"You don't need to deliberately tell me what's happening. I know."
I know.
These simple three words left Kagami and the others stunned in place.
If he knew, then why...
"There never was a so-called first door. That's merely a prerequisite for entering the Zone's true domain—changing from 0 to 1!"
The Zone's true form?
The first door is a prerequisite?
Changing from 0 to 1?
What the hell was this guy talking about?!
The joy of breaking through Kirisaki Daiichi's defense was significantly dampened.
Because Tendou's expression at this moment was far too composed, making people unconsciously feel afraid.
At least the Seirin players felt uneasy in their hearts.
"Can't understand?" Tendou stood among the crowd, extending his hand. "All team sports are like this—basketball, soccer, volleyball, and other sports all start at 0, as scattered sand."
"To unite scattered sand, the first thing you must do is change 0 to 1. Only then do you possess the basic conditions for victory."
"What are you talking about?" Kagami couldn't understand. He was the same type of player as Aomine—better at playing by feel than thinking.
"You really are hopelessly stupid." Tendou glanced at him indifferently and continued, "Changing from 0 to 1 means establishing a core position from a five-person team, then building the team around this core, constructing tactics, and forming combat effectiveness."
"Otherwise, a team that remains at 0 will be as fragile as scattered sand."
At this point, the animation team gave him a close-up shot.
From his outstretched hand, sand continuously flowed down from his palm.
"Therefore, the Zone's first door serves to unleash all of a player's potential, establish the player's core position, and showcase their playing style."
This was the most fundamental logic of basketball.
Even dynasty-level teams needed to find their foundational cornerstone at the beginning.
Kagami understood this, but he didn't understand—since Tendou knew everything, why still...
"You want to ask me why I don't push open the second door?" Tendou's gaze was sharp as a torch, aimed at Kagami as if trying to see right through him.
Kagami instinctively nodded, his question written on his face.
"Of course it's because I don't acknowledge it!"
"Can't win without teammates? Teamwork is basketball's true essence? What nonsense!"
"If someday I can't win games, the problem isn't that I don't trust my teammates—it's simply that I'm not strong enough yet!"
Tendou clenched his fist forcefully, and silver-white lightning suddenly blazed in his eyes.
In this instant, everyone around felt tremendous pressure, shocked by his overwhelming presence.
The Seirin players weren't alone—viewers in the real world felt the same.
The silver lightning symbolizing the Zone descended with Tendou's words, causing goosebumps to rise all over their bodies.
They were all shocked by Tendou's unwavering dominance.
FanGeGe even applauded in the livestream: "Good thing he didn't collapse, family! This is the Tendou I know."
"Some of the previous scenes where Seirin won were indeed touching, but honestly, they felt a bit fleeting."
"Look at the Generation of Miracles after being defeated by Seirin—their personalities all changed dramatically. Simply put, they were whitewashed, their characters became one-dimensional, all looking like good guys, which was boring."
"Especially that scene just now where they cheered for Seirin—I really couldn't accept it. Kise was fine since his personality is soft, just like Tendou complained, he's just a blonde puppy."
"But Aomine and Midorima, such domineering and cool characters, actually standing up in front of everyone to cheer for Seirin was way too forced in creating atmosphere, completely destroying their character designs!"
FanGeGe complained frantically in the livestream.
In this plot segment, Seirin was indeed as Tendou criticized—most of the time they seemed unreasonable, with some lines being cool just for the sake of being cool, very inexplicable.
Especially Kuroko's "I won't run away anymore"—FanGeGe didn't even know what he was running away from. Hadn't he always been working hard and fighting?
Creating vanishing dribbles, creating phantom shots—he had always been working hard.
So that line was really abrupt, completely incomprehensible.
Tendou keeping quiet was fine, but once Tendou spoke, he made Kuroko and the others' lines seem pale and powerless.
The result was that Seirin would just shout about friendship, bonds, everyone, companions, winning together... and their abilities would start improving infinitely.
First the Earth Shot, then the pseudo Emperor Eye, now the Zone's second door.
Too many power-ups, and all without proper buildup—they appeared very suddenly!
FanGeGe continued, "I have no other demands. You can plot-kill Tendou and Kirisaki Daiichi if you want, but please don't make Tendou one-dimensional. His character design is the supremely arrogant type—don't turn him into what Kise, Aomine, and Midorima became, please!"
He prayed in the livestream.
But the fact was, even the production team couldn't control Tendou!
"Let me show you, kid."
"My basketball!"
The silver lightning suddenly became violent.
After receiving the ball from his teammate, Tendou shot out like a bolt of lightning.
Surpassing his limit with a 90% boost, even Aomine couldn't catch up.
"So fast!"
The Seirin players' faces changed drastically. After exchanging glances, they all rushed forward simultaneously.
Five hearts connected as one—though they moved forward together, their defense was full of layers, covering for each other without gaps.
Tendou's azure pupils locked onto all five people simultaneously, peering into the future.
He didn't doubt for a moment that the other three Seirin players could now use pseudo Emperor Eyes like Kuroko.
Because this was the Zone's second door—the strongest buff in Kuroko's Basketball.
Tendou didn't retreat but accelerated again, charging straight at them.
"No retreat, and no intention to pass!"
"Is he going to take on all five?"
"This monster!"
Kasamatsu Yukio, Imayoshi Shoichi, Okamura Kenichi, Otsubo Taisuke, and even Hayama Kotaro were all too shocked to speak.
They had all been defeated by Kirisaki Daiichi, defeated by Tendou, and knew his strength.
But this was one against five!
Was it really possible? No, the question should be—if he succeeded, would he still be human?
"Tendou-kun, Aida-san made you become..."
"It has nothing to do with Riko."
Kuroko wanted to speak—he felt the current Tendou was frighteningly strong.
But before he could finish, Tendou cut him off.
"At first, it might have been because of Riko that I wanted to become the strongest."
"But in the end, I discovered I wasn't influenced by Riko at all. I'm simply just this kind of person!"
Tendou shouted lowly, his movements not slowing a bit as he declared:
"Thunder Flash!"
"Five changes!"
Without giving Kuroko and Seirin any time to react, Tendou stepped forward and exploded at maximum speed, his figure carving out lightning symbols as he broke through Seirin's defensive line in one breath.
Kagami gritted his teeth and twisted to chase after him, but lost in the one-on-one process against Tendou.
With a thunderous "bang," Tendou violently slammed the ball into the basket.
Not just on offense—even on defense, all five Seirin players could achieve unity of mind.
However, while they could coordinate with Kagami in the Zone state, that was a mental enhancement. Their physical stats wouldn't change, and once shaken off, they could no longer catch up to Tendou, unable to form an encirclement.
Aida Riko's newly risen enthusiasm suddenly cooled again.
"Just what kind of monster are we competing against?!"
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