Among the people watching the match, except for Biscuit, who remained calm, the others were all stunned.
When Law stood up and returned to the court, Netero tossed him a new ball and kindly reminded him: "You'd better not use the same method to serve again."
Law held the ball and thought about Netero's words in silence.
'Under such extremely terrifying force just now, the ball did not explode. This shows that Netero had a way to ensure the ball could withstand immense force without being destroyed.'
'Was it Shu, which matched the output rate of his power?'
'If that were the case, then the clever tricks I had used in the previous three balls would likely fail. If Netero caught this ball and served with that kind of power again, I would almost certainly lose.'
'I can't let Netero catch the ball, otherwise I won't have a chance to score.'
Without any concrete evidence, Law came to this conclusion and fully trusted his own judgment.
He believed that if he wanted to score, he absolutely couldn't let Netero touch the ball. With this in mind, he began thinking about how to score.
Seeing that Law wasn't serving but instead deep in thought, Netero generously gave Law the space to think and didn't rush him to serve. Moreover, he was quite curious about how Law planned to overcome this challenge.
'With Netero's reflexes and speed, no matter how tricky the angle, if the ball's speed can't surpass his reaction time, there's no chance."
"And my serving speed clearly can't exceed Netero's reaction speed."
'So, how can I win?'
'Unless…'
Law suddenly had a flash of inspiration and inexplicably thought of the battle between Zeno and Chrollo in the Yorknew City's auction house.
He remembered that Zeno's Dragon Head could be freely controlled after being released.
'If I could apply this characteristic to the volleyball, perhaps I could steal a point from Netero...'
'A combination of Emission and Manipulation-Type Abilities!'
'Maybe it will work!'
With his thoughts clear, Law held the ball with both hands and prepared to serve.
Netero remained calm, waiting for Law's serve.
'The operation doesn't need to be too complicated. I just need to suddenly change the ball's trajectory.' Thinking like this, Law gathered his Aura and launched the ball, sending it straight at Netero.
'Choosing to go straight in this situation? Admirable courage.'
Seeing the ball flying straight at him, Netero muttered in his heart, then got into position, ready to catch this seemingly-harmless serve.
The ball flew quickly and arrived in front of Netero in an instant.
'Turn!'
Law's eyes narrowed as he manipulated the volleyball, causing it to abruptly change direction in an 'L' shape just before Netero could catch it.
"Huh?"
Netero glanced out of the corner of his eye and looked at the ball curving to the left in surprise.
In that moment, Netero instinctively wanted to use 100-Type Guanyin to remedy the situation. He had just started the hand gesture but quickly stopped himself.
At the critical moment, he suppressed the thought and gave up the ball.
He thought to himself that even if he lost this point, it would only tie the score. And since the next serve would be his, he was confident he could make it impossible for Law to catch the ball.
The ball flew to the left wall, bounced off, and fell to the ground, bouncing several times before finally coming to a stop.
"Success!"
Law pumped his fist vigorously and said excitedly: "Now it's five to five!"
With Netero having gone easy on him for four points, Law had pulled the score to match point, giving himself a chance to win.
"It's too early for you to be happy. You should think about how to receive my next serve."
Seeing Law so excited, Netero decided to dampen his spirits a little. He had already picked up a new ball, ready to end this stakes-filled match.
On the side, Biscuit's gaze shifted between the two, thinking to herself: 'Even though Chairman went easy on him, for Law to hold out until this point is truly impressive.'
Seeing Netero preparing to serve, Law suppressed his excitement. He knew very well that only by catching Netero's serve could he get closer to victory.
"I must catch it!"
At this moment, Law's desire to win reached its peak.
Netero served the ball with the same power as the previous one. The ball flew toward Law like a meteor, heading straight at him again.
Law simply raised his hands and caught the ball, but the force still pushed him back, causing him to slide backward uncontrollably.
'This time… I won't let go!'
Despite knowing the potential consequences of forcibly catching such a terrifying serve, Law, who was determined to win this game, couldn't care less.
'No matter what, I had to catch this ball!'
With this conviction, Law refused to let go, even as the ball pushed him all the way to the edge of the wall.
'He's willing to catch it even if it means getting his hands injured?" Netero watched this scene, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
Crack, crack…
His fingers snapped one after another, and intense pain shot through his hands. However, Law just frowned and had no other reaction.
Soon, eight of his ten fingers were broken, but the good news was that the ball's power was beginning to weaken.
Sstttzzz…!
As time passed, the injuries to Law's hands worsened, but the ball's momentum also gradually diminished until it finally came to a rest in his hands.
'Caught it!'
Law's gaze fell on the ball, ignoring the gruesome state of his hands. A satisfied smile spread across his face, and he slowly walked back into the court.
Seeing that Law was willing to endure such severe injuries to his hands just to catch the ball, Machi and the others, who are watching from the sidelines, were visibly shaken. They couldn't understand why a casual after-dinner activity had escalated to this level.
Of course, only the two people involved know the reason.
"With your hands in such a state, how do you plan to catch the next ball?" Netero asked, and suddenly thought of a serious problem.
'With Law's hand injured like this, wouldn't that mean he couldn't keep playing until dawn?'
Compared to the impending outcome of the match, Netero paid more attention to this issue.
It was unclear whether his competitive spirit had temporarily taken a backseat or if he simply believed the outcome of the match was already decided.
Most likely, it was the latter.
"As long as you can't catch this ball, I'll win, and naturally, I don't have to catch the next ball." Law said calmly.
"Oh? You seem very confident." Netero raised an eyebrow.
A ball that could change direction was like a cheat in this game. However, Netero can use his 100-Type Guanyin, which has no blind spots, to hit the ball back.
If Law tried to repeat the same trick as the previous ball, then Netero will definitely fight back with 100-Type Guanyin this time and win the game.
Law, as if already seeing his victory, flashed a wide grin and asked: "Chairman, have you ever lost before?"
"I have." Netero replied indifferently.
In life, matters of winning and losing are countless, so it wasn't strange to have experienced loss.
"Then please... lose once more." Law said seriously.
Netero's eyes narrowed slightly as he silently waited for Law's serve.
After Law finished speaking, he served the ball.
For the final ball at match point, he didn't use his Aura to enhance the ball's speed or power. Instead, he simply used his injured hands to gently toss the ball toward Netero.
Seeing this weak and powerless toss, Netero's eyes showed a hint of confusion. But in the next second, his expression darkened.
After tossing the ball, Law condensed a needle-like Nen Bullet and shot it at an incredibly fast speed, catching up to the ball that had already traveled forty meters and piercing it.
As a result, just as Netero realized what was happening, the ball, still about ten meters away from him, suddenly exploded in mid-air.
"You little brat, you actually cheated!" Netero glared. At that moment, he felt a pang of frustration.
Not only was this method of cheating unexpected, but Law had even used In to conceal the Nen Needle, masking its presence. Netero's attention had been entirely on the ball, which was why he hadn't noticed the needle catching up.
It was not until the needle was about to hit the ball that he realized the problem, however, it was already too late.
"Sixth point!"
Law ignored Netero's accusation and simply announced the result with a smile.
Seeing this, Netero patted his head in frustration, 'I had truly played myself!'
"You are the one who set the scoring conditions. All we need to do is prevent the opponent from receiving the ball, right? You're not going to deny it, are you?" Law said seriously.
"You win." Netero admitted with a bitter smile.
From the perspective of the game's rules, Law's actions weren't cheating but rather clever tactics. At least according to the rules, Law had indeed won, and Netero had no grounds to argue.
'Speaking of which... why is this kid so similar to Ging?'
For a moment, Netero seemed to see the shadow of Ging in Law.
On the side, Biscuit covered her face. Although she hadn't known the exact scoring rules earlier, after watching so many serves, she had a rough idea.
'And then, Law's final serve… it was something else. If Chairman hadn't been so overconfident and hadn't gone easy on him, he wouldn't have lost this game.'
'You really played yourself, didn't you...'
Even if there are thousands of words to say, they are not as good as these short words gathered in Biscuit's heart at this moment.