now.”
Absolute silence followed.
Unlike the earlier murmurs, now nobody seemed to know what to say.
Many of the strikers widened their eyes the moment they heard that.
After all, most of them had national tournaments approaching.
Teams waiting for them.
Dreams already built outside of this place.
All of that would simply be abandoned.
Some began showing nervousness.
Others irritation.
And a few…
Excitement.
Haise merely observed everything in silence.
His gaze remained cold as he analyzed the reactions around him.
“But…” Ego spoke again, instantly drawing everyone’s attention back to him.
“I promise you one thing.”
His glasses reflected the stage lights.
“If you manage to survive here…” His voice echoed heavily throughout the hall.
“…and defeat the other 299 players present in order to become the last man standing…”
A smile slowly spread across Jinpachi Ego’s face.
“…Then you will become the greatest striker in the world.”
The screen behind him once again displayed the symbol of Blue Lock.
“That is all,” Ego concluded calmly.
“Pleasure meeting all of you.”
After the speech, the silence lasted only a few seconds before someone raised a hand in the middle of the crowd.
It was Ryousuke Kira.
The so-called Jewel of Japanese Football.
Kira clearly did not seem pleased with what he had just heard.
His face carried genuine indignation while several players around him silently appeared to agree.
Haise watched everything from afar.
And a small cold smile subtly appeared on his face.
‘Looks like the little treasure still believes everything revolves around him,’ Haise thought while staring at Kira.
“I cannot accept these conditions,” Kira declared while maintaining a firm posture before everyone.
“Each one of us has a team depending on our presence.”
Many players immediately started agreeing.
“Some of us have national tournaments approaching,” Kira continued indignantly.
“I can’t just abandon my team to participate in a meaningless program like this.”
Several players instantly agreed again.
“He’s right.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“We can’t just disappear like this.”
But while the murmurs intensified, Haise simply watched in silence.
His violet eyes stared coldly at Kira.
And deep down, a small malicious smile slowly began forming on his face.
Ego lightly scratched his head while listening to the flood of complaints, insults, and provocations coming from the very strikers he had personally selected for Blue Lock.
The entire hall had turned into complete chaos filled with outraged voices.
“This is insane!”
“We can’t abandon our teams!”
“Who does this guy think he is?!”
Some players showed nervousness, others genuine anger, while many simply looked offended by the way Ego spoke about Japanese football.
But Ego?
Ego merely observed everything with completely lifeless eyes.
As if he were watching children throw a tantrum.
Then, finally, he decided to break the silence.
“I see…” Jinpachi Ego said calmly while adjusting his glasses.
“So all of you are complete idiots.”
The entire hall froze.
The players’ indignant expressions instantly worsened.
Ego simply spread his arms while letting out a long sigh of disappointment.
“Lock off.” His voice echoed coldly throughout the room.
“Is becoming the best high school team in this backward country really more important than becoming the best striker in the world?”
His eyes scanned the 300 players standing before him.
“Hmm?” Ego tilted his head slightly.
“Just thinking that the future of Japanese football rests in the hands of people like you…”
A small smile appeared on his face.
“…already fills me with despair.”
Haise silently observed everything from the back of the hall.
His gaze remained calm as he listened to every word Ego spoke.
‘As dramatic as always,’ Haise thought while keeping his hands inside his pockets.
After all—
He had survived the Project Legend Prospect.
After spending an entire month directly under Ego Jinpachi, Haise already understood perfectly what kind of person he was.
‘Even so…’ His violet eyes narrowed slightly.
‘It’s an honest line of thinking.’
Haise briefly shifted his gaze toward the other players around him.
From the very beginning, everything about this place had been suspicious.
The fact that they had been torn away from their families and forced to live inside another institution for the next several months.
Any normal person would hesitate in front of something like that.
But at the same time, Haise could understand what Ego truly wanted.
‘He doesn’t want ordinary players…’ Haise thought while faint violet flames subtly began emerging around him.
‘He wants someone who treats football as their very life.’
The flames slowly flickered around his body.
Perhaps, out of everyone there…
He was the one closest to that ideal.
“Listen carefully, you ungrateful brats,” Ego continued while slowly walking across the main stage.
“Japanese football is considered first-rate.”
The massive screens behind him displayed images of the Japanese national team.
“You could even say that this is the result of Japanese consideration and discipline.”
Then his smile vanished completely.
“But in every other aspect…” His voice became heavier.
“…it is undeniably second-rate.”
Then Jinpachi Ego asked a question.
“Let me ask you something.”
His eyes seemed almost insane behind his glasses.
“What is football?”
The screens began displaying images of matches and players celebrating.
“Is it about eleven players working together?”
“Valuing bonds with others?”
“Self-sacrifice?”
“Playing for your teammates?”
Every question sounded drenched in contempt.
“And that is precisely why…” Ego declared while pointing toward all of them, “…football in this country remains weak.”
Several players widened their eyes.
Ego smiled.
A completely insane smile that Haise instantly recognized.
“I’ll tell you the real answer.”
The atmosphere seemed to freeze.
“In football…” His voice echoed heavily throughout the hall.
“…the only thing that matters is scoring more goals than your opponent.”
The words hit the players like a blow.
“The one who scores the most goals is the best.”
Ego’s eyes were shining intensely now.
“And if all you want is to play football with your little friends…” Jinpachi Ego’s smile widened.
“…then go play casually on some random field.”
Silence filled the hall once again.
But then, Ryousuke Kira stepped forward once more.
His expression carried genuine indignation.
“That’s a horrible thing to say!” Kira shot back immediately.
“Take back what you just said!”
Several players silently seemed to agree.
“There are many athletes on the Japanese national team that I respect!” Kira continued while staring at Ego.
“We grew up watching them play together as a true team of eleven!”
His voice became firmer.
“They are my idols!”
Then Kira pointed directly at Ego.
“You’re wrong!”
Before Ego could respond, another voice echoed throughout the hall.
“My idols?”
Every gaze immediately shifted.
Haise had stepped away from the back of the room.
His violet eyes were completely cold while faint irregular flames subtly flickered around him.
“Fuck those bastards.”
The entire hall froze.
Kira’s eyes widened instantly after hearing that.
Haise continued walking slowly.
“You’d rather admire a guy who’s mediocre on the world stage…” His voice remained calm, yet incredibly sharp.
“…instead of admiring someone who stands at the absolute top of the world?”
Now every player was staring at him, and even Ego remained silent while watching.
“So tell me…” Haise looked directly at Kira.
“…does Keisuke Honda really inspire you more than Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or even Noel Noa?”
The violet flames around him seemed to intensify slightly.
“Go to hell…” Haise said coldly while staring at the entire crowd, his eyes locking completely onto Kira.
“…you and your idols, little patriot.”
Ego smiled at Haise, and there was something genuine in that smile.
The satisfaction of someone who had found exactly what he was searching for.
“Yes, you’re right, Haise Sasaki.” He spoke calmly, the smile still resting on his face.
“Why look down at the ground when you can look toward the heavens and walk in their direction?” His voice carried a quiet weight, like someone who already knew how the story would end.
“Those guys from the Japanese national team haven’t even won a World Cup or an individual award through their own merit. We’re talking about becoming the best in the world, Mr. Patriot.”
The lights in the room shifted.
A slideshow filled the space before everyone, displaying faces, statistics, and titles.
The greatest strikers in modern football appeared one after another, each name carrying more weight than the last.
“‘Instead of giving an assist to my teammate so we can win 1–0, I’d rather score a hat-trick and lose 4–3.'” Ego let the words breathe for a moment before continuing.
“Those are the words of the best striker in the world. Noel Noa. The man who surpassed Messi and Ronaldo to win the Ballon d’Or.”
He spread his arms as if presenting something sacred.
“Eric Cantona once said: ‘I don’t care about the team. I only want to stand out.'” A pause.
“‘The best striker, midfielder, defender, and goalkeeper in the world. No matter which position you ask about, the answer is: me.’ That was Pelé.”
The silence that followed lasted only a second before Ego burst into laughter.
Not a restrained chuckle, but a loud and genuine laugh that echoed throughout the entire hall while everyone stared at him in disbelief, unsure whether they should react or simply wait.
“Well, terrible, right?!” he said, still laughing, before abruptly stopping as his expression turned completely serious.
He slowly adjusted his glasses and looked across the room, not broadly, but deeply, as if staring directly into every single person there at once.
“But they are all world-class players. And EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS EXTREMELY EGOISTICAL. That is exactly what Japanese football lacks.”
He paused briefly, letting the weight of those words settle.
“You do not become the best striker in the world without also becoming the greatest egoist in the world. That is what I want to create here. Someone capable of rising above 299 corpses.” His eyes did not blink.
“A solitary hero.”
Haise had already heard those words before, on the day Ego made him the offer.
But hearing them again, this time surrounded by three hundred other strikers, made something different happen inside him.
His mind created the image without permission.
Him standing at the top, unshakable, while the other 299 were cast down into the wasteland beneath his feet.
There was no guilt in that image.
“Imagine this.”
Ego’s voice cut through the silence, deeper now, slower, every word placed with surgical precision.
“You are in the World Cup final. Eighty thousand people are in the stands. You are on the field. The score is 0–0. It’s the second half of extra time. The very last play.”
No one in the room breathed deeply enough.
“With a pass from your teammate, you break through the defense. It’s you against the goalkeeper. And six meters to your right, there’s a teammate completely open. If you pass, the goal is guaranteed. In a moment where the hopes of an entire nation, and the championship itself, are in your hands.”
Haise’s fists slowly clenched.
He felt the tremor before realizing he was shaking, a vibration spreading from the inside out, running through his knuckles and up to his wrists.
‘I’m shaking?’
For a fraction of a second, he looked down at his own hands.
‘It’s fear…’
No.
It wasn’t fear.
‘I’m just excited.
Excited to send all these idiots to hell while I ascend to the heavens.’
His expression did not change.
Not even for an instant.
“Only a truly insane egoist could take that shot without hesitation.”
Ego’s words settled over the room like a sentence being passed.
And then, the massive sliding door behind him opened completely.
The light pouring through that opening was unlike anything that had illuminated the room before.
As if there wasn’t a football field on the other side… but something greater.
Something that existed only for those who had chosen to devote every part of themselves to a single purpose.
For those who truly lived for football, it looked like paradise.
“Walk through those doors.”
Ego spoke, and his tone had changed.
Lower now.
More direct.
His eyes did not sweep across the room.
They went straight to a single face.
“Abandon all common sense.”
He was looking directly at Haise.
“Control your egoism.”
A short pause.
Then that crooked smile returned to his face, familiar and sharp at the same time.
“Nothing should bring you more joy than your own goals. Live only for the present moment.”
His eyes never left Haise for even a second as he finished speaking.
“Isn’t that what it means to be a striker?”
No one in the room had time to react.
Haise was already moving.
It was not a conscious decision.
There was no hesitation, no calculation.
His body simply responded to what his mind had decided long before this moment ever came.
He sprinted toward the open doors with everything he had, and anyone standing in his path was shoved aside by the raw force of someone who was not asking for permission to pass.
He carved his own path through the three hundred strikers, cutting through the crowd as if they were nothing more than another obstacle standing between him and what he wanted.
And while he ran, his thoughts remained completely calm.
‘I already declared my dream.
The rest, I left to you.
Whether you build the hardest road or the easiest one… I’ll keep moving toward my wildest dreams.’
He reached the open doorway.
The light swallowed him whole.
Haise rushed past Ego, those violet eyes burning with life.
“I’m ready to honor our agreement, Mad Demon.”
He spoke as he passed him and kept running forward.
The silence that followed lasted less than a second.
Jinpachi Ego smiled.
Not the calculated smile of an observer, but something more genuine, something far rarer on that face.
The smile of someone who had waited a very long time to witness this moment— and was finally seeing it.
“Very good… my foolish son.”
NEXT CHAPTER → Heaven or Hell?