But the moment Hyōma Chigiri pulled back, Sae Itoshi seemed to have predicted it. As he turned, he pushed lightly on Chigiri's shoulder for leverage, using the momentum to send the ball forward.
The ball flew out in a sharply distorted arc—a special curved pass!
It slipped past several Blue Lock defenders and dropped perfectly in front of the charging Ryūma.
(What a beautiful curve… how did he even kick that?!)
Ryūma was impressed, but his footsteps never slowed.
After receiving the ball, he didn't sprint at full throttle. Instead, he activated Slow-Motion World—his first time using it in this match.
(Yukimiya caught up again? Persistent guy.)
(Karasu and Aryu are closing in. Niko hasn't moved—is he trying to read me?)
(And Chigiri immediately fell back… afraid I'll force a shot, huh?)
(Heh. That makes the attack route obvious.)
With his route decided, Ryūma unleashed his full acceleration and tore into Blue Lock's backfield.
Kenyu Yukimiya tried everything to stop him, but nothing worked.
Ryūma broke into Blue Lock's defensive zone effortlessly.
"You're not going any farther!" Tabito Karasu shouted, stepping in.
Ryūma didn't flinch. Instead, he smiled and glanced sideways.
"Let's go, Sae!"
Twisting his right ankle, Ryūma flicked the ball toward the incoming Sae Itoshi.
At that same instant—Chigiri and Ikki Niko both lunged toward Sae.
But they were facing Sae Itoshi and Ryūma.
Sae calmly returned the ball to Ryūma.
Ryūma, still inside Slow-Motion World, slipped past a defender and passed right back to Sae.
The four Blue Lock defenders were completely overwhelmed by the ultra-short-range, rapid-fire passing between Ryūma and Sae.
Their coordination was nothing like Isagi and Rin's.
In the Isagi–Rin duo, Rin held absolute control, and Yoichi Isagi devoted himself to syncing with Rin's intentions.
But with Ryūma and Sae—neither was the dominant one.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say both were dominant.
Each tried to impose their own overwhelming individual skill and force the other to adapt.
The result was obvious: neither gave in.
Each pass became sharper, faster, more precise—almost like they were challenging each other, waiting to see who would crack first.
But because their final objective was the same, instead of collapsing, their "coordination" became terrifying.
This twisted relationship produced explosive chemistry between Ryūma and Sae Itoshi.
"Dammit, I can't stop them!!"
"What the hell—how are they this in sync?!"
"Tch, didn't they meet only two weeks ago?!"
(No choice—foul them if I have to!)
Ikki Niko knew it was a risky idea, but if he didn't act, they would definitely concede again.
He committed himself. The moment Sae prepared another pass, Niko slid in at full force.
It could easily be a penalty—possibly a guaranteed goal.
But if he didn't try, they had zero chance.
Unfortunately… did Niko really think Sae wouldn't anticipate that?
Maintaining his kicking motion, Sae suddenly stomped down hard on the ball. Using the inertia, he pivoted sharply and whipped the ball away.
Niko's slide hit nothing but air.
At the exact same moment, Ryūma deactivated Slow-Motion World.
In the next second, Limit-Breaking State activated.
He leapt upward fiercely—and Sae's pass arrived right in front of him.
"What a weird feeling… but—awesome!!"
Ryūma whipped his right leg sideways and blasted the ball toward Blue Lock's goal with a Blitz Shot!
[BOOM!!]
GOAL!! Blue Lock 0 : 3 U-20 National Team
The shot was too sudden—too fast. Gin Gagamaru didn't even begin a save attempt.
From the moment Ryūma and Sae began their combination, Gagamaru's nerves had been stretched to their limits. Every second felt like they could shoot.
Each time they slipped past a defender, he nearly dove instinctively.
When he saw Ikki Niko slide in, he genuinely believed Niko had found a solution—that this time they would finally stop them.
But Sae dodged it.
And Gagamaru naïvely thought he only needed to maintain his focus afterward.
Who could've predicted that before he could even track the pass—Ryūma had already rocketed it into the net?
In the commentary booth, Harutaro Natsuki roared:
"Ohhhhh!!"
"What unbelievable coordination! Is this the synergy between the 'Genius' Sae Itoshi and the 'Monster' Ryūma?!"
"Right in front of the goal, their perfect link-up completely destroyed Blue Lock's four-man defense!"
"And the final shot left the goalkeeper no time to react—another point!!"
"No—wait! Ryūma has already scored three goals! There's no doubt—he's completed a hat trick!"
Before Natsuki even finished, Atsuto Tereasa continued while checking his notes:
"As for why we call Ryūma the 'Monster'—it's not a nickname we made up.
Back in his first year of high school, he crushed every nearby school team with overwhelming dominance."
"Ryūma himself doesn't seem to dislike the nickname, though he does prefer being called simply 'Ryūma'!"
The stadium erupted again:
"Ryūma!!"
"Ryūma!!"
"Ryūma!"
"Sae!"
"Sae Itoshi!"
"Sae Itoshi!"
Hearing Tereasa's explanation, Ryūma felt his soul leave his body.
(Wait—so THAT form I filled out before the match was for this?! T﹏T)
(If I knew, I would've written something decent!)
The U-20 players gathering around him had already gotten used to Ryūma's absurd performance.
They cheered, but not with the same shock as before.
"Sae-san… did you have any weird thoughts just now?
I suddenly felt like the two of us were on the exact same wavelength."