Nami

Lore & Background

Nami was based on two of Eiichiro Oda's earlier characters named Silk and Ann, from his one-shot manga Romance Dawn. In those stories, Silk and Ann were parentless and had tragic pasts. Oda designed Nami as a human girl. Initially, Oda wanted Nami to use a large axe, but he replaced it with a pole-based weapon. In an early concept of the Straw Hats, Nami was the only woman on the crew. Nami is fashionable and her style changes throughout One Piece. She was first introduced wearing a white-and-blue striped shirt, an orange mini-skirt and orange boots. Throughout the series, she is commonly seen wearing a shirt or bikini top, a skirt and high-heeled sandals. She often wears blue tattoos; the first is a symbol of Arlong's crew which is later removed and replaced with a symbol of a tangerine and pinwheel on her left bicep. Eventually, she starts wearing earrings and has her hair, once just barely shoulder-length, grown down to the middle of her back, while usually wearing bikini tops with blue jeans. Concerning her ethnic appearance, Oda revealed that he imagines Nami to be of Swedish nationality, albeit in a real-world context. In the Japanese version of the One Piece anime series, Nami has been voiced by Akemi Okamura. In 2001, Okamura temporarily left the series due to her pregnancy; Wakana Yamazaki acted as a substitute for episodes 70–78. In the OVA Defeat the Pirate Ganzack!, Nami was voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi. In 4Kids Entertainment’s dub of the anime, Nami is voiced by Kerry Williams. In Funimation Entertainment's dub of the anime, Nami is voiced by Luci Christian. Nami is portrayed by Emily Rudd in the live action adaptation of One Piece, while Lily Fisher portrays her at age ten and Sophie Ellenbogen portrays her as a toddler.

In Their Own Story

Nami first appears in the manga chapter "Nami" (ナミ登場, Nami Tōjō), first published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on September 15, 1997. She first appears as a thief who robs treasure from pirates, and partners with Luffy and Zoro after joining forces to obtain a map of the Grand Line from the clown-like pirate Buggy. As the crew defends the seafaring restaurant Baratie from Don Krieg's pirates, Nami learns of a bounty on the fish-man pirate Arlong and departs with the crew's ship and accumulated treasure, intending to buy back her home village Cocoyashi from Arlong's control. The crew learns of Nami's past from her adoptive sister Nojiko: Nami and Nojiko were orphaned infants rescued from a war-torn kingdom and adopted by the Marine Bellemere, who raised them as her own. As a child, Nami developed a love for cartography and navigation, dreaming of creating a map of the entire world. One day, Arlong and his crew invaded Cocoyashi village and demanded a monetary tribute from the villagers. Bellemere used her entire remaining fortune to spare Nami and Nojiko, and was killed by Arlong to set an example for the villagers. Arlong then kidnapped Nami upon discovering her talent for cartography and forced her to chart maps for him, while promising that the village would be freed for a price (100,000,000 berries). Nami was driven for the following eight years to rob from pirates in order to buy back her village. When Nami's loot is confiscated by a corrupt Marine, she learns that Arlong has been bribing the Navy into ignoring his crimes, and she begs Luffy for help in her despair. Luffy and the others successfully defeat Arlong, freeing the village as a result. Nami rejoins the crew as they sail off to the Grand Line to pursue their dreams. At Whiskey Peak, the crew is entrusted to escort the princess Nefertari Vivi to her kingdom Alabasta. While fending off pursuers of Vivi on Little Garden, Nami is bitten by a poisonous tick and falls ill. She is treated and cured on Drum Island, where the medic Tony Tony Chopper joins the crew. In an effort to better protect Vivi, Nami requests a weapon – the Clima-Tact – from the crew's sniper Usopp, which she uses (with some initial difficulty) to defeat Miss Doublefinger in Alabasta. When the crew rescues their archaeologist Nico Robin at Enies Lobby, Nami receives a bounty along with the rest of the crew. In Thriller Bark, Nami is kidnapped by the zombie Absalom, who tries to force her to marry him. The crew's cook Sanji tries to rescue her, but Absalom incapacitates him and attempts to complete the wedding. Nami is saved by the zombie Lola, who later gives Nami her mother's Vivre Card. While attempting to reach Fish-Man Island, the crew meets the mermaid Camie and rescues her friend, who turns out to be Hatchan, a former member of Arlong's crew. While Nami does not yet completely forgive Hatchan for his previous association, she appreciates his takoyaki. After being separated from the crew by Bartholomew Kuma, Nami ends up on the floating island Weatheria, where she masters the meteorological arts. Two years later, Nami reunites with Luffy and the others and they head to Fish-Man Island. Reuniting with Camie, the crew is invited to King Neptune's palace. There, they encounter a new crew of fish-man pirates led by Hody Jones, who has inherited Arlong's will. Nami and Camie escape to the Sea Forest, where they meet Jimbei, a fish-man pirate who formerly served as a World Government Warlord and released Arlong into the East Blue. Nami comforts Jimbei after he tells the history of discrimination rooted into Fish-Man Island and expresses his guilt over Arlong. At Jimbei's request, Nami steals a letter in Hody's possession, and engages with the New Fish-Man Pirates. When the crew travels to Punk Hazard, Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and the crew's shipwright Franky are abducted by Caesar Clown, and they decide to rescue the children being used in Caesar's experiments. Upon escaping the laboratory, they encounter the World Government Warlord Trafalgar Law, whose ability swaps Nami's mind into Franky's body. When Luffy and Law form an alliance, Law unintentionally swaps Nami's mind into Sanji's body (as Nami's body is not present) when attempting to return the crew members to normal. While rescuing the children from Caesar, Nami regroups with the crew and is returned to her own body. She later prevents Caesar's escape with Usopp's help, and she entrusts the children with the Marine Tashigi. In Dressrosa, Nami stays on the Thousand Sunny with Chopper and the crew's musician.

Reader's Guide

Nami is the Straw Hat Pirates' navigator, who dreams of drawing a map of the entire world. She can tell climate changes and draw sea charts. She is also proficient as a pickpocket. During the early part of the series, Nami possesses a three-sectioned bo staff until Usopp creates a variation of her staff, known as the Clima-Tact (天候棒（クリマ・タクト）, Kuraima Takuto; renamed "Climate Baton" in Viz Media's manga translation and "Weather Forcer" in 4Kids' anime dub), which can control the weather at will. Later, Usopp upgrades her weapon to the Perfect Clima-Tact (完全版 "天候棒"（パーフェクト･クリマ･タクト）, Pāfekuto Kurima Takuto; renamed "Perfected Climate Baton" in the Viz Media manga translation and "Complete Clima-Tact" in Funimation's anime dub), using Dials to increase her attacks. Eventually, Nami adds the Sorcery Clima-Tact (Sorcery Climate Baton in the Viz manga and Funimation subs) with Weatheria's technology, which not only has improved abilities, but can also be used for other uses such as producing Milky Clouds for riding across. As with her original staff, these three weapons are also tri-sectional. Later, Usopp gives Nami an improved Sorcery Clima-Tact model she wanted him to make (which he had Franky help him a little bit). Using the knowledge he acquired over the time-skip with the plant-based Pop Greens, Usopp combined this with the Weatheria technology Nami provided him and designed the new Sorcery Clima-Tact to be smaller and more compact than the previous models. Instead, it uses the Pop Greens' growth abilities for the staff to extend and contract, through the use of squeezing or releasing the handle. This improvement also allows Nami to now be able to directly attack with her staff from a distance. Nami later teamed up with Big Mom's thundercloud-based accomplice Zeus, eventually forcing him to become her servant, and he is currently part of her arsenal, now living inside her Clima-Tact. Though Zeus' body was later destroyed by his former master, his soul was able to survive and has now completely merged with the Clima-Tact, improving its capabilities and giving it shape-changing abilities, such as transforming it into a mace.

Did You Know?

• Nami first appeared in the 8th chapter of One Piece, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump on September 15, 1997.
• She is based on two characters named Silk and Ann from Eiichiro Oda's earlier manga Romance Dawn.
• Oda originally wanted Nami to use a large axe, but replaced it with a pole-based weapon.
• In the Japanese anime, Nami was voiced by Akemi Okamura, with Wakana Yamazaki substituting for episodes 70–78 during Okamura's pregnancy.
• Nami's tattoo of a tangerine and pinwheel on her left bicep replaced the earlier symbol of Arlong's crew.