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Nami first noticed she had gained weight when she was waiting on Sabaody.
She supposed it was typical that everyone wouldn’t get back at the same time. Failing to find any of her companions upon her arrival (although she later learned Zoro and Franky had already made their way back), she decided to kill some time shopping around the archipelago.
It had been two years since she had been here. Given how horrifying the events of their visit had been, she hadn’t gotten to tour as many of the shops as she had wanted. Fighting for your life generally took priority over shopping sprees.
She checked out a map shop first, nearly talking the cashier into giving her a map of west blue for free, checked out a shoe store and found some nice heels, and decided to look around for some new tops before heading to the bar.
As she took off her shirt, leaving only a bikini on her upper half, she noticed her stomach bulged and sagged a little bit over her jeans.
She paused. Such an event was… abnormal, to say the least.
Almost not believing her eyes, she pressed a finger into the slight pudge. It wasn’t a lot - certainly not fat of a medical concern - but it shocked her nonetheless.
She checked her face in the mirror as well. Sure enough, it had rounded out a little. She couldn’t see every outline of her skull anymore.
For extra measure, Nami twisted her body to get a good look at her backside.
She whistled. Some of her pants had been a little ill-fitting recently, now that she thought about it.
She spent some more time going over herself in the mirror. The fat surprised her, but it wasn’t a bad look. She had never been insecure about her body - she very often wore smaller tops, which often made it easier to get more money out of people.
But there was never really a lot of her, Nami thought to herself. Her family in Cocoyashi was always poor growing up. Much of the food they acquired was from the trees Bellemere herself planted and farmed. And after joining the Arlong Pirates, Nami often denied herself larger portions of food or any food at all to make it to 100,000,000 beris. She pinched every beri until they screamed so efficiently that it took a toll on her body.
She’ll never be able to thank Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats enough for taking out Arlong and releasing her from her past. Although Luffy would probably just tell her that she never owed them anything to begin with.
It was also a comfort, Nami supposed, that she could take out Arlong on her own nowadays if she really needed to. There were far more terrifying enemies that she would face in the New World, many of which she was certainly not equipped to handle alone. But with the friends she had, she fully believed it would all turn out alright.
The very thought made her laugh. “Friends” was also something she wasn’t accustomed to. She hated relying on others. Sometimes, she feels like she still does. But Luffy’s unwavering belief in her allowed her to open up, at least a little.
Her life was forever changed over the past two years; physically, mentally, and emotionally. But that was almost certainly for the better.
There was a knock on the fitting room door. “Ma’am?” an employee asked. “Are you alright? You’ve been in there for quite a while.”
Nami jolted out of her inner monologue and looked at herself in the mirror again. She looked down at her stomach one more time and poked it.
And she smiled.
“Yeah,” she told the employee, “yeah, I’m good.”