The poor guy guarding James, Number 9, who just a minute ago was dismissing him as ‘just this guy,’ was basically front-row center for the impossible catch show. He was glued to the spot, body stiff as a board, eyes locked on James’s hand like it was some alien appendage that had just sprouted out of his arm.

  His jaw was working overtime, lips moving silently, forming words that were lost in the sudden, stunned silence of the court. Finally, in a whisper so quiet you could barely hear it, he managed to squeak out the question that was probably bouncing around in every Motijheel pyer's brain: "What… what in the actual heck was that?"

  All that initial trash talk, the arrogant swagger, the mocking ughter – poof! Gone. Vanished into thin air. The vibe shift was insane, you could practically feel it in the air.

  The atmosphere, which had been thick with Motijheel’s smug vibes, suddenly crackled with uncertainty, with this dawning sense of… uh oh, we messed up. They were so cocky, so dismissive, so convinced Banani was a joke. And then, this.

  This completely bonkers, unexpinable dispy of… something. It was like watching a glitch in the Matrix, but in real life.

  Over on the Banani bench, the stunned silence sted for like, two seconds.

  Then, BAM! Explosion of hyped-up energy. Chandan’s jaw dropped, mirroring the Motijheel crew's sck-jawed shock. "Did you… did you guys just SEE that?!" he stammered, turning to Nabil and Idris, eyes practically popping out of his head. "His… his hand! It just… grew! Like, straight out of a cartoon or something!" Dude was losing his mind in the best way possible.

  Nabil, Mr. "James-is-just-okay" himself, was speechless for a hot minute. Then, slowly, deliberately, he nodded, eyes still glued to James like he was watching a miracle unfold. "Yeah," he breathed, voice hushed with legit awe. "Yeah, I saw it. I… I can't even process it, but yeah, I definitely saw it." Dude was officially a believer. The skepticism? Gone. Repced by pure, unadulterated shock.

  Idris, our resident ray of sunshine and eternal optimist, who was always trying to find the silver lining even when we were down by twenty, straight-up erupted. A whoop of pure, uncontainable joy. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW there was something special about him! Who does he think he is? Luffy?! Manager Tahera, WHAT WAS THAT?!" He spun around to Tahera, face beaming like he'd just won the lottery, voice practically vibrating with excitement. Dude was in full-on fanboy mode.

  Tahera, who had been holding her breath so hard she probably turned blue, heart pounding like a drum solo in her chest, finally let out a slow, shaky exhale.

  A breath of relief, and… yeah, exhiration. She'd seen James practice his fast catching ball moves, had witnessed the crazy catches in drills, but seeing it happen for real, in a game, against actual opponents, under pressure? Totally different level. It was… breathtaking.

  Seriously, like time stopped. It was… game-freaking-changing. This was the moment everything flipped.