Can You See My Dribbling?!

"What?"

Before Ryota Miyagi's mind could process what Shirakawa's taunt meant, an unprecedented sense of danger enveloped his entire body!

Shirakawa suddenly dipped hard to the right!

It was an extremely convincing fake drive!

"Trying to drive right? Too naive!"

Ryota snorted. As one of Kanagawa's top point guards, both his lateral movement and defensive judgment were first-rate. Almost the instant Shirakawa moved, he adjusted his center of gravity, slid over, and cut off Shirakawa's driving lane.

He had complete confidence in his defense. At this distance, at this timing, there was no way his opponent could...

Before the thought even passed, Ryota Miyagi's pupils suddenly contracted!

Because the Shirakawa whose path he had cut off blurred for an instant like a phantom!

And the basketball vanished right before his eyes along a trajectory that completely defied everything he knew about basketball!

No! It hadn't vanished!

It was fast!

Blindingly fast!

At the very instant Shirakawa faked right, his ball-handling right hand yanked the basketball back behind his back at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, followed by an enormous crossover!

From right to left!

The entire move flowed like water, so fast there wasn't the slightest warning!

"So fast!"

That was the only thought that flashed through Ryota's mind.

His body had no time to react a second time. He could only watch helplessly as Shirakawa flashed past his left side like a ghost!

Swish!

There was only the sound of wind.

By the time Ryota snapped back to his senses and stiffly turned his head, Shirakawa had already left him behind, a full two or three meters away!

One step!

Just one step!

He had been beaten completely!

Utterly!

"How... is that possible?!" Ryota Miyagi's eyes were wide as saucers, his face filled with disbelief.

He hadn't even seen how Shirakawa got past him!

All he felt was a blur before his eyes, and the man was gone!

As Lightning Flash, a player renowned for his speed and drives, he had been utterly crushed for the first time in the very area he took the most pride in—by a method even more outrageous and unreasonable than his own!

At that moment, the entire Shohoku basketball gym fell deathly silent.

Everyone seemed to have been put on pause, staring blankly at what had just happened on the court.

"Wh... what was that just now?"

"I don't know... How did the ball get through?"

"Senior Miyagi... got... got beaten in one step?"

The players on the bench looked at one another, mouths hanging open as if they had witnessed a miracle.

In their eyes, Ryota Miyagi was already as fast as lightning. But the speed Shirakawa had displayed just now was practically teleportation!

"What?!"

Hanamichi Sakuragi's signature exaggerated shout shattered the silence. Rubbing his eyes, he pointed at Shirakawa on the court and yelled, "Did that white-haired kid use some kind of magic?! Little Miyagi just stood there and let him get past?!"

No one answered him.

Because everyone was as shocked as he was.

Even Takenori Akagi's perpetually stern face was now filled with astonishment.

A storm raged in his heart.

That speed... that range on the crossover... it's already completely beyond the level of a high school student! No, even an ace guard in the college leagues couldn't pull off something like that! Just how much strength has this Shirakawa kid been hiding?

Akagi's gaze remained locked on Shirakawa's back, as if he wanted to see straight through him.

Meanwhile, Kaede Rukawa, who had been resting with his eyes closed, had now opened them fully.

For the first time, blazing fighting spirit ignited in his perpetually sleepy-looking eyes.

His body even leaned forward slightly, while his hands clenched unconsciously.

"So fast..."

Kaede Rukawa softly uttered those two words.

The fact that this arrogant super rookie had said them was enough to show just how great an impact Shirakawa's play had made on him!

At the sideline, team manager Ayako's small mouth had formed an O. She covered it with her hand, her beautiful eyes full of disbelief.

More than anyone, she knew how strong Ryota Miyagi's defense was. It was the kind of defense that could hold its own even against the top teams in the prefecture!

Yet now, he had been beaten in one step in such a humiliating fashion by an unknown first-year bench player!

The only person in the entire gym who remained calm—or at least appeared calm—was Coach Anzai.

He still sat on the bench, wearing his usual "ho ho ho" smile.

But behind his thick lenses, his eyes gleamed with unprecedented brilliance!

"Interesting... Too interesting..."

Coach Anzai murmured to himself.

He had coached for many years and seen countless prodigies, but this was the first time he had encountered a player like Shirakawa, one with such inconceivable explosive speed and ball-handling skill!

This could no longer be described by the word "talent."

He was simply a monster!

On the court, Shirakawa did not stop after getting past Ryota.

He charged toward the basket like a gust of wind, and Shohoku's paint was completely empty.

There was nothing but open space in front of him.

An easy layup was within reach.

Everyone thought he would finish the possession in the simplest way possible.

Yet Shirakawa leaped high from a step inside the free-throw line!

His body stretched out gracefully in midair, as though he were about to put on a gliding dunk!

"Is he going to dunk?!"

Hanamichi Sakuragi shouted excitedly.

But at that moment, Takenori Akagi's massive body had already rotated over from the side to help!

"Don't even think about scoring!"

Akagi let out an angry roar. His enormous hand, like an iron net, came crashing down toward the basketball in Shirakawa's hand!

This was Shohoku's absolute barrier—the Gorilla's full-force block!

In midair, facing Akagi's mountain-crushing palm, Shirakawa had already lost his balance. It looked as though he was about to be swatted away along with the ball.

Everyone thought the possession was over.

But at that critical instant, a strange curve lifted at Shirakawa's lips.

His body twisted backward in midair at an incredibly distorted angle, nearly parallel to the floor!

Then, in a motion no one could understand, one that completely defied the laws of physics, he casually gave the basketball in his hand a gentle toss toward the hoop!