Nami's design and personality (and arguably her background story as well) is the result of a long process with several other similar characters. The first apparent character in the process of developing towards Nami was Silk in Romance Dawn, Version 1, who was then followed by another girl called Ann in Romance Dawn, Version 2. Each one of the girls had her own personality which seemed to have been placed into Nami's overall design.
When Nami got angry with Arlong, she stabbed herself in the arm where his crew's flag was with a knife several times. Even when the tattoo was removed, there remained the scar. The new tattoo Nami gained replaced her old one but covered the scar.
However, in the One Piece Loguetown Novel. a panel of Nami in a bath is seen with the scar left over from stabbing herself on her back, the new tattoo did not cover the scar at all. That scar also remains in Reverse Mountain Arc. However, it isn't shown in later arcs. There is the possibility that this was an early design idea, but the reason of the idea drops is unknown.
In the anime, Nami is introduced in the series as early as the first episode. She appears on the shipAlvida attacks and while Alvida's men are raiding the passenger ship she was on, Nami snuck on board to steal her treasure. After Luffy defeats Alvida, Nami is seen leaving the scene when Luffy and Koby lower their ship next to hers, almost causing Nami's ship to turn over. Luffy and Nami briefly look at each other for the first time before they immediately part ways when a huge cannon ball impacts and makes a huge splash between them.[20]
She is later seen when they encounter CaptainMorgan; while Luffy and Koby talk about the Marine a brief scene shows her sitting in the same bar listening to their conversation.[21]
While sympathetic to the children on Punk Hazard, she was not as concerned about Rongo when he was threatened by Ian.[22]
Straw Hats' Separation
Nami's adventure in Weatheria is extended in the anime. In the anime, when a storm comes to Weatheria, Nami combines the wind knot with her Clima-Tact to neutralize the storm.
Nami is one of the main characters of a Hungry Days commercial that adapts her relationship with the Arlong Pirates to a real-world scenario. She also appears in the Zoro and Vivi-centered commercials.
Nami appears in Kyutai Panic Adventure! where Frieza attacks Odaiba. The Straw Hat Pirates came to Goku's aid, but they were intercepted by and fought the Arlong Pirates. Nami also appeared in Kyutai Panic Adventure Returns!, where Enel attacks Tokyo and Odaiba.
Nami and other characters also appeared in Cross Epoch.
Mostly, Nami did not suffer any major alterations from Japanese to English dub by 4Kids. However, since the Arlong Park Arc, Nami was the subject of various edits.
The most common edit, as seen in the Arabasta Arc when she wore a dancer's outfit, was to remove any cleavage made visible by her outfits. In fact, all of the female characters had their cleavage and breast lines removed or heavily reduced. In line with this edit was the addition of a bathing suit on her body during the bath scene near the end of the arc. Another such scene where she used her "Happiness Punch" against the men who were peeking at her and Vivi from the wall separating the male and female baths. One major edit saw the alteration Nami has suffered was the absence of her stabbing the tattoo on her left arm when she is mad at Arlong.
In the Funimation TV Edit dub version, these edits towards Nami are not as restrictive, notably during the Skypiea Arc, where she wore a bikini top with no edits to her breasts.
When Nami pretends to stab Usopp during the Arlong Park Arc, several changes were made in the 4Kids dub. Instead of revealing Nami did not really stab Usopp later, the dub immediately reveals she did not intend on hurting him. Also, instead of stabbing herself, she asks Usopp for his rubber knife so it will appear she stabbed him. Usopp is also informed of her plan, compared to the original version where he wasn't aware of Nami's intentions.
Nami's decision to give up on the 1,000,000,000 she agreed with Igaram to be the reward for delivering Vivi to Arabasta was changed in the Funimation dub to have her say that she was disappointed that she wasn't able to get the reward money in the end.
Nami's epithet (泥棒猫, Dorobō Neko) can be translated as cat burglar, however it can also mean a woman who steals men from other women.
Trivia
Nami's personal jolly roger.
Nami's personal jolly roger (pre-timeskip) as detailed in the One Piece Magazine.
Nami's post timeskip jolly roger.
Nami's personal jolly roger (post-timeskip) as detailed in the One Piece Magazine.
Nami has her own jolly roger, which features a blue-and-white-striped bandana (which somewhat matches the pattern on the blouse she wore in her initial appearance), a winking eye, a tongue sticking out, one hand doing the "OK" sign (a Japanese hand motion signifying money), her hair and a diamond-star. The version depicted in the One Piece Magazine adds her Log Pose and bangle to her hand.
After the timeskip, one circle represents the whole skull instead of having the mouth and lower jaw separate, possibly to make its hair seem longer to match Nami's. The hair is now mussy instead of neat curls, also matching Nami's wilder hair. The pattern on the bandanna is changed to match the pattern of the bikini top Nami wore in her initial appearance after the timeskip. The skull no longer winks and now wears earrings, and the arm has her bangle and Log Pose. It also has Nami's mikan-pinwheel tattoo behind it.
She is seen reclining in a deck chair, before the crew had acquired a ship. She began using a deck chair on board the Going Merry and later the Thousand Sunny, often sunbathing or catching up on the news.
She is charting a map and has a logbook nearby with both a navigational compass and a drawing compass, hinting at her desire to draw a map of the world.
She is wearing reading glasses, which she occasionally uses later on, such as the Skypiea Arc.
She has taken off her boots to be barefoot. Nami tends to avoid wearing shoes, and in Chapter 96, it is shown that Nami does not have shoes with her while she is relaxing in her deck chair.
She has a pencil instead of a pen. It was later revealed that she drew charts for Arlong in pen so much that the one she used was soaked with her blood.
She is shown with a wine glass as opposed to Luffy and Zoro's normal glasses. Nami's drinking habits tend to be tamer than her fellow crewmates, save for the time she was goaded into drinking in excess at Whisky Peak. In contrast, Zoro has two glasses of alcohol, putting special emphasis on how much he loves to drink compared to either Nami or Luffy (who has just one glass).
Nami trying on an outfit that resembles Nico Robin's debut appearance.
Later, Nami trying on an outfit that resembles Boa Hancock's debut appearance.
In Chapter 97 and Episode 48, Nami can be seen trying on some clothes. One of the outfits is almost identical to Robin's clothes in Arabasta, and her second outfit resembles that of Boa Hancock's prototype designs.
Nami is the only Straw Hat to invite someone to join the crew before Luffy could ask them. She asked Chopper if he wanted to travel with them during the Drum Island Arc.
As revealed in the Jaya Arc, Nami hates bugs and is especially terrified of spiders, which Sanji is as well.
Nami's ranking in the popularity polls went as follow: 5th (first and second poll), 7th (third poll), 6th (fourth poll), 8th (fifth and sixth poll), 3rd (seventh poll). Her ranking in the 7th poll (the first online poll) was controversial among fans, especially after the release of the official video showing the votes in real time, revealing a very sudden and drastic jump in her votes in the last two weeks. However, despite widespread accusations of botting, no foul play was ever confirmed by the organizers of the poll.
Chiaki Inaba acted as Nami in the stage show One Piece Spectacle Stage at Jump Festa 2002 (December 2001). She met Oda during one of these performances, and they eventually married after two years.
When a fan asked Oda with whom Nami is in love with, Oda answered that there will not likely be any romance among the Straw Hat Pirates. Oda explained that he does not portray romance in One Piece as the series is a shonen comic, and the young boys who read the comic are not interested in romance.[citation needed]
SBS-Based Trivia
Nami's birthday, July 3, comes from her name since 7-3 can be derived from Na-mi. Also, her birthday in Japan is known as 'Tanabata' (たなばた?), also known as 'Star Festival' (星祭り,Hoshi matsuri?).[15]
Despite being one of the weakest members of the crew physically, Nami is able to hurt Luffy with normal strikes (although given the situations in which this happens, it may be purely for comical effect). When questioned by a fan on this, Oda answered that Nami beats up Luffy's spirit.[23]
Nami's favorite foods are mainly mikans[25] and other kinds of fruits.[26] Also, her favorite food from Wano Country is Oshiruko.[27] Her least favorite food is orangette because if she wants fruit, she will eat regular fruit.[28]
She shares her like of mikan with her adoptive mother, Bell-mère and adoptive sister, Nojiko.[citation needed] She also shares her like of fruits with Jinbe.
↑One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 2Chapter 9 (p. 2) and Episode 5, Nami is introduced as a pirate thief in her infobox.
↑One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91Chapter 921 (p. 6-7) and Episode 911, Nami is tasked with becoming a Kunoichi as her cover while infiltrating Wano Country.
↑ 11.011.1One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 45Chapter 435 (p. 16-17) and Episode 320, Nami's bounty for attacking Enies Lobby is revealed along with the other crewmembers'.
↑SBSOne Piece Manga — Vol. 4 (p. 28), Nami's age is revealed.