Ace of Diamond: Return of the Pitcher

On the image projected by the projector, a tall and handsome young man appeared.

When that person appeared on the screen, he became the center of the world.

He was big, handsome, upright, with well-defined features and a body proportioned to the golden ratio...

In the mind, all the words one could think of to praise a man.

All of them were suitable for the man in front of them.

He was simply the epitome of a perfect human form.

Even the usually sharp-tongued Kuramochi, when seeing the photo of this person, fell silent.

He couldn't think of a single word to mock him.

"I didn't expect there would actually be someone like this in this world?"

Many members of the Seidou baseball team focused their attention on Sawamura.

Eijun's existence, compared to the others, was undoubtedly an object of admiration. In fact, many considered Sawamura Eijun to be the ultimate form of their dreams.

To them, Sawamura Eijun's life was perfect.

Although his academic performance wasn't outstanding, compared to the other baseball team members, Sawamura Eijun had everything they were striving for.

Strong skills, tremendous talent, enough diligence, national recognition...

He even had a 'girlfriend', it was rumored that she was Sawamura's childhood sweetheart.

Although most players had never met Sawamura's childhood sweetheart, the legend of her existence still lingered.

This was largely thanks to the help of Sawamura's dorm mate.

With Kuramochi helping with the 'publicity efforts', how could the others not know?

Such a Sawamura Eijun was definitely the ideal perfect player for everyone!

But now, seeing the image projected on the screen...

Their opinions were inevitably shaken.

They didn't even need to look at his game stats or videos.

Just one real-life photo was enough to make Sawamura fade into the background.

Allen Ward!

No need to check the details—just this face alone could outshine everything.

"Unbelievable! Why isn't this guy in Hollywood becoming a star? Why is he playing baseball?"

"Allen is the heir to a big family, and their family's total assets are ranked high. It's even more than the GDP of many small countries! It's said that their family doesn't allow their heirs to enter the entertainment industry."

Takashima Rei had also wondered the same thing.

So, she specially searched for information about Allen online.

To her surprise, she found that Allen's background was very secretive. She couldn't find much relevant information online!

Later, through connections from the Takashima family, Rei discovered Allen's true identity.

"So he is a second-generation rich kid!"

Takashima Rei interjected.

"If we think in terms of family legacy, Allen is not just a second-generation rich kid; he could be considered a tenth-generation rich kid! Their family started gaining wealth shortly after America began its nation-building process!"

Such statements left the players even more…jealous.

"I really don't want to lose to a pretty rich boy!"

Handsome looks, a good family background, and super-class talent.

Looking at the person on the projector, the teammates' eyes turned red one by one.

If possible, they absolutely didn't want to lose to this guy.

This was probably a kind of rivalry among men.

"His pitching speed is fast; it's probably not inferior to Furuya," said Takashima Rei, "and his control is even better than Furuya's! He has two kinds of breaking balls: a forkball and a Screwball. But he rarely uses them; most of the time, he relies solely on fastballs to defeat his opponents!"

With Takashima's commentary, the teammates' expressions grew more complex.

They knew that their opponent would be strong.

But they never imagined he could be this strong.

His pitching speed was no worse than Furuya's, and his control was better.

The two kinds of breaking balls were troublesome as well.

He was basically an upgraded version of Furuya, and based on the revealed information, he could even be considered an upgraded version of Hongou.

Two monsters had appeared in Hokkaido, and it had already shocked the entire country.

Now, they discovered there was a monster like this in America too.

"Allen is called the Son of Baseball! Everything any baseball player wants in this world, he seems to have been born with it."

Takashima Rei spoke these words, and one couldn't tell what she was thinking. She seemed a bit nostalgic.

After introducing the ace of the Los Angeles team, and seeing that the teammates' morale wasn't affected, Takashima Rei felt a little relieved before she began introducing the other players from the Manhattan Academy team.

"Without the help of his teammates, Allen alone wouldn't have earned the title of Dream Team. Now let's introduce the main players of the Dream Team."

"Have any of you heard of Dynamic Vision?"

For baseball players, dynamic vision wasn't a rare concept.

Excellent batters almost always had it to some degree.

Their eyesight was exceptional, allowing them to see what ordinary people couldn't.

But since Takashima Rei brought it up, she wasn't referring to ordinary dynamic vision.

She was talking about the highest level of Dynamic Vision.

Even when a baseball is flying over 150 km/h, the batter can still see it as a continuous frame of images not a blur of a moving object.

Only such people truly deserve the term "Dynamic Vision."

Players with this top-level Dynamic Vision were rare, even in the elite teams.

Previously, only Kominato Ryosuke and his brother Haruichi were the closest to it in Seidou.

Not fully but very close.

After Sawamura evolved, he was the only one.

Among the opponents Seidou had faced before, there were only a couple of players who had such top-level dynamic vision.

In the entire country, just one player on any team would be considered extremely lucky to have it.

"Does the New York team have players with this vision?"

The teammates weren't stupid; after Takashima Rei hinted, they already guessed what was coming.

Seeing their eager expressions, Takashima Rei couldn't bring herself to lie.

She nodded heavily.

With such abilities, combined with outstanding hitting skills, even if this opponent didn't hit a home run, just facing them would already tire out the pitcher significantly.

If such players existed in the New York team, they would be a major threat to Seidou's baseball team.

After confirming this, the teammates' faces turned grim.

It seemed that tomorrow's game would be far from easy.

As if she hadn't said enough, Takashima Rei continued with even more shocking news.

"Not only do they have one, they have three! They're called the three musketeers of the Dream Team!"

Upon hearing this, the teammates almost spat blood.

Although they had already been mentally preparing for a tough opponent, they never imagined that the opponent's overall strength was this formidable.

There was only one and a half of such players in Seidou, but the New York Manhattan Academy team had three!

This was going to test Seidou High's defense like never before.

~~~

At night. The cool breeze brushed past.

It was already the early summer season, and even at night, it didn't feel cold.

On the square outside the hotel, two people were walking.

They were of similar height and good-looking.

The difference was that one wore glasses, while the other had his hands in his pockets.

They walked silently, without saying a word.

After walking for some time, the boy with his hands in his pockets suddenly took them out and made a pitching motion.

When he walked normally, he was no different from an average person. In a crowd, it was hard to even notice him.

But once he started to pitch, his aura instantly changed!

That kind of forcefulness didn't even require a confrontation. Just standing next to him made one realize how extraordinary he was.

The boy with glasses naturally noticed this as well.

In fact, it was when Seidou confirmed their match with the New York team that Sawamura started to show signs of excitement.

"Are you that excited?" asked Miyuki, puzzled.

Their opponents were unprecedentedly strong, and even if Sawamura himself was on the mound, they might not win in the end!

In such an unpredictable situation, why was Sawamura so excited and enthusiastic?

Miyuki had a vague guess in his heart, but he wasn't sure.

"I can't help it; I've been waiting for this!" Eijun's eyes revealed determination and excitement.

During his time in the Major League, Sawamura faced many star players, and they had wins and losses against each other.

The only one he had never defeated was Allen, known as the Son of Baseball!

In three years, Allen had already become a new legend while Sawamura was still a rotation player.

Why did Sawamura yearn for and obsess over legends?

It was because someone from his generation had already achieved it.

If it was a past legend, even if Sawamura yearned for it, it was just history. With the passage of time, many things couldn't be replicated.

But Allen was different!

He was a peer of Sawamura and became a legend even before Sawamura fully grew.

Later, because of injuries, Allen could only play half the time in a year, which caused him to fall from his pedestal.

But even so, Sawamura Eijun had never beaten him in a head-to-head confrontation!

To put it bluntly, Allen was Sawamura's biggest obsession.

He was the opponent Sawamura had to defeat at any cost.

Only by beating Allen could Sawamura become the legend of this era.

After all, in the same era, there could only be one legend.

…