Before Arlong entered the picture, Nami was an orphan. She, along with Nojiko (Chioma Umeala), grew up under the earnest care of Belle-Mere (Genna Galloway), a former Marine who gave up her life fighting pirates to live peacefully, if not poorly, on the Conomi Islands. Unfortunately for both Nojiko and Belle-Mere, Nami channeled her trauma into trouble, even stealing from a shop in the village. Maybe Belle-Mere could have eventually helped her find a better way ... we'll never know, thanks to Arlong and his crew, who raided the Conomi Islands and placed the entire population under their debt, demanding an exorbitant amount of money per person to allow them to live. Belle-Mere couldn't afford to pay for all three of them, so she sacrificed herself to save her adoptive children.
Fast-forward to the present. In Season 1 of "One Piece," Nami — who has never revealed to anyone why she joined Arlong — steals everything she can to buy back what matters to her. She doesn't care who gets in her way. Initially, her run-in with Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu) only serves as a means to an end, but after Arlong double-crosses her when he realizes that she's actually scrounged up the cash, it's her newfound companions who come to her aid. They're the ones who believe in her. Well, Luffy believes in her, anyway. Zoro doesn't, nor does Usopp (Jacob Romero); Sanji (Taz Skylar) does, but he's not exactly thinking with his brain. All this is to say that there's a reason Luffy is in charge, and it's he who changes Nami's calloused belief that there's no good left in the world.
