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With author Eiichiro Oda having eye surgery to correct his astigmatism, the One Piece manga is currently on a one-month hiatus, which will last until July 10, 2023. Luckily, an official staff member, Greg, revealed that "Oda is fine and in good spirits," implying that the surgery has been successful.
Looking forward to return and work on his record-breaking series, Oda sent a beautiful illustration to celebrate Comiket 2023, an event also known as "Natsucomi 2023." He probably drew the picture with his iPad, as the artwork presents the typical traits of a digital drawing.
The image features Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and One Piece's main protagonist, together with Nami, the navigator of the crew. With many fans shipping the two as a future couple, the illustration immediately captured the interest of the fandom.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1087.
Eiichiro Oda's latest artwork teases One Piece fans with LuNami
The future Pirate King and One Piece's female heroine in their new outfits
The picture depicts Luffy and Nami in their new outfits as of the Egghead arc. After arriving at Vegapunk's place, all the Straw Hats started wearing futuristic garments, which is in theme with the atmosphere of the island. Now, the recently released cover of One Piece volume 106 allows fans to witness the official colors of those attires.
Just as featured on the cover, Luffy dons a long red coat with gloves, while Nami's outfit consists of a white hooded bodysuit. Both wear the special DOM Shoes as well as a pair of earpieces. Many One Piece fans interpreted the illustration as Oda's way of hinting at Luffy and Nami becoming a couple in the future.
Romance is far from being One Piece's main topic, but it captivates the fandom's interest regardless, especially when it involves the main character's alleged love interest. Luffy is simple-minded and straightforward, but that doesn't mean he can't develop romantic feelings towards someone. Love is a natural feeling, and Luffy is a spontaneous person, after all.
He would show his interest in his own way rather than the appraoch that shojo series usually depicts. As One Piece's main female heroine, Nami would be the perfect partner for the franchise's protagonist. Their relationship could be based on their peculiar characteristics, thus breaking the patterns of conventional love and following the unique spirit of Eiichiro Oda's series.
Is LuNami a real thing in One Piece?
So far, no clear indication of the relationship between the two Straw Hats being a love story was ever given. However, there have been several instances allegedly hinting at Nami having some romantic feelings towards Luffy. For example, she blushed noticeably when Reiju removed the poison from Luffy via mouth-to-mouth.
Nami also blushed when the old man Haredas noticed she was crying because Luffy had lost his brother Ace. Moreover, she wanted to get to Luffy to comfort him. While she previously pretended to cry for other reasons, Haredas noticed that the "fake tears" she put up before were still flowing. This implies that Nami's cry for Luffy was real.
When she rejoined Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Robin on Zou, despite not meeting all of them for a while, Nami ran into Luffy's arms. Even though there was a reason for her to be so emotional, this is telling. Nami has a special attachment to Luffy, seeing him as a pillar of strength to rely on when in trouble.
There may not be a proper romance between them, but their mutual reliance may potentially turn their relationship into romantic love. Since they are part of One Piece, they don't need to kiss each other every now and then. They just have to care for each other while having the typical funny scenes where Nami is frustrated by Luffy's stupidity and he gets annoyed at her for ruining his fun.
Haunted by Arlong's vicious blackmail, Nami used to despise pirates, but her whole perspective changed after she met Luffy. She saw his kindheartedness and started putting all her trust in him. Upon understanding that Arlong imprisoned Nami in a room to force her drawing maps for him, Luffy destroyed the entire building.
This freed Nami both physically and from the mental prison she was trapped in, leading her to develop complete loyalty to Luffy. While another female comrade, Nico Robin, was saved by Luffy and the other Straw Hats in a similar way, the two issues are portrayed very differently.
In Robin's case, Luffy spoke directly with her, but the whole crew was also in the scene. Instead, in the famous moment when Nami asked Luffy for help, the interaction was only between them, with the other crewmembers not being there.
While movies aren't canon to the franchise's main plot, in One Piece: Gold, Oda made sure to insert a brief but significant scene. Here, the relationship between the villain and his love interest, Gild Tesoro and Stella, was likened to that between Luffy and Nami.
As Tesoro captured Nami, Luffy angrily shouted to let her go, prompting the villain to notice that the latter had the same determination he had in the past to save Stella. It's also interesting that when Nami left to sail with the Straw Hats, Genzo asked Luffy never to make her lose her smile.
With Genzo being a father figure to Nami, the scene seemed like a father "threatening" the person that his daughter is about to marry, especially as he didn't address to the entire crew but only spoke with Luffy.
Nami, the Pirate Queen
While Luffy is bound to become the Pirate King, One Piece author Eiichiro Oda subtly hints at Nami being the Pirate Queen. Thus, Luffy's queen. In the SBS of volume 27, Oda described Nami's nature with the world "queenliness", literally implying that she has the qualities of such a figure.
The author loves to draw Nami wearing a crown, further hinting at their possible future development. On the colorspread for chapter 699, Luffy is depicted as a king, sitting on the throne and wearing a crown. All Straw Hats are dressed as knights, with the only exception of Nami, who looks like a princess, possibly a queen. In addition, Nami was illustrated with a crown in countless colorspread and other illustrations, including the special artworks to celebrate One Piece's first hundred and first thousand installments.
Even in the colorspread for chapter 921, which features some prominent female characters of One Piece, i.e., Nico Robin, Nami, Boa Hancock, Big Mom, Vivi, and more, Nami is drawn with a crown and put right in the middle of the illustration, dominating the picture. If the Pirate King Luffy will ever have a Pirate Queen, Oda is strongly hinting that she will be Nami.
Final thoughts
One Piece is a story about adventure and friendship, but this is not to say it can't include some romantic moments. While a romantic relationship between Luffy and Nami is yet to be highlighted, their sincere friendship may very well develop into a romance.
Unlike Nami, Boa Hancock openly declared her love interest in Luffy, but he unequivocally refuted her. Regardless, Boa appears to lack the deep emotional connection with Luffy that instead Nami has. However, only One Piece's finale will give a definitive answer.
What's certain is that Oda takes great care in portraying Nami as the main female heroine of the franchise. She, Luffy, and Zoro have been especially emphasized together as the crew's three original members, with Luffy as the captain, Zoro as his right-hand man, and Nami as the navigator of the crew. Fans affectionately call them "Original Trio" as well as "Romance Dawn Trio."
The three strongly resembled the three pirates in Oda's initial sketch, which featured two boys, one of them being the captain and the other being his right-hand man and a girl. Unsurprisingly, some years ago, One Piece author Eiichiro Oda called Luffy, Zoro, and Nami the main characters of the story.
He also chose only those three to feature in the special illustration for chapter 1000 of the manga. Interestingly, each of the three original Straw Hats is connected with one of the main aspects of Gol D. Roger's accomplishments as the Pirate King, i.e., wealth, fame, and power.
With Luffy and Zoro representing fame and power, Nami, who seeks gold and riches more than anyone else, is inherently tied to wealth, further implying her future role as the Pirate Queen.
