- [Narrator] I want you to look deep,
deep into Nami's eyes.
Good, you are now under a tangerine spell,
meaning that Nami can issue you any command
that she so desires
and in this case she is calling upon you, yes you
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Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review,
your source for everything One Piece
and today after the very nice reception
of my video exploring the dynamic between Luffy and Zoro,
we are circling back
but this time to draw our attention
to our lovable navigator.
Luffy and Nami present one of the more fascinating dynamics
amongst the crew
because while I would say that Luffy and Zoro
inhabit the same sort of wavelength of life,
on the other hand,
Luffy and Nami are more or less complete opposites.
And they certainly do begin their journeys in this world
on very opposing, 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 and Shanks
or even his newfound brothers, Sabo and Ace.
I mean there was no shortage of tragedies
surrounding his childhood
but all that 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,
a very strong constant.
He may have been constrained to Dawn Island
but he could come and go anywhere as he pleased
and he very much learned to live almost as one
with the world around him,
so there was this great, overwhelming sense of freedom.
And this would be one of many key features
missing from Nami's childhood.
Even before Arlong,
Nami was the daughter of a poor ex-marine
so she was constrained in many, many ways
that Luffy was not.
Whether that'd be the clothes that she wore
or the food that she ate, simple things like that.
But obviously, this became an order of magnitude greater
when Arlong commandeered the Konami Islands
and quite literally enslaved Nami,
meaning that Nami had spent,
I guess I'd actually say her entire childhood
feeling imprisoned and constrained in one way or another.
So with two very different childhoods,
we now have one character who knows nothing but freedom
and another character who knows nothing
but a fleeting dream of freedom,
which is epitomized to Nami's hobby of drawing maps
and an innate desire to explore the world
but having to use maps to do so vicariously.
Luffy and Nami are complete opposites,
something that Luffy's very sharp intuition
immediately picked up on
when the two first crossed paths in Orange Town.
Nami recognized with the strength
and even suggested that they join forces
but Luffy instantly shut her down
in a very blunt way by saying,
"Eeh, I don't wanna team up with you."
Which just as a side note is fascinating
because I think that most of us
would remember the Luffy-Nami dynamic
as Luffy practically begging her to join his crew
but it actually started out in the complete other direction.
But the reasoning for this is our second, primary difference
between the captain and the navigator
because Nami's focus was and potentially arguably still is
primarily the gathering of treasures and finances.
And there's a very simple explanation for that
because in a world where Nami was completely mentally
and emotionally imprisoned,
Arlong very purposely only gave her a single ray of hope,
which was money and if she owned enough,
then she was promised that she could buy Kokeshi Village
and finally be free, in theory anyway.
And as a result of that,
this incredible lust for wealth grew and grew within her
because it symbolized her potential freedom.
But that is a factor
that doesn't really excite Luffy at all.
His definition of treasure
could not be further from Nami's initial definition,
which becomes very clear
when he states that his straw hat is his treasure.
And it's very important that we linger on that for a second
because this concept of treasure
is very much the key to unlocking this entire bond.
But before we delve into that,
I have one more stark difference
to point out between the two,
which links back to the general idea of imprisonment.
But having to delve into the career of thievery,
Nami was also swiftly inducted into the art deception,
meaning that in a really kind of depressing way actually.
She was not even allowed to be herself
during the vast majority of her childhood.
She had to lie to pretty much everyone around her,
be it the pirate she was stealing from,
Arlong whose cruelty she had to humor
or even to the residents of Kokeshi village
who she had to put on a brave face around.
Like to get physical freedom just for a second here,
Nami didn't even have the freedom to be herself,
which was never an issue for Luffy,
which is why he is now an overly forward,
heart-on-sleeve kind of guy
whilst Nami to this day,
is still the kind of person
who holds her true cards very, very close.
But this is actually quite perfect
because these complete opposites hold very valuable traits
that the other could never in their wildest dreams
hope to access.
And that brings us to quite possibly
the very first time in the series
where we see Nami's pure self,
free of deception during the Arlong Arc
where she ultimately succumbed to despair
and had 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 was no real logistical reasoning for doing this,
Luffy fights dangerous opponents
with this hat on all the time
but this was a far more symbolic move from our captain.
Because in this moment,
Nami was entrusting Luffy effectively with her life
and not only that
but any ambition she had beyond the hell that is Arlong.
And so 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 in away.
Well maybe not 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.
So in a way, Nami post-Arlong
almost represents the ultimate symbol of freedom
within our crew.
She is the one who allows them
to have all of these insane adventures,
she is the one who truly does the impossible
by taking the crew from island to island,
which sometimes is not exactly an easy task,
in fact, it often isn't.
For example, navigating the Knock Up Stream
to get to Skypiea
was an endeavor that most seasoned navigators
would never even dare to attempt
and if they did,
it would more than likely end
in complete fatal disaster anyway.
But what Luffy has
in the realm of overcoming powerful, living opponents
is exactly what Nami possesses
when it comes to fighting the environment.
And that's why when the crew is aboard
the Going Merry or Thousand Sunny,
Nami is unquestionably the ultimate source of authority.
For all intents and purposes,
she becomes the captain at sea,
which is a role that is greatly respected by Luffy
as well as the rest of the crew.
And I think that that is very important to emphasize
because there can be a lot of scenes aboard the ship
where it looks like Luffy is taking Nami for granted
by choosing the most dangerous possible path
and just expecting her to make it happen like magic.
But it's more like Luffy's trust in Nami is so deep
that he believes in her ability to overcome
each and every single challenge
that they could possibly face.
Which once again is pretty much the exact same dynamic
that they have on land except the other way around.
Nami has complete faith in Luffy
to overcome any opposing antagonists who pops up
and it's a really interesting ongoing relationship of switch
that they have here
because when thinking about it like that,
Luffy and Nami both have this paramount need
for one another.
Neither one of them could have gotten
even a single Iota into this world
without the qualities that the other brings.
And over time, this bond has only become stronger
and even though Nami is still quite heavily an underrated
combatant in the series,
there are a number of occasions
where she was required to team up with Luffy
in order to overcome serious opponents.
A classic example of this
would be the combination of Skypiea Arc
where Luffy needed Nami to transport him up Giant Jack
to deliver the final blow against Enel.
Without Nami, Luffy would not have beaten him.
And we have a very similar situation
jumping all the way forward in time to Whole Cake Island
where Luffy and Nami were attacked by one Charlotte Cracker
and in order to stand any chance
against the biscuity goodness of Sir Cracker,
Luffy needed Nami to use her weather-related abilities
to soften the biscuit armor
and once again without Nami,
Luffy more than likely would have lost to Cracker.
And I know that I keep making this comparison
but it's exactly the same when it comes to sailing.
On land, Nami is a utility fighter,
hovering unique skills for very specific situations.
However on sea, Luffy is a utility sailor
who is capable of defending the ship
from very specific attacks like cannon balls
or even various sea monsters.
Neither Nami or Luffy are infallible,
even in their most advantageous conditions.
Despite possessing great strength and skill,
they have a very symbiotic need for one another,
whether it be on land or at sea
and I guess I should also say that this does extend
to the rest of the crew.
You can't just put Luffy and Nami on a boat
and expect them to get particularly far
although they'd probably get quite far actually.
But I think that this contrast
is most powerfully displayed in this relationship
where we have the ultimate combatant
juxtaposed against the ultimate navigator,
it's a pretty incredible dream-team combo.
Although with that said,
they do certainly maintain
very stark, superficial differences
which mainly play out in a comical sense.
Nami getting incredibly angry
at a foolish, happy-go-lucky Luffy
but ultimately acquiescing to his desires.
One of the most striking and underrated moments
of this difference so to me
occurred during the Post-War Arc
after Luffy made his trip to Marine food
with the 3D2Y tattoo.
After seeing this in the newspaper on Weatheria,
Nami said something quite interesting
which was, "You're always like this,
"you have no consideration for the rest of us."
Which sounds like a kind of scathing statement
to make it first
as if Luffy was heavily inconveniencing Nami,
which I guess he kind of was
because she was in a fairly desperate situation on Weatheria
and quite keen to escape.
But it's really fascinating
because Nami was the only straw hat
to react in a unique way to this news.
Every other crew member
immediately took the message on board
and said something simple like, "I see"
Or, "So that sounds going to be?"
But Nami had the only unique reaction
which further speaks to her opposite nature
to that of Luffy.
This might be a bold statement to make actually
but I think that every other crew member
can identify with and relate to Luffy
at a much closer degree than Nami can.
Luffy and Nami had just such
radically different personalities
and over time, they've had to develop their own ways
of working with one another,
which more often than not
results in Nami trying desperately to mitigate the risks
that Luffy is willing to take.
But to stay on Weatheria for a second,
one of the most beautiful quotes I recall from Nami,
in regards to Luffy
was when she resolved to learn as much as she could
over the next two years
because, "The lives of my crew depend on it.
"I am the navigator,
"it's my responsibility to keep them safe when we are sea.
"I need to be able to take my captain
"wherever he wants to go.
"And Luffy wants to be the king of the pirates,
"so I can't just be any ordinary navigator."
And I just thought that was so powerful
because it's such a rare thing to see.
Nami is usually portrayed as holding an alternative utility
but on a very fundamental level,
their dreams and desires are completely in sync.
And despite any other differences that they may have,
this makes this duo nigh on unstoppable in this world.
And while that dynamic admittedly
has not been showcased anywhere near enough
in the Post Time-Skip Era,
it does still exist as an underlying factor
within the series.
They might not be as obvious
as the dream team of say Luffy and Zorro or Luffy and Usopp,
well maybe even Luffy to anybody else
but this duo is the lifeblood of the crew,
invincible on land and unstoppable at sea.
In fact, I honestly do not think
that there is a single captain
and navigator dynamic in this world
that trumps that of Luffy and Nami.
I mean yeah, there're a plenty of people
capable of sailing these waters,
especially when you reach the higher tier Yonko-like
levels of existence
but this is the duo
that is going to make it all the way to Laugh Tale
and this is most certainly the vessel
that I would want to be on board with.
And that's primarily down to the incredible partnership
between the captain and the navigator.
But what do you guys think?
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