After taking the elevator to the first floor, Luffy met with Sunny in the lobby. He leads Luffy to the underground garage where he'd park Nami's vehicle. Once they were in the car Sunny turned and grins at Luffy.
"So? Was it positive?" He asked, easier for Luffy's response.
Luffy remembered what Nami told him earlier. How he shouldn't tell anyone about their baby. It wouldn't hurt to tell Sunny right? After all, he had to have known if he asked. Should he tell Sunny or keep Nami's word?
"If what was positive?" Luffy asks clueless.
Sunny's face went pale as if he'd seen a ghost. He covered his mouth and turned back around gripping on the steering wheel.
"W-where would you like to go?" Sunny asks, trying to change the subject.
The two men buckled up after Luffy told Sunny his destination. Leaving the dim-lit garage, another car in dark tints followed behind them slowly.
"So you and Ms. Karlsson huh?" Sunny asks, looking at him through the mirror.
Luffy stared out the window, he was hungry and it was still early in the morning. He couldn't believe he was on his way to quitting his job. A job his grandfather got him after he left college.
"Luffy?" Sunny calls his name trying to get his attention.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"I was talking to you early, but your stomach answered instead? Are you hungry? We can stop somewhere for a quick bite. My treat." Sunny suggested.
"I never turn down free food. I know a coffee shop close by the station. My buddy Zoro and I always go there before work."
"Well I'll have to try it one day, but we can't sit out in public right now. Your face is sort of everywhere right now."
"Right." He sighs. "I guess we'll be doing drive-through today."
Sunny chuckles in agreement and drives along the somewhat busy streets. Ah, you gotta love New York. A city that never sleeps. Soon they found a fast-food chain restaurant and ordered breakfast for the two and ate it inside the parking lot.
"So, what were you saying earlier?" Luffy asks Sunny.
"Oh, I was asking about you and Ms. Karlsson's relationship. Are you two a couple?"
Luffy sips his orange juice to wash down his breakfast sandwich. "We didn't really talk about what we are. We're kind of just...living in the moment. I'd say we're friends as of now."
"Are you hoping to be more than just friends? You have a chance with her, I see the way she looks at you." Sunny raises a brow and a grin forms on his lips.
"Geez Sunny, what are you? My wingman?" Luffy asks, blushing out of embarrassment.
Sunny chuckles at his comment. "Let's get back on the road." Sunny suggests.
The car that was following them made sure to keep a distance so they wouldn't be suspicious. It looks like Sunny and Luffy hadn't taken notice of them being followed. By the time they had already finished their breakfast and got back onto the road, it was well around eight o'clock in the morning.
After driving around the city for a few more minutes they finally arrived at the Fire Station where Luffy worked. Luffy got out of the car telling Sunny to stay put so he could handle business on his own. Wearing the clothes he had on from last night, Luffy opens the doors to the station to say good morning to a few of his co-workers and searches for his chief. With no luck, he goes upstairs to the lounge and heads to his locker for his phone and any other items he pockets like his wallet and apart keys.
To Luffy's surprise, his coworkers from downstairs were in the lounge with him pretending to keep busy, but really just watching him. Down the hall, the bathroom door closes, and footsteps can be heard approaching the main lounge area. The footsteps were heavy and the employees all knew who those heavy footsteps belonged to. Including Luffy.
"Good morning chief!" Some of the workers say.
Luffy rubs the back of his head, "Hey chief...good morning."
Smoker looked out of the corner of his eye. He saw the younger man, who was a little shorter than him. Holding his belongings and looking nervously. He knew this look all too well. "I heard from some of your coworkers that you might not come back to work. Is it true?"
"Y-yeah...I made up my mind yesterday."
Smoker sighs and places his hands on his hips, "well, I did my part. I helped your grandfather out this much."
"Thanks for giving me this job chief."
"Yeah, yeah it was a favor for your grandfather. I want a letter of resignation on my desk by next week."
"You got it, captain." Luffy saluted him with a grin on his face.
"Good." Smoker leaves the lounge to huff two cigars.
Luffy turns to his former coworkers, "been gossiping about me huh?" He asks, not surprised.
"There's news about you almost on every celebrity gossip column. You're famous!" A female coworker exclaims.
"How'd you even meet Nami Karlsson?! Do you think you can get me seats to her fashion show this weekend? Or at least a discount on her new upcoming collection?" Another female worker asked.
"Forget discounts and fashion shows, I want your autograph!" A male employee gave Luffy a blank piece of paper.
"Woah, guys I can't-"
The lounge door opens and a familiar redhead man with freckles walks in with black hands from dealing with the engine. The corner of his mouth upturns at the sight of his partner.
"When did you get back?" Kidd asks.
"This morning, I came to get a few things because I'm resigning."
"I figured. Hell, I'd make the same decision as you if I were in your shoes."
Kidd looks at the three other firefighters in the lounge, "Hey, you sky lockers don't you have somewhere or something to do? Scram!"
The three younger firefighters either slid down the pole to the ground level or left the lounge to head for the gym.
"I'll miss bullying those three," Kidd remarks.
"Where are you going?" Luffy asks while powering on his phone.
"I'm moving to Arizona." Kidd goes over to the sink to wash his hands.
"All the way on the west side huh? What's out there in Arizona for you?"
"I'll know when I get there, right now I'm trying to leave the city. I'm sick of it."
"I hear you." Luffy chuckles lightly.
Kidd takes water out of the refrigerator and comes over to pat Luffy on the shoulder. He gives Luffy a faint smile. Something he doesn't do often, especially to Luffy.
"Take it easy...partner," he says lastly before heading to the gym.
Luffy smiles to himself after seeing Kidd disappear down the hall for the gym. After the years they've worked together Kidd still hated to call him a friend.
Luffy took one last around the lounge he always hung around after a workout in the gym or helping Kidd with the engine repairs.
"Well…" Luffy leaves the lounge and takes the stairs to the ground level to go back and meet Sunny.
"Alright, I'm heading out," Luffy says before pushing the door open.
Putting his wallet and house keys inside the pockets of his phone. He gets inside the car.
"So how'd it go?" Sunny asks.
"Not as bad as I thought."
"Our last stop is to your house before heading to the venue right?"
"Yeah...how's Nami gonna meet us at the venue?"
"She's probably going to drive or her sister is coming for her."
"Her sister has purple hair right?"
"Yeah, she's Nojiko."
Luffy takes a mental note of the name of Nami's sister. He knew it'd be important to know her name, she's her sister after all, and technically his family. He wondered if Nami had told her yet. She wouldn't keep something like that from her own sister, would she?
000
Nami rode in the passenger seat of her sister's purple custom Range Rover. Nojiko had her car in the shop getting it customized for about a week. Of course, it had to be purple, it's her favorite color. To Nami's surprise, her two-year-old niece was in the backseat strapped to her car seat. Belle.
"Belle sweetie, you're gonna be with mommy and aunty at work today, are you excited?" Nojiko looks in her mirror at the little toddler who was asleep.
Nami looks back to see the black-haired, blue-eyed baby asleep. She had Ace's freckles, hair color, and shade of skin tone while taking Nojiko's eyes, lips, and nose. She smiles and wonders what gender her baby would be and whose genes the baby would take more of.
She knew she told Luffy not to tell any of his friends… they're practically strangers and she doesn't know. Nojiko is her sister, she has the right to know.
"She was just singing her alphabet earlier." Nami giggled.
"She's gotten so smart, I think she has my brains." Nojiko jokes.
"...remember how you told me to go take a test for STDs? After you knew I slept with that guy?"
"Luffy...right?"
"Yeah...how'd you know his name?" Nami looks at Nojiko in confusion.
"Ace showed me some old photos yesterday, Luffy is his fraternity brother. They went to the same college before Luffy disappeared after a year. Did any of your tests come back positive?"
"Yeah it came back positive, Luffy and Ace know each other?!" Nami was shocked.
"He gave you an STD?! I'm gonna kill him!" Nojiko grits her teeth in anger.
"No! Not for STDs, I'm pregnant…" Nami says the last part softly, placing a hand over her stomach.
"Good because I was gonna-" Nojiko stops at the red light. She looks over to her sister who avoided eye contact. "You...you're pregnant?"
"Yeah...I...we found out yesterday."
"I was meaning to ask about him after seeing him in all these articles with you, but nonetheless, congratulations little sis. I know you're going to be an excellent mom. I see how you are with Belle." Nojiko gave her a soft smile.
Nami knew Nojiko wasn't entirely happy with her being pregnant, especially because she wasn't married. Their mother had always raised them to settle down and get married before having children because they wouldn't want to be just a baby's mother to some man. Her being pregnant due to a one-night stand puts the icing on the cake.
"Thanks…" Nami says softly with a half-smile on her face.
"So what are you two? Are you a couple now or is he just...around."
"I...I don't know...friends?"
"Yeah...I let my friends put a baby inside me all the time." Nojiko remarks sarcastically.
Nami rolls her eyes, "You don't even know him, he's a good guy once you get to know him."
"Oh, I know he's a good guy, judging from back at the club he seemed pretty alright."
"You're confusing me, are you accepting the fact that I'm pregnant from a one-night stand, or are you judging me and Luffy by making sly remarks."
"A mixture of both," Nojiko says without hesitating.
The two sit in silence as they drive to the venue where they were going over fittings and practice for the show on Friday. Nami didn't know where she and Luffy stand if she was being honest, they like each other, he was her type, tall, handsome, charismatic, caring, protective and the list goes on. Everything just happened so fast, first, her mother passed, she went to a club, he took a beating for her, they had sex and now she's pregnant and he's about to change his life and start modeling.
They were five minutes away from the venue, Nami takes her phone out to call Luffy, he should have his phone by now, right? She calls the number he gave her weeks ago.
First ring. No answer.
Second ring. No answer.
Finally, after the fourth ring, he answered.
"Hey, it's Nami. Are you guys at the venue?"
"Yeah, we're waiting in the parking lot."
"Okay, we'll be there in five."
"See you then."
"Bye." She hangs up.
Nojiko side-eyes Nami putting the phone away. "What was that about?"
"Luffy and Sunny are already at the venue," Nami answers her and takes a small mirror to reapply her red lipstick.
"Why is Luffy tagging along? I get it that he's your baby daddy, but does he have to follow you everywhere?"
"He's replacing Ace in the show this week."
"...does he have any experience?"
"No, but we were practicing all last night."
"Shit...Nami you're really full of surprises."
"Mama, bad word." The small voice came from the backseat of the car.
Nami looks behind her to see her niece had woken up from her little nap. Nojiko looks into the mirror at her toddler.
"Sorry Belle, it slipped off mommy's tongue."
Finally, arriving at the venue, Nojiko found Nami's car in the parking lot and parked next to it. "Can you take Belle inside? I need to fix my makeup really quick."
"Yeah."
Nami gets out of the passenger seat and unbuckles her niece out of her car seat. Balancing the toddler on her hip and carrying her purse on her shoulder she walks over to her car.
Luffy comes out of the car first, "who's kid is this? She's adorable." Luffy starts making silly faces at Belle, making the little toddler giggle.
"This is my niece, Nojiko, and Ace's daughter, Belle. Do you know someone named D. Ace?" Nami asks him.
"A-ace? He's my fraternity brother...this is his kid?"
"Yeah…"
"Dada?" Belle asks, hearing the name of her father.
"Dada, not here Belle, Dada home, he's sick." Nami talks slowly so the toddler can understand.
The toddler starts to cry at the mention of her father being at home. I guess you could say she's definitely a daddy's girl.
"No, no, don't cry, you've got aunty and mommy here." Nami tries to calm her down. "Luffy, you can go ahead and head on in. I'm waiting for Nojiko to finish her makeup."
"Y-yeah…" Luffy says softly, lost for words. He walks for the building's entrance with Nami watching him from behind.
"Ah, Ms. Karlsson, the test I got for you yesterday...I'm sorry I mentioned it in front of Luffy. He has no idea that I bought a pregnancy test for you, but if he asks you about it, I'd like to apologize in advance." Sunny steps in front of Nami, blocking her view of Luffy.
Nami sighs while rocking the small toddler, "It's fine Sunny." Nami was surprised Luffy kept his word about telling no one about the news yet, but because Sunny is her chauffeur and driver. He has the right to know. "I bet you're curious about the results. I'm pregnant."
"C-congratulations Ms. Karlsson." He beams.
"Luffy already knows about my pregnancy, I asked him to keep it a secret for now. Can you do the same?"
"Of course !"
Sunny smiles at Nami reassuring her his word, a car door can be heard closing, and Nojiko comes to join them. The small toddler who was crying briefly reaches out for her mother.
"Ready to go?" Nami asks, handing Belle over to Nojiko.
"Yup."
The two sisters wave Sunny goodbye as he drives off and heads for the entrance of the venue.
000
The car that followed Sunny and Luffy stopped tailing them after arriving at Luffy's home. They were two sleazy cops working under Nezumi who were collecting information for Arlong.
Arlong, who was currently on the top floor of his headquarters, was waiting behind his desk on the call from Nezumi. He and Nezumi had been crooked partners for years, it was the way he'd be able to take out Belle-mère. The landline phone on his desk rang, he answered after the third call, not wanting to seem desperate.
"Speak to me." He answers.
"I found out where he lives just like you asked. He also stopped at the fire station, so I assume he's a firefighter."
"I don't care that he's a firefighter, give me his address. I think he'd love the new interior of his place." Arlong's evil smile takes over his face.
