Chapter 413: Air Force and Research Results...

At noon that same day.

Accompanied by some of his people, El arrived at a special sea region within Totto Land Kingdom—an area forbidding any unauthorized entry. Inside it stood a massive artificial island.

"Rumble… Rumble…"

Up in the sky came the roaring thunder of engines.

One after another, those steel "monsters" soared in the high air—swift and agile.

Climbing, diving, ascending, spiraling…

Performing all kinds of high-difficulty flight maneuvers with fluid ease,

A truly awe-inspiring sight.

"So these are airplanes?"

"They're definitely fast, but good grief, so noisy…"

"The noise is pretty intense, but out on the battlefield, their effect should be excellent!"

"I just wonder how costly they are."

Watching those fighter planes streaking across the sky, the new NEO Navy's senior officers—formerly high-ranking cadres of the Fallen Angel Pirates—murmured their surprise.

"Thanks to the powers of the Swallow-Swallow Fruit, the cost isn't as high as you'd think…"

Overseeing the Research Division, Ryan gave a mischievous grin. "Far cheaper than building a warship!"

Originally, manufacturing such advanced aircraft would indeed be expensive, but by making use of his Swallow-Swallow Fruit—which can easily fuse together numerous precision parts and materials—production costs were dramatically cut.

Shortly afterward—

After letting the NEO Navy officers finish inspecting the new fighter jets, El led Thor, Sif, Dal, Willie, and a few other older members of the Fallen Angel Pirates along with Ryan down into a vast underground facility.

"We're good on output for these planes, correct?" El asked in passing.

Ryan smiled. "Don't worry—so far, we've mass-produced five hundred aircraft of various models, enough to lay the groundwork for the Air Force."

"While that's not a huge figure, since these are our first officially deployed generation, we don't need too many yet!" El nodded slightly.

"Uncle Ryan," Dal asked with interest, "any breakthroughs on the artificial Devil Fruit project?"

Ordinarily, such state secrets would be off-limits to most—even some high-level officials. But since El had personally brought them along, and because Dal and the other young "second-generation" members of the Kukulkan family were now being groomed to help oversee many aspects of Totto Land's affairs, they had clearance for this.

"Yes, significant ones."

Faced with the question posed by Lord Dal, Ryan did not hold back:

"We can already replicate normal Zoan and Ancient Zoan models basically one-to-one, though we're not sure if they can achieve 'awakening' yet."

"Meanwhile, Dr. Vegapunk has already begun using the Calamity of Thunder's lineage factor for research into artificial Mythical Zoan powers!"

"Huh?"

"A Mythical Zoan…artificially?"

"Wait—can they really pull that off?"

Thor, Sif, Willie, and the others were wide-eyed, evidently startled.

"Heh, that disciple Vegapunk…as jealous as I am of his talents, the man truly is a genius beyond imagination."

"He's actually succeeded," Ryan said with a rueful laugh, sounding both impressed and helpless. "But because the color of the resulting Mythical Zoan doesn't match his exact ideal, he claims it's a 'failed prototype' and wants to keep perfecting it. And we can't really stop him—he's just that kind of perfectionist!"

"So that guy is indeed a perfectionist," El commented lightly, "and besides, color variants help distinguish different models, right?"

"How about performance data—did you test it all out?"

"Yes, we tested on captured convicts. The ability matches that of a genuine Mythical Zoan in nearly every respect; we just don't know whether it can awaken yet," Layne replied plainly. "But research on reproducing Paramecia and Logia is stuck at a bottleneck—still needs more time."

"Not an urgent matter—we can go at it slowly," Dal remarked, smiling.

He already knew from his father that Totto Land was in no rush to topple the World Government outright—lest the seas plunge into total chaos. For now, they'd focus on growth, shedding their "pirate" label, and polishing Totto Land's image. Once the time was ripe, they'd not only overthrow the Government but launch multiple offensives from all directions to unify the seas.

"The only real issue is funding…"

Ryan turned puppy-eyed toward El, sighing.

"Now that the big spenders of the Rocks Pirates are gone, and we've taken over the ability-user forces they poured so much money into,

our artificial Devil Fruit business is basically finished, so we lost a big revenue stream."

He was referring, of course, to how El had assigned profits from manufacturing and selling SMILEs (artificial Devil Fruits) toward military R&D. Now that supply to the Rocks Pirates ceased entirely, there'd be a substantial drop in income—plus, after seeing El's sabotage of the SMILEs fed to many enemies, few future buyers would dare trust them.

"No worries about funds…" El chuckled.

"We secured the entire property of the Rocks Pirates, including what belonged to Silver Axe, Wang Zhi, and John. That alone will more than make up for the shortfall…"

"Then I can rest easy…"

Ryan looked relieved and excited.

As Minister of Research, though he mainly focused on the science side and left the busywork to others, any shortfall in funding would mean endless headaches—Vegapunk and Tsukimi would drive him crazy.

"And how much is a single artificial Mythical Zoan to produce? Could we mass-produce them?" El asked.

"Very expensive—" Ryan answered with no hesitation, "One single artificial Mythical Zoan would cost about the same as multiple battleships combined. I wouldn't suggest mass production. But if you only want to make a few, that's certainly doable."

"I've got a few Mythical Zoan fruits of my own on hand", El said, "so I'll leave them to you."

Because more and more children were joining the Kukulkan family, El's stockpile of top-tier Devil Fruits no longer sufficed. So except for the flashiest or most precious ones, artificially replicating Mythical Zoans was a great option.

He couldn't expect each child to achieve 'awakening.' Artificial Zoan forms—particularly Mythical Zoan ones—would be quite enough for many.

"Papa, might it be better for the younger siblings if we start by making an artificial 'Phoenix' fruit?"

Sif's eyes gleamed as she spoke up:

"How about letting them sample my lineage factor, to produce a copy of the Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Type: Phoenix, for them to try?"

She wasn't worried about being overtaken; power lay in the user, not just the fruit. And it wasn't as if the fruit was truly 'cloning her'—merely duplicating the ability. Besides, it remained to be seen if an artificial Phoenix Fruit could awaken.

And not everyone among the younger Kukulkan members would necessarily be able to master high-end Haki or advanced Devil Fruit usage. Many might only reach a level comparable to a Marine Admiral. An artificial Mythical Zoan was already a superb gift for them.

Sif had not yet awakened her own Phoenix powers anyway, so giving younger siblings an artificial copy didn't threaten her position.