[PATREON Content of the Day! - Mar 12!]

It's kind of a subjective thing but I personally didn't have any issues with these scenes (though the anime does make them feel like a bigger deal than it was in the manga- they were barely a few panels in the manga so it wasn't meant to feel like such a big moment. Nami cries all the time. She runs away screaming and crying literally all the time in the series, I don't really know what you're talking about. Now to be fair, a lot of that is usually played for laughter (like Nami crying out to Franky after facing Big Mom just a few episodes ago) but regardless Nami has never been an emotionally stunted character like Robin and Zoro. She wears her heart on her sleeve, its actually why I think she's such a strong female character. Unlike other writers, Oda doesn't feel the need to make Nami a cold, unfeeling, brave badass to show her strength. Nami is just like Usopp- Physically weak, a coward in the face of danger (which is totally fair when you're not a monster like the rest of the crew), and easily affected by the situation. If you think crying makes someone emotionally weak I'm a little confused how you enjoy One Piece at all, given that most character's strongest character moments are when they are crying (and it's not because they are weak, but rather because they are becoming stronger- IE: Sanji in Whole Cake, Robin in Enies Lobby, Luffy during Post-Marineford). Nami and Usopp didn't have some big plan when running away from Page One and Ulti. They were running because they were being chased by people way stronger than them, and unfortunately the rest of the crew just believes in them/were busy and so didn't feel the need to help them. I feel like this one is pretty simple. Is it a plot device? For sure, but it's not one that feels forced to me. As for the scaling, I mean, it has always been the case that trying to power scale in One Piece is a little ridiculous. It's not like Oda is super flippant about realism in combat power but he's never been that concerned on making things perfectly reasonable. In my opinion, Nami is quite fragile and yes, we haven't really seen her ever take huge hits from anyone, so I think its fair enough to feel a bit confused as to why she managed to take the hit (despite humans being obviously a lot more durable in One Piece compared to our world). That said, I do think Usopp has more than showed his durability throughout the series. Man has taken full-power hits from Luffy during Water 7, that metal bat that literally broke his face in Alabasta, all the bombs from Perona in Thriller Bark, and he fought the Trebol/Sugar combo in Dressrosa and managed to stay conscious, just barely. I totally buy him taking a hit from pretty much anyone in the series and staying conscious, broken but alive, except for like Luffy now, the other emperors, and maybe like Katakuri and King. But I don't think it's a reach at all for him to take a hit from any of the other Tobi Roppo and stay conscious given what we've seen. Anyway, I think most people took these scenes too seriously. From my perspective, especially given how short the panels were, this was just Oda pulling his typical coward trio gag but trying to twist the end of it to show how much Nami has changed. MelonTeee actually has a great analysis that made me like the scene even more- basically, after all this time of Nami being the type of person to always consider practicality and intelligence over her personal feelings, Nami is starting to become more like her mother, Bellemere. A lot of people think Bellemere died for nothing, given that she could have just lied to Arlong about not having children and gotten away with it without dying. But to Bellemere, it was really never a choice for her. Saying that Nami and Nojiko were not her daughters was something that she couldn't bring herself to do, no matter the consequences, no matter how stupid it was. So even though Nami was freed by the Strawhats and became a lot more happy and open journeying with them, she never quite understood that feeling of standing up for your beliefs in the face of death even if it's a stupid thing to do. It's actually made quite clear in Whole Cake- After Sanji beat up Luffy, Nami was 100% willing to give up on him, abandon him to his tragic fate, and leave, despite probably knowing he had his reasons for doing so. But I think something Luffy showed Nami through his actions in Whole Cake is that stubbornly insisting on something that you know to be true and that you believe with your whole heart can lead to good things sometimes, instead of tragedy like in the case of her mother. Therefore for one of the first times in her life in this scene, Nami defies her common sense and logic for the first time to do something incredibly stupid and silly for no good reason, purely because she believes in Luffy and can't bring herself to talk him down. I believe this is the main reason she's crying in that scene- because she 100% thinks she is about to die, and she knows she is sealing her fate by doing what she's doing, but she literally can't stop herself. Despite her similarities with Bellemere, Nami is ultimately physically weak without her staff, and she has strong, reliable teammates. Bellemere was a strong marine soldier who was used to risking her life. So to Bellemere, throwing her life away for her ideals was something she could do while remaining calm and smiling, but for Nami, it was her first time doing so, and she normally would never do anything so reckless, and I bet her subconscious was screaming at her in the moment, so needless to say her emotions were running high in that moment.

yeah there's a lot of boring scenes in this arc but as you said, the good parts are the best anyone has seen in the show

You are just describing why she is an entertaining character, but ok. I don't want all characters to be mature and perfect. Unreasonable characters are often more entertaining and have more personality. Also, I'd argue that wanting to beat someone for that reason (wanting to be king of pirates) showed her loyalty to Kaido which made her more interesting and it created a parallel to the Straw Hats. Also, it's not anybody... it's the guy who invaded Kaido's stronghold and THEN said that. Plus, they are fighting a war anyway so idk why you think it is stupid for her to eliminate the enemy. Especially the Straw Hats who are some of the biggest threats.

How would you even translate it and make it work with the subtitles order, then? I don't think there is any way around that... english just is written in that order with the wording. The wording has to be "Luffy will never be King of the Pirates" in english, and she is reciting it according to what her enemy said so it's not like the order or wording of it are negotiable. Unless the meaning of what she said in Japanese was way different, but it sounds nearly identical to me just in english word order.

Yes he lies and as Jack said he is one of the least developed straw hats (basically since after Water 7) but I think for a reason tho, I believe Oda has some serious plans with Usopp. Also he is lieing with words but he doesn´t with his actions.