Seeing Zhou Hao's signal, Chris's heart involuntarily trembled.
Their opponent at this moment was Oishibashi — Seibō's strongest slugger, a terrifying power hitter ranked among the top three nationwide.
Could a new breaking ball really be used against someone of his caliber?
Even with Chris's trust in his Ace already at an unbelievably high level, he still couldn't help hesitating.
Was it necessary to take such a risk?
Wouldn't it be safer to rely on the Spiral Ball to get him out?
With Zhou Hao's pitching ability, Chris was certain:
Even if Oishibashi managed to make contact, he would never be able to send the Spiral Ball flying.
But Zhou Hao's attitude was firm.
He wasn't satisfied with simply retiring the batter.
He wanted to shatter Seibō's confidence—starting with their Ace battery.
Shirazawa's performance so far had been dazzling. Even Chris couldn't deny it.
Having experience facing two other top-tier pitchers, Chris understood full well:
Once someone like Shirazawa locked into his rhythm,
even gaining a small advantage against him would be incredibly difficult.
If things continued like this, the ninth inning might very well end at 0–0.
Zhou Hao had conserved stamina earlier, and he had even used "fishing" pitches throughout this game.
But realistically, he could only last nine innings at most.
If the game dragged into extra innings… the consequences were unimaginable.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Shirazawa struck out Yuki and Azuma Kiyokuni consecutively.
He didn't even choose to intentionally walk with bases loaded.
Once the third cycle of the lineup arrived, Shirazawa would absolutely use this tactic again.
Thinking of this, Chris exhaled deeply.
With Seibō's level, hoping for them to make a mistake was unrealistic.
The only choice was to force the breakthrough.
Zhou Hao's approach was risky—extremely risky—but as long as Oishibashi didn't hit a home run, there was still room to maneuver.
Out of trust for his partner, Chris finally nodded.
"Since you insist… then let's do it."
When Chris agreed, Zhou Hao's lips curled.
Oishibashi was determined to hit the Spiral Ball.
And although Zhou Hao didn't believe Oishibashi could actually send it out…
In baseball, nothing is 100%.
Just like in the Osaka Kiryu game — Zhou Hao never thought his Spiral Ball would be hit, twice, and right at the start.
That one run nearly cost Seidou the game.
Once was enough.
Zhou Hao would never stumble over the same stone twice.
What did Oishibashi's ambitions have to do with him?
He simply wouldn't give him the pitch he wanted.
Zhou Hao's mind replayed Shirazawa's pitching form.
Of Shirazawa's three breaking balls, Zhou Hao had already imitated the first to 80%.
Just watching it once more from the batter's perspective would perfect it.
As for the third? He had never seen it from the batter's box — he had been on second base at the time.
Which meant the only pitch he could now fully imitate was—
The Hyper Beam.
A four-seam fastball thrown with slightly spread fingers.
The moment Shirazawas motion formed a complete storyboard in Zhou Hao's head…
He had already reached 100% imitation.
Zhou Hao lifted his leg on the mound.
His momentum shifted—
And the ball exploded out of his hand.
Oishibashi's eyes widened.
The pitch felt… familiar.
Uncomfortably familiar.
Like something he had seen thousands of times.
"Whoosh!"
The white beam streaked past him like a laser.
"Thwack!"
"Strike!!"
The umpire froze for half a second.
Oishibashi froze even longer.
He would never mistake this pitch.
"Hyper Beam…? How—?!"
When did Zhou Hao learn this pitch!?
The Seibō players also sensed something was off, though not as clearly as Oishibashi.
"Is that…?"
"It looks really similar."
"Look at Oishibashi's face. It must be."
Seibō's coach snorted, nose reddening.
"No need to guess. It definitely is."
They had seen Zhou Hao imitate Akutsu's signature pitch against Seisho High.
Now he was doing it again.
The result was obvious.
"What do we do now!?"
The Seibō players felt as if they had swallowed grass.
But their coach suddenly smiled cunningly.
"That depends… if it's really identical."
Zhou Hao threw the second pitch.
"Whoosh!"
The Hyper Beam appeared again.
This time even the fans reacted.
"He copied another breaking ball!"
"Why didn't Zhou Hao use this in earlier games?"
"Because the other pitchers weren't good enough."
No one thought this was arrogance. It simply made sense.
Only pitchers like Akutsu and Shirazawa qualified to be imitated by Zhou Hao.
Two strikes. The monster slugger was cornered.
Seibō's supporters held their breath.
Surely their fourth batter wouldn't go down just like this… right?
On the mound, Zhou Hao threw the third pitch.
"Whoosh!"
Oishibashi's killing intent surged.
Good—
Throwing this pitch to him?
Zhou Hao must be crazy.
He knew the Hyper Beam better than anyone.
He had caught it thousands of times.
No one in Japan understood this pitch more than him.
He gripped his bat and swung—
"BOOM!"
Chris's heart lurched.
This was bad.
Zhou Hao could use this pitch on anyone—
Except Oishibashi.
As the top slugger in the country, he had the best chance of blasting it out.
But—
"Thwack!"
The bat cut through empty air.
The ball was already in Chris's glove.
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!!"
The Seidou supporters erupted.
"Zhou Hao!!"
"That was insane!"
"Not even the best slugger can touch him!"
They didn't know how dangerous that moment truly was.
Even Chris froze briefly, before sighing with relief.
This pitch… wasn't Shirazawa's Hyper Beam.
It was an ordinary four-seam fastball disguised with identical motion.
"You're unbelievable…"
Zhou Hao winked at him.
His first two pitches were bait.
The tiny details in Oishibashi's stance were fully visible to Zhou Hao's Sharingan.
He knew exactly what Oishibashi wanted.
So he simply didn't give it to him.
"How about it? Am I amazing?"
"Absolutely."
Chris gave him a thumbs up.
Oishibashi finally understood as he walked off.
"Terrifying kid…"
Seibō had studied Seidou thoroughly.
They knew Zhou Hao's personality.
If he decided on a pitch, he would commit to it absolutely.
But now—
He had matured.
"Fifth batter, pitcher, Shirazawa!"
As Oishibashi left, Shirazawa stepped into the batter's box, eyes fixed on Zhou Hao.