murdered Hamid; the Red Marlin take him with them as Khalid allows them to escape. The rogue Navy elements are taken into custody by the authorities. Khalid is later accepted as the Red Marlin's new leader. He plans to surrender the pirate group to authorities and will soon testify during the court martial of Major Velasquez, the rogue Navy group's commander. Subplot on Polgas' origin A relevant subplot in Pirata relates the origin of Polgas' human-like behavior, especially his ability to speak. It is revealed that his mother was a pure-bred Golden Retriever named Cecilia owned by a rich customs inspector named Lupito C. Nakpil, otherwise known as "King Louie". This man was so well-off that Cecilia had a diamond-studded collar and three golden earrings. Cecilia had a mongrel for a mate and when she gave birth to six puppies(four males and two females) all of whom resembled their sire, Nakpil was furious. Polgas' father soon disappeared and that evening, Nakpil's men served asocena as pulutan. Polgas and his siblings were separated from their mother and Nakpil left home for his resthouse in Tagaytay, taking Cecilia with him. Her forced removal from the presence of her offspring caused one of her golden earrings to fall off, of which Polgas retrieved. Dagul and Polgas meet The puppies soon went their separate ways and Polgas grew so desperate that he decided to commit suicide. Lying down in the middle of a road, he waited for a vehicle to run him over. One of the vehicles stopped and the driver, Dagul, took Polgas home with him. He was cleaned up and fed, but would not eat. After a week of no food intake, Dagul took him to a veterinarian, who injected Polgas with a sedative and put him under intravenous therapy. The vet also discovered the golden earring in Polgas' mouth. Dagul had Polgas' left earlobe pierced and had him wear the earring. Polgas grew to trust his master, Dagul, who named him "Polgas"; from Dagul's grandfather's name "Apolonio" and "pulgas", the Spanish-derived Filipino word for "flea". Origin of Polgas' speech abilities Dagul worked as a chef and was fond of cooking exotic dishes. One of Polgas' favorites was a bibingka topped with chicken skin cracklings, feta cheese, century egg and balut chicks. This concoction had a teratogenic effect upon him, triggered by the radiation coming off his master's television set. The physical