#nami analysis

[bluarlequinno]

I'm not saying I dislike Post time skip Nami because I don't, I love her either way, but I'm gonna miss pretimeskip Nami SO BAD, she will always have a special place in my heart, like she had such a butchy fem vibe to her, she was a futch she just had THE vibe idk like look at her, she went from girly girl to bruh girl to whatever she just was her genuine self and looked good either way

I could literally write an essay of Nami's "masculinity" and how that is essential to her character's past and how people perceived her, I put masculinity in commas because I don't actually believe there is such thing as masculine or feminine behavior, but you could argue subtextually with pre timeskip Nami there was this idea she was more traditionally masculine with her behavior, I believe chopper mentioned it once in thriller bark, which adds on to her being raised to be just as tough as a man and her perception of self and the fact she IS a pirate at the end of the day, with the narrative allowing her to be loud and unforgivivingly wicked and greedy and rowdy and aggressive and cunning and ambitious and unforgivivingly herself. To have leadership and control without it being framed as negative or bad or undesirable, like how Sanji says he loves when she gives orders.

She is allowed to drink like Zoro, remember on whiskey peak, she beat everybody and still stood as if nothing? Or eat like Luffy and well if you believe in the lesbian headcanon like some of us do, be attracted to women like Sanji, like Nami has said some questionably discuss worth lines like she is allowed to voice out her attraction with no filter "wow she's so sexy I wanna have her as my secretary" or in one of the movies I believe she said "you can pay me with your body" to another girl and so much more moments

Her having short hair was important because I'm not saying they feminized her to appeal more for the male gaze, but I kinda am? Like I'm all for Nami being however she wants to be, long hair does look good on her, but I'm not really happy because of the reasons it happened, yk it's this idea that younger immature women who have short hair and in their youth were tomboys will become more feminine and once they grow older which really angers me because it's the idea longer hair= more mature because they are turning into a woman...

Also Nami being constantly allowed to have deep meaningful relationships with female characters wether or not they are queer or not it's just so surprising for a male centered genre like Shonen, nevertheless when it's written by a man, maybe I'm not giving enough credit, but I will forever be thankful for the way Oda wrote Nami, she's such a girls girl and in media it's rare to find a female character who doesn't have any male love interest or isn't male centered at all, like yes her design turned more male gazey over the years but IN universe she's so obviously for the girls, like I remember when I reached thriller bark expecting this whole thing with Lola be the type of narrative where one hates the other for the man and the other is painted as a bitch in the narrative, but NO Nami is like fuck this dude you girl deserve better and literally ends up giving her half her treasure (well kinda) like Nami is such a unique character

Anyways this is going nowhere I just really love Nami and wanted to share some thoughts now that I'm finally on the timeskip well I already finished Fishman Island, starting Punk Hazard wish me luck 🤞

[sailing-ever-west]

I'm obsessed with Nami in the realm of female character writing, because on the surface her arc is to be saved by a guy/group of guys, and generally with female characters that's used to take away their agency or power and/or support a romance. But with Nami...it does none of that. Her story is about learning to depend on others, but rather than reducing her power in any way, it increases it. The isolation she experienced before wasn't independence, but part of her oppression, so having a family to support her gives her infinitely more freedom.

Luffy is her captain, but the way Luffy does that is never to lord over people, it's to raise them up with him. And, importantly, he waits for it to be her choice. He stays supportively in reach until she asks for his help. The only time he intervenes without permission is to stop her from actively harming herself. And when he does intervene, it's not to whisk her away and keep her somewhere else safe where she's dependent on his security and protection, it's to literally beat the crap out of her oppressor so he's never a problem again and she's free to live her life either way. And although Sanji acts romantically toward her and the rescue follows his grand ideals of fighting for a beautiful lady, there's no expectation that she now owes him anything or has to give him a chance just because he helped her out of an abusive situation. He did it because he cared, not in exchange for anything. They were all willing to fight and bleed for her with next to nothing in return, and that's so vital.

Nami being a woman is definitely relevant to her story (using her beauty and pretend helplessness to steal without suspicion, the fact that she takes after her mom who was tough as nails in the male-dominated marines, the very real isolation and fear of being female surrounded by [fish]men with power over her), but it's important to note that she doesn't need saving because she's a woman, or due to any weakness on her part. She is shown as incredibly strong, brave, and clever, right from the beginning, but she was trapped in a situation with Arlong that would've been impossible for anyone to get out of alone. Now with a crew by her side, she no longer has to.

[zorobae]

Between Sanji subtly telling Luffy to be more decisive and Nami straight-up criticizing Luffy for being a bad leader and Luffy afterwards losing to Arlong and seemingly losing one of his crew members — Luffy is actually doubting himself at this point. In the manga, Luffy doesn’t get remotely humbled like this until much later. Luffy always saves and protects his crew members but when he is the one who needs something — when he needs encouragement or getting saved — it is usually Zoro, his first mate, who does or says the right thing. In this case, Zoro renews Luffy’s confidence in his crew (by vowing to be a part of it until the end) and also in his role as the captain. And again, the first time this happens in the manga is much later so I am just beyond appreciative that they gave us such a moment this soon on the show.

[somnas-writes]

Another thing that makes the straw hats stand out as a crew is that they have snack time.

From what I’ve seen about other pirate crew, they’re usually tight on food. Whether it be rationing or straight up starving, they always have a limit on how much they eat.

But not the straw hats. They have a huge kitchen and dining area. Their cook has specialized menus for each and every person he meets. It’s seen in the way he adapts to feed zoro, who doesn’t eat overly sweet things and which chopper, who does like sweet things. He does all that while also doing his job and making sure they’re all healthy.

A testament to his skills as a cook is just how much the straw hats grew as he began feeding them. Luffy got taller, Usopp and Zoro got more muscle, Namis body began actually filling out, because they all had likely been underweight before or borderline malnourished before.

As a crew, they’re different. They have snack time, everyone gets something catered to them. Even for how much sanji puts in a facade of only doing it for the girls, he still feeds the boys and modifies each serving for them.

Another thing, each crewmate has an area designed for them. Franky specifically designed the ship with them in mind. People he met like, 46 hours before. He synced up to their wave length right on away.

Zoro has the crows nest, Nami has her own office, Robin has a seat on the deck and the library, Usopp has two separate workshops dedicated to him, and of course, Luffy has his special seat on the the figure head of The Thousand Sunny.

They’re a special crew because they know how the others work, they know each other so well that it’s like they’re operating on a higher frequency.

compared to a lot of other crews we see? They’re special, because they have snacktime

[namisweatheria]

I feel like we don't discuss Nami's relationship with gender enough. Her entire character is so deeply informed by being a girl in a male-dominated pirate world and it's so interesting and so worth talking about.

The background creepiness of Bad pirate crews, which are most of them, how they tend to not have any female crew members at all, how they beckon any pretty young woman around to come play with them and join them. It's real bad. It's also like, a totally 2 dimensional portrayal of evil that is reserved for the most background of background characters.

However I think their ubiquity says a lot about how piracy is meant to be perceived by the public in One Piece, and is one of the strongest indicators of how prevalent misogyny is in-world.

It's very normal in One Piece for regular island inhabitants to have never met a Different class of pirate in their life. There's no reason for them to withhold judgement that maybe these pirates won't be like every crew that attacked before, and to wait and judge them by their actions. I mean frankly that would be irrationally weak self-preservation.

There are people who live peacefully under the flags of Yonkos who protect them, and feel loyalty and gratitude to them for it, but that seems to only be thing with very big name pirates. The East Blue, being the weakest and least populated, has no such plethora of powerful people and resulting turf wars.

So. Nami. Is very clearly implied to have never met any Different pirates before. I'm thinking about what that means. About how every group of pirates she stole from were creepy, dangerous men. How she started going out stealing when she was still a young child. How she didn't have a mother anymore to guide her or comfort her. How Arlong would grab her chin inappropriately, talk about her as a "human female", as property, and god knows what else.

How all the men in Arlong's crew treated her patronizingly, pretending they're all friends, teasing her and playing at respect when really not a single one of them ever stuck up for her or hesitated to accuse her of betrayal. Who were always ready to kill her if she refused to cooperate. Who grabbed her and intimidated her when they felt like it.

That's what she had to come back to after a close call with stealing from other predatory men, instead of the relief of home there was a dark, cramped room filled with endless hours of misery and isolation and blood. Where any one of her captors could barge in and demand new maps, work faster, where did you go, you took too long again this time. Endless threats and incursions.

I'm thinking about that her fight scene in Alabasta, where she tumbles and rips off her cape and uses it to catch her enemy's spikes, before leaping to her feet and running out the back door, all in one moment. How it makes her enemy reconsider her and think, "so the girl's not a total novice at fighting after all." What that implies about her experiences as a young thief. The times she wasn't fast or clever enough and had to fight and claw her way out. Why she always carried a staff and a knife. Why she was the only one before Chopper who had any medical knowledge or experience.

You know she was stitching herself up. And the weapons, how do you think she learned to use those? If any of the Arlong Pirates helped her it wasn't out of kindness and it wasn't gentle.

Then I think about Nojiko, and Bellemere's memory, and the only softness in a hard life. How easily Nami connects to every young woman experiencing hardship that she meets. How completely she dismisses the struggles of men unless they mean something to her and are going through something terrible. The way that Nami only has sympathy for women and children is easily noticeable in-text, but it's also something confirmed in those words by the author. And it's clearly because of the life she lived, the men who had all the power and only abused it, who saw her as nothing but a girl to take advantage of, without anyone aside from her sister clearly knowing and caring about any of it.

Nami clearly isn't bitter, she doesn't think the world owes her recompense, on the contrary she knows she is far from the only person in the world to suffer the things she has suffered. She is endlessly reaching out and kind, but only to those that she isn't sure would get help without her. Certainly, before Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro, no man ever reached out a hand to her without an ulterior motive.

I think when she sees a girl in trouble, a girl biting her lip to hold in a scream of grief, a girl running in the woods away from a monster, a girl captured by pirates, she sees someone who no one is coming for. Who no one will stick up for. A person without allies in a world against her. Whether it's actually true in this case or not, she runs straight for that girl anyways every single time.

[i-am-minty-fresh]

I love in post-time skip when the Strawhats meet a new pirate foe or a new marine officer with the piss poor task of reining them in and they’re like, “oh so this is the fabled strawhats crew, eh? I am aware of your strength and resilience, and will treat you as the dangerous collection of super soldiers and assassins that you must be-“

Only to see that none of the strawhats have acknowledged their presence at all. Zoro and Sanji are still fighting. Chopper’s still napping in Robin’s lap as she reads. Usopp and Luffy are still finger-painting on the helm. Brook hasn’t stopped playing and Jimbei hasn’t stopped peacefully listening. Franky’s helping Nami design a new desk for map making without as much of a glance in the intruders direction.

The pirate/marine gets to see the ridiculousness of the crew in full view. They’re just a bunch of silly guys. They’re just a bunch of silly guys with power scaling so off the fucking chart that they have embarrassed the world government along with every Emperor of the Sea, most Warlords, and all of the Worst Generation.

Isn’t that thought terrifying? That they weren’t even taking any of that all too seriously? What if they had? What if Luffy wanted his enemies to bleed? To choke on their own blood? Would this group follow him? Slit their throats? Snap their spines? Burn them, beat them, tear them limb from limb?

The strawhat crew could run the ocean red if they wanted but instead they spend their afternoons finger-painting and designing new map making equipment and sunbathing.

Let’s all be thankful for Luffy’s endless mercy.

[bobauthorman]

What is Blackbeard?

We've had hints across One Piece that something is Not Normal about Marshal D. "Blackbeard" Teach.

He has incredible stamina where it's said that he's NEVER SLEPT ONCE.

And being able to wield two Devil Fruits, which would normally kill someone.

But I think the answer could be found here, in Jaya...

This happens right after the Orange Town Trio get the Uplifting Speech from Blackbeard. We are initially led to believe that Luffy and Zoro have somehow sensed the connection between Teach and the other Blackbeards lurking around Mock Town.

But what if this is the Big Secret to Blackbeard's Power?

"Twice as much fun"

"Two Devil Fruit powers"

"More than one"

[bobabisch]

I often hear the argument that Luffy is dumb, and I can't help but be ticked off every time I hear someone say it, because Luffy isn't dumb, he's simply carefree. And I mean that in the literal sense of the word. Luffy truly does not have a care in the world. Luffy chooses not to complicate things. He does things for the simple fact of wanting to and he purposely refuses to learn about people, situations, and the nuances involved with both because the nuance just pollutes the true nature of the subjects. Luffy doesn't choose to do these things out of ignorance or selfishness, but because in the grand scheme of things, all the information that he chooses to ignore is wholly unimportant both by Luffy's own standards and to the development of the story as well. What Luffy deems unimportant does not matter at all to how things play out in the anime.

Luffy, at his core, is an incredible judge of character. Luffy's relationship with Tama is a perfect example of this. By all accounts Luffy's first impression of Tama should have been negative. She came off as a little bit mean and stand-offish. However, Luffy in his natural Luffy-fashion is unbothered. He didn't need Tama to tell him or show him explicitly the kind of person she was to understand her as a person. Despite the fact that she was a little girl, Luffy treated her with basic respect right off the bat. Luffy didn't see her as child, but rather as the self-sufficient human she was. Of course his fondness for her was only furthered by the food that Tama gave him. Luffy didn't need to know anything more about Tama after he heard that she had given him her last shares of food. He didn't need to hear Tama's sad story to understand her. She treated him with kindness, like she would a friend, even though they had just met. Luffy would go to the ends of the earth for her over that simple fact. He had no desire to learn of Wano's history to better understand how Tama got to this point in her life. All he needed to do and all thay he wanted to do was return a kindness. And that he did.

The same can be said for the part Luffy plays in Nami's story. When Nami 'betrayed' Luffy, he'd simply brushed it off. Once again, Luffy knew who Nami was without having to ask and without her having to show him explicitly. Luffy saw her 'betrayal' yet did not take it at face value. Luffy refuses to leave her behind because everything Nami had said/done in that situation muddled Luffy's inherent and instinctive understanding of her character. This next bit is ironic to say because Luffy often makes decisions with his stomach rather than his head, but its clear that Luffy would rather trust his gut feeling than try to understand Nami's actions which appeared entirely contradictory to Luffy's perception of her personality/character.

This theme rings true throughout the whole anime. This happens when Luffy chooses to trust Law on Punk Hazard over Law's rather dubious choices without needing or wanting an explanation from him. This happens when he rescues Zoro at the very beginning of the anime and he simply trusts this well-known pirate hunter not to cut him down right of the post. I beg of you all, please do not dilute Luffy's complex character design down to something so trivial as him simply "being stupid".

Sorry for the tangent, I have just always felt people who say this about Luffy sell him and his whole character design short. There is so much more that I could say about this too. I could go into detail about the ways in which Luffy is as smart as the rest of the crew (in different ways than them obviously), but that would call for several more paragraphs, so I'll just cut it here I think.

Anyways tell me what y'all think, I'm curious.

[kinokoshoujoart]

scribbles based on my Another Wonderful Life file where i discovered Rock and Nami showing up together at Vesta’s farmhouse late at night on multiple occasions to cause various types of chaos and disturbance and havoc until Marlin and Vesta’s bedtime (which they both announce in unison to kick everyone out) this included

Rock levitating and attempting to rizz up vesta

Nami making a beeline for Celia’s room where she stands around making very subtle remarks (celia isn’t even in her room)

Marlin Enduring

haunting crime scene photos of the shenanigans:

[crepes-suzette-373]

”Is that a proposal” VS "non-mutual love": Weddings, weddings all around

At the risk of dredging a topic that's been beaten to death... I know all the SanNami fans already talk about WCI a lot, but hopefully what I'm saying is new or informative and exciting.

Even after declaring that he wants to come back and Luffy takes him back with open arms, Sanji still looks absolutely miserable and depressed. However, the moment Nami tells him she's taking him back, he pretty much immediately turns back to normal. Flying hearts and all.

Even Luffy seem to notice and goes "Oh great, everything is all fine now". (raw note: he just says "I'm somehow relieved now", but it's not overly different)

By the way, specifically, when Sanji asks if that's a proposal... It might seem a bit extreme, like you might wonder why would he assume proposal and not just "confession".

The reason is probably because Nami says "We're taking you back" with kaette kite morau 帰って来て貰う (i.e "receiving you back"). One of the indirect phrases to say "get married" is yome ni morau 嫁に貰う, literally means to "receive a wife" (into the husband's household).

This could just be a momentary gag, but here's a possible hot take for it: It basically subverts the whole Big Mum wedding entirely.

It's less common, but if the wife's family is more powerful, sometimes they would "receive" the husband into their family instead of sending out the daughter to the husband's family. No matter what Judge says or thinks, Big Mum is the stronger party here. Even suppose this wedding wasn't a fraud, for all accounts it's Sanji that's being taken into the Charlotte family.

He's only going along with it because he feared people would die, but if Nami's proposing? It's yes all the way.

Would you look at that, the groom is being taken in by another family already, bye.

And also, the colours:

In Japan, red and white together (kouhaku 紅白) means blessings from the divine, and is used for decoration and gifts in celebrations. Of course, among others, that also includes weddings. Pairs of red and white kouhaku mochi or manju are sometimes served to the wedding guests, and guests often bring gifts tied with red and white string.

Some say it's because the red means life and the white means death, symbolising a whole lifetime.

This all in contrast to the "non mutual love" re:Pudding...

This might be controversial because I dare to say the official translation is wrong, but in chapter 902, when the flowers and trees started singing Soul Pocus, the part about the prince and princess is messed up. This is how it should be:

They're saying "the prince and princess don't share mutual love" and this is all a massive farce. You can see the whole page retranslation by me here, but I repeat, both the fan translation and the official ones are wrong.

This? This is wrong:

I believe the reason why the translator got tripped up is because in the raw, the phrase is written like this: 引かれ会わない\.

引かれ means pulling. 会わない means "not meeting/not connecting". It seems that because of that the translators thought it means "pulling apart".

But the problem here is 引かれ合う is supposed to be a joint phrase that means "mutual attraction". Making it the negative form, 引かれ会わない, makes it mean "not mutual attraction".

And no, this does not include mutual pining where two people are in love but aren't aware of each other's feelings.

The Soul Pocus song was recounting the whole mess that had happened. A sham wedding, pulling death-defying stunts to escape, all hell now breaks loose. The fact that there's a specific mention of "love that is not mutual" seems pretty important.

Not to mention that the narration is overlayed over a picture of Pudding, who is crying heartbrokenly while holding on Sanji's memory clips, while Sanji is comforting Carrot and mourning over Pedro and pretty much already moved on.

By all accounts the presentation looks like it's telling us "Pudding likes Sanji, but he does not return the sentiments at all".

Remember. He was so depressed before, and so worried about Luffy and Nami, and he was basically having to force himself to make the heart eyes even when he was still thinking Pudding was nice. His priorities is always Nami and the other Straw Hats first.

Plus, how can these even compare:

This again relates to one of the comments I previously made about WCI: In multiple moments between Sanji and Pudding that could look sweet, Oda-sensei draws Sanji with stupid faces, and basically "ruins" the scene by it.

[warlordgab]

Short analysis: Absalom and his namesake

After seeing Oda revealing Kuma's past, I felt inspired to dig deeper into one biblical reference that many people take for granted...

Back in Thriller Bark, we're introduced to one of Gecko Moria's henchmen: Absalom

Due to the other biblical references found in the story, the name chosen for this character is pretty unlikely to be a coincidence. But, who was Absalom?

He was the third son of King David. He was a pretty cunning guy who tried to overthrown the King to take the throne for himself. During his rebellion, what was his point of no return?

He forced himself on his father's concubines. To put it in other words, Absalom forced himself on the King's partner(s), which earned himself a death sentence going by the law of that time.

During his final battle against David's forces, Absalom meets his demise at the hands of the angriest general of the King's army

How is Absalom's life and death relevant to his One Piece's namesake?

Well, during the Thriller Bark arc, we have Absalom kidnapping and trying to force Nami into marrying him. Fighting and losing a battle against Sanji. And even using his dream of becoming the "Graveyard King" to convince her to stop resisting

So, we have a wannabe king trying to force himself on a companion of the future Pirate King, and suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands (or feet) of one of the angriest fighters at the "service" of a "true king"

Of course, it's not a one to one comparison, for example, Israel's Absalom didn't survive his battle, while One Piece's Absalom survived and escaped Thriller Bark.

However, if we take into consideration how Oda uses or references other literary works, the parallels found here might be all intentional. But, what does mean for LuNa? I can't tell...

However, what I can say is what we know so far: Oda could've gone a different way and have Absalom focusing on Robin. Instead, the author chose the woman that, by his own admission, has a "natural queen-ly-ness" to her

A 'Queen' that not only commands authority in the strawhat ship, but also acknowledged only one man as a future king...

Absalom tried to force himself on a 'queen' just to get a beating from a fighter of her "king." It feels poetic, if you ask me

[wesleysniperking]

Straw Hats and their superhero counterparts 🦸

I know not everyone is into comparing One Piece characters to superheroes, but I see some fascinating parallels:

Luffy and Superman: Both Luffy and Superman hail from a lineage destined for greatness, inheriting extraordinary power that sets them apart. Superman’s real name, Kal-El, and Luffy’s middle name, "D.," both carry significant weight in their worlds, symbolizing their roles in shaping their destinies. A key reason the Justice League was formed was because Superman tried to save everyone alone, only to realize he couldn’t be everywhere at once, leading to exhaustion and self-doubt. Luffy experienced a similar lesson—learning that his true strength comes from relying on his crew. Both heroes demonstrate that even the mightiest need support to achieve their goals. Edit: Luffy and Superman are both symbolically connected to the sun.

Zoro and Green Lantern: Samurai follow a strict code of honor, and Green Lanterns operate under a code of willpower and responsibility. Hal Jordan, like Zoro, may come off as a stickler for rules, but this stems from a deep sense of duty. Both characters wield powerful tools—Zoro with his swords and Green Lantern with his ring—that rely on their personal strength and rigorous training. Their abilities are enhanced by their unwavering commitment to their respective codes. Additionally, Green Lantern’s trust in Superman over Batman reflects Zoro’s loyalty and trust in Luffy, showcasing how both characters value leadership and vision in those they follow. Edit: Both Zoro and Hal Jordan have been described by some fans as having "no personality" because they often come across as stoic, serious, and primarily driven by their goals.

Usopp and Batman: Batman stands out in the Justice League as one of the few members without superpowers, relying instead on his intellect, gadgets, and relentless training. This is a perfect parallel to Usopp within the Straw Hat crew—often outmatched in terms of raw power, but never in resourcefulness or strategy. The comparison between Usopp and Batman is so strong that whenever Usopp’s battle with Luffy in Water 7 comes up, it’s often likened to a Batman v. Superman fight. Both characters lack traditional powers but make up for it with their smarts and sheer determination. Batman’s choice to embrace his fear of bats is similar to Usopp facing his own fears, particularly when dealing with foes like Perona and Sugar, who could easily fit into Batman’s rogues' gallery. Edit: Both Batman and Usopp face villains that are specifically designed to challenge their particular skill sets.

Sanji and The Flash: Both Sanji and The Flash have the meta-genetics angle locked down. Sanji, noted as the second fastest Straw Hat, can run on water, harness fire with his kicks, and is genetically enhanced—all traits that make him a natural parallel to The Flash. Depending on which Flash we’re talking about—Barry Allen or Wally West—Sanji also shares traits like compassion, moodiness, humor, and flirtatiousness. Both characters are deeply motivated by a desire to protect those they care about, and their abilities, though seemingly simple, are pushed to extraordinary limits. Just as The Flash turns his speed into a powerful force, Sanji’s leg-based combat and genetic enhancements make him a formidable fighter. Edit: Both of them have been struck by lightning, which also contributed to their abilities.

As for Nami, I’m still pondering who she might correlate with, but I’m sure there’s a fitting match out there. Just sharing some musings—it’s fun to explore these connections!

[brookstolemybrand]

I found an old comment I made a few months ago elsewhere and I decided that I should make it into an actual post:

(read the page on the right first / image description in the alt text of the first image)

The thing is that what drives Nami to ask Luffy for help is seeing the villagers she was trying to save deciding to die fighting rather than let her suffer any longer

She was willing to keep working, she was committed to sacrificing herself for the sake of her village. But the villagers chose to stop her from doing that, so she could be free. They are returning the favour and sacrificing themselves for her

Her despair doesn't come from her own suffering but from the realisation that everyone she loves is about to die and there's nothing she can do about it

She isn't asking Luffy to save her, she's asking him to help save her loved ones, because she realises now that she can't do it on her own

That's why she's not a "damsel in distress" here: she's not the one in danger. She's perfectly capable of running away and taking care of herself. She has the option of leaving and never seeing the Arlong pirates again, and the villagers gave her their blessing to do so. But she can't, because her village means everything to her

[namisweatheria]

One Piece means a lot to me as a disabled person, which I think would be pretty surprising to anyone who only has a surface understanding of it. The supposed central theme of "follow your dreams" would be pretty alienating to someone like me, right? It really, really would be, if that's what it was actually about.

However, that ignores that Luffy's dream is to be the most free person in the world. And to attain that goal, the first thing he does is find friends to live life with. Over and over again, from the very beginning, he takes on their burdens, all in the name of being the most free.

Do you see what that would mean to me, as someone who needs more help to get by than is considered culturally normal, to the point that it puts me in a whole socially manufactured category of "other"? Not to mention, because of the infantilization of me due to that category, because of being forced so squarely into the "cared for" role, taking care of other people is deeply meaningful and empowering for me. However, the myths of independence and universal natural ability often make it emotionally difficult for my loved ones to accept that care.

The fear of asking for help, the guilt of being cared for, the weight of someone you loved who could not be as free as you, the insecurity of not contributing enough, the fear that you were born wrong, the self-hatred that says you are not worth the effort, Nami Sanji Zoro Usopp Robin Chopper Ace they all explore the painful obstacles to free connection. Through deeply impactful stories that weave beautifully into the larger one.

All centered around this one person who views loving them and living with them and carrying them as essential to his freedom. Who cannot, for countless reasons, live a normalized life of Structured Relations. Who views exploring and bickering and suffering and laughing with them as the ideal way to live. Who repeatedly puts his life and limbs on the line to do so.

To me, it is an ultimate privilege and freedom to carry other people's burdens. To care for them and live with them. This is central to my whole perspective, and is completely informed by my life experience as a disabled person. I rarely see it reflected back to me. Let alone as powerfully and beautifully as Luffy does.

Nor the other half of it, of wanting to create this life with people in ways that aren't socially normal or approved. Of creating many varied lifelong intimate relations among equals, rather than conforming to the expectation of choosing One Person to live life with and then Creating More.

The utter lack of roles and norms is just as integral and powerful to the exploration of freedom and connection! It is meaningful to me as a queer person, yes, but even this is deeply influenced by my disability. I could never be that One Person, despite everything I have to offer, there is logistically far too much that I cannot do to be someone's equal partner in this society that demands so much from all of us. However, even if I could, I wouldn't want to! It doesn't make any sense to me to only have two people navigate life together on such intimate terms. Can't the demands of society be more comfortably met in a group? Isn't life more fun that way?

We are taught that we can and must do everything ourselves, I just happen to be one of the people that never had a chance to buy into that lie. To learn very early not just the necessity of interdependence, but the joy in it. To learn that it is most comfortably lived with more people involved. To me, close relationships are, love is, a natural extension of that understanding. One Piece celebrates interdependence constantly from the start, while never pretending that it is always easy.

The obstacles to free connection that I mentioned before, they are interspersed throughout the story, and they are always met with "I do the things you can't do, and you do the things I can't do." With, "Of course I can't use swords you dumbass! And I can't cook either! I don't know a damn thing about navigation! And I can't lie!"

These are intentionally impactful moments, and they define the series. I found it very fitting that the Fan Letter focused on a character who was empowered by Nami to feel free and live adventurously despite not being the most physically capable. The character is able by our definition, but the story is very affirming in a disability way, and it was extremely One Piece. I loved how it acknowledged this deep connection between One Piece and the lived reality of disability and celebrated it as integral as it is.

I also believe that absolutely none of this is intentional. It is simply an earnest exploration of human relationships, emotions, and behavior, and it naturally arrives at a radical and disability-affirming viewpoint. Because we are the monkey wrench in the deeply unhealthy (lol) and dominant line of thinking that independence is all. So naturally anything that also disputes that thinking has a disabled-perspective feel to it. The best part is how much it doesn't give a fuck! One Piece is aggressively against conformity in human relationships, in a way that is hard to find in our new world of self-conscious authors.

It's also, you know, the worst part, in terms of all the outrageous bigotry and offensive character design, but god damn it if it doesn't elevate the good parts to unbearable heights. Even the bad character designs can sometimes be more impactful for their intentional "ugliness", when those characters are inevitably taken seriously despite their appearance and the stereotypes they play on, it hits hard every time. I do have a simple hatred for many choices, there is no pay-off for much of the awful problems in numerous character designs and dialogue. But no matter how upset I can be by those things, in the end they can't succeed in pulling me away from One Piece. It's just so crazy and unique and great and terrible and beautiful and I LOVE IT.

[i-am-minty-fresh]

Which flavor of Autism from One Piece are you?

Luffy: Childish and Lovable maniac

Zoro: Silent but loving psychopath

Usopp: Annoying but insecure, never shuts up

Sanji: Gender fuckery but the child abuse version

Nami: gender fuckery but the raised by a badass queer woman who bit men who catcalled her

Ace: Stupid

Law: Smartass insufferable babygirl that everyone wants

Kidd: A yaoi loving criminal

Killer: Non-binary, bloodthirsty jackass

Robin: Ultra smart but also is evil

Franky: Dad

Jimbei: Old refusing to be diagnosed but knows everything about WWII

[theonescreencap]

i'm serious when i say this is one of my favorite moments in all of fiction. i got to this part and i was like where has one piece been all my life???

i love the way luffy cares about people. he doesn't do good deeds or help people because "it's the right thing to do" but he fights with all his heart for others to have the freedom to achieve their dreams, if he feels like taking action when he's asked to step in. he doesn't ever want to get in the way of someone else's fight. but just because he doesn't go out of his way for everyone he meets doesn't mean he doesn't love and cherish his friends! he knows exactly what he wants to do and be and he values the people closest to him. not because they're useful to him, as he openly refutes a handful of episodes after this, but because they're kindred spirits who share the same drive to achieve their dream. he gives 200% always and he wants to know that you will too; a plea for help means you're still fighting and he fully understands that

and i love nami so much she is such a good character. even though she had to put up a mask for so long and stay detached and alone she cares so much and loves so fiercely. at her lowest point, she finally has the courage to ask someone for help, and it IS courage... that can be the most difficult fucking thing to do and the narrative doesn't treat her as weak for it. luffy is so strong and so unbothered by everything that she finally feels like this is someone she will not hurt by asking for help. he is the embodiment of freedom. help me. of course i will.

this is such an early arc and the stakes aren't anywhere as high as they get later on but the character stakes are still so intense. this moment is when i went "oh okay nami is fantastically multifaceted and interesting and i love her more than i ever knew i would" and when luffy's character first fully clicked for me. i think one piece really understands the "power of friendship" thing - it's not just some flimsy "well friends are good so i can do anything because i have friends" but instead "friendship and trust and loyalty enrich your life and give you the power to do things you can't do alone because everyone brings something to the table, and relying on others and taking up space is good actually" it shows this to you over and over and over again until you believe it too. i love one piece <3