Chapter 1 - Unpolished Gems (1)

In the dimly lit hall room, 300 people gathered. 

Small clatters echo inside the hall room making it rowdy. 

After a few minutes or so, a lanky man entered the hall and silence befell, the light focused on him. 

He walked leisurely till he reached the middle of the stage, his eyes and hair as dark as the night. He held a devious grin on his lips as he eyed every man in the room. 

He opened his mouth while still smiling, "Congratulations, you unpolished gems." 

His rude way of talking made the people inside the room raise their eyebrows at him and a few small murmurs escaped from their mouths. 

The content of his words also spark some curiosity and even confusion among them.[1]

He continued, "All you under 18 strikers have been chosen solely based on my criteria and biases to be here today. All 300 of you"

He paused for a moment and looked them dead in the eye, "I am Jinpachi Ego, my job is to make the japan team capable of winning the world cup."

When he said that, the people in the room chattered about the absurdity of it. 

'World cup?'

'What is he talking about?' 

'What did he say?'

"In simple terms, Japan only requires one thing to become the strongest powerhouse in football."

He spread his arms and said, "And that is the birth, or the creation of a revolutionary striker. From you 300 players gathered here today, I will forge the best striker in the world through a certain project."

As confusion rose among them, he raised his pointed finger and continued, "For this purpose, we have built this facility…..[2]

"called Blue Lock.

"Starting today, all of you will live in the same building, and follow down to the letter, my personally designed training regime. 

"You will not be able to go back home, and as of now, can consider your football careers over

"But I will say this, if you manage to survive Blue lock, and defeat the other 299 players around you...

"You. The last player standing…. 

"Will have become the best striker in the world.

"That is all for the details. Nice to meet you all."

They murmur among themselves as they were confused about what Ego says, but one person stood up and disagreed with him. 

Ryosuke Kira. 

He and his team are one of the winners in the qualifiers. 

"Hey, sorry, but..

"I can't agree with what you just said right now.

"For most of us, our team is our main priority….

"Particularly those of us who will participate in the nationals. 

"There's no way I can accept those terms.

"I….

"I will not throw away my own team."

After that speech of his, many people woke up from their stupor and agreed on what he said.

"Yeah, that's right! I'm also playing at the nationals!"

"And why do we have to live together?"

Someone even shouted, "Who the hell even are you? Bring us someone we know!" 

Ego scratched his head like it was annoying and faced them, he made a disgusted expression and said. 

"I see that you guys are really fucked up in the head, huh..?

"Get lost, then.

"If you're thinking of leaving, go right ahead. 

"Your teams are what now…?

"You'd really choose your team over becoming the best striker in the world?

"You'd rather be a highschool champ in this shit hole country?

"Huh?" 

— — skip a bit since it became too long copy it— —

"Football is, at its core, a sport about scoring goals even at the expense of your own teammates. 

"The best player is the one who scores the most goals…

"If you want to play pretend football instead, then get lost already. 

— — omitted — —

With madness emanating from him, he said, 

"YOU WILL NOT BECOME THE BEST STRIKERS IN THE WORLD, UNLESS YOU HAVE THE EGO TO MATCH. 

"My purpose here is to create such a player in japan.

"From the corpses of 299 players…..

"One here will rise in all his glory!"

— — omitted — — 

"Your greatest joy is scoring points and nothing else. 

"Now, that's a 'striker' don't you think?"

With that as his last piece, as if hypnotized. A single person ran to the stage and entered the opened door. 

Then, the rest followed suit. 

A new beginning awaits for these unpolished gems!

— — end — — 

[1]i don't know if you know this but japanese peeps are always using honorifics and respectful words, but this is in english so i'll just have to describe if it is rude or whatnot.

[2] "." this means a dialogue between person to person, '.' this one is thoughts, and if it is only " and there are no ends it means that person is continuing on talking, not conversing.