He could’ve turned the balls into styrofoam from the beginning, but waited until he has resolved his resolution. That’s a stupid move but damn is he badass
As I noted previously, he could have turned links of the chain to styrofoam. He then could have snapped the balls free without changing them. This episode has been a stupid masochistic fantasy.
At one point, he certainly seemed as if that were what he were attempting. But, for other parts of the story we see that change must be on contact (which he made) and instantaneous. So, even with the second ball flying at him, he should already have dealt with the first chain (which would snap under the subsequent stress, even if he didn't yank it).
So either he didn't try to change the chain, or the author changed the rules (and then quickly changed them back). One way of another, this chapter was a badly constructed masochistic fantasy.
With the chain that was his target flying as it was, he wouldn't have been pausing during his declaration; and so he would have touched in his declared attempt it even if there had been another ball flying at him as he did so. (And he had ample opportunity before that declared attempt.)
I suppose that one could assert that, as in other manga elsewhere, dialogue somehow suspended the laws of motion; but all such cases are poorly constructed.
@Oeconomist what? the second ball hit his head, made him freezes and stopped his swing without him ever touching the chain.
there ain't no momentum to speak of when his hand is still behind him when the ball hit him, still in preparation of swinging it down.
It's not as if the chain were a stationary or slow-moving target. Now maybe the mangaka imagined the character as cocking his arm to strike as the chain was there, hurtling past, but the character's behavior would then be absurd. There's just no way to make this work.