Gaimon arc: vol 3 chapter 22
Luffy, Nami and Gaimon
After the Orange Town arc and just before Syrup Village arc, Master Oda gave us a little LuNami adventure in the chapter 22 to melt our little Lunatics hearts.
Right after leaving Orange Town, Luffy, saddened by the state of his precious hat, find his smile back when Nami fixes it. (His newly treasure repair is oldest treasure, I mean, this beats Romeo and Juliette).
Nami usually depicted selfish by (stupid) fans, act really nice (like a waifu ) to someone she barely knows.
She takes her time to fix it and makes sure it will be like
I love this powerful moment that seems useless but is so important in the development of Luffy and Nami relationships.
Also it reflects their dynamic very well with Luffy goofiness getting on Nami's nerves.
"That's the only way I can hurt you" . For her he's already unbeatable. That's why she'll learn how to hit his spirit ;)
Notice how Luffy acknowledges it. He always listen to Nami. No woman (apart from Dadan and Makino) has that much impact on him.
Besides, Zoro telling them to cut the racket , makes it look like they're an old couple bickering .
Zoro decides to stay on the boat for the next little adventure, letting Luffy and (his gf) Nami alone. (We see what you did there Oda )
Like usual, and like I said it a few line before, Luffy listen to Nami. It's like Nami is the voice of his reason.
On their adventure, Luffy finds plenty of weird animals and obviously, he needs to show them to Nami (which is something he'll do very often in the next arcs, movies etc...).
It's interesting to see Nami softer side with him, listening to him while before then, she wasn't that soft to him. It's like she starts finding her peace with him at this very moment.
A gunshot from somewhere in the forest hit Luffy while Nami is saved (once again) by him.
I like how she's worried about him too and relieved he isn't hurt.
Once again: Luffy/Nami dynamic. In these East blue saga arcs ,Oda really put an emphasis on their dynamic that will last and evolve the whole manga.
While talking with Gaimon, Nami tries to dissuade Luffy to go for the one piece. This is one of the first time she says "ourselves" while talking about treasure searching. She really feels like in a team with Luffy, something that if you know her situation at that moment, she couldn't afford. At that time she was supposed to be all by herself.
Luffy calling Nami a thief and a pirate seems to touched her . She doesn't want him to think she's heartless.
Also it's really fun to see Luffy calling her pirate whatever she says. For him whatever happens she is already his navigator and will be till the end.
"Luffy... Do your stuff" -Nami
That's our Nami. Always aware that Luffy is the one that can change everything and help everyone. (Also this is kinda waifu material reaction from our Nami)
When Luffy realizes that Gaimon's treasure is empty he'd rather lie . Nami can't believe the man she was starting to trust, the one that may have slightly made her change her mind about pirate, this guy she thought was something different is a vicious man capable of such a thing.
Well don't worry Nami, he is not vicious, he is that wonderful man you'll slowely fall for .
When Nami realizes what Luffy has really done and that in addition to that he wants to help Gaimon to achieve his dream (even if gaimon refused), she is relieved that her idea of the awesome Luffy wasn't wrong. And gosh we love thos "Luffy..." from Nami.
For me, this chapter was a way for Oda to let Nami and Luffy be closer, to reinforce the trust they're developing so as to let Nami trust him enough to free her in the future arlong park arc.
I think it's a less known but very cute moment between those two since it's something powerful they will be the only to remember. This memory belongs to them only.
Gaimon will say in the future "I've met the pirate kings and queen when they didn't even have a crew"
(I was looking for a LuNami picture in this arc but Toei involved Zoro and Usopp in this arc...)
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