Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

On the Batter's Box, Francis, a hitter from America, was staring in disbelief at Sawamura on the mound.

In fact, before coming to Taiwan for the game, he had heard many things about Sawamura from his teammates.

The veterans from the American Dream Team had a deep impression of Sawamura.

After the game, there was a huge stir in America. As a newcomer, Francis asked his older teammates:

"Is this player named Sawamura really that amazing?"

Hearing this question, his teammates fell into a long silence.

After a long while, he gave Francis an ambiguous answer:

"It's not a question of being strong or not, it's a battle from another dimension."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that when you have the chance to face him, everything will be clear."

In those stories, Sawamura had already been described by these guys as a Last Boss.

It felt as though Sawamura was invincible. Anyone who dared to go up against him would surely be crushed to the ground.

Francis was particularly unwilling to believe this. More like he didn't believe that there is a pitcher who could be this amazing to him.

Francis had this mentality, coming from a sports family.

His father had practiced baseball with him from a young age, and he grew up in the batting cages.

This gave Francis high confidence in his own strength and the strength of his teammates.

Before facing Sawamura in person, Francis had done a lot of mental preparation.

He repeatedly thought about the various pitches Sawamura might throw.

Then, on the other hand, he considered how he should respond.

He had watched the game footage, even listened to his teammates' detailed analysis.

Although he had never faced Sawamura directly before, Francis believed he had a great understanding of Sawamura's pitching.

He was a pitcher with bizarre, unpredictable pitches. In his teammate's words:

"Sawamura's pitching is beyond comprehension!"

You could never predict what kind of break the ball would have.

Because of this, Francis, when he first took the plate, didn't dare to grip his bat too long.

He held his bat short and didn't plan to take a huge swing to defeat Sawamura right away.

Instead, he planned to play it safe.

The most important task for his first at-bat wasn't to hit a home run or score runs.

He even accepted the possibility of being retired.

All of this was acceptable to Francis.

His primary goal was to study Sawamura's pitching.

He had asked his teammates about the performance when they faced Sawamura.

Was it all because of skill?

Almost all of his teammates shook their heads.

According to their teammates, skill was indeed a factor.

But it wasn't the most important one.

In that particular game, if they had known about Sawamura's strength and prepared for it beforehand.

They would have easily won against a small high school team like the Seidou High School Baseball Team.

Although Seidou had become very famous by then, having won several games against American teams.

The American Dream Team had also studied them before the match.

But their research had been quite superficial.

They just intuitively thought that if they faced Seidou High School's baseball team, they would definitely win.

With this basic understanding, they didn't bother to really study what kind of team Seidou High School was.

They simply waited for the game to knock Seidou High School off their pedestal.

What they didn't expect was that they underestimated Seidou.

Or more accurately, they underestimated Seidou High School's Ace pitcher, Sawamura.

When they previously faced other American teams, Sawamura had only shown about 80% of what he is capable of.

He was strong and steady.

But in the eyes of the American Dream Team, his strength was just average.

They thought if they really wanted to, they could easily knock Sawamura off his pedestal.

What they didn't expect was that they were the ones who got slapped in the face.

Sawamura's strength far exceeded their imagination.

What originally seemed like 80% of his ability exploded to 120% during the game against America.

At that moment, the American Dream Team's players realized that Sawamura's abilities were far beyond what they had seen.

It was just that his previous opponents were too weak, and he didn't need to reveal his full strength.

Once there was a need, his abilities fully erupted.

That terrifying presence was truly shocking.

Hearing these rumors, Francis thought his teammates must have been caught off guard and said all this out of shock.

Because they had never seen a pitcher like Sawamura before, they were stunned during the direct confrontation.

Otherwise, if they had been prepared, how could a player like Sawamura possibly defeat them?

Francis thought this way, looking down on his opponent strategically, but still treating the confrontation with great respect.

Even though Sawamura had many immature aspects, being from a baseball family, Francis still had a deep understanding of the sport.

When facing Sawamura, Francis fully displayed his strengths.

He thought he was cautious enough and would surely put a lot of pressure on Sawamura.

But then...

Sawamura, on the mound, simply threw one pitch.

And Francis was left stunned!

What was that?

In Sawamura's entire pitching motion, he couldn't see the release point at all.

As his teammate had said, because his body was flexible, his arm could whip like a whip.

So Sawamura could completely hide his pitching motion behind his body and mitt.

Just this motion alone, the way Sawamura executed it, stunned Francis.

Originally, he thought his teammates had exaggerated things. How could he not see anything at all?

But after seeing it with his own eyes, Francis had to admit.

His teammates hadn't exaggerated one bit.

When Sawamura pitched, there wasn't a trace of the release point to be seen.

By the time he saw the white blur, the ball had already left his hand.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was…

'Why was the ball coming so fast?'

Because of the hidden release point, from the Batter's Box, Sawamura's pitch looked faster than its real speed.

Francis barely saw that white dot.

In the next instant, the white dot broke through all obstacles and was right in front of him.

The ball flew past and slammed into Renji's Mitt.

SNAP!

"STRIKE!"

Behind the catcher's mitt, Renji felt a tingling sensation in his hand.

Strong and powerful!

It wasn't the first time Renji caught Sawamura's pitches, but before the game, he had been worried about Sawamura's condition.

He wasn't sure if Sawamura could get into his rhythm right away.

But now, it was clear he had overthought things.

Standing on the opposite side was the terrifying presence that made all of Japan's best batters bow their heads in defeat—The Demon King, Sawamura!

This was a living legend.

How could his pitching condition be compared to that of an ordinary person?

Renji's partner, Hongou, could perform at 100% of his ability when in good form.

But he could not maintain this high level throughout the game.

Not just Hongou, but probably no other excellent pitcher in the entire country could do it to this terrifying extent.

Only Sawamura.

Only he could do it to this terrifying degree.

…