Once the mysterious man left Nami's office and went back down in the non-exclusive elevator. Nojiko and Chiffon move out of hiding from around the corner, they give each other a confused expression before walking to Nami's office knocking on her office door. "Enter." the voice on the other side commands. The two women from the other side of the door enter the office.

"Oh good, both of you are here. We've got a lot to do, so for the next few months, we really need to spend a lot of hours here. I'll explain. Have a seat." Nami gets up from her desk and walks over to her interactive whiteboard and powers it on. "Chiffon, you have the sketches I requested?"

Chiffon gets up from one of the two seats opposite Nami's desk and hands her the sketches. "Good. Thank you." Nami smiles. "How's Lola? Is she still on her honeymoon?"

"Yeah, they just landed in Hawaii last week." Chiffon informs.

"I'm so happy for her," Nami replies. As soon as the whiteboard powers on, Nami takes her nearby laptop and connects it to the whiteboard by BlueTooth. "Ladies, as you know. Arlong came by earlier and we had a little...chat."

"What does he want now?" Nojiko whines.

"Marriage," Nami says nonchalantly, busy setting up her laptop. The two women gasp in surprise.

"Don't worry. I'm not marrying that asshole. He'll just use me like before, I won't let it happen again."

"Good. I don't want him as an in-law." Nojiko folds her arms.

"Um, Chiffon I brought some food in from the Baratie, it's over there on the counter. Can you set it up, please? This meeting might run us until lunch."

"Sure."

0000

Luffy leaves the headquarters through the backdoor with hands in his pockets, waving the security guards goodbye and catching a cab downtown to a local sandwich shop. The goofy grin on Luffy's face just wouldn't go away. He couldn't believe he actually saw her again, plus gave her his number. Would she even call him?

Luffy sat in the booth waiting on a good friend of his, ordering ahead off of the menu. The bell above the door peals, and walks in man with a large afro and a slightly long nose with long eyelashes and dark skin. Luffy waves over the stranger, the brawny man makes his way over to Luffy, sliding in the seat opposite of him. "Usopp." Luffy stretches his name.

"What's up Luffy? You ordered already?" Usopp asks, putting his phone on silent.

"Man, you should've gone clubbing with us yesterday. It was intense, but good things came to us in the end, well me specifically."

"I was stuck at work, wait, what do you mean it was intense and good. Those two words should never be in a sentence together."

"I'm not a virgin anymore." Luffy beams.

"You're not a WHAT?!" Usopp emphasized the last word. Luffy puts a finger to his lip. Usopp looks around apologizing to the other customers in the eatery.

"Well, how was it?!"

"We both were drunk, but on my end it was good. I slept well that night."

"What about her? Did you satisfy her? If you did, that means she'd want to go at it again."

"Well-"

The waitress came over and gave Luffy his drinks and sandwich. "Hi, what can I get for you? Are you two on separate bills?"

"Oh, yes, can I have a number three with a lemonade?"

"Sure you can, how'd you like your lemonade?" She asks scribbling on her little notepad.

"Um...with lemons?" Usopp sarcastically asks. The waitress starts cracking up with laughter. Even Luffy started laughing at the obvious stale joke.

"I'll bring out your order soon." The waitress walks off laughing. Usopp stares at Luffy who wiped a tear from his eye. "Um...you were saying?"

"Oh, right…she said it was good. I had to track her down to give her back her golden watch."

"Golden watch?! Who'd you sleep with?"

"The CEO of Grace By Belle."

"Nami Karlsson?!" Usopp's jaw drops.

"Is that her last name?" Luffy thinks aloud.

"The Swedish model with shoulder-length red hair?!" Luffy looks at him confused.

"Is she Swedish?" Luffy asks himself.

"No, no, no you HAVE to be lying, there's no way...right?"

"Long story short, I met her at PunkHazard and she drove Zoro and I home after we got into a fight. These guys were messing with her so I stepped in. She thanked me, patched up my wounds then we had sex."

"Sound fabricated."

"I'm not lying, I even gave her my number."

Usopp looks at Luffy and starts laughing hysterically, Luffy got annoyed his friend wouldn't believe him. "And why do you find it so hard to believe?"

"There's literally no articles out with who she left the club with. If there was an article out you and Zoro would've been harassed with paparazzi right now. She's a public figure, she barely has privacy and if she has your number, she probably has dozens of other fans that sent her their number through mail or something."

"I see why you wouldn't believe me, you're making a lot of sense."

"Yeah, besides, she was just seen on a brunch date with her ex Arlong earlier today."

"H-how do you know so much about her?"

"The women at my work follow a lot of celebrity news and I heard about it before I came here."

The waitress who served them earlier comes back with Usopp's sandwich and lemonade. Handing Usopp his food and giving Luffy his bill. "Enjoy your meal handsome." the waitress winks at Usopp before leaving the two men.

"Um...right." Usopp raises a brow at Luffy, "Are you heading to Sanji's bachelor party this week? He and Pudding are finally tying a knot."

"Yeah and you're saving up to propose to Kaya, right? It's like all of you are moving on with your lives except me...and maybe Zoro. Who knows if he and Tashigi will ever stop making up then breaking up."

"Maybe, you can meet a girl at the bachelor party."

"You mean a stripper?" Luffy pauses. "They're hot but they're not Nami." Luffy puts his chin in the palm of his hand with a goofy grin on his face. "I think I'm in love, I can't get her out of my head, ever since yesterday."

"Hey now, don't jump the gun. I wouldn't call it love, even if I were to believe your story about her taking your virginity. Trust me, it'll wear off, my first time was with some random girl in college. I couldn't stop thinking about her after that night. She obviously didn't feel the same, she was a senior, I was a sophomore and had a boyfriend the entire time, I was depressed for a few weeks because to her, it didn't mean anything and I quote in her words 'it was a mistake." Usopp uses his fingers to air quotes.

Luffy groans, "Stop it, your pessimistic nature is rubbing off on me."

"I'm not a pessimist."

"I gotta head home, I have an early day tomorrow and my phone is dead." Luffy gets up to leave, "See you later this week?"

"Yep," Usopp says, before watching Luffy leave the eatery. "Maybe I was too harsh on him." He thought to himself.

0000

"You want us to pull off three shows in the span of three months?" Nojiko asks in disbelief.

"Yes, there's no going back. I already gave my word. I have the names in mind and the coordination for each collection. Water Seven, Dressrosa, and Wano. I'm going to meet with my design team, later on, to start laying out ideas for the looks in these collections. Chiffon, are you taking notes?" Nami looks at Chiffon.

Chiffon nods her head eagerly and Nami goes back to pointing at her smartboard. "Nojiko, I'm going to give you the responsibility of finding a venue for us to walk our models, get in contact with event planners to decorate the space according to the collection theme, and meet with television stations to see if they can take two hours to broadcast each show. It doesn't matter which station we land, I just want one or two that will broadcast my shows."

"Sounds like a big responsibility. I'll do it." Nojiko gives her sister the thumbs up.

"International stations too. I want this to be a message to everyone that this year, Grace By Belle is reclaiming its crown."

"I definitely smell a raise in all of our salaries." Nojiko jokes.

"Chiffon, see if you can get my dear friend Hiyori on my schedule for a lunch date. I want her to be co-designer for my Wano collection."

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh yes, I love Hiyori. Her recent designs are to die for."

"That's why I need her help." Nami smiles confidently. "Now, until we meet again, you ladies get busy while I start dabbling in my sketchbook. Meeting concluded." Nami closes her laptop and powers off the board.

"I'm starving. What'd you bring from Baratie?" Nojiko goes over to the trays Chiffon had set up earlier."

"You have three options, Chiffon you can take whatever two options Nojiko leaves. I'll just eat the remaining dish."

The two older women grabbed their desired dish to head out of Nami's top floor office, Chiffon leads first leaving the office, but Nojiko stays behind. She glances at her sister who tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"So are you really not gonna tell me anything?" Nojiko cocks a brow at her.

"What do you mean? I told you everything in the meeting." Nami tells her without looking up from her drawing.

Nojiko glances down at her pasta in a container, resting on the marble tray she held. "Did you really tell me everything?"

Nami looks at her pencil tip, then at her sister, "Are you trying to imply I'm keeping a secret?"

"It's not really a secret when both Chiffon and I saw that man leave your office. I must say...he looks oddly familiar, no, I should say identical," Nojiko smirks, "to one of the guys from last night." Nojiko rests her tray on the desk and sits on the desk, legs crossed. "I must say, you have a good eye. He's very handsome, better looking than Arlong, that's for sure. What did you two do?"

"I only dropped him off at his place. Nothing else." Nami takes a sharpener out of her desk to sharpen her pencil.

"Then why'd you call me in the morning? I used to be like you, you can't fool me Nami, I know you better than anyone. By the way, did you guys use protection? Handsome men like him probably fool around often." Nojiko asks, looking at her nails while waiting for an answer.

"..."

"I'll take that as a no. You might need to get tested to make sure you haven't contracted anything. There's nothing I'd hate more than seeing my sister with a sexually transmitted disease all over the internet."

"I hear you loud and clear."

"Good. Oh and make sure you come around sometime, Belle misses you." Nojiko gives her a soft smile.

"I'll drop by when I can."

000

After Nojko left, Nami spent an hour in her office drafting designs in her sketchbook. For her Dressrosa collection, she was going for a cultural Spain look but in a modern sense. She figured to start sketches for Dressrosa first because it takes the longest to complete and design. The phone on her desk rings, Nami picks up, "Hello?"

"Ms. Karlsson. Nefertari Vivi is on the line. Should I put her through?"

"Yes, put her through," Nami instructs. The receptionist goes ahead and puts Vivi on the line with Vivi.

"Hey Nami, I heard you were at work today. Are you sure you still don't need time to mourn? It's pretty soon to be working again." Vivi asks her over the line.

"I'm okay, right now, there are some things that need to be done in a matter of time."

"Oh, what do you have planned for the company as the new CEO?"

"Firstly, I'm putting my modeling days behind me. I simply won't have time to juggle the business and fly out of the country for fittings and walking in shows anymore."

"That's a bummer, I was hoping to see you walk next month for fashion week in Milan, but I completely understand the stress you're under. When my father handed the business over to me, it was rough my first year." Vivi sighs.

"Yeah, sorry I can't make it. Maybe by the end of March, I'll have more free time. Right now, I'm designing a new collection and having a fashion show at the end of this month." Nami informs her college friend.

"That's so exciting! Grace By Belle hasn't had a new collection in ages. I can't wait to see what you come up with."

Nami smiles from ear to ear looking at her sketches. "Oh trust me, you'll want to be there."

000

With the sun already set, Luffy slouched over on his couch, flipping through the channels on the television with his phone all charged up beside him, waiting on a call from Nami. He regretted giving her his number and should've asked for hers instead. It's not like he's desperate or anything, but he'd hope to see her again or at least hear from her.

A knock at the door startled Luffy, he wasn't expecting anymore and he hoped it wasn't his landlord asking for rent money. He doesn't get paid until next week and has been living from paychecks back to back. He checks the time on his phone, it's five minutes after eight. He gets up from the couch and goes over to unlock his door.

"Yo." There stood Zoro stood on the other side of the door with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

"Again?" Luffy asks, already knowing what the duffle bag meant.

"Ya, you got any beer in your fridge?" Zoro lets himself in. Luffy closes the door behind him.

"No, I didn't get a chance to restock since you came over last time." Luffy heads back over to the couch and Zoro puts his bag down. "I don't mean to pry into your love life, but why don't you just marry her already? You two have been dating since high school. We're getting older and she might want to start a family or something."

"It's not like I don't have the ring. I'm just having second thoughts."

"Well, that's completely normal. Marriage is a big commitment." Luffy switches the channel again.

"Hey, did you get to return the watch?" Zoro asks, changing the subject. Sitting next to Luffy on the couch with his feet resting on the coffee table.

"Yeah, I gave her my number too."

Zoro looks over to Luffy with a confused look on his face, then a smirk. "Smooth. So what'd she said? Did she give you a call?"

"That's what I regretted. I should've taken her number instead of giving her mines." Luffy sighs.

"Chances of you going out with a celebrity is very slim, but never none. Here's some advice, give her a week. If she doesn't call then just forget it."

"...okay, a week it is."