The live-action version of One Piece brought many changes to the series, but some of the many details from the previous manga chapters remained unchanged, and one of them relates to Nami and her past. Nami is "the girl with the swordfish tattoo," and this tattoo is very important to her story, so we're going to explain its meaning as well as its connection to Arlong, one of the first major villains in the series.

The trademark swordfish tattoo is proof of membership in the Arlong Pirates, a relatively powerful and very evil pirate gang led by Arlong, one of the series' first villains. Nami was a member of the group against her will, and she was blackmailed and threatened by Arlong into betraying the Straw Hat Pirates, which she joined shortly before his betrayal. Of course, Luffy being Luffy, he and the group went after Nami, and after discovering what had happened to her, they defeated Arlong, rescued Nami, and made her join the gang. This could also be considered the official "formation" of the Straw Hat Pirates.

The rest of this article will explore Nami's relationship with the Arlong Pirates and their leader, Arlong. The meaning of her tattoo, which is tied to her history and that of the Arlong Pirates, will also be explained, as well as how all of these facts influenced Nami's story and her relationship with Luffy and the gang. Of course, this article will be based on both the live-action series and the original manga story, which contains more details. Therefore, we must warn you that there will be many spoilers from the manga that will expand on what we saw in the live-action series.

Nami's swordfish tattoo was a sign of membership, but she never wanted to be part of the Arlong Pirates.

This article will focus primarily on Nami and her story. In the live-action series, Nami was first seen stranded on a ship at sea, pretending that pirates had stolen her. Two members of the Buggy Pirates fell for the trick, and she stole their ship, heading to Shell Town, where Luffy and Zoro were at the time.

Shortly after realizing Nami's incredible sailing skills, Luffy recruited her for his own pirate gang, and the rest is more or less history. But Nami had a very dark and depressing backstory related to the swordfish tattoo she had, and she was in hiding. This tattoo was proof that she was a member of the Arlong Pirates, and this story would soon come to haunt her.

Now that the manga has obviously given us more details than the live-action series, we're going to combine that information with what we got from the live-action series to give you a complete and in-depth look at the meaning of Nami's tattoo and her relationship with Arlong.

Nami is found as a baby by Bell-mère, gravely injured, along with little Nojiko, wandering aimlessly through the ruins of a destroyed village. At the age of eight, Nami is already a naughty child who keeps stealing books from the bookstore. When she runs away after an argument with her mother and hides with Genzō, he tells her that Nami, Nojiko, and Bell-mère are not related by blood but are still family, which calms her down a little.

Nojiko then comes to look for her little sister, but Arlong and his gang suddenly find themselves in Goza and demand a tribute for each inhabitant of the village: 100,000 berries for each adult, 50,000 for each child.

The villagers hide Nami and Nojiko and hope that the Fishmen won't discover Bell-mère and her isolated house either, but Bell-mère is about to prepare a reconciliation meal for Nami—and the smoke rising from the house's chimney makes her feel angry. away.

Bell-mère initially fights back and surprises Arlong, but is then overpowered by him shortly after. Even though she can grow 100,000 berries, she only pays enough for her two daughters, who are now secretly monitoring what is happening. Both must then watch helplessly as Arlong kills Bell-mère.

Later, Nami finally joins Arlong's gang and makes a deal with him: as soon as she pays him 100 million berries, Arlong gives her Goza and the villagers. Nami now collects the money as a pirate thief and buries her treasure in Bell-mère's orange grove.

She eliminates all sorts of pirate gangs, including Buggy. During the raids, she finally meets Luffy, who still needs a navigator for his gang. She continues to protest that she hates pirates, but then apparently allows herself to be persuaded by Luffy, but forms nothing more than a community of convenience: she arrives and then plunders much of the treasure in return.

Nami initially experiences a carefree period with the Straw Hats, almost making her forget their problems in Goza. Only a wanted poster from Arlong, which Johnny throws to show Fullbody the pirates already captured, brings her out of this dream: while Luffy and his friends are busy in the Baratié, she steals the Going Merry with all the treasure it contains. She takes the gang's eye and returns to Arlong Park.

What she didn't expect, however, was that her friends would rush after her to get her back into the gang. Seeing her deal with Arlong in jeopardy, she sends them away again, but they stay. When Arlong breaks his deal and her sister Nojiko is shot, she falls into despair.

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She attempts to use a dagger to cut off the tattoo marking her as a member of the Arlong Gang on her shoulder, but Luffy stops her. When she asks him for help, he gives her his Straw Hat and takes care of Arlong while Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp take care of the rest of the gang.

After Luffy demolished Arlong Park in his fight with Arlong, she finally joined the Straw Hat Pirates and left her homeland. On her upper arm, she let Dr. Nako give her a new tattoo of Genzō's windmill and Bell-mère's oranges, leaving a scar from the tattoo removal. And that's about it. The live-action adaptation never revealed that much about Nami's past, her relationship with the Straw Hats, and her relationship with Arlong, but that's the story, and it has all the details you need to know.

We actually wanted to give you a more in-depth look at the situation because it's one of the most important moments in Nami's story and the Straw Hats' early days, as it shows how well they treat each other, as well as their loyalty to each other, no matter what challenges they face together.