Akira_Kun_2398

Diogo Jota was one of Portugal’s brightest football stars—until the world believed he died in a tragic accident.

But legends don’t fade. They are reborn.

Jota awakens in the body of a ten-year-old boy in a quiet rural village called Penedono. No lights. No stadium. No one knows who he truly is. As he struggles to adjust to a life of poverty, quiet streets, and schoolbooks, the instincts of the pitch still burn within him.

Alongside his loving mother and curious little sister Ana, Jota begins his journey again—from dirt fields and local tournaments to a dream that once shook the world. Quietly, patiently, he laces up a pair of old boots, ready to prove that greatness cannot be erased.

> He was once a legend. Now he’ll become one again.

Reincarnation of a Legend

The rain had been falling since dawn, a gentle but persistent rhythm that blanketed the city in soft grey. From the window of his dorm room at Benfica's youth academy, João Dias—Jota, to those who knew him—watched the droplets chase each other down the glass.

He liked the rain. Not because it meant fewer players on the pitch. Not because it brought silence. But because it reminded him of Penedono—of muddy boots, of his brother Miguel's laughter, of soaked shirts clinging to cold skin as they kicked a ball across the vineyard slope.

He had chosen this path. And today, like every day, he would walk it.

At 5:45 a.m., while the rest of the dormitory lay in darkness, Jota slipped out of bed. He moved quietly, tying his laces by feel, dressing in layers, then stepping into the corridor. His boots were already slung over his shoulder.

Chapter 14 – Rain, Rhythm, and Recognition