The red flood dragon actually escaped!
Kuina was stunned. She stared blankly toward where the dragon had disappeared, her face full of shock.
The Dream Team standing at the cave entrance below hadn’t reacted either. They all stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what had just happened.
"How could it escape!"
Up in the air, Kuina shouted angrily, her voice echoing all around.
Her face was full of frustration and regret. She thought it would be easy to defeat the dragon, but didn’t expect it to be so sneaky—it ran away.
Even using Observation Haki, she couldn’t sense where it had gone.
Kuina sighed helplessly, clearly unwilling to let it go.
With a gloomy face, she flew back down. But as soon as she landed, everyone around her burst out laughing.
"Don’t be mad, Kuina. That big guy has probably lived a long time. It clearly knows how to survive. If it can’t win, of course it’ll run," Ryuen laughed as he tried to comfort her.
"How do you know it’s that old?" Nami asked curiously.
"Because of that mountain of treasure. Dragons usually love shiny stuff like gems and gold. You don’t pile up a mountain of treasure overnight," Ryuen explained softly.
There was a look in his eyes that showed he really understood the dragon, like he could read its mind.
Robin nodded with a smile to show she agreed. She added, "Ryuen’s right. I read about dragons when I was little. Most dragons do have the habit of hoarding treasure."
"But..." Anya hesitated.
"What is it, Anya? Did you think of something?" Nojiko asked, seeing the confused look on her face.
Anya’s eyes lit up. Drool hung from the corner of her mouth as she said excitedly, "That was dragon meat! Don’t you guys... want to try it?"
Her face looked like she was dreaming of the ultimate gourmet dish. It made everyone laugh.
"Wait, what..." Nojiko stared in surprise.
Then the others also had a look of sudden realization. Yeah, that was dragon meat! A legendary delicacy—who wouldn’t be tempted by that?
Kuina looked even more frustrated now. She regretted not thinking of that earlier.
At the same time, Ryuen was lost in thought.
He remembered something his mom used to say when he was a kid.
"Mom~ what’s for dinner tonight?" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt
"What’s for dinner? Dragon meat!"
That warm memory hit him hard. Back then, he heard about eating dragon meat all the time, like a joke. Now the chance was real—and he let it slip by.
"I wonder if that dragon will come back here... After all, it’s lived in this cave long enough to pile up that much treasure. I don’t think it’ll just give it up so easily..." Daisy said, looking a little regretful.
Everyone nodded in agreement, secretly hoping the dragon would return.
"Well, we’ve been busy all day. Shouldn’t we head back to camp now? Anya, I’m really starving..." Ryuen said, rubbing his belly. Just thinking of the dragon meat made his stomach growl.
Ryuen’s stomach growled loudly, and it seemed to be contagious. The others’ stomachs started rumbling too.
"Um, Anya, let’s hurry back to camp. I’m gonna eat *so* much meat tonight," Leah said with an awkward laugh as she grabbed Anya’s hand and rushed toward the camp.
"Let’s follow them..." Ryuen said with a chuckle.
"Let’s go~" Nami said softly. She was also really hungry.
The group walked back to their camp in the valley, laughing and talking the whole way.
They chatted about today’s adventure, shared how they felt, and talked about what they got out of it. Even though they were tired, they felt happy and proud.
When they finally got back to camp, Anya and Leah had already lit a campfire.
"Nami, quick, quick, bring out the meat from today..." Leah couldn’t wait anymore. Once she saw everyone had returned, she urged Nami to open the storage space.
"On it, on it..." Nami quickly opened the alternate space.
Then everyone got to work. They split into two groups—one started setting up tents, while the other helped Anya prep the ingredients.
The tent was already set up, and Anya had cooked up a table full of delicious food. By the campfire, two large beef legs were still roasting.
The whole campsite was filled with the rich smell of meat.
Luckily, they were deep in the forest.
There weren’t any big wild animals around, or they’d definitely be hearing constant roars by now.
"Anya, can we eat now?" Daisy asked, staring at the tasty-looking beef legs by the fire, swallowing hard.
The others weren’t doing much better.
Everyone except Anya had their eyes locked on the food she’d made, especially the two roasted beef legs.
Wearing her chef outfit, Anya walked to the fire, pulled out a small knife, and made a few cuts on the beef leg.
Then she gave it a quick taste.
"It’s ready! You can eat now. Oh, and don’t forget to try it with my special sauce—it tastes even better with that~~~" Anya said as she brought over a big bowl of her homemade sauce.
"This is awesome! We can finally eat. Ryuen, hurry, slice up the meat!" Leah urged him.
Ryuen grabbed a knife and held onto one of the beef legs. With quick movements, he cut the huge leg into chunks of meat and bone in no time.
"Okay, I’m digging in!" Daisy shouted as she grabbed a piece of meat and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Ugh, I let my guard down—Daisy snatched the best piece..."
"Let’s eat, let’s eat..."
"Anya, hurry, I want that stir-fried kidney dish too..."
The others quickly joined in.
They all sat around the fire, enjoying the happiness that came with a good meal.
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