When all hope seemed to be lost, when the Esperion team reached near defeat, one man took the lead and proved to the world that Esperion wasn’t going to be defeated so easily. That man is none other than Kuribayashi, the man who broke through the renowned Iron Wall defense formation of Barcelona.
The clock is ticking, and Kuribayashi is also losing stamina as he counters the entire Barcelona defense by himself. With just 2 minutes left on the clock, will Kuribayashi be able to score a goal? Or will he reach his limit before that? Find out in Ao Ashi Chapter 358!
Ao Ashi Chapter 357 opens up with Kuribayashi taking the lead in a last-ditch effort to score a goal for Esperion FC.
The extraordinary speed and skills shown by Kuribayashi shocked everyone, as no one thought that Japan had such a strong player in their team. The Barcelona team also doesn’t sit idly by as Xhaka signals his teammates to follow him and sandwich Kuribayashi.
Recap
Xhaka fails to take the ball from Kuribayashi and so the Barcelona team decides to use force. Sadly for them, Kuribayashi effortlessly dribbles the ball between the Barca players and runs past them.
Xhaka gets rather amused by Kuribayashi’s playstyle, but the Barcelona fans get scared as Kuribayashi would score a goal if Barcelona fails to steal the ball from him.
Kuribayashi’s team also watches him with astonishment as they now know what he meant when he asked for 5 minutes to make Barcelona calm down. The rest of the Esperion team also starts cheering for Kuribayashi from the stands as they finally see some hope for their team.
The Barcelona defenders get annoyed by Kuribayashi’s unstoppable charge and so Sarel himself decides to step up. Xhaka notices that Sarel is on the move, so he also prepares to tackle Kuribayashi on his signal.
Xhaka and Sarel attack Kuribayashi at the same time and double-team on him. As the entire defensive formation of Barcelona starts to fall apart, the frustration of their players becomes crystal clear because of their actions.
Sarel dashes towards Kuribayashi, and instead of stealing the ball, he pushes Kuribayashi by his shoulder.
Sarel signals Xhaka to steal the ball from Kuribayashi while he has lost his balance, but Kuribayashi picks up on their strategy and acts accordingly. Using the momentum given by Sarel’s shoulder push, Kuribayashi spins around and runs past Xhaka.
Xhaka and Sarel failed to steal the ball, and they couldn’t do anything except watch Kuribayashi with astonishment. The fans, the Barcelona team, and even Kuribayashi’s team couldn’t help but admire Kuribayashi’s skills. Among all the admirers is our Protagonist, Ashito, who also expresses his excitement.
The focus shifts to Kenta watching the Esperion vs Barcelona match on his television. Kenta says that Kuribayashi is a natural when it comes to such skills, but this is something that always makes him envious. Kenta’s friends also watch the match and laugh because it’s rare to see Barcelona’s iron wall defense failing because of a single player.
Kenta says that Kuribayashi’s playstyle is meant to draw the opponent players towards him, which gives time to the other players of his team to occupy the free space and make maximum use of it. Kenta’s friends are surprised by how well Kenta knows Kuribayashi even though they aren’t even playing together at the moment.
Kenta remembers one of his past matches where he and Kuribayashi pushed toward the goal together, and Ashito passed the ball to him instead of Kuribayashi.
Kenta then passed the ball to Kuribayashi, who then broke through the other team’s defence. Kenta then advises Ashito to pass the ball to Kuribayashi every time he feels troubled.
The camera pans over Ashito, and Kenta points towards Ashito and says that he is the one who believes in Kuribayashi’s strength the most. The focus shifts back to the field and Kuribayashi and Kirki have now reached pretty close to the goal on their own. The entire Barcelona defence crumbles and this just makes them frustrated and angry.
The Barcelona manager also watches Kuribayashi in excitement and he also states that Kuribayashi is truly a world-class player. He further adds that if Kuribayashi was in the Barcelona team then he would’ve easily become a key player.
The Barcelona Manager considers Kuribayashi to be the only player in the Japanese team who can fit in the Barcelona team without any difficulty.
Kuribayashi has now reached in front of the goal with 2 minutes remaining, but he’s exhausted. Kuribayashi looks at the goal and reminds himself that he has spent 3 minutes already.
Release Date & Where to Read
Ao Ashi Chapter 358 will be released on Monday, January 29, 2023, at 12:00 AM JST.
- Japanese Standard Time: 12:00 AM on Monday, January 29, 2024
- Pacific Time: 07:00 AM on Sunday, January 28, 2024
- Australian Central Daylight Time: 01:30 AM on Monday, January 29, 2024
- Greenwich Mean Time: 03:00 PM on Sunday, January 28, 2024
- Philippines: 11:00 PM on Sunday, January 28, 2024
- Korean Standard Time: 12:00 AM on Monday, January 29, 2024
You can read Ao Ashi Chapter 358 online in Japanese raw format on Big Comic Bros. You can also buy this manga in hard copy from Bookwalker and Amazon.
