Nami

A member of the infamous Straw Hat crew, Nami is a criminal wanted by the World Government with a hefty bounty on her head. As such, there are many who feel they know her, even those that have only met her in passing. It is not surprising to hear the navigator of the Straw Hats be painted as a money-hungry, conniving witch. Surprisingly, if the Straw Hats themselves were to hear that description, there wouldn’t be many who would disagree. No one who has known Nami for longer than a few minutes would underestimate just how important money is to her. Money can buy luxury, comfort, and, once upon a time, it held the promise of buying her freedom. She is not above extorting it from friends, often charging exorbitant interest rates for small loans or services rendered (even accidental ones).

Money-hungry and conniving are indeed appropriate, yet do a poor job of truly describing Nami’s at times contradictory personality. If asked to expand on that description, the Straw Hats may use words like self-sacrificing, loyal, and compassionate. Then again, perhaps not. Some of those words contain too many syllables for some of the Straw Hats.

Being forced to join Arlong’s pirate crew after watching the very captain of said crew murder her mother in cold blood at the tender age of ten inevitably shaped Nami’s personality. She possesses an incredible sense of self-preservation, one of the strongest among a crew that often leaps from one mind boggling, death defying stunt to the next. When the going gets tough, Nami gets going. This self-preservation often manifests itself as cowardice. Nami is more than happy to let the strongest of her crew take on their enemies while she turns her focus to robbing them blind in the heat of battle. She is the only one among her crew that seems distressed by the bounty on her head, as this will only earn her more enemies looking to collect money by turning her in to the World Government. Nami’s favorite enemy is one that is far away and has lost the will to fight.

Yet despite being a self-described scaredy-cat there is one thing that will always make Nami stand her ground and fight. For those she considers her friends, Nami is willing to forsake wealth and personal safety. Although she once betrayed the Strawhats, her present loyalty to her crew is ironclad. When offered safe passage and uncountable wealth by Enel, an enemy of the Straw Hats, in exchange for leaving her comrades behind, Nami refused without hesitation, claiming she had no use for treasure if she was alone and would rather have nothing at all. Neither did she hesitate to offer up every bit of wealth to their name when a friend was up for sale at a slave auction, only despairing when even that wasn’t enough to guarantee her freedom. When it comes down to the wire, Nami is fiercely loyal and protective of her friends, willing to lay down her life for those she loves (albeit not happily).

Another thing worth noting is that in a crew that ranges from genius level of intelligence to Luffy, Nami is one of the smartest members. She may not possess the extensive book knowledge of their very own archeologist, but with a passion for map making since childhood, an uncanny sixth sense when it comes to the weather, and a street (or sea) savviness honed over eight years of thieving, she is a force to be reckoned with. In complex situations, she has the ability to see the big picture and determine the motivation for people's actions. For example, when Law attacks Doflamingo while the Sunny if fleeing Dressrosa, Nami understand that it is an action taken to buy them time for the escape and refuses to turn back and undermine his efforts despite the desperate situation back on the island.

Nami is not above lying, cheating, or manipulating someone to get her way. Everything from her looks to her perceived weakness is fair game, making the most out of any given situation. She is not guided by some abstract sense of morality but her own deep seated belief of what's right and wrong. Neither does she place any great value in the law; she has seen too many atrocities ignored by the Marines to see them as heroes. Nami is a pirate, that very fact already making her a criminal worthy of the death penalty. She is an accomplished thief with few ethics to get in her way. Friendship, the freedom to chase her dreams, and money are the only true guidelines by which she lives her life.

In a world teeming with supernatural abilities, Nami is merely human. Yet even as a regular human, sailing the five seas under a pirate flag necessitates the ability to defend yourself. Nami's abilities stem not from brute strength like many of her crew mates, but from intelligence.

Cowardice/Manipulation: This might not seem like much of an ability, but Nami often escapes harm by simply getting others to fight the good fight in her stead. Form using her own friends as human shields to playing the weak and innocent victim, Nami prioritizes survival over any glory achieved through battle. Whether it's crying to earn sympathy, pretending to drink herself into a stupor, or bulldozing through an argument with a nonchalant attitude that leaves you wondering if you were the one in the wrong all along, it can be difficult to gauge her sincerity.

Navigation & Cartography: As the navigator of the Straw Hats, it is Nami's responsibility to guide them safely through the volatile sea through which they travel. Her uncanny weather sense and sharp mind allow for lightning quick course calculations in the worst of situations. Her ability to predict tempestuous weather and select the best course even in the most impossible conditions (such as riding a vertical current into the sky) has saved the crew's life on more than one occasion. Nami's ability to map the seas where she has traveled is unparalleled, having been held hostage in a sense for this very ability by her previous pirate crew.

Stealing/Pickpocketing: Long before becoming a pirate and even before the death of her mother, Nami was a thief. Her childhood pilfering of books her mother couldn't afford for her evolved into stealing from the most dangerous of targets, pirates. It is this skill that earned her infamy as 'Cat Burglar Nami' well before she became a member of the Straw Hat crew. Small valuables are never safe in her vicinity as she has the ability to pick pocket such items without her victim being any the wiser.

Sorcery Clima-Tact/Weather Manipulation: In the life of a pirate there are times when even Nami must fight. Well aware that she is not physically powerful, she requested a weapon from a crew mate so that she is not always a liability to the crew. Sorcery Clima-Tact is a weapon that combines Nami's extensive weather knowledge with gadgets that can manipulate air currents and temperature (we'll put it down to manga science) to form attacks.

Example # 1:

The weather in Paradise had been insane, but the weather in the New World blows their expectations out of the water. No one, Nami thinks, really expects what the New World has to offer.

Yet simply because she isn't expecting it doesn't mean that she isn't ready to take it on. She's spent the last two year making sure that she can navigate her crew through any ocean and any weather. To say that the Straw Hats move under her guidance like a well oiled machine is a lie, but despite the chaos, the screaming of the storm, and the curses thrown at her from a particularly bad tempered first mate, they pull through.

Bikini tops are traded for thick layers and warm jackets, and as always, Sanji's food tastes all the more delicious after a hard fought battle. They linger in the galley late into the night, sharing drinks and tales of their adventures during their time apart.

The late hour brings with it drowsiness and one by one they excuse themselves to head below deck. Only Sanji, Robin, and Nami remain when Luffy's painfully off pitch singing breaks through the quiet that has settled over the Sunny.

It is only when she spots the faint, mona lisa smile dancing on Robin's lips and Sanji's toothy one that Nami realizes there's one on her lips as well. It was a long two years without their idiot captain. Someone really needs to shut him up if they plan to get any sleep that night.

She leaves the galley with a thermos of hot chocolate in her hands, ignoring Sanji's wails of protest that the moron isn't worth hand delivered treats from his Nami-san. She can hear Robin's quite voice requesting something from the cook and knows she'll be forgotten in his rush to please Robin before Nami even makes it half way up to the crow's nest.

"Luffy! You're going to call a sea king with that wailing, stop!"

Fond exasperation in her voice, Nami plops down the thermos in front of the captain.

"Drink this and warm up. Why haven't you changed your clothes yet?!"

Example #2:

[ With a nod, Nami slips from the stool and finishes her second drink, setting the glass back on the bar. Her entire body feels electrified, nerves and excitement a tumultuous swirl low in the pit of her stomach. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug, far more potent than the whiskey swimming in her bloodstream. ]

Follow me after five minutes. [ That should be long enough for her to deal with the guards but short enough to get to her if something goes wrong.

With a final, razor sharp grin and a subtle adjustment of her cleavage, she slips into the shadowed hallway.

In the end, dealing with the first set of guards is far too easy. Nami only needs to stumble, half fall into one of them, and slur a question before they start tripping over themselves to help her. Idiots.

Although the expressions on their faces say they are far more interested in how much they can get away with in her drunken state than truly helping.

There's not even an ounce of pity for them as she curls fingers around her sorcery clima-tact and slams it upwards in a powerful swing. The sudden attack catches the first one under the jaw with a loud crack, smashing the nose of the second in the same hard sweep. Extending the weapon, she twirls it in her fingers and adjusts her grip, quickly bringing it around again without giving them time to recover. This time she smashes one across the top of his skull and the other with an unforgiving smack against his temple. They go down hard and stay down.

Nami grins, fierce and triumphant, her heart pounding a runaway beat against her ribcage. Shortening her weapon, she makes sure the brief sound of the scuffle didn't garner any extra attention and waits for Law. ]

Example #3:

[ rather than beer and gummies, he could use some water and solid food to help him get back on solid ground. too bad nami isn't his mother.

a pitcher of beer dangles from one hand, a couple of glasses from the other as she eyes him with an amused smile quirking up her lips. she is fairly steady on her feet, cheeks rosy and eyes bright but little else indicating how much she's had to drink ]

You don't want me here? [ Rather than text, her questions come from the door to dock 2, eyes bright and amused as she watches him. ]

I'm hurt, Tora-kun.