Are You Ready to Die?

Ubers press forward while Isagi wrestles with their attacking shape, resolving to track Snuffy's movements to decode how he thinks. Snuffy feeds Lorenzo, who lays it to Drago, and Isagi senses Snuffy angling into a blind spot. Kaiser reads him and closes the door, yet Snuffy still nods the ball to Niko, whom Noa is holding back. Niko releases to Baro, only for Isagi to slide in and knock the ball out of play.

Isagi observes that, unlike the other masters he has met who chase goals themselves, Snuffy operates in the background to prop up the team's tactics. Noa likens Snuffy's game to jujitsu, a discipline in which Snuffy holds a black belt, crediting it for his strength in physical contests and ball retention. Noa calls him an all-purpose player capable of excelling anywhere and rates him the world's best in total accumulated skill. When Isagi asks how to beat him, Noa confesses he does not know, advising Isagi only to hold out through Snuffy's three minutes on the field.

Chewing on Noa's word about endurance, Isagi races over to Raichi and asks whether he is ready to die.

As Ubers attack, Noa admits to Isagi that he cannot say how to defeat Snuffy. Noa rates Snuffy as the world's finest player in terms of cumulative skill.

This is the second chapter of Volume 26 and the 223rd overall, part of the Neo Egoist League Arc. It released in Japan on July 5, 2023. The story is by Muneyuki Kaneshiro with art by Yusuke Nomura.