Power of Despair

As Isagi reaches out for a celebratory high-five, Baro yanks him up by the jersey and demands to know if he is a loser. Isagi apologizes and calls him incredible, and Nagi leaps onto Baro's back, toppling all three to the ground.

Nagi praises the chop dribbling, and Baro admits he only just worked it out. He explains that he had always treated the field as his alone, and for the first time Nagi and Isagi wrested the hero's role from him, leaving villainy as his sole route to survive. Nagi counters that Baro could only reach that state because their opponents were so strong. Baro swears he will never lose to Isagi again, and Nagi points out it is the first time Baro has spoken Isagi's name; he asks to be called Nagi rather than Painman, though Baro keeps calling him a pain. Isagi and Nagi bump fists as Baro strides off.

At the Blue Lock complex, Anri marvels at Baro's ability, suggesting he could stand among the country's finest. Slurping instant yakisoba, Ego argues that losing is unavoidable in competition and that what matters is the lesson drawn from it. Ordinary people, he says, never carve that despair into themselves and instead explain it away, a habit he dubs dream doping. He has no use for those who chase the phantoms of their dreams, insisting dreams mean nothing unless one lives to realize them. The real value of defeat, Ego concludes, lies in the strength to fully confront one's weakness and despair, since those who push harder in that darkness hold the power to make dreams real.

Baro, Nagi, and Isagi are declared the winners. Baro recounts how he developed his chop dribbling. Ego lays out why embracing the despair of defeat is what gives a person the power to realize their dreams. On the field, Reo, Chigiri, and Kunigami stew over their loss, with Reo questioning what he is even fighting for, while the victors begin considering who to add to their team.

This is the 67th chapter and the ninth of Volume 8 in the Second Selection Arc. It was adapted as Episode 18 of the anime.