The 13th Story Arc of the Blue Lock manga series, which centers on the surviving strikers of the First Selection being put through 9 days of intense physical training before being sent off to take on the Second Selection. The 125 surviving strikers are then brought to the entrance for the Second Selection where Ego reveals to them how all five stratums were set up as Teams V-Z in order to make everyone think they were the weakest, which gave them a hunger to get stronger.
It makes up chapter 39 of the series.
Chapter 38: Hungry
Before the start of the Second Selection, Ego pops up on the television of Team Z's room. He announces that the survivors of Blue Lock's fifth stratum will be put through several days of physical training claiming that it's to help them catch up to the upper four stratums. Raichi complains, but Ego reminds them that they're the worst of bunch, which Team Z accepts their fate of going through some intense training. For the next 9 days, Team Z is put through such intense physical training that they're unable to eat, or on the verge of throwing up. By the 10th day, the physical training is over. The exhausted Team Z and the other surviving teams are then given the announcement to head off to the Second Selection.Team Z follows a path through Blue Lock down to its basement area where the Second Selection will be taking place, which they're all hyped up to take on whatever higher strata team's in their way. They enter the first room for the Second Selection where the 125 surviving strikers have all gathered. However, as Isagi sees other players from Team W, X and Y who are supposed to be defeated, everyone starts to catch on that something's off. Ego then pops up on the television in the room, and reveals that there isn't actually five stratums or rankings higher than V. That everyone was set up to believe that they're in the lowest fifth stratum as the weakest V-Z teams.
As the strikers start to complain about Ego treating them as guinea pigs, Ego explains that the purpose was to make everyone hungry to get better; making them believe that they're weak and in such a desperate situation that they feel the need to get better. Ego also points out how this is similar to how the best pro striker, Noal Noah, started out where he lived in a terrible neighborhood, and that with nothing but a soccer ball, he could only build up in football to achieve a better life. Ego adding that there's many other pros who have a hunger to score, and that Blue Lock was created to make the best striker who has such a hunger for goals as it will be the ego that changes the world. With his speech over, Ego announces that the Second Selection will now begin.
