Chapter 25: Trick

Inside Team X's quarters, Isagi approaches Baro and asks to learn how to become a prolific goalscorer like him. Baro scoffs, dismissing Isagi as too raw, but relents when Isagi names him the finest player he has met in Blue Lock and says he wants to endure on talent alone. Baro agrees only to prove the gap between them and springs a sudden duel on the unprepared Isagi, who freezes on the spot. Without shifting position, Baro fires and buries the ball, stunning Isagi with the range and precision of the strike.

Bored, Baro tells him to leave, but Isagi's stubborn requests for another round only irritate the self-declared king. Isagi believes he has pinned down Baro's shooting zone, only for Baro to correct him: the true range reaches twenty-seven meters rather than twenty-three. Astonished, Isagi wonders whether refining his own tools could one day let him play at that level, as Baro walks off insisting he alone is the one true king.

Back with Team Z, Isagi tries to decode the logic behind Baro's finishing and how he might forge a formula from his own strengths, but no answer comes, so he resolves to work it out in the next game. Noticing his own trembling hand, he recalls that a loss to undefeated Team V would end his football dream, and he breaks down in fear. A shaken Igaguri confides that dread is keeping him awake and that failure means returning to his temple duties forever. Isagi steadies him, arguing that fear of losing can forge strength, and Igaguri rallies, vowing that Team Z will triumph.

Isagi asks Baro to mentor him and loses a lopsided one-on-one. Baro reveals his shooting range extends to twenty-seven meters. Team Z's players wrestle with anxiety ahead of the do-or-die clash with Team V, and Igaguri admits a defeat would force him back to temple life.

Isagi still cannot articulate his personal formula for scoring goals. The chapter, titled Trick and read as Karakuri, is the third entry of Volume 4 and the 25th overall, and it corresponds to Episode 8 of the anime adaptation.