Sounds crazy now but is an extremely likely scenario IMO
First off, I’ll be straight up and say that yes I do ship LuffyXNami which is why I had this thought in the first place but looking deeper into it I fully believe that Nami will become an extremely important character to the plot of OP in the future. So please, take away the shipping goggles and view this from a purely objective perspective.
The idea began with realizing that the first cover art of OP and the first art of the New World were incredibly similar.
First Chapter
Keep in mind that Luffy and Nami are the first SH’s drawn and Oda had initially planned for Nami to be the first mate.
New World
Notice how the positioning of Luffy and Nami are exactly the same while the rest of the characters are added on. Also notice how Luffy and Nami are closest to the reader in both images. And throughout reading the manga itself, notice how Nami is the strawhat–after Luffy–that has recieved by far the most screen-time. Zoro gets longer fight scenes for sure, but Nami is almost always “there” in crucial moments of the story.
- Navigation scenes always focused on her and plays crucial role in dealing with day to day life on the ship(in some ways she’s more of a captain than Luffy)
- Always there as motivation when Luffy has to rescue nakama(Robin and Sanji)
- Is there a lot of the time as support(emotional and sometimes tactical) when Luffy is fighting villians (Buggy, Arlong, Enel, Cracker) Which is far more than any other SH.
- Serves as usual damsel in distress and this seems to extend even to movies that Oda is directly involved with.
- Even crew interactions feature her by far the most after Luffy
She is by far and away the secondary protagonist of the series and the female lead.
With all of this keep that in mind, and think about how little we actually know of Nami. Where was she born, what her real name is, what happened to her parents and why was she in a war torn area in the first place?
Now also think of how strange her weather deductions are. Not only can she accurately predict the weather, she can literally FEEL it. No other character has ever displayed such prowess for weather prediction.
In fact her weather skills are so profound that she could create thunder and wind from a device that Ussop had intended to be almost a gag item. Even Ussop had NO IDEA that the clima-tact could be used in such a way. Her talents with the weather are mentioned by almost every “wise” character that the Straw Hats have spent time with and that ability is the reason that even Shiki(non-canon but Oda created the story so character interactions must be accurate) a rival of Roger kidnapped her. Her skills are pretty much supernatural and extremely valuable even in the crazy world of One Piece. And this leads into the last connection.
How Luffy has been constantly protecting and defending Nami even though she is highly valuable
This is very similar to the relationship that Luffy has with Shirahoshi which may very well explain this panel.
Like in true Oda fashion, I believe that this panel holds incredible foreshadowing for the future. At face value we completely understand what she means as both had to grow up hiding a terrible secret and living with a huge lie. Also both are now under the protection of Luffy. However there is massive foreshadowing in this panel as well, because we actually dont know much about Nami’s background.
Remember that there is no explanation for her weather predicting abilities. She is extremely intelligent and her navigation knowledge is self taught, but her weather sensing abilities are an innate part of her(she loved Genma’s pinwheel since she was a baby). Given that we know so little about her background and this ability, I think its highly probable that we will get a second arc focusing on Nami–much like that of Sanji. And given how Wano may very well be the arc of Zoro’s past, this idea seems to fit the pattern of the story of One Piece being not just about finding the treasure, the story is about the SH’s finding themselves.
Tying all of that together, I believe that the revelation will be revealed in Elbaf because Oda said she is from Sweden and Elbaf has huge Swedish influence(semla, Vikings, etc). And that revelation will be that Nami is somehow connected to Uranus, which is either a weather manipulation orb which is the final upgrade to her clima-tact or that she is Uranus herself, I prefer the former. If this were true, and given that Pluton is Sunny(upgraded goan cannon and coup de burst could easily be island busters and a space launcher and Franky has already seen blueprint), this would end up meaning that Luffy would have all three ancient weapons under his protection. He would be the true successor of JoyBoy, and Oda’s heavy emphasis on Nami would begin to make complete sense.
Taking all of that into consideration, it seems like fate–an idea constantly brought up in One Piece–has linked Nami and Luffy together. Just as fate had linked Shirahoshi and Luffy together, perhaps fate had linked Luffy to Nami for a greater purpose. Just as Shirahoshi is an ancient weapon, perhaps Nami is linked to an ancient weapon as well.
I know its out there, but I actually think this idea will prove to be true. It would explain why Oda seems to have invested SO much time into involving Nami in crucial plot points as well as tie the story together in a very neat way.
*Theory by cardboardspectator