MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ONE PIECE, WANO ARC
No but HOLD THE FUCK ON.
Can we please, please talk about how it's Nami's faith in her captain, faith in her friend that kickstarts the Drums of Liberation?? Her love and trust in Luffy that awakens Nika? I haven't seen one person talk about this!
Luffy canonically dips out of his mortal coil after that deceitful power play by CPO leads to Kaido knocking his soul to the next world. Momonusuke says that Luffy's voice has disappeared. He is toast.
Nami isn't usually the first Mugiwara to stand up to the big bad villain. She's less bold and more strategic than most of the rest of the crew. But here, we see her stand up to Kaido, the strongest motherfucker we've seen thus far in the One Piece universe.
Nami was already one of my favorite Straw Hats. She's brilliant, courageous, and unabashedly self-confident in not just her looks but her capabilities as a navigator and goddamn weather priestess. But it was this moment here that made me realize how fundamentally crucial she is to Luffy's growth, how necessary her relationship with him is.
It is immediately after we see Nami say, "Keep your word, as always!" that Luffy's heart starts to beat again. It is immediately after her defiant stand in front of Kaido that the Drums of Liberation begin to beat for the first time in 800 years. I'd like to argue that without Nami's unrelenting determination and belief in Luffy that Nika might have stayed dormant and Luffy might have stayed dead. That the fruit might have reincarnated somewhere else and the Drums of Liberation would remain unheard for another generation.
This is all to say, Nami is best girl, and without her we might never have gotten Gear 5, Nika's reincarnation or Luffy's future as Emperor of the Sea.
