Nami’s tattoo represents several aspects of her character in One Piece, including her likes, her backstory, and her beliefs.

SUMMARY

 Nami’s tattoo transformation symbolizes overcoming a dark past.
 The mikan represents her adoptive mother, Bell-mère, and the pinwheel her father figure, Genzo.
 Nami’s mikan and pinwheel motif represents her character arc.

When Nami first appeared in One Piece, she was wearing a T-shirt. This style stuck with her through the first few arcs of the East Blue Saga. It was later revealed that she was hiding a tattoo signifying her allegiance to the Arlong Pirates on her left shoulder. Circumstances in the Arlong Park Arc led her to get the tattoo changed into something she’d be proud to display. Now, she’s more likely to wear outfits where she can proudly display ink rather than hide it.

However, the tattoo she got to replace her Arlong Pirates one is more esoteric in its meaning. Only those who know her, know the true meaning behind it. The abstract design represents a mikan hanging from a stylized pinwheel. The context of these items is contextualized by several chapters of Nami’s past and how it shaped her. The emblem has a long, complicated history that informs its conception, and why it resonates so deeply with Nami.

Why Does Nami Love and Connect to Mikans?

Mikans represent Nami’s connection to her adoptive mother.

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The mikan shape in Nami’s tattoo represents her adoptive mother, Bell-mère. The former Marine found her, along with her adoptive older sister, Nojiko, in a ravaged town. The three returned to Cocoyashi Village, Bell-mère’s hometown, and became a family. They lived humble lives in a small cottage as mikan farmers.

Back then, Nami was ungrateful for her living conditions and desired a better life with a wealthy family (this is likely part of the reason she grew up loving money); she once announced this in a fit of frustration and ran away when Bell-mère slapped her for it. She eventually learned the truth from the town sheriff about how her family was formed and went to make up with her mother.

Unfortunately, Nami would never return to her peaceful life with Bell-mère. The Arlong Pirates invaded and conquered the Coconomi Islands while issuing an ultimatum — pay their fees or die. Since Bell-mère was short on cash, she could only afford to save herself or her two daughters (kids were only half-price). She ultimately sacrificed herself so her children could live, who could only cry and beg her not to go. She hugged them and told them she loved them one more time before Arlong shot her dead.

From then on, the mikan became a significant part of Nami’s life throughout the East Blue Saga. When she initially refused Luffy’s offer to join his crew, she claimed the only two things that mattered to her were money and mikans; the latter was a random tangent at the time, but this would mark Oda’s setup for the Black Cat’s backstory.

Incidentally, the money she collected to buy Cocoyashi Village from Arlong was buried beneath Bell-mère’s mikan grove. After the Arlong Park Arc’s climax, Nami took three mikan trees aboard the Going Merry and, later, the Thousand Sunny. This nostalgic citrus stands as a reminder of Bell-mère and everything she did for her and Nojiko.

Why Are Pinwheels Significant to Nami’s Character?

Genzo placed the pinwheel in his hat to make Nami happy.

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The mikan in Nami’s tattoo is attached to a stylized pinwheel. This object represents Nami’s father figure, Genzo, who used to display one on his hat. This quirky sheriff of Cocoyashi Village was much further from Nami’s life than her mother, but he was as loving and protective as any parent could be.

As an acting man of the law, he was much stricter about Nami’s troublemaking, like stealing books from the local library. He’d expect Bell-mère to teach Nami right from wrong, but she’d often let her misdeeds slide and get Genzo to go away by embarrassing him with her flirting. Things could get tense between Nami and Genzo, but the sheriff knew to give the girl the care, attention, and advice she needed.

Genzo’s fatherly affection for Nami was present throughout her ordeal with the Arlong Pirates. When Nami was first kidnapped, he stepped in to try and save her, but he was beaten and scarred across his body by Kuroobi. Later, when Nami was cheated out of her savings, he and the villagers revealed they knew about the deal with Arlong despite Nami’s attempts to trick them into believing she joined Arlong’s crew in earnest.

He hugged her, comforted her, and rallied the village to stop Arlong for her or die trying. Luckily for the villagers, the Straw Hat Pirates were there to fight Arlong and win, but Genzo still played a supporting role in the battle. Even when the fighting was over, he warned Luffy that he’d kill him if he took Nami’s smile away.

It was eventually revealed that Genzo started wearing the pinwheel for Nami’s sake. As a baby, she cried whenever she saw the sheriff’s scary-looking face (according to Bell-mère). To counteract this, Genzo placed the pinwheel in his hat to make Nami happy, and it worked. Keeping the pinwheel there, even as Nami grew up as an Arlong Pirate, shows how much Genzo loved his surrogate daughter.

When Nami left with her new family (the Straw Hats), Genzo finally retired the pinwheel and left it by Bell-mère’s grave. In any case, Nami likely wanted the pinwheel in her tattoo because she recognized how much Genzo cared for her.

The Story Behind Nami’s Tattoo

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Nami’s tattoo started as the Arlong Pirates’ Jolly Roger. It instead featured a stylized sawshark like the crew’s namesake and leader.

This made for a shocking twist to those who knew her and saw how she looked without sleeves. She received it shortly after pledging loyalty to the crew and making a deal with Arlong to buy Cocoyashi Village’s freedom for 100 million Berries.

When the village learned about the tattoo, she lied and said she was doing it purely for the money. She wanted them to believe she’d abandoned them so they wouldn’t die trying to help her. She did the same to the Straw Hats when they came to the island. This tattoo was a symbol of her imprisonment.

When Nami was cheated out of her savings, and the the village marched to their deaths at the Arlong Pirates’ hands, Nami became furious with Arlong and took it out on his tattoo.

She took a knife and began repeatedly stabbing her shoulder; it was the only way she knew how to vent her frustration anymore. Luffy eventually stepped in to stop her; out of options, she finally reached out to her friend for help.

Once the fighting was over and the Arlong Pirates were defeated, she had her shoulder looked at and treated by Nako, the village’s doctor. As she was having Arlong’s Jolly Roger removed, she asked for a new tattoo based on a design she’d worked on herself. This is where she got her mikan-pinwheel tattoo.

Nako claimed there would be some scarring where Nami stabbed herself, and that was the case for at least a few chapters. That area has since healed to the point where the scars are invisible to the audience.

It was likely left out to maintain Nami’s beauty or maybe to save the artists some time. Some fans, however, argue that keeping the scar would have looked better and showcased what Nami’s journey, like Luffy or Zoro’s scars.

Nami’s Mikan and Pinwheel Motif

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Beyond her tattoo, Nami’s love for pinwheels and, especially, mikans has been regularly part of her design motif. She doesn’t talk about them often, but they will appear around her at certain moments. Scenes of her tending to the mikan trees aboard the Straw Hats’ ship (or Sanji protecting them from Luffy and anyone else who wants to eat from them).

The SBS has also espoused Nami’s intimate love for mikans.

Besides eating raw mikans, she’ll enjoy other foods, like roasted duck and sunny-side-up fried eggs if they’re drizzled with mikan sauce. If one were to catch a whiff of her, she would smell like mikans (and money).

Pinwheels are underrepresented compared to mikans (excluding in the tattoo). However, the two will sometimes appear in anime openings, endings, eye-catches, and other non-canon material in the background if Nami is involved.

Likewise, Nami embodies the mikan and the pinwheel through what she picked up from her parental figures. Bell-mère taught her about feminine charms, being mischievous without taking it too far, and being honest about her deepest sentiments even when faced with death.

Genzo, on the other hand, informed her stricter tendencies that prevent her from letting her crew get away with stupid things. In these regards, Nami’s personality and actions are just as indicative of what she stands for as the tattoo on her shoulder.