LuNami

"Of course, I’m coming with you! I feel responsible. Besides, do you think you can travel the sea of the New World without your navigator?"

- Nami to Luffy.

LuNa is the het ship between Monkey D. Luffy and Nami from the One Piece fandom.

Canon


Luffy and Nami are exceptionally close crew mates, Luffy being the captain and Nami being his navigator. Their relationship is argumentative and can often be violent on Nami’s side. However, they also value and trust each other immensely. Nami has shown she has unwavering loyalty to Luffy whilst Luffy, himself, perhaps trusts Nami more than anybody else in the crew. They first met when Luffy fell from the sky in Orange Town. The two quickly found themselves on the same side in their fight against the Buggy Pirates and Nami decided to join his crew after he wished for her to do so. She would stay with him until the Baratie Arc where she betrayed Luffy, stealing his ship and money to return to her home island and back to her real crew, the Arlong Pirates.

Up until the Arlong Arc, Nami loathed pirates and even scolded Luffy for being one. Nonetheless, Luffy was very much unfazed by her disgruntlement with pirates and pestered her to join his crew. She seemed to have been won over because of Luffy’s authentic sincerity as seen with his interaction with the dog, Chouchou, and how much he valued his straw hat. When Luffy fought against Kuro, she noticed how much anger Luffy had towards him and his crew for their view on piracy, which endeared her more to him. It was because of this that when she did betray Luffy she did so in tears and hoped that he would still consider her his friend. The revelation of Nami’s treachery did not upset Luffy. Instead, he simply knew Nami had a good reason to do what she did and he thus commanded both Zoro and Usopp to follow her even though they argued to leave her behind. He told them firmly that he would not accept anybody else as his navigator. When he did arrive on her home island, he rebuffed Nami’s attempts to make him leave, even going to sleep or for a walk. Even when Nami’s adopted sister, Nojiko, tried to explain Nami’s past to discourage him he chose not to listen to her because nothing would change his mind about trying to get her back. At one point he threatens to beat up Johnny, one of his own friends, for claiming Nami had killed Usopp.

Their bond truly became cemented when the truth of her situation was revealed to Luffy. Nami had been mentally and emotionally abused by the fish-man and pirate, Arlong, who had killed her adoptive mother and imprisoned her to draw maps for him. This is what made Nami loath pirates until she met Luffy. Despite her strong will, determination and fierce independence, Nami had a mental break down when Arlong betrayed the deal they had made and realised that she, or her village, would never be free of him. This caused her to stab herself and try to cut off Arlong’s tattoo in a frenzy until Luffy stopped her. Despite screaming at him to leave she started to break down at the situation she was in and, for the first time in her life, turned to Luffy and tearfully asked for his help. Luffy, himself, was furious at the situation he found his navigator in and came to completely hate Arlong. When she asked for his help he decided to put his straw hat on her head, the thing he considered his one and only treasure, as a sign of his promise that he would free her from Arlong. Luffy chose to entrust his treasure to Nami as she had chosen to entrust her future to him.



Luffy would go on to defeat Arlong, but would do much more than that for Nami. As at the climax of their fight, both he and Arlong ended up in Nami’s room that functioned as a prison for her. Luffy became furious as Arlong revealed details of what he had done to Nami and how he views her. Luffy even picks up a pen and notes that it is stained with her blood. As such, he came to the realisation that this room could not exist if Nami wanted to be free and began to destroy everything. Nami realised what he was doing, as she saw her desk fly out the room, and teared up and thanked Luffy. He would eventually destroy all of Arlong Park and emerge from the ruble to declare to Nami that she is his friend which causes her to cry. Soon after, she goes up to Luffy and puts the straw hat back on his head now that he had fulfilled his promise to her. The experience with Arlong would effect Luffy quite a bit as he came to hate all members of his crew. When he found out that the person their new friend, Camie, wanted to rescue was Hatchan, a former crew member of Arlong, he refused to help despite having promised to do so. He only saved him after Nami told him it was fine.

After she returns to the crew the two became extremely close friends. They carried on their argumentative relationship but there was never a question that Nami would ever betray Luffy again, as she came to see him as the most reliable person in her life. This has been most apparent when a fellow crew member has gotten into trouble, such as when Nico Robin was taken away by CP9 and she tearfully begged Luffy to save her. When Sanji was taken by the Big Mom Pirates she ran up and hugged Luffy after being separated from him for a week, not being able to do anything about Sanji and feeling guilty for letting her captain down. Her dedication to Luffy was apparent when, after Sanji had assaulted and insulted him, she walked up to her former crew mate and slapped him for his actions. Luffy trusts her fiercely as, more so than anybody else, he allows her to take command of the ship when it comes to navigating and will follow her orders. His trust in Nami is further emphasised by their shared relationship with his hat. Nami is the only crew member to have worn or held his hat multiple times. She has also fixed it and modified it for him. Nami is also the only person that understands why, and how much, Luffy values his hat.



After they were separated on Sabaody and following the events of the Marineford Arc, Nami’s dedication to Luffy became a notable highlight. When she discovered that Luffy fought to save his brother in a major war without her or the rest of the crew, and ultimately lost his brother, she became distraught and guilt ridden. She cried profusely but this allegedly was a ruse to trick the Sky Islanders she was stuck with to let her go after she was caught trying to secretly leave to reunite with Luffy. However, as she once again attempted to escape she began to cry and apologise to Luffy for letting him down, she then became embarrassed when Haredas pointed out that her tears have returned. When she discovered Luffy wanted to wait two years before they reunited she was the only crew member to be upset by this decision. Soon after, in a conversation with Haredas, she decides to become a better navigator for him as she states that it is her responsibility to look after him and make sure he does not die when travelling the seas. Whilst she says all this she remembers what Luffy did for her regarding Arlong and felt she owed him so much.

Both of them care deeply for each other. Beyond the incident with Arlong, Luffy has shown he is protective of Nami and will try to aid her if the situation calls for him to do so, as he promised Genzo, the closest person to a father Nami has, that he will never allow her smile to be taken away. After she fell sick, Luffy became frantic at the possibility of her dying and chose to stay in her room to try and cheer her up, and when it came to getting her to a doctor he carried her on his back as he climbed a mountain side in a blizzard. He was notably more upset when he failed to save her from Bartholomew Kuma than he was when his other crew members were sent away by him. However, even though he is protective of her and has saved her numerous times, he also believes in her strength and abilities and never stops her from partaking in fights or completing tasks she has been assigned regardless of how dangerous they might be. Nami has absolute faith in Luffy’s strength, something she has proudly talked about multiple times. When facing Charlotte Cracker, she proclaimed to him that Luffy will become the Pirate King and thus his status as a Yonko Commander was meaningless to her. Whenever Luffy is around she gains a boost in confidence and trusts him to keep her safe, even if he can be an idiot. However, she is just as equally worried for him when he is hurt or puts himself recklessly in danger. Such as when she was concerned that he had gone off to fight Charlotte Katakuri, a commander of a Yonko, by himself. Her worry for him was made worse when he told her to break all the mirrors on the Thousand Sunny which would trap him with the Yonko commander. She cares for his well-being and, when he was cold in the middle of his fight with Wapol, gave him her jacket to wear as she went back to sleep.

Nami is also one of Luffy’s closest confidants and advisors. While he listens to everybody’s take on numerous situations, Nami has shown to be the most prevalent and effective. She is often the one that stops Luffy doing reckless things and tries to discourage him from going into danger when it is not needed. Notably, she has been present at all the alliances Luffy has formed on his adventures, such as with the Franky Family & Galley-La, with Trafalgar Law, and with Capone Bege. She was also present when he formed the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai alliance. On most of these formations she has offered up her own opinion. Nami has also been a capable negotiator, as she was responsible for forming a deal to take Princess Vivi back to Alabasta that instigated the entire Alabasta saga. Furthermore, she negotiated for 300 million berries for Luffy when they cashed in the treasure they had stolen from Skypiea, which allowed them to buy a new ship. Luffy has normally given in to Nami’s request and even was willing to defy his new ally, Trafalgar Law, and save the children on Punk Hazard because Nami wished to do so.

As far as romance is concerned, there has been almost no indication of any between them. However, Nami did notably blush when Reiju performed a very intense mouth-to-mouth with Luffy, whilst Carrot did not. The only other person to blush was Brook who was openly jealous of Luffy. At the end of the Fish-Man Island arc, Nami, who is normally aggressive and hostile to intimate contact with men such as Brook or Sanji, was not at all fazed that Luffy had wrapped his neck around her entire body. Although he is uninterested in women, Luffy has reacted to seeing Nami naked on two separate occasions, whereas he was unfazed at seeing a naked Boa Hancock. A common feature of their relationship is Nami’s understanding of Luffy’s great appetite, as she told Jinbe he would not be able to wake Luffy up without food. On another occasion, she rounded up meat for him to eat before they boarded a train to save Nico Robin, and on Punk Hazard she feeds Luffy a piece of meat and laughs when he bites into it. Luffy loves meat and has always refused to share it except for one occasion when Nami was upset as they left Alabasta, and to try and cheer her up he offered her a piece.

Quotes
"Nami: I might as well take you up myself and help you do it. But! You have to promise me that I’ll survive! Luffy: Yosh, no problem! Let’s do it!"

- One Piece: Episode of Skypia.

"Nami: Luffy… you’re okay, aren’t you? I’m sorry!! Even though you’re always there to support us… Even though it’s times like this when you need us most of all…!!"

- Nami, distraught, after finding out that Luffy lost his brother.

"Nami: What should we do, Luffy! We… Luffy: Quit yapping. You are the future Pirate King’s friend, so stop being such a worrier!"

- Luffy reassures Nami, whilst giving her his straw hat, when she panics that they are going to die.

"Luffy: Don’t you dare make my navigator cry!"

- Luffy scolds Arlong after he punches him.

"Nami: You think you’re hot stuff just because you’re a Yonko’s right hand man… But Luffy’s the man who’s gonna become Pirate King!! In other words… his hunger is absolutely limitless!!"

- Nami defiantly tells Charlotte Cracker that Luffy will become Pirate King.

"Nami: Luffy... help me... Luffy: OF COURSE I WILL!"

- Luffy agrees to help a tearful Nami defeat Arlong.

"Nami: I want to know what’s going on outside. Luffy: Oh, just a fight. Nami: You’ll be fine, right? Luffy: Yeah. Go back to sleep."

- Luffy and Nami on Drum Island whilst he fights Wapol.

Fanon
LuNa is one of the most popular ships in the One Piece fandom and is ranked as number one in The 15 Greatest One Piece Non-Canon Ships. It's rival ships are SaNa and LuHan. A big part of the One Piece fandom that enjoys the Luffy x Nami pairing usually ship LuNa alongside ZoSan and FraBin. On top of this, fans may also ship NaLu from the Fairy Tail fandom due to the similarities they have with Luffy and Nami and the overall similarities the series has with One Piece.

Unlike the other popular ships, such as Sanji x Nami and Luffy x Hancock, neither Luffy or Nami have shown any romantic interest in the other. Critics of the pair also point out that Luffy lacks any romantic awareness and has shown no interest in women at all, making the possibility of him being with Nami unlikely. However, supporters of the ship point to the depth of their relationship and how prominent both Luffy and Nami's relationship is within the series.

One of the reasons why the ship is extremely popular is due to the romanticisation of Luffy and Nami's roles within the crew, with Luffy being the captain and Nami being the navigator. Some fans observe that Nami arguably plays the most crucial role in fulfilling Luffy's ability to be a pirate, and by extension becoming the Pirate King, as she is the one who makes sure he can go wherever he wants across the seas in the search of adventure and the One Piece.

Due to Luffy's dream of becoming the Pirate King, fans of the ship believe Nami is the most suitable candidate to be the "Pirate Queen" via marriage to the Pirate King. This is due to her love for money and her desire to live a luxurious, or royal, lifestyle.

Fans of the ship often point out that the One Piece films frequently display a "hero saves the heroine" narrative, with Luffy playing the hero and Nami the heroine.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

YOUTUBE
 * StrawBerryLoveStudio on YouTube — a LuNa themed MEP studio

Trivia

 * The author of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, married a cosplayer who played Nami in a 2002 Shonen Jump Festa.
 * In a Super SBS, it is revealed that Oda gave an autographed sketch to one of his editors to celebrate the birth of his editor’s daughter. In it he drew Luffy holding up a baby that had eerie similarities to Nami, whilst Nami stands next to him holding her hands in joy. The rest of the Straw Hats stand in the background celebrating.
 * Luffy and Nami have been voted the most popular male and female character, respectively, numerous times in the official polls by Weekly Shōnen Jump.
 * The original concepts of Romance Dawn had Luffy meeting the first two initial designs of Nami. In version 1, he meets a girl named Silk and helps her defeat Crescent-Moon Galley. In version 2, Nami is instead called “Ann”, and is saved by Luffy when she is imprisoned on a pirate ship. He helps her defeat Spiel, who tried to kidnap her pet, Balloon, before going their separate ways.
 * Oda had originally planned to have Nami be the first member of Luffy's crew but his editor had him choose Zoro instead.
 * On the third anniversary of Tokyo Tower, Oda sent a commemorative sketch of Luffy and Nami.
 * On the Usopp Gallery Pirates manga sections, there has been numerous of fanmade sketches regarding the two protagonists, and the author signed positive and motivational comments regarding Luffy and Nami despicted together.
 * A romantic comedy spin-off manga called One Piece in Love, written and illustrated by Daiki Ihara, and approved by Oda himself, starring two characters named after Luffy and Nami who have crushes on each other and there are some cover pose references to the pair´s manga cover appeareances.