Netflix's One Piece: What Is Nami's New Tattoo After The Arlong Park Arc?

In Season 1, Episode 8, "Worst in the East," Nami (Emily Rudd) gets a new tattoo. This takes the place of the ink she was given as a child by the Arlong Pirates to signify the permanence of her deal with Arlong (McKinley Belcher III) to procure the freedom of her village. When the pirates double-cross her, Nami stabs her tattoo out of rage, but after Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and the Straw Hat Pirates forcefully liberate Cocoyasi Village, she decides to replace it with something new, something more meaningful to who she is now.

Nami's new tattoo is a cross between a tangerine and a pinwheel. The tangerine represents Belle-Mere (Genna Galloway), her late adoptive mother, who owned a tangerine grove, while the pinwheel represents Genzo (Grant Ross), the sheriff of Cocoyasi Village, who wore a similar pinwheel in his cap in an elongated attempt to cheer her up as a child. Whereas the Arlong Pirate tattoo marked Nami as a member of a villainous crew, her new tattoo marks her kinship with good people. By placing it directly atop where the old tattoo once sat, Nami tells the world that her future belongs to her, only her, and those she cares for.

In Japan, tattoos are strongly associated with the Yakuza rather than viewed as a form of self-expression. Consequently, tattoos on "One Piece," written and illustrated by Japanese manga artist Eiichira Oda, are typically meant to brand a character as part of some larger organization, like Nami's Arlong Pirates tattoo or Jinbe's Sun Pirates tattoo.

Notable exceptions do exist, but it's within a framework of narrative significance. For instance, Luffy (sort of) bears a tattoo on his right bicep that marks how long his crew will be separated before reuniting under the Straw Hat Pirate banner.

So it's a big deal for Nami to publicly announce her allegiance to her late mother and Genzo in this way. The meaning is loud and clear: These are my people, forever and always — kind of like how the Straw Hats on Netflix's "One Piece" are friends in real life too.