The bond, between every Straw Hat, with each and every other member, is strong, and they consider each other as Nakama, with some friendly rivalry, as we see between Zoro and Sanji. It is also a kind of natural inclination for the fans of the manga or anime to pair the protagonist with one of the most kawaii (beautiful) female characters of the series. This is also logical because there are tons and tons of clues available to support that case, and similarly, the fans of One Piece around the globe want to know, does Nami is like Luffy.
Before answering this question, let us think a bit more about Nami’s background. Nami is a slim, orange head girl who first appeared in the series during the Orange Town Arc. She was initially presented as a thief, in fact, a very successful thief at that. However, as time went on, in the East Blue Saga, it would be discovered that Nami’s true passion lies within the world of Cartography and Navigation and that she held a very ambitious dream of one day being able to make a map of the entire world.
However, Nami had, suffered an extraordinarily tragic past that had prevented her from pursuing this dream. Nami and her sister, Nojiko, were orphans who were found on the battlefield by a Marine named Bellemere. She adopted the two and settled down in Cocoyasi Village, part of Conomi Island.
As Nami grew, she discovered her passion for drawing, however, Bellemere was quite poor and unable to afford many of the things, Nami wanted, which led Nami to steal the books on navigation, thus planting the seeds for her future skills as a thief. Despite this, Bellemere did everything she could to support Nami and her passion. However, on one especially bad day, Nami ran off, this also happened to be the day when Fishman Pirate Arlong, has arrived, Arlong swiftly commandeered the Conomi Islands and demanded a fee for the lives of each adult and child, which resulted in Bellemere, being able to secure the lives of Nami and Nojiko, but being unable to pat, for her own.
Bellemere. was then murdered by Arlong, right in front of Nami, who, after her drawing skills were recognized, was also then kidnapped and forced to draw maps for the Arlong Pirates. Shortly after a deal with Arlong, being that if she brought him, One Hundred Million Berries, he would free the Cocoyasi Village, and so, Nami became a thief. At the age of eighteen, Nami encountered Luffy and Zoro in Orange Town. After the confrontation with Buggy the clown, Nami agreed to partner up with them.
Does Nami Like Luffy? Everything We Know So Far
Luffy and Nami present one of the most fascinating dynamics among the crew because when you say Luffy and Zoro inhabit the same sort of wavelength of life, on the other hand, Luffy and Nami are more or less complete opposites. They certainly do, begin their journeys in this world on very opposite philosophical terms.
On the one hand, we have Luffy, a primarily carefree boy whose bold dream was greatly encouraged by those around him, be it his role model, Shanks, or even his newfound brothers, Sabo and Ace. All the tragedies in his childhood really went on to reinforce his beliefs and drive him further, to train, to attain his goal, and most importantly, freedom has always been a paramount aspect of Luffy’s life, and this could be, of many key features, missing from Nami’s childhood.
For the very first time in the series, where we see, Nami’s pure self, free of deception, during the Arlong Arc, where she ultimately succumbs to despair and has no choice but to ask Luffy for help. And this moment really is just like, flicking a switch. All Nami had to do was ask, and everything was going to be okay because Luffy could do something that she could not, And most importantly, Luffy sealed this bond by giving Nami his Straw Hat. Now, there is no real logistical reasoning for doing this, Luffy fights dangerous opponents with this hat all the time, but this was a far more symbolic move from our Sencho!
Because, at this moment, Nami was entrusting Luffy effectively with her life, and not only that, but any ambition she had beyond the Arlong, and in exchange, Luffy gave Nami the most valuable treasure of his life, as well as the symbol of his ultimate dream.
And from then on, the destiny and dreams of the Captain and the Navigator became entwined. Luffy freed Nami as promised, and in exchange, Nami also freed Luffy in a way, maybe not actually freed him, but she quite directly unlocked the path of his journey because, without Nami, Luffy has almost nothing. He would be trapped in East Blue, and if he did attempt to enter the Grand Line on his own, then he would have undoubtedly failed and probably died.
When you see Nami and Luffy together, she is always the first one and the most concerned about Luffy’s well-being, safety, his protection. She always hugs Luffy, like when he went to Zou for the first time after Dressrosa, she went to him and hugged him. If you notice, Nami is the one who touches Luffy more than anybody else in the crew does.
The mere fact that Nami and Luffy are together, most of the time, on the adventure, and not to mention there are some moments in the series that can be taken as romantic, gives us enough reasons to pair them up.
However, Oda has confirmed so many times that the main focus of the manga is friendship, and there will be no romance between the Straw Hats, they are only in love with Adventure.
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