History Recap / BlueLockTeamZVsTeamY

A brief recap is shown of Team W having defeated Baro's Team X 4-1. Meanwhile on the Fifth Stratum field, Team Z and Team Y stand ready for their match. Kuon warning the team that their biggest opponent on Team Y is Hibiki Okawa (Rank 254), who's an incredible shooter from the Kumamoto Prefecture. Before the game, Kuon held a meeting where they go over the "I'm the Next 9!" plan. The plan being to go through a rotational position set-up on the field where ever 10 minutes, one Team Z player takes over as the center-forward to show off their weapon. Iemon and Chigiri don't take part in it given that the former's the goalie while Chigiri remains disinterested in showing off his weapon.

Okawa receives Niko's pass in front of Team Z's goal, which Iemon heads out to try to stop him. However, Okawa pulls off a fake on Iemon that allows the former to perform an easy chip shot to score a goal for Team Y. Down 0-1, Isagi gets the gist of Team Y's plan, which is to just hold out defensively until the moment comes for Okawa to strike. With Team Z on offense again, Kuon takes over to take his 10 minute turn as the center-forward. His jumping power allows for headers that help Team Z get down field. However, Team Y's defense holds strong again, and they manage to steal the ball away. In addition, Team Y begins to stall out the game by just passing around since they just need to hold onto their 1-0 lead. As a result, Raichi's unable to do anything with his 10 minutes at center-forward, and Imamura's unable to do anything with his 5 minutes at center-forward that leads into the 45 minute half-time break.

During the half-time break, Team Z gets irritated knowing that Team Y is just stalling out the game to hold on to their 1-0 lead. Despite Chigiri suggesting that they change tactics, Kuon advises against it as it's too much of a risk to make a sudden change now. Thus, they stick to the "I'm the Next 9!" plan with the only difference being that they need to pressure harder to get the ball back. The game resumes with Imamura having 5 minutes left of his turn at center-forward. As the casanova of the team, Imamura pictures the ball carrier as a girl he's trying to chase after, and manages to pressure Team Y's ball carrier just enough to throw him off balance, which allows for Gagamaru to steal the ball away. Gagamaru then takes his 10 minute turn at center-forward, which they manage to push offensively against Team Y to reach their goal. Isagi then passes it to Gagamaru, who performs a header at the goal. However, it ends up getting deflected in time by Team Y's goalie, which sends the ball out-of-bounds for a Team Z corner-kick.

During Bachira's corner-kick in front of Team Y's goal, Isagi races off to the location where he believes that a certain someone on Team Y is going to end up with the ball. A dangerous person who isn't Okawa. Team Y's goalie manages to deflect Bachira's corner-kick away, and sure enough just as Isagi guessed, the ball ended up heading towards Niko, who was planning to start up another defense-to-counterattack score for Okawa. Isagi manages to block the ball in time from reaching Niko. Isagi having realized that the core of Team Y isn't Okawa, but is actually Niko being their secret leader who hides in the shadows. Isagi then aims a shot at Team Y's goal only for the ball to get slightly deflected by Niko. Isagi's deflected kick looks like it's going to miss to the left, but it's kicked back right into the goal by Gagamaru at the last second. Thus, tying up the game 1-1.

Following the score, Niko points out to Isagi that Team Y was close to going up 2-0 had the latter not noticed that Niko was on the verge of setting up Okawa for a second easy score. In return, Isagi makes it clear that he's going to mark Niko to keep the latter from pulling anything else, which Niko taunts back that he's the one in control of the game. With Gagamaru's time over, Naruhaya takes over for his 10 minute turn at center-forward. Naruhaya's weapon that allows him to speed down the field helps Team Z push offensively. However, Team Y holds on defensively. As the play goes back-and-forth, Isagi remains marked to Niko to keep the latter locked down from doing anything, even skipping his turn at center-forward knowing that he needs to stick defensively to Niko no matter what. Niko explains to Isagi how when the former thought about what his weapon is, Niko realized that he doesn't have speed or strength. That instead, he has intellect where his weapon is the plans he sees and thinks up, and how his plans allows him to manipulate the players on the field.

Eventually, it's Igarashi's 10 minute turn at being the center-forward. However, Team Y goes back to stalling by passing the ball around since they have nothing to work with after Team Z locked down Okawa and Niko. At 1 minute remaining in the game, Niko warns Isagi how to keep the game from ending as a 1-1 tie, Team Y still have one plan remaining that will be put into action once the ball ends up back in Okawa's possession. Sure enough, everyone on Team Y starts running towards Team Z's goal the moment Okawa has the ball to safeguard it. Niko revealing that their plan is a last second one-shot kill counterattack where all of Team Y pushes offensively in order to get a last second goal.

As the ball passes by the goal, Gagamaru had raced down the middle of the field, and tries to go for the header at the goal only to miss the ball. However, Bachira's pass had another target in mind as the open teammate in front of the left side of the goal is Isagi. Once the ball reaches Isagi, his ego kicks in calling himself a striker, and lands a direct kick to shoot the ball into the left side of the net. Team Y's goalie misses the block, which results Isagi scoring the goal for Team Z to go up 2-1. Time then expires; resulting in Team Z celebrating Isagi's goal, and their victory over Team Y. Still hyped up, Isagi walks through the defeated players of Team Y, he passes by an irritated Okawa, and steps before Niko, who looks like he's about to cry in front of him. Looking at the defeated Niko, the hyped Isagi remains confused as to why he feels so good at the moment. Meanwhile, Ego can be seen in his viewing room giving off a huge grin; heavily implied to have watched Isagi's egoism win the game.

A brief recap is seen showing that the Team W vs. Team X match resulted in a 4-1 win for Team W despite how much of a monster player Baro was against Team Z. Meanwhile, Team Z is seen waiting on the playing field for the arrival of their second match opponent, Team Y. The players of Team Y then appear on the field, which Kuon warns his teammates that Team Y are in the same critical situation as them having already lost to Team V, and that they need to watch out for their ace player, Hibiki Okawa (Rank 254), who's known for his great shooting technique. Team Z huddles up with Kuon announcing that they just need to follow his "I'll be the Next 9!" tactic, which they're all ready to go. Isagi thinks over that it's all over if they lose, and that the heart of said tactic is based around their football weapons.

A flashback is seen back at Team Z's room where Kuon goes over his "I'll be the Next 9!" plan with his teammates. He explains that the plan revolves around the use of their weapons, and that the game will be split evenly between each Team Z striker in order to rotate as the star player for several minutes while everyone else supports the rotated in striker. Imamura asks what decides the rotation order, which Naruhaya suggests that they just go clockwise based on their starting field positions. Iemon suggests for him to not be part of the rotation as swapping out the goal-keeper would be too much of a risk, and Chigiri remains unmotivated stating that he will just stick to defense. The rest of the team falls in with Kuon's plan, which means that 9 strikers will be rotating as the star forward.

Returning to the present, the Team Z vs. Team Y match begins. Bachira starts with the ball as the first leader of the 10 minute rotation plan, which he charges forward using his dribbling weapon while the rest of Team Z supports. Eventually, two Team Y players block Bachira's path, which before the latter could act, a 3rd Team Y player that has hair bangs covering over his eyes helps keep Bachira trapped, and claims that he now understands Bachira's dribbling. The result is Bachira being forced to pass it away, which Isagi realizes that they've hit a snag with Bachira's weapon already being erased. Thus, making it clear to Isagi that Team Y's been practicing as well after their first loss, and have developed their own strategies. However, Isagi remains confident that they're not going to go down with Team Y without a fight. The ball is eventually passed back to Bachira, which Isagi can tell that Team Y is playing defensively compared to Team Z's offensive heavy "I'll be the Next 9!" tactic. Isagi remains convinced that Team Z will eventually win as he doesn't believe that Team Y will figure out their remaining weapons like they did Bachira's dribbling. Bachira's time as the rotation leader then runs out, and passes it over to Kunigami as the next lead forward for 10 minutes.

Kunigami charges forward with Team Z supporting him in the hopes that he gets another shot to use his powerful kick. He makes it to the spot before the Team Y penalty box while the players of Team Z help box out the opposing defenders in order to make an opening for Kunigami to make a long-range shot. However, his kick ends up getting blocked, and while Team Z saves the ball from being stolen, Isage realizes that Team Y has a tight defense that even managed to seal Kunigami's weapon. Isagi observes around the field questioning how Team Y plans to win if they're just going to remain fully on defense, and notices the oddity that Okawa still hasn't really done anything. Almost as if he's waiting for something to happen. Team Z passes around, and back to Kunigami to try his powerful kick again, but like before, the Team Y defenders manage to block it. Unlike before, the loose ball gets stolen by the bangs striker that trapped Bachira earlier, which causes Okawa to finally start moving towards Team Z's goal. The action surprises Isagi as he realizes that Team Y has just been waiting for the chance to counterattack. The bangs striker, Ikki Niko (Rank 255), then proceeds to long pass it to the running Okawa, and states that he's living it to the latter.

Okawa manages to receive Niko's pass right in front of Team Z's goal in a 1-on-1 situation with goalkeeper Iemon. Isagi realizes that Team Y's plan revolves around counterattacks utilizing their team's best shooter, Okawa, who prepares to shoot. Iemon charges in believing that he knows which leg Okawa's going to shoot with, but at the last second, Okawa fakes the kick to throw off Iemon's balance, which Okawa kicks an easy chip shot into the goal. The result is a 1-0 lead for Team Y. Isagi watches on impressed by Okawa's ability to fake out the goalkeeper. As Okawa celebrates his goal with his team, Isagi's forced to admit that Okawa's shooting skills is the real deal. As Team Z goes about complaining that they will have to double team Okawa, Isagi gets the gist of Team Y's strategy; to hold out defensively, and then pass it to Okawa when there's an opening to counterattack.

Isagi remains convinced that they will lose if they're unable to stop Okawa. Kuon then rallies the team to remain focused as it was just one goal, and that it's now his 10 minute turn as the lead striker of the rotation plan. Charging forward with his team, Kuon leads the offensive using his jumping weapon for headers to help with the passing as they make their way down the field towards Team Y's goal. During a pass to Kunigami, his path forward is blocked by Team Y's players, which Niko manages to catch Kunigami off-guard and steals the ball away. However, Niko passes to someone else rather than Okawa, which Isagi catches on that Team Y's plan is to just hold on to their 1-0 lead until they've wasted the remaining time. The game continues on until it's Raichi and Imamura's turns to rotate in as the lead strikers. However, Team Y remained in control of the ball all the way until the half-time break.

In the locker room, Raichi remains pissed that his whole 10 minute turn was wasted while Imamura complains that it was the same for him losing his 5 minute half-turn before the half-time break hit. Naruhaya points out this was a given as Team Y is just passing it around to waste out the game time up 1-0, and Igarashi adds that its hard to break Team Y's wall when everyone but Okawa is playing defense. Iemon suggests that they aren't winning unless they turn up the pressure in the second half, which Chigiri questions if sticking to the "I'll be the Next 9!" plan is the right move when it's clear that their weapons have been sealed. Raichi calls Chigiri out given that the latter hasn't even told them his weapon, but Chigiri remains convinced that instead of the plan, they should rely on just the weapons that would frustrate the other team. However, Kuon asks everyone to calm down while assuring everyone that changing the plan now is too risky. Kuon remains convinced that they just need to keep pushing with the "I'll be the Next 9!" plan and not worry about Okawa, which hypes up Team Z again to go along with it. However, Isagi is left questioning to himself if they can really win without making any half-time adjustments.

The start of the second half begins, and Team Y remains with the ball just passing it around until the time runs out. With his remaining 5 rotation minutes now used up, Imamura gets annoyed that he couldn't rely on his good speed and technique, and is desperately hoping that Team Y finally gives up the ball. He thinks over how playing football is like being with a girl completely out of his league, and that dealing with Team Y is like that girl he can't reach. Thus, Imamura remains determined to finally break the girl's shell that is Team Y's defense, and goes for the slide steal. He ends up missing the steal, but he managed to distract the Team Y ball carrier just enough for Team Z's Gin Gagamaru (Rank 271) to come in and make the steal. Gagamaru then charges forward with the ball as it's now his 10 minute turn as the lead rotation striker with the support of his team. Isagi and Gagamaru pass to one another, which Isagi figures that he needs to play to Gagamaru's style of close-quarter football play. The plan being to get in front of Team Y's goal, and go for a crazy cross play.

Isagi ends up kicking the ball too far during the cross but to his surprise, he witnesses Gagamaru put his weapon into effect where he can contort his body in different ways, such as springing forward in order to perform a header on Isagi's off-target pass at the goal. Gagamaru's header at the goal ends up getting blocked by Team Y's goalkeeper, which results in a loose ball. However, Isagi remains convinced that with Gagamaru's crazy offensive weapon, it will be enough to help them finish Team Y. It's at this point that Isagi senses something off behind him, but when he turns around to check, he doesn't understand what it was that he sensed, and just sees Okawa waiting like usual for Team Y's eventual counterattack. The loose ball ended up going out-of-bounds, which results in a corner kick for Team Z. Bachira heads to the corner to perform the kick, and as everyone gathers in front of Team Y's goal, Isagi catches on that what he sensed wasn't a fluke, and decides to put his trust in that premonition. As Bachira performs the corner kick, Isagi runs out of the crowd towards the area that he sensed earlier, which confuses Bachira. Isagi's ego kicks in having decided that he's going to trust his instincts.

During Bachira's corner kick, Isagi runs towards the spot he was sensing earlier having realized that they were mistaken about something. That it's not Okawa they should be watching out for, but a different Team Y player who's always been there causing trouble for Team Z. The Team Y goalkeeper manages to clear the corner kick away from the crowded goal before anyone else manages to touch the ball, which the loose ball heads away from the crowd as if it's setting up for another Okawa counterattack. However, Isagi thinks to himself that this is why he started running away from the crowd as there's another player that was already waiting outside the crowd who's behind Team Y's defensive schemes. Sure enough, Isagi manages to box out Niko from receiving the loose ball, which Isagi takes this as confirmation that Niko's the true core of Team Y, and not Okawa. Thinking over how Niko's been ruining their offensive plans along with being paired up with Okawa for counterattacks, Isagi remains convinced that Niko is Team Y's hidden shadow leader, and that stopping him will weaken their team.

With the loose ball saved, Isagi charges at Team Y's goal once more while their defensive line remains out of position due to the corner kick. Isagi sees an opening at the left side of the goal due to the goalkeeper being out of position, and goes for the kick. Niko manages to get there in time to make the block, which causes the ball to go off target to the point that the shot is going to barely miss to the left. However, Gagamaru manages to reach the ball in time, and kicks it back over into the goal; resulting in a 1-1 tie game. Gagamaru thanks Isagi for the pass despite the latter knowing that he was trying to make the kick himself. Gagamaru ends up crashing into the goal post as the rest of Team Z, even Raichi, celebrates at the former's goal, and as they help Gagamaru up, the latter claims that they just need one more goal to fully turn it around. As Team Y is left shocked by what they just witnessed, Niko calls out to Isagi having realized that the latter has now caught up to him. Niko states that they would have had Okawa counterattack for a second goal had Isagi not interfered, which Isagi replies that he's going to make sure that Niko won't run free again. In return, Niko admits that the two of them have the same eyes, but announces that as the one controlling the game, Isagi won't beat him.

The game resumes, and it's now the 10 minute rotational turn for Asahi Naruhaya (Rank 272). Team Z eventually gets the ball back, which they support Naruhaya, and his weapon to fly across the field and break past the defense. Isagi tries to take advantage of said weapon and attempts to pass to Naruhaya as he passes a defender, but said defender manages to perform a header to make it a loose ball. Isagi apologizes to Naruhaya for the mistake as many players of Team Z and Team Y all go after the ball. Before it reaches Niko, Isagi once more manages to block it from reaching him, which leaves Niko annoyed that Isagi is now marking him. Rather than charge forward however, Isagi passes it to his teammates in order for Naruhaya to keep pushing during his turn. The reason being that Isagi remains convinced that as the only one who knows how dangerous Niko is, he needs to keep marking him rather than push in order to win the game.

Isagi runs alongside Niko to keep the latter marked, which Niko asks if Isagi understood Ego's speech about their weapons. Isagi asks what about it, which Niko explains how it made him think about his own weapon. That while he doesn't have the speed or strength compared to other outstanding talents at Blue Lock, his weapon is his planning with his eyes and mind to manipulate what goes down on the field. He warns Isagi that the latter can't stop his planning, which leaves Isagi confused as to what he means by that. Eventually, it's Igarashi's 10 minute turn as the rotational lead striker. However, Team Y has the ball back, and like before, they're just passing it around and wasting Igarashi's time, much to his anger asking if they're really going for a draw. Isagi points out that they've sealed Team Y's counterattack strategy, which has left their opponents stuck as well. As a result, Team Z decides to pressure them more to try to get the ball back.

With only 1 minute remaining in the game, Niko states to Isagi that it's about time for Team Y to pull out their last resort. Isagi remains listening, which Niko explains that it's a defensive revenge tactic that they thought up in case the game was tied in the closing minute. Niko adds that the signal is the moment Okawa gets the ball at the 89 minute mark, which is the point where Okawa will no longer be Team Y's sole attacker. Like Niko said, Okawa is seen receiving a pass, and at that moment, every player of Team Y is seen pushing forward towards Team Z's goal. Niko starts running towards Team Z's goal as well, which he announces to Isagi that this is Team Y's last resort; a one shot kill counterattack where everyone on Team Y pushes offensively for one last surprise all-out attack.

The final minute of the game ticks away as Team Z's caught off guard due to all of Team Y going on the offensive to overwhelm with numbers for a last shot at the goal. As Isagi and Team Z try to rush back to defend, Team Y continues to pass to each other during their all out offensive; passing by the few Team Z defenders that stayed back. Eventually, it's just Niko with the ball vs. Team Z's goalie, Iemon, in front of the goal. Iemon stands ready to block trying to figure out where Niko's going to shoot. However, Niko decides to pass it off at the last second to Team Y's ace, Okawa, much to Iemon's shock. However, Isagi manages to intercept the pass in time, and steals the ball back for Team Z.

As the ball passes by the goal, Gagamaru had raced down the middle of the field, and tries to go for the header at the goal only to miss the ball. However, Bachira's pass had another target in mind as the open teammate in front of the left side of the goal is Isagi. Once the ball reaches Isagi, his ego kicks in calling himself a striker, and lands a direct kick to shoot the ball into the left side of the net. Team Y's goalie misses the block, which results Isagi scoring the goal for Team Z to go up 2-1. Time then expires, which results in Team Z celebrating Isagi's goal, and their victory over Team Y. Still hyped up, Isagi walks through the defeated players of Team Y, he passes by an irritated Okawa, and steps before Niko, who looks like he's about to cry in front of him. Looking at the defeated Niko, the hyped Isagi remains confused as to why he feels so good at the moment. Meanwhile, Ego can be seen in his viewing room giving off a huge grin; heavily implied to have watched Isagi's egoism win the game.

The 7th StoryArc of the ''Blue Lock'' manga series, which centers on the match between Team Z and Team Y. Team Z follows along with Kuon's offensive "I'll be the Next 9!" Tactic to have their strikers rotate as the lead forward while Team Y relies on playing defensively until there's an opening to counterattack. During the match, it was believed that Team Y's leader was its ace, Hibiki Okawa, but Isagi eventually realizes that the Team Y strategist, Ikki Niko, is the shadow leader that they actually have to watch out for.

The 7th StoryArc of the ''Blue Lock'' manga series, which centers on the match between Team Z and Team X. Team Z follows along with Kuon's offensive "I'll be the Next 9!" Tactic to have their strikers rotate as the lead forward while Team Y relies on playing defensively until there's an opening to counterattack. During the match, it was believed that Team Y's leader was its ace, Hibiki Okawa, but Isagi eventually realizes that the Team Y strategist, Ikki Niko, is the shadow leader that they actually have to watch out for.