Atlas didn't rush to take the ring as Olga expected. Instead, it floated quietly in mid-air while Atlas' figure disappeared. Just when Olga was confused, a slap suddenly landed on her head.
Snap!!
A crisp sound was followed by a dull crash.
"Ah—!!! It hurts so much!"
A huge human-shaped crater formed on the ground. Olga's legs were hanging in the air, twitching uncontrollably.
The tattered shoes on her feet were missing, and her mouth, buried in the crater, was cursing indistinctly.
"I am your savior after all, and you have this attitude?" Atlas crossed his arms, looking at Olga, who was slowly getting up from the ground, with a half-smiling expression.
"Hiss-!!! It hurts so much, you bastard, after all, I am also a terminally ill patient, can't you..."
Olga's complaints suddenly stopped when she met Atlas's dangerous eyes and saw a slap ready to go. She immediately zipped her mouth shut.
"A little girl should act like a little girl." Atlas glanced at Olga, who still seemed a little unconvinced.
The slap just now, though it looked scary, didn't hurt Olga. He's not a pervert who destroys people for having a bad attitude.
"Hey—!! I'm almost two hundred years old. I don't need you to teach me a lesson."
Olga grumbled dissatisfiedly and touched her body. Not injured?
However, before she could say anything, Atlas opened his hand and waved, and it seemed as if there was an invisible palm lifting her collar from behind.
"Take this girl to the infirmary and let the ship's doctor give her a shot of special medicine."
"Yes!!" Smoker responded loudly, took Olga from the air, and carried her with one hand. Although Olga'a actual age is approaching 200 years, her body still looks like that of a six-year-old girl. So it's effortless for Smoker to lift her.
"Hey! Let me go!!" Smoker didn't say anything and walked straight out of the restaurant.
"Hey! Are you deaf? At least... at least change the position for me!!"
When the two of them completely disappeared from the restaurant and their voices gradually faded away, Atlas turned his attention to the pure gold floating in the air.
"It shouldn't be a problem if you leave this thing to me, right?" Although his eyes did not fall on Acier, Atlas was clearly speaking to him.
"No problem. Without you, the two of us would have stayed in that football fish's belly for the rest of our lives."
Acier responded quickly, not daring to neglect. He recognized Atlas' military rank as a Marine Admiral, a position representing the highest combat power on the sea.
"In that case..." With a thought from Atlas, a large group of rocks flew in from outside the restaurant, wrapping the surface of the ring and forming a round sphere, covering the dazzling light.
The next moment, the rock ball flew out of the restaurant door again and embedded itself into the bottom of the sea, mixing with the big ball of pure gold from before.
"It's not time for this thing to come out yet." With a long sigh, Atlas finally turned his attention to Acier again.
"How about it? Are you interested in participating in a big battle with me?" Atlas said with a challenging tone, just like a pirate captain. This Acier is definitely a talent.
Refining pure gold, although he didn't fully understand this area, Atlas figured that even Vegapunk might struggle with such a feat. Was Acier an alchemist?
"Let's do something big... Maybe I would have agreed when I was younger, but now..." The figure of Olga appeared in Acier's mind, and a trace of tenderness crossed his face. "I just want to live peacefully with Olga. I feel sorry for her being alone for more than two hundred years."
Unlike Olga's immaturity, Acier, who was a middle-aged man before being swallowed, had a sharp intellect. Naturally, he had his own unique perspectives on life's problems and knew how to navigate his future.
Acier understood that after Olga was cured, he would have no desire to make pure gold again. It wasn't something he could keep for himself.
So Atlas wasn't worried at all about pure gold circulating on the sea, as long as it remained out of Acier's hands.
————
Time flew by.
The Ryusen's sailing speed was swift, and the warship docked at the port of the G-3 base without any issues. The Marines placed Acier and Olga on an island within the base's jurisdiction, ensuring their basic safety. With Acier's intelligence, Atlas believed they wouldn't starve.
At this time, in the office of the base's supreme commander, Atlas leaned back in his chair, half-asleep, his consciousness slowly sinking into his mind.
A scene that had not changed much greeted him. The lifelike Chinese dragon seemed a bit darker in color, and the only gray talismans were the Rat Talisman, the Monkey Talisman, and the Dog Talisman. Half of the Tiger talisman was conspicuously suspended in the middle, with the outlines of other spells vaguely visible around it.
It hadn't been long since he lit the Pig talisman, but he clearly felt that it wouldn't take long to light up the next one.
The horse talisman, which was the first lit and most frequently used, had completely merged with him, becoming his ability rather than a foreign object. Rarely used abilities, such as the Pig Talisman and Snake Talismans, had not been fully digested yet.
He eagerly anticipated the day when all the talismans would be lit and fully integrated. What a sight it would be.
Even though the next few talismans might not significantly increase his combat power, their abilities were invaluable. The Dog talisman ensured longevity and immortality.
The Monkey talisman changed all things, leaning towards assistance rather than direct combat.
The Rat talisman turned stillness into movement, granting characters their own will.
Despite these variations, his intuition told him that lighting up all the talismans would bring about significant changes, for better or worse.
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