"So fast. And this guy jumps so high."
Suna's heartbeat could not help speeding up. In that instant just now, he had felt as if Hank was about to jump straight over the net. If the two of them had been even a little shorter, they might not have been able to stop Hank at all. Even now, their block had barely affected him.
It was strange.
Clearly, it was only Hank standing there, yet he gave them an enormous amount of pressure.
For one instant, they even suspected that Hank was still hiding a great deal of strength.
"A left-handed spike. No wonder he managed to defeat Wakatoshi Ushijima…"
Atsumu fell into thought. To be honest, that spike just now was not something many players on their team could guarantee they would receive. It was downright abnormal.
Everyone selected for the Youth National Team training roster had something beyond ordinary people.
The Hank in front of them was naturally no exception.
"Serve a good one, Hank!"
Oikawa glanced at Atsumu, his expression sour, as if Atsumu owed him a large sum of money. After all, Atsumu and he had clashed verbally before. Right now, the tension between the two of them was thick with gunpowder. If no one stepped in to stop them, they might start arguing at any moment.
"Hoo…"
As the whistle sounded, Hank tossed the ball high above his head. Immediately after, he began his approach and jumped, his entire body moving forward at high speed. Then he struck the volleyball directly overhead.
Because his four core attributes had recently improved, his overall strength had risen considerably as well. This included his ability to use and grasp the rules of volleyball.
Although it was still a jump float serve, Hank had timed it precisely to the moment the referee blew the whistle before sending the ball out.
This serve was far harder to receive than any of his previous ones.
A sharp sound split through the air.
The serve, swaying left and right, smashed into Osamu's arms. Unsurprisingly, the ball was sent flying straight out of bounds. Osamu, clearly caught off guard, clicked his tongue on instinct.
Atsumu turned his head and smiled.
The instant their gazes met, sparks seemed to burst between them.
"This guy's current performance is practically another version of Wakatoshi Ushijima. Whether it's his power or his spiking technique."
Standing in the stands, Motoya Komori could not help speaking up. After observing Hank, he could now understand Hank's performance as an enhanced version of Wakatoshi Ushijima—a heavy cannon.
The difficulty in receiving his balls lay in the sheer amount of power behind them. Even when many players managed to touch the ball, they had no way to properly dig it up.
He was too powerful.
On top of that, because he had Oikawa working with him, the speed and angle of his spikes were both controlled extremely well.
No wonder Shiratorizawa had failed to defeat Aoba Johsai. Anyone could see the reason at a glance.
"So that's it… He's imitating Wakatoshi Ushijima's playing style?"
Sakusa had now also figured out Hank's spiking pattern, and a thoughtful look flashed through his eyes. Back during the Youth National Team training camp, he had not been able to figure out Hank's style. Because of that, he had felt somewhat puzzled, unable to understand exactly how Hank had defeated Shiratorizawa.
Now that he had witnessed it with his own eyes, his heart instead felt somewhat calmer.
Since Hank was another version of Wakatoshi Ushijima, they only needed to solve the problem of his spikes.
As for receiving, their team had a specialized way to deal with that.
(End of Chapter)
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