Time passed quickly—almost an hour had gone by.
The sun was setting, and the already thin forest grew even darker as no more sunlight could break through. The whole valley was now dim and shadowy.
"This is weird... Why does it feel like they're getting farther and farther away?" Ryuen muttered to himself as he sat beside a crackling fire.
He had cleared out a space in the valley to pitch their tents. A small river ran just below the camp, and the water looked clean—but Ryuen didn't drink any.
He couldn't risk it without Daisy, their poison expert, around.
Ryuen slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then began to fully release his Observation Haki.
After a few seconds, he was finally able to sense where the others were. All of them were gathered in one place.
"These guys... Did they really find treasure?" Ryuen's eyes snapped open in surprise.
His curiosity and excitement now fully stirred, he quickly put out the campfire and sprinted toward the direction of the others at full speed.
...
Before long, Ryuen reached the foot of a massive mountain. His view opened up, revealing a giant cave several hundred meters wide!
Using his Haki, Ryuen could clearly sense that all of the Dream Team members were inside this cave!
He didn't hesitate any longer and rushed inside.
Flames flared up around him, lighting the entire cave as bright as day. He followed the tracks his teammates had left, moving quickly.
But the further he went, the more surprised he became.
"This cave... something's not right," Ryuen muttered, his face growing serious as he looked at the markings on the ground.
The floor looked like it had been shaped by something slithering—like a snake path.
He looked around again. He was about halfway into the cave now—still a long way to go before reaching the others.
But the cave hadn't narrowed at all. It was still hundreds of meters wide!
"If this thing is still alive... it must be huge," Ryuen whispered, eyes filled with disbelief.
With that thought, he pushed forward, running even deeper into the cave.
Meanwhile, inside the deepest part of the cave, the mood was electric.
Just as Ryuen had guessed, the rest of the Dream Team was there—and they had really found a mountain of treasure!
"Whoa..." everyone gasped in unison, completely stunned by the sight.
Nojiko's eyes went wide as she stared at the pile of treasure stacked like a small mountain. She was so shocked she couldn't even close her mouth. "I can't believe there's this much treasure in here!"
Nami's eyes sparkled with a greedy light. She mumbled to herself, "It's all mine... all my treasure..."
Her pupils had already turned into berry signs, completely lost in the dream of riches.
"Everyone, calm down. There are still signs of a wild beast around here," Robin said seriously as she looked around. They had seen clear tracks of a giant snake on their way in.
Robin's words brought everyone back to their senses, even Nami.
That's right—they had already figured out that a giant snake had been active here.
How could they tell? Well, Nami, Nojiko, and the others had once killed over a dozen large snakes on Snake Island in the Calm Belt.
They were very familiar with these kinds of snake trails.
And Daisy guessed that if this snake was still alive, it would be way bigger than any of the ones they had fought back on Snake Island.
Little Reina looked clearly scared.
Even though she had been with the Dream Crew for a while, she was still afraid of huge beasts—especially the kind of giant snakes everyone was talking about.
On this unknown and dangerous island, no matter how strong they were, they still had to stay alert. Especially with a giant beast possibly nearby, they couldn't afford to let their guard down.
"There's someone at the cave entrance. I think it's Ryuen," Kuina suddenly said.
"Knew he'd find us. Since he came in, it means the snake hasn't come back yet. Let's hurry and grab the treasure!" Nami said right away.
She was clearly in a great mood—happier than she had been even on the Sky Island.
Back on the Sky Island, all the gold they found in the golden city was valuable, but it was all just gold. It felt kind of boring to her.
But here, the treasure included all kinds of rare gems! And come on—what girl doesn't like shiny, sparkling jewels?
As she spoke, Nami opened a portal to her storage space.
In an instant, a mountain of treasure poured into Nami's pocket dimension, and the others rushed to help, moving the rest of the treasure over as fast as they could.
Just then, Ryuen arrived.
When he saw the huge pile of treasure, he couldn't help but suck in a breath. "Whoa…"
Then, with a shocked look and disbelief all over his face, he looked at everyone and shouted, "Hey, hey, hey! What's going on here? Why is there so much treasure?"
Based on what he saw earlier, this place was supposed to be a giant snake's nest. He could even smell that nasty snake-like stink in the air.
But now there was a mountain of treasure here!
But nobody had time to answer him—they were all too busy hauling treasure.
"You're finally here, Ryuen? Don't just stand there—come help! There's way too much treasure here!" Nami called out, clearly excited.
"Alright~"
Right after that, Ryuen joined the treasure-moving crew.
But the next second, he froze—and so did Kuina. Sensing something strange, the others immediately used Observation Haki.
"How can it be… up in the sky?" Kuina said, shocked.
They had all guessed this place was home to a huge snake, but now Kuina could sense it—this snake was actually flying above them!
Everyone else looked just as stunned.
"A flying snake? But how is that even possible?" Daisy looked confused and couldn't make sense of what was happening.
"Maybe... this really is a kind of snake that can fly," Ryuen said in a serious tone.
"You guys keep going—I'm going out to take a look!" Kuina said, clearly excited. The moment she finished, her body vanished like a flash of lightning.
"I'm going too! Keep moving the treasure!"
Ryuen had a feeling—this might not be a snake at all. It might be... a dragon. Only a dragon could fly like that. Just thinking about it made him eager to go see.
"Let's hurry up and finish moving this stuff so we can go see what it really is!" Nami said quickly. She was super curious too, but she hadn't finished collecting the treasure yet!
So, the ones who stayed behind kept working hard.
Outside the cave—
Ryuen and Kuina stared up at the sky, shocked.
"It's actually a dragon!"
---
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