Sannami day 6: underwater
Belated entry to @sannamiweek‘s current event. This post might be long and includes a updated version of this post [x] because its theme is related to this prompt and this might turn out to be a long post so sorry beforehand *laughs*
Ok, let’s begin with the water theme which Oda-sensei has kept close throughout the series, not only in the canon story but also in numerous Color Spreads.
Nami was first seen swimming in Arlong Park arc where she saved Zoro underwater. After that she has been enjoying water as an element for both fun (onsens) and everyday life (showers and swimming), also in various non canon material such as Strong World-movie etc.
Sanji first proved his swimming skills against the battle with Kuroobi. According to Usopp, Sanji’s speed underwater is on par with a fish-men, who are at their bestest while underwater and ever since Arlong Park arc. he has honed his skills which understandably makes Sanji the best swimmer of the crew.
In Enies Lobby Sanji was supposed to fight against Kalifa but his kishido won and she beated him so Nami decided to teach a lesson to both of them: Sanji about not being too soft on ladies and Kalifa no to mess with her or her crewmates. Kalifa’s element was water but Nami overpowered her with thunder techniques.
Another “running gag” in the early chapters was that she tried to exploit her charisma (pretending she was weak in order to delegate stuff to others etc.) but when they sailed towards Alabasta, she in particular asked Usopp to build her a stronger weapon so she could help Vivi and the rest of the crew instead of feeling being a burden to them as a “weak” fighter.
That is one nice character growth I admire in Nami. The further we go in the story, the more badass fighter she turns into and for example, Enies Lobby and Whole Cake Island did justice to this feature.
As a funny twist of faith, Oda-sensei decided to combine it to the canon in Punk Hazard. Shipwise this Body Swap Trafalgar Law made is very interesting choice because it could have been basically anyone whom he wanted to swap with whom but he ended up having to swap Sanji to Nami’s body and later Nami was swapped inside Sanji’s
As expected Sanji in Nami’s body flowered a loads of Sanji’s ero-kappaness which are obviously some comical reliefs and Nami (as Franky) had to punish Sanji a couple of times because she (understandably) didn’t enjoy Sanji peeping around. Another funny coincidence was that Oda-sensei had chosen earlier Chopper to be swapped in Sanji’s body so Sanji took care of Nami medically for a while.
Later on it got even more interesting shipwise since the other Body swap resulted Nami to end up in Sanji’s body since Sanji went to retrieve Kinemon’s torso. Another funny was that she ordered Zoro to accompany him (so Sanji would be distracted from exploring her body) so it’s safe to say that she knows Sanji well ;)
Anyway the main point why Punk Hazard was brought up to this post was the actual retrieval. Some could have questioned why Sanji doesn’t trust Nami’s powers when he swam in that poisonous lake but I think he is simply being a realistic: in normal situation he would’t be worried at all because he knows his body but now after body swap it’s different: Nami is much smaller built and since it’s the first time he is as her, Sanji has no idea how much her body can handle (except if he hasn’t small talked about this outside the manga).
Although Sanji really enjoyed being Nami, it’s good that Oda-sensei pointed out and reminded that despite all that comical tone used often in the story, deep down Sanji does respect her a lot, inside out. Why else would he apologize for freezing her body and putting it in danger in poisonous lake or why else would he be incredibly worried about the capacity her body can handle underwater and her body indeed was strong.
Earlier in Thriller Bark Sanji revealed his dream about being invisible so he could sneak around (but the dream could also indicate to his childhood traumas where he was strongly neglected) so it was surprising to realize this was foreshadowing too.
In Wano Sanji used his invisibility (ability given by the Vinsmoke’s Raid Suit) to sneak around and as expected, seeing Nami naked blew his cover up and his nose. The happenings were placed near their element, water (basically).
Like my fellow mate @pernanegra has pointed out in his post [x], Oda- sensei usually shows interactions where Sanji is interested in Nami as “more as a friend” and like pernanegra said, despite the tense situation Nami and others were caught to, her reaction was different although both were surprised. Robin facial expression was also different from Nami’s.
Somehow this made me think whether it has something to do with Thriller Bark. I mean, she was unconcious but what if she still happened to hear the conversation about the invinsibility and maybe because of that Nami wasn’t as shocked as Robin was in the bath house
(jokingly we could say maybe she has developed a mellorine-radar just like Sanji had in Skypiea *laughs*)
Whoopsie, getting lost to the side track so back to the prompt. Another theme close to this prompt is their Zodiacs. I want to apologize writing last time that Nami is pisces and Sanji is cancer (damn you nightshifts mess my brain so badly *laughs*) but it’s opposite. So, just like a couple of cover arts and facts proved by Oda-sensei: Sanji is pisces and Nami is cancer.
This could be an interesting parallel to their dreams which include water as an element (Sanji wants to find the legendary All Blue and Nami wants to see the world so she could draw a map)
My another fellow mate @chefalier has written an very interesting post regarding to their zodiacs and how their caracteristics are matched according to their star signs and one really interesting point he brought up it the following quote:
If they quarrel or separate for a time, the missing is usually much deeper than other lovers who are thus temporarily parted
For Sannami-shippers this feels very accurate especially when we go and look back to what happened in Zou [x] and in Sanji’s retrieval in Whole Cake island [x].
All in all, to sum up this long post, although water is important element to all Straw Hats because of the canon story, it also brings up some detailed similarities that Nami and Sanji share regarding to it:
- both are good in swimming
- both have had a 1 vs 1 battle which had had water as an element.
- both zodiacs are related to the ocean
- both have a dream that includes ocean
So who knows, maybe it’s a a bunch of coincidences or maybe it’s something Oda-sensei has planned throughoutly ;)
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