Sawamura was not surprised at all by the treatment he was currently receiving.
In the past few years, relying on experience and skill far beyond his peers, he had many times been a Last Boss-level existence.
What is a Last Boss?
Naturally, it is someone who brings despair to opponents, making them lose all will to resist.
The former Sawamura, especially during his middle school years, gave his peers exactly that feeling.
Back then, both his skill and experience were at such a level that the gap between him and his peers was unimaginably vast.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to drag the Akagi Middle School baseball team to win the national championship — and not just once.
It must be known, even if a professional player was assigned there, they might not have achieved Sawamura's results.
After all, winning a championship depends on more than just skill.
Sometimes, luck is also very important.
If luck is not good enough, even with skill, the final result won't be perfect.
At that time, Sawamura's skill far surpassed his peers, plus his luck was decent.
The end result was that he created a miracle no one could replicate.
To be honest, after entering high school, Sawamura encountered more and more professional-level players.
Compared to his peers, Sawamura's advantage was actually less than before.
Overall, although Sawamura's progress remained fast, the gap between him and the top players nationwide was steadily shrinking.
Especially in terms of experience!
With Sawamura's current wealth of experience, improving further in this aspect
was nearly impossible.
It wasn't that Sawamura didn't try, but now his experience had reached its limit.
Is improving that easy?
To put it simply, it's like taking an exam.
For Sawamura, while his teammates gained experience through matches and their skills improved, it was like they originally could only score 10 or 20 points.
If they worked hard and weren't dumb, by high school, they could reach around 60 or 70 points.
Those specializing in this could have even richer experience, possibly reaching 80 or 90 points.
Thus, the high school age is almost the most important period for baseball players.
At this stage, top high school players have a very mature understanding of baseball.
They can reach about 80 to 90 points.
Even if Sawamura's experience is 99 points, the gap between them isn't as big as it used to be.
Not to mention prodigies like Miyuki.
Their understanding of baseball and match experience…
Sometimes, even surpassing Sawamura's!
Not only in baseball experience but also physically, the human body has limits.
Although Sawamura didn't neglect training during this time, he honed his body to an elite level.
At the same time, other players gradually improved.
Whether physically or in match experience, the overall gap between Sawamura and them kept narrowing.
In other words, the gap between the Great Last Boss and top peers
was closing steadily.
Despite Sawamura's hard work during this period, due to limits of talent, he couldn't break through his ceiling.
To be honest, as the one involved, Sawamura knew this better than anyone.
He realized early that his skill had hit a bottleneck, and this was not a breakthroughable one like before.
It was a feeling of helplessness.
To use a metaphor about his relationship with other top players, it was like competitors standing side by side.
At first, because of experience, Sawamura left others far behind.
He was even very close to the peak!
Although close, the peak was still quite far.
In fact, for baseball players and all competitive athletes, there is never truly a peak.
They keep improving step by step.
There is no strongest, only stronger!
Based on this, Sawamura is roughly in such a position.
He always stands at this peak, and this peak is painful.
Every step forward is making history, reaching realms others haven't.
In the search process, they feel lost and fearful inside.
Many times, they themselves don't know if the future they seek really exists.
To be honest, this is the scariest thing.
Because they don't know if the road ahead exists or not, the process of moving forward is very hard and full of anxiety.
In contrast, Sawamura's competitors are different.
Because the paths they walk have already been walked by their peers and proven feasible.
So they only need to follow the tracks left by others to move forward.
This is why late-developing countries often have advantages over early-developing ones.
Saying "more advantageous" might be an exaggeration, but in development speed, latecomers definitely have more advantages, in manpower, technology, experience, and economy.
This is also the relationship between Sawamura and his competitors.
The gap is shrinking because Sawamura is already reaching the human limits in baseball.
Each step forward is tougher.
Meanwhile, others haven't reached such terrifying heights—they are the latecomers chasing.
So naturally, they advance quickly, and the gap between them and Sawamura shrinks.
Actually, it's not so bad now!
Because Sawamura is still improving, although others are catching up.
Especially top peers who originally had no chance against him, with just a bit of effort, Sawamura could outperform them all.
But now, he clearly can't do that anymore.
Although his advantage remains obvious, other peers have started to pose real threats.
By the time they turn pro and enter the big leagues, the gap between Sawamura and those around him will approach zero.
The gap will shrink to an irreducible degree.
Why?
The reason is simple—only the best baseball players in the world remain at that level.
They are fully trained and have high baseball IQ.
The gap between Sawamura and them won't be like at the start.
At that time, from an overall strength perspective, they are basically at the same level.
Because every player who reaches that height will never slack off.
They optimize every muscle to the best state.
At that point, the match outcome depends on how these top players perform.
Having the world's top strength is one thing, but being able to fully realize it is the real challenge.
At that time, it will come down to who can do better.
Sawamura understands this very clearly.
Sooner or later, whether in physical strength or experience, he will be caught.
Because he aims at the world's top players, surely someone will surpass him in some aspect.
And if Sawamura guesses right, this will happen soon.
Around 18 to 20 years old.
By then, the gap between him and the world's top peers won't be obvious.
Although it's close now, Sawamura is unwilling to easily yield.
His eyes still blaze with fighting spirit.
At that time, his fighting spirit will remain.
Though this limit restricts his growth, it hasn't completely extinguished his hope.
If possible, Sawamura still hopes to go further.
And right now, though the gap between him and his peers shrinks, it still hasn't disappeared.
For example, now, as he faces his opponent, he still has a big advantage!
And American players are fully aware of this.
Because of this, American players treat Sawamura like an enemy.
In their eyes, this man is a thorn in their side, a painful spot.
If they don't find a way to eliminate him, their situation will become extremely dangerous.
They must find a way to get a hit off Sawamura.
In fact, just getting a hit might not be enough.
Ideally, they want to score in one go to tie the game.
Even if they can't tie immediately, they want to get a run first.
For American players, their goal is very clear now:
To get a hit or even a run off Sawamura.
…