"Monkeys are monkeys—a team will always have its comedic entertainers."
During the lineup, Nash locked his gaze on Tendou.
Ever since hearing his teammate mention seeing Tendou on billboards, an inexplicable anger had risen in his heart.
He felt like he was being underestimated.
These monkeys had actually sent an entertainer to play basketball against them.
No matter who they sent, they couldn't possibly win, but he was still furious at Aida Kagetora's approach.
These guys lacked sufficient respect for him.
'Here it is—America's famous double standard!'
'I can look down on you, but you can't look down on me, or that's disrespectful.'
'Free America, gun battles every day!'
'Our bald eagle is truly amazing!'
'Lol'
The audience scoffed at Nash's inner thoughts.
"Comedic entertainer?"
Tendou laughed—it had been a while since he'd met someone who dared play verbal games with him.
"If I'm a comedic entertainer, then what are you?"
"A street juggler? Think getting a tattoo equals showing your personality?"
Hearing this, Nash's eyes immediately became razor-sharp.
He was well aware of street basketball's nature—in the eyes of professionals, they ultimately couldn't reach refined status.
In a sense, street basketball really was like juggling.
"Bark while you still have the strength, monkey. Soon you'll be wailing just like those trash from a week ago."
"How pitiful—you actually mistake having no manners for trash talk. Is America's education level prenatal?"
Tendou spoke eloquently, chattering away until Nash was rendered speechless.
Nash could hardly believe his eyes—he was actually being out-talked by a teenage high school student.
Seeing Tendou about to criticize everything from his hair to his tattoos, Nash finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Enough, I'm not here to play word games with you."
"Let's start quickly. I don't want to spend another second in this monkey kingdom."
After saying this, Nash didn't give Tendou a chance to respond and walked aside to wait for the game to begin.
On the sidelines at the Dragon Slayer Sword team's bench, everyone looked at each other.
They couldn't hear the specifics, only saw Nash actively approach Tendou first, then the two engaged in intense verbal sparring, finally ending with Nash fleeing in frustration.
"What exactly did Tendou say?"
They thought about the frustration they'd suffered at Jabberwock's hands last night.
They and Kuroko together had been severely mocked by Nash.
But today, Tendou alone had made Nash retreat in defeat.
Worthy of being the nation's strongest high school student.
Simply too impressive!
"Anyway, it wasn't anything nice," Momoi laughed it off. "When little Tendou puts his mind to it, he could give someone stomach problems just from talking."
"And he's really good at fighting too. If Nash had made a move just now, I guarantee he would've left the gym on a stretcher today," Hanamiya Makoto quietly added.
Hearing this, the others felt cold sweat dripping from their foreheads.
This Generation of Miracles leader was sounding more and more terrifying, wasn't he?
...
The referee checked his watch and walked onto the court with the basketball.
Dragon Slayer Sword starting lineup: Akashi, Midorima, Tendou, Aomine, Murasakibara.
Kise, Kagami, and Kuroko all remained on the bench.
Aida Kagetora had said this game would use a seven-man rotation, meaning Kuroko wouldn't get much playing time.
He would only enter at certain moments when the team needed to catch opponents off guard.
Jabberwock starting lineup: Nash, Zack, Allen, Nick, Jason Silver.
Jump ball segment.
Both sides sent out Murasakibara and Jason Silver.
Two big men over 2 meters tall with full presence—you could tell audiences this was a professional game and they'd believe it.
Beep~
With a whistle, the referee threw the ball high into the air.
Murasakibara and Jason Silver jumped almost simultaneously.
It was hard to believe that two players over 2 meters tall and weighing over 100 kilograms could jump so fast and so high.
Recalling the exhibition game from a week ago, this team composed entirely of high school students gave the audience a surprise right from the start.
"Slap!"
Ultimately, the quicker-reacting Murasakibara won the jump ball.
He forcefully tapped the ball into Tendou's hands rather than Akashi's.
"It's started!"
"Murasakibara won—excellent start!"
"How will they play? Fast break? Or steady half-court offense?"
Many, many people were watching this game—from middle school to college, almost all players were glued to their screens.
Himuro Tatsuya, Otsubo Taisuke, Kasamatsu Yukio and others were naturally included.
Under their gaze, after receiving Murasakibara's pass, Tendou didn't wait for opponents to set up—his figure shot out with a "whoosh."
Jabberwock's Allen was startled by his explosive power and hurriedly moved over.
"High stats in every category!" Aida Riko observed through their jerseys.
She discovered that Jabberwock's players were completely equal to the Generation of Miracles in physical attributes, even stronger.
This alone was enough for them to sweep over 90% of national teams, perhaps even 100%.
"Almost got past..."
Allen caught up and wanted to trash-talk this monkey.
But before he finished speaking, the basketball disappeared from Tendou's hands.
Jabberwock's Allen couldn't even react—couldn't even see when Tendou passed the ball. The ball flew past his side like a bullet.
"Slap!"
Aomine caught the ball, facing opponent #4 Nick one-on-one.
He fully utilized his speed advantage, using dazzling breakthroughs to force his opponent into continuous retreat.
"Bang!"
The basketball hit the ground hard and bounced up, whistling toward Nick's face.
The latter's pupils involuntarily contracted, instinctively wanting to dodge.
At that moment, Aomine's hand shot out like lightning, regaining control of the basketball while his body had already passed Nick by half a position.
With an extremely clean turn, he shook off his opponent, broke into the paint, and scored with a one-handed slam.
"Street basketball? Did you think only you guys knew how to play it?"
Aomine landed, his gaze targeting Jabberwock's players with full aggression.
This play ignited the audience's passion.
No team coordination, just pure individual ability.
Aomine alone had completed the explosion—this was the most powerful response to Nash's words from a week ago.
Seeing this, Aida Kagetora felt something stir in his heart.
"They can do it. These kids are different."
"They're real geniuses who can compete with Jabberwock."
A bunch of monkeys.
Nash didn't take this score seriously at all.
Even though these brats seemed more capable than last week's trash, slightly better trash was still trash.
"But this guy..."
What Nash cared about wasn't Aomine, but Tendou.
"His pass just now... was somewhat similar to my own no-signal passing."
Except for himself, neither Allen nor Nick had reacted just now.
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