118. Proofing Ties

Palu & his parents hug each other for some minutes. It's their first meeting after 26 years, so they need time to release their emotions. Soconut returns to the palace while The Clowns are waiting under a nearby tree.

"How could you guys suddenly appear here?" asks Ruff with an angry tone.

"We saw the three of you walking together with that Soconut guy in the town. We got curious and follow you from behind," says Mantis.

"Tch, you should've just called us, no need to surprise me like that. Captain, you've known this, don't you?" asks Ruff, still with a pissed tone.

Buggy just grins & nods, making Ruff gets even more pissed. He can't scream because Palu is having an emotional moment with his parents. So he can only bite his collar and scream internally.

"*Sniff* We never thought that you'd found Palu's homeland and even found his parents," says Jude while still sniffing.

"How did you find out about his parents though?" asks Manba.

Buggy then tells them the story of how they found out about this. The three are very unimpressed by how Buggy handled things in the palace. But they also know that it was the most effective way.

After finishing the hug, Palu calls them and introduces them to his parents. But he introduces himself first because his name is different from the one that his biological parents gave him.

"So your name is Palu now, that's a good name," says Bani.

"What's the name that you gave him as a baby?" asks Buggy.

"We named him Raphael. A name that we took after a legendary Angel," says Diane while still holding Palu's face dearly.

"Woah, that's a very good name. You should use it, Palu. Maybe you can combine both of your names," says Manba.

"Alright, that's a good idea. But before that, I want us to do something. Can we check if we're really biological family?" asks Palu seriously.

Bani & Diane are surprised and Diane says with a shaky voice, "A-Are you doubting that we are your parents?"

"It's not about doubting or not, but I want real proof. I know I have the same characteristics as your son and I'm 99% sure that you are my parents. But I want to make it 100% with this last test," says Palu.

"Alright, I think you're right about this. What is the test?" asks Bani.

"DNA test, huh?" says Manba.

"Exactly," replies Palu.

"Hmm? What is that?" asks Bani confusedly.

Manba then explains about the DNA test to Bani & Diane. The medical study in Birka is not that advanced compared to Blue Seas. Even in Blue Seas, Manba's homeland is more advanced than other places.

The DNA test is known in the Torino Kingdom and they study it. As the best doctor in there, of course, Manba can do a DNA test. Palu knows this, so he offers this method to find out if they're his real biological parents.

"Alright, I agree with you," says Bani.

"Darling?!" says Diane with a disagreeing tone.

"We need to do it, honey. We need to find the truth before we go too far. It's better to accept the bitter truth in the beginning rather than in the end. Besides, you are sure that he is our son, right?" asks Bani.

"Of course," replies Diane seriously.

"Then you don't need to be afraid. Believe in your intuition," says Bani.

Diane thinks about it and finally agrees to do the DNA test. Manba then asks for their hair samples to be used for the test. After that, Manba returns to the ship where his tools are stored.

"Ruff, go with Manba and tells Cricket to come here. You are in charge of guarding the ship now. I will call Deon to help you," says Buggy.

"Alright, I've gotten tired too, so I want to rest on the ship," says Ruff.

Ruff & Manba return to the ship and Buggy calls Deon through Denden Mushi. After telling Deon to guard the ship with Ruff, Buggy goes to the field beside the house. Jude & Mantis follow him to let Palu talks with Bani & Diane.

"Poor plants, they all look sick," says Jude while looking at a dead plant.

"The cloud isn't a good medium for growing plants. It has a low success rate for agriculture like this. Soil is still the best medium, but there's no such thing in Sky Island," says Buggy.

"No wonder you were adamant on taking soil with us. It will be very important for this island," says Mantis.

"That's right, the soil is more valuable than gold here," says Buggy.

The three Clowns walk around the field and house. This place looks very worn out, so they know that Bani & Diane are poor. They don't even have money to patch their broken walls.

Just looking at the field's condition, they can easily assume that Bani & Diane have had harvest failures before. Without good harvests, they couldn't get enough money and buy good seeds & fertilizer for their field.

Diane suddenly calls them and tells them to join the dinner. It's almost night, after all, so Diane will prepare the dinner. They agree and the girls immediately offer to help Diane prepare the food.

The girls leave with Diane to the market to buy food ingredients. They will need a lot of food with more people here. Cricket will also come, so they'll need a lot more because the boys are big eaters.

While the girls go shopping, Buggy & Palu talk with Bani. Palu asks about their house's bad condition and just like what Buggy thought, they are having difficult times with their harvests.

But the most surprising thing is, the harvest result isn't the biggest factor that makes them poor. It's because they spent a lot of money to find information about their son. Even after 26 years, they keep searching for their only son.

"Where did you buy the information?" asks Palu curiously.

"We asked some Blue Sea People for free, but they don't know anything. Then we started to pay Sky Pirates to find information about our son. But we never get any information from them. They don't even report anything to us if we didn't ask them," says Bani.

"Oi, you guys have been duped, you know that?" asks Buggy while raising an eyebrow.

"We know that, but we don't have another choice. The government & officials have given up on this case because there's no way to find a baby on the Blue Sea from here. Our only choice is to pay the pirates. We wanted to go to Blue Sea ourselves, but we couldn't," says Bani.

"Why? Is it that difficult?" asks Palu.

"It's not difficult, it's impossible. Diane has weak lungs. She can't even go to the lower White Sea, not to mention the Blue Sea. Her lungs can't take the change of pressure in the lower altitude. I couldn't leave her alone without anyone protecting her,"

"For me, it's whether losing one of you or losing both of you. I'm sorry because I choose to lose you," says Bani while looking at Palu with a pained expression.

Palu closes his eyes and sighs after hearing Bani's explanation.

"Sigh, I can understand your position, although it still disappoints me. You choose to save her because I have gone and you couldn't do anything about it, right?" asks Palu.

"Yeah. But that made me feel very guilty. In my heart, I still wanted to search for you. That's why I suggested paying the pirates to help us. Diane agreed and we used most of our money on it. But we never get any news from them, even until this day," says Bani.

"Who are they?" asks Buggy curiously.

"Half-Wings," says Bani.

"Them again. Even if God said that they're protecting the island, they are still pirates," says Buggy.

"Captain," calls Palu.

"I know, you can do what you want. I will take care of the aftermath," says Buggy while grinning.

"Thanks," replies Palu.

Just what will Palu do?

______________________________________________________________

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