In One Piece, there are very few characters as iconic as Nami. Acting as the navigator for the Straw Hats, she even managed to place #3 in the worldwide character popularity poll that took place earlier this year. As much as fans love Nami though, they have had certain criticisms about her choice of outfits. This article will address them all and hopefully provide the answers fans have been seeking.
Nami's outfits have been criticized by fans for years for being too revealing and were nothing more than fan service. What fans may not realize is that her outfits are in some ways her greatest weapon in a fight. As a navigator, Nami uses her unique perspective and position to succeed rather than let it become a hindrance in dangerous situations.
Nami isn't meant to be one of the Straw Hats' combatants, but their navigator. In this way, her position and role are much different than the majority of the crew. While Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are the Straw Hats' strongest fighters, Nami has maybe saved the crew's life more times than anyone else thanks to her incredible ability to predict the weather. Time and again, she is the one who has saved the entire crew, maybe more times than the crew has actually had to save her.
There's the possibility that Nami's bare skin is responsible for her otherworldly weather-prediction abilities. Some fans theorize that the reason she wears outfits that bare so much skin is that her skin is how she senses weather patterns and changes. Even her wanted poster is her in nothing more than a bikini. Why? Is it for fan service? Maybe it is, but maybe there's a deeper reason. What if it's because she's warning the entire World Government and the Marines not to mess with her super-skin.
Since entering the Grand Line, Nami's weather-prediction abilities have been instrumental in keeping the Straw Hats alive which have required her to change her outfits constantly. During the Water 7 saga, she changed her outfit during the Aqua Laguna storm. While reprimanded by Paulie for doing so, especially around men such as himself, Nami couldn't understand why it was a problem. Why couldn't she? It's simple. That outfit change was her way of utilizing her power to its fullest, which probably saved all their lives! Paulie needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut.
If this were true, then her post-time skip outfit of nothing more than a bikini top and jeans would potentially be one of her strongest outfits! Nami knows the wisest thing to do would be to use her power as she needs it rather than use it at its maximum constantly. This way her crew wouldn't get jealous of her awesome might and the Straw Hats get to have a secret trump card.
Not only are her outfits usually quite stylish, but they also perform a function that keeps everyone's favorite pirate crew alive. This isn't fan service. Well, it probably is, BUT! It also might not be. It could be something greater than giving fan service. This is series creator Eiichiro Oda showing off the power of a true champion of the sea. Sorry Jinbe, Nami's got you beat, and sorry to Usopp as well. The only god on the Thousand Sunny is actually a goddess.