Chapter 1: Fusion With Emperor Eye at the Beginning, Duel With Irving
July 2016—this summer was destined to be crazy for the Cleveland Cavaliers!
In the finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 4-3 to win the NBA championship that year.
As an international student in the United States, Sashiro's biggest hobby was playing basketball. Today, he came to his familiar gym to shoot and practice as usual.
There were obviously a lot more people today than usual, making it difficult for him to find an empty space to practice.
But Sashiro didn't mind. After all, as an amateur basketball fan, just having a place to play was enough, and his requirements weren't very high.
Just as he was looking around, he suddenly found a very empty court next to him. Although many people were around, only one person was on the court.
Sashiro didn't think too much about it and walked toward the space.
Shooting—nothing could be better!
But as Sashiro stepped onto the court and wanted to ask if he could shoot there, a sudden burst of warm cheers erupted from all around.
"Wow, it looks like we have a new challenger!"
Not only were there cheers from the audience on the sidelines, but a host holding a microphone was even commentating to the camera.
The host said happily, "You're very courageous, young man! What's your name, please?"
Sashiro didn't seem to understand the situation yet, but he still gave his name.
Then the host nodded in approval and said to the surrounding audience and cameras, "Then let's invite Sashiro to challenge our Kyrie Irving!"
When the host announced Irving's name, the surrounding fans burst into extremely enthusiastic cheers.
Amid the cheers, a man wearing the Cavaliers' No. 2 jersey stood up.
This was no unknown person.
It was this year that he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and made a key three-pointer in the finals.
The game-winner, Kyrie Irving!
Kyrie Irving's gorgeous and elegant playing style had always been sought after by fans.
Of course, Irving's strength should not be underestimated, from being the best rookie when he first entered the league to being selected for the All-Star team many times later.
He even won the individual MVP in the Olympics!
Irving was a top player who was both talented and entertaining, no doubt about it!
After winning the championship with the team this time, his personal popularity surged, and Irving even became the darling of the current media.
Today's interaction on the court was planned by multiple media outlets as an exhibition game to allow Irving to continue to expand his influence.
Before this, many fans had challenged Irving, and it was clear that these fans were full of confidence and wanted to compete with Irving.
There were even some players from European professional leagues!
But in the first few games, everyone had seen that the gap between Irving's personal ability and other challengers was indeed too big!
Whether it was those streetball masters or some professional players who came to challenge, Irving could use his gorgeous dribbling and deceptive fake moves to confuse the defenders.
Irving could win the game easily every time!
It was this highly artistic victory that had attracted nearly 100,000 people to watch the online live broadcast!
Irving walked up to Sashiro, shook his hand as usual, and asked, "Hello, Sashiro, you seem to be from Daxia? Is there anything you want to say before the game?"
Generally speaking, the players who had challenged before would say something harsh at this time.
But they would all be severely proven wrong afterward!
Of course, this kind of humbling was something that netizens loved to see.
Therefore, even Irving himself actually hoped that the boy in front of him could say something bold to add some effect to the show.
However, Sashiro said, "Um... I'm just an amateur, just playing around."
...
Irving was helpless, the host was helpless, and even the audience in the live broadcast room was helpless.
Your bold words were so discouraging.
Wasn't this giving up at the beginning?
Why!
It seemed that he knew he couldn't win.
In the current live broadcast room, netizens' comments were constantly refreshing:
"Finally, someone who is self-aware!"
"Just play casually. Even if you play seriously, you can't beat Irving!"
"But he just plays casually. I always feel that the next game will be boring..."
"Indeed, this is a battle that I know he will lose. It feels like I already know the outcome."
"But the others will definitely lose too. After all, that's Kyrie Irving! One of the best scorers in the league!"
"Okay, let's quickly finish this off and move on to the next person! You know you're an amateur, and I don't know how you have the courage to stand here."
...
Of course, no one thought Irving would lose.
Even when facing players from the NBA league, no one thought Irving would lose.
Not to mention facing an Asian student like this.
Irving readily passed the ball to Sashiro.
"Hey, little bro, you start! You can attack any way you want, just go for it!"
Irving didn't take it seriously at all and even gave Sashiro a step of distance.
Sashiro knew his level, which was considered relatively advanced among ordinary players, but it could only be said to be the level of a university team bench player at best.
Most likely the kind that mostly stays near the water cooler...
But at this moment, a mechanical reminder sound suddenly rang in his ears.
"Ding Dong! It is detected that the host is accepting Kyrie Irving's challenge, binding..."
"Congratulations to the host for successfully binding the documentary: Kuroko's Basketball's strongest template system!"
"We are now giving you a great gift pack for beginners: Akashi Seijuro template, Emperor Eye one-hour trial coupon!"
"I hope the host can successfully defeat Kyrie Irving. The system will issue Emperor Eye as a permanent reward!"
...
Sashiro was slightly stunned when he heard the system reminder.
Then he realized what had just happened.
Emperor Eye!
This was Akashi's invincible skill, which could predict the opponent's next move.
Whether it was the opponent's defensive or offensive actions, you could know them in advance.
This was a very broken ability even in the documentary, Kuroko's Basketball.
With this ability, you could choose to change your offensive strategy based on your opponent's next move.
This would disrupt the opponent's center of gravity, or even knock them down and break their ankles!
This ability could only be described in one word...
That word was:
Invincible!
Kyrie Irving still looked nonchalant, urging Sashiro to attack faster.
Sashiro held the ball and found that he could see everything clearly!
Including what he would do next and how Irving would react—he saw everything clearly!
He smiled slightly.
"Okay, I'll attack then."
Chapter 2: Reversal of Poles, Easily Defeats Irving
Sashiro was quite skilled at dribbling and had good basic skills.
But everyone could see one thing: Sashiro's speed was too slow!
His offensive speed lacked the explosiveness and surprising power of other players they had seen before.
To be honest, this speed was too slow even on a baseball field!
Everyone shook their heads.
"This guy is hopeless!"
"At this speed, even my grandma can run faster than him!"
"He doesn't think he can beat Kyrie Irving at this speed, does he? To be honest, even if he were running a race with elementary school students, I'd still think he's too slow!"
"His dribbling is still okay, but his speed is really unbearable..."
"I don't know how he had the courage to challenge Irving."
"If he can score, I'm gonna stand on my head and eat my hat!"
"No wonder he said he was a hobbyist right away. It turns out he's already found a good excuse for his failure..."
Irving was also very disdainful of this scene.
With this speed, I can easily cut him off!
When Sashiro got close, Irving reached out and tried to take the ball away from him.
But just one second before Irving could steal the ball, Sashiro seemed to know in advance that he was going to steal it and directly pushed the ball, subtly changing its trajectory.
Irving was a little surprised.
But when he saw that his first attempt missed, he chose to continue trying to steal the ball.
But Sashiro changed direction again and cleverly avoided Irving's attack in advance.
At this time, Sashiro had already moved half a body length past Irving. Irving turned around to block him, but Sashiro seemed to know it in advance.
He chose to pull the ball back in front of his body, directly shifting his position between himself and Irving.
Irving found it unbelievable!
Looking at Sashiro, who had left his defensive position, Irving hadn't expected that although this guy seemed to be moving slowly, his rhythm was so good.
So Irving jumped high with all his strength, trying to block him.
But how could Sashiro not know what Irving was doing since he possessed the Emperor Eye?
Seeing Irving jump high, Sashiro even looked back at him sarcastically.
Then he passed him and scored an easy layup.
...
Easy!
So easy!
At this moment, no one present reacted to what had just happened.
Was this really happening?
Looking at Irving, who was standing there in a daze, and Sashiro, who had just scored a slow layup.
This was definitely beyond everyone's expectations!
Especially the person who had just said that he wanted to eat his hat while standing upside down—his face had now turned green.
Even the commentator on the side stuttered and couldn't say anything for a long time.
Because he didn't understand how Sashiro could score a point when he was moving so slowly just now!
Although defense wasn't Irving's strong point, he shouldn't be beaten by a guy of this level!
So the commentator stepped forward, walked closer, and whispered to Irving:
"What happened? Are you okay? What just happened? Are you alright?"
Irving recovered and said, "Yeah, I'm good. I'm fine."
Irving nodded to himself, as if he was adjusting his state.
Then he said to the narrator, "Just do your own thing, and I'll score the next goal."
The commentator was relieved to see Irving recover.
So he continued to speak to the audience at the scene and in the live broadcast room:
"It seems that Irving was quite polite in the last shot, but now, Irving seems to be serious! He wants to show his strength and use his favorite basketball to communicate with Sashiro."
The implication of this sentence was that Irving hadn't been serious just now!
Everyone was just watching for fun; now, Irving was going to take over the game!
At this time, everyone's enthusiasm was ignited again.
After all, everyone knew that Irving could also be called an offensive kaleidoscope.
Irving was almost unstoppable on the offensive end.
Even when facing tall inside players who were out of position, Irving always found a way to score.
Not to mention Sashiro, who didn't look much taller than Irving, maybe only about 1.92 or 1.93 meters tall—standard guard height.
Letting Irving play against a guard like this was basically the same as giving away points.
Everyone was looking forward to Irving turning the game around and showing off his stunning skills!
Irving held the ball, posed a triple threat, and said to Sashiro, "You made a good shot just now, but it won't happen again!"
Immediately afterward, Irving took a tentative step and started to change direction.
He did it very quickly, and it was difficult for ordinary defenders to keep up with his speed.
Even when facing NBA players, it was common to blow past them in one step!
However, with Emperor Eye, Sashiro didn't just see you make a move and then react.
He knew in advance that you were going to make that move.
Sashiro positioned himself in advance and stood right in front of Irving after he changed his stance.
Irving was shocked, but as a star who had been in the NBA for so many years, he reacted very quickly.
Irving simply pulled his hips back and returned to his original position.
Then he turned around with a very small and extremely fast double-crossover, trying to break through again.
But when Irving turned around, he found that Sashiro was still in front of him!?!
Irving was stunned.
In the past, after doing this kind of move, the defender would have been easily beaten.
But seeing the current situation, he wasn't discouraged. He passed the ball and retreated to prepare for a shot.
Irving thought to himself, "Don't you like to defend in advance? I'll see what you can do when I jump up to shoot this time!"
However, to his surprise, Sashiro just stood there motionless, as if he knew he couldn't shoot.
Steady as a rock!
At this moment, Irving's heart was about to collapse.
You're making me look foolish, you know?
Forget it, there's nothing else I can do—just shoot!
Irving immediately prepared a pull-up jump shot to solve the problem.
If there was no interference, this kind of shot could basically be scored easily.
But... Sashiro defended him again when he wanted to shoot!
Bang!
After a crisp sound, everyone was shocked.
Because Irving's shot.
Was blocked!
Chapter 3: Is This Guy Really An Amateur?
No one even dared to believe their eyes.
Sashiro was just defending with what looked like slow movements, yet he was able to block Kyrie Irving's attack perfectly every time.
Faced with Irving's fake shots, he wasn't fooled at all, and when Irving genuinely went for the shot, Sashiro could catch up in time.
It was truly unbelievable!
"This is so freaking fake, how did this guy do it?!"
"Irving got blocked. He wasn't blocked that many times in the entire playoffs!"
"Too scary. Besides, this guy doesn't have that kind of abnormal explosive power and speed. How can he defend Irving?!"
"What the…!?"
"I saw him just standing there leisurely, but he was able to defend Irving. I really can't understand it!"
"This guy looks like he's not even trying hard!"
"Stop talking about it. The guy who bet on eating his hat while upside down couldn't figure out why he had to prepare more snacks."
...
At this time, the barrage in the live broadcast room caused an uproar.
The number of viewers actually increased instead of decreased!
Many people hadn't been particularly interested when Irving was dominating.
But they heard that Irving, the recent champion, was being toyed with by a passerby without any apparent effort!
Now that was something worth watching!
The number of people in the live broadcast room increased sharply, even reaching more than twice the previous peak.
"Hey, guys, what happened just now? Was Irving really beaten by that guy?!"
"He looks like a student? And he's Asian, are you sure you're not mistaken?!"
"New viewers, I can tell you responsibly that the guy who bet on eating his hat also hopes this is a mistake."
"Hahahaha, indeed!"
"It was this Asian student. He said he would just play casually, but he easily beat Irving and even blocked a shot!!!"
"I've been watching the whole time, seriously! This guy doesn't even look like he's using his full strength!!"
"What? Who is this person? Why don't I believe it?"
"If you don't believe me, just keep watching! Damn, why would I lie to you?!"
...
Irving hadn't taken the game with Sashiro very seriously at first.
But now, Irving had become completely serious.
The continuous failures made him feel unbelievable; he couldn't accept it!
At this time, Irving even brought out the intensity of the NBA playoffs and pressed Sashiro with a tight defense!
Even the commentator was stunned. It was extremely rare to see Irving so serious.
Not to mention when he was playing against those previous challengers, even in the NBA regular season, Irving rarely showed such a defensive attitude.
It seemed that Irving was determined to win this time!
Then, on the other side, facing Irving's tight defense, Sashiro remained calm and unhurried. With an extremely simple feint, he easily bypassed the defense.
Irving even felt his center of gravity become unstable for a moment. If he hadn't adjusted it in time, he would have been knocked down.
But precisely because he adjusted his center of gravity, Irving's defense was left completely behind!
At this time, the audience around was stunned.
The audience in the live broadcast room also felt that this was simply unbelievable.
Was Irving really being outplayed by an Asian amateur?
Was this really Irving and not some imposter who looked like Irving?
Everyone couldn't believe it because Sashiro's performance just now reminded them of a saying:
"Passing you is as easy as crossing the road in the early morning."
This wasn't a boastful statement; everyone genuinely felt that way!
In their eyes, Sashiro's performance was like a leisurely stroll.
Patient and calm, elegant and relaxed.
Sashiro's playing style and performance were completely different from Irving's current style.
Although he didn't have explosive speed or fancy dribbling skills, Sashiro was still able to get past Irving completely!
Looking at Sashiro walking so effortlessly, everyone had one question:
"This guy... could it be that he hasn't used all his