"You can keep focusing your research on this, but there's no need to study Replicants anymore!" Ryan said calmly.
Studying Replicants required countless test subjects, including civilians seized for experiments. That ran completely counter to the Freedom Alliance's ideals, so Ryan had to warn Judge before leaving.
"Understood!" Judge agreed at once. After their clash, he realized how laughable his so-called Replicant army was. It was useless against the truly powerful, and there was no reason to keep researching it.
Even tens of thousands of Replicants would be no match for one top-tier Modified Human.
"That ability of yours to give metal life—to grant objects Devil Fruit Abilities—should also be a focus of your future research," Ryan added.
He had a reason for saying it. To face Imu on the Empty Throne someday, he needed to prepare in advance. Besides improving his own strength, upgrading their weapons was another option.
Whether it was Ryan or anyone else in the Blood Sword Pirates, better weapons would undoubtedly make them stronger in battle.
Ryan had already decided what Devil Fruit Ability he wanted for Mubanniu. First, though, he needed to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit. Otherwise, getting the exact Fruit he wanted would be far too difficult.
Few people could accomplish that. Vegapunk certainly could, but as a figure hidden away by the World Government, there was no news of him at all. Ryan could hardly pin his hopes on him. Judge, who also researched the Lineage Factor, was an excellent alternative.
"Isn't that what old Vegapunk was researching?" Judge asked, puzzled. Metal could not actually eat a Fruit. Instead, the process used the properties of a Devil Fruit Ability to bypass eating it and transfer the ability directly to metal.
Back when they had worked together, that had been Vegapunk's research focus.