Bell-mère

Bellemère (ベルメール Berumēru) was Nami and Nojiko's adoptive mother, seen in a flashback during the Arlong arc.

Personality
In her youth she was a renowned trouble maker. While her actions to join the Marines were a shock to all the other villagers, they all cared deeply for her wellfare despite the trouble she had always given them. Due to her past, her decision to adopt her daughters led them to fear the children's own wellfare. However Bellemère was determined to show she had grown into a mature adult who was capable of such responsibilities, she has occasional relapses such as stating she is dieting to preserve her beauty and youth and Nami points out that her skin is starting to wrinkle and turn yellow to Bellemere's chagrin.

Friends
She had a funny relationship with Genzo above all other villagers. She was able to manipulate him through a few seductive moves that leave him extremely embarrassed. Genzo knew her past and dubbed her the "Little Thug" in response to her troubles.

Nami and Nojiko
Her history gave her an advantage in dealing with Nami's own antics at times, however she could not change the fact that she and her daughters were not related by blood and therefore was unable to handle Nami rejecting her family completely. Neverless she cared about her daughters deeply, she would give her daughters as much she she could afford to, often at her own expense. Her only regret she had was she could not give them everything they wanted in life. However, she loved them both as though they were her own.

Bellemère the Marine


One day she and fellow Marines were sent to an island to fight some pirates causing trouble there. The fight was bloody, leaving many dead and destroying the village the two sides were fighting in. Bellemère lay wounded and dying, she decided that it was alright to let herself die there and then. However just as she was giving up and letting herself go, Nojiko appeared carrying Nami. Bellemère and Nojiko were lifted by by Nami's unawareness of what had happened and Bellemère took the two back to her village.

Upon arrival, a storm had broken out over Bellemère's home island and the two children had grown ill. She insisted the two girls get treatment before her. Later after all three of them were better again, she asked the other villagers not to register the girls for adoption with the World Government. She declared (with many protest from the other villagers) that she was old enough and mature enough to look after the girls herself.

After the Storm
Bellemère lived on her orange grove with the girls. While Bellemère had very little income, she gave everything to her girls and survived by eating the mandarin oranges she grew. One day Bellemère scolded Nami when she got caught stealing (Nami stole a book because she knew they were poor), shortly after Nami revealed to Bellemère why she stole the book - she was studying navigation. Bellemère applauded Nami's first drawing of the island as the first step of her dream to map the world and put faith into Nami that she really could do it.

However while some things were avoided by Bellemère's money problems, others did not. One day Nami was given one of Nojiko's dresses by Bellemère (who simply turned the sunflower on it into a lion) and Nami was offended. Nami wanted her own clothes not Nojiko's hand-me-downs. Nami wouldn't acknowledge the three of them as a real family, and ran off, saying that she wished she were adopted by rich people. Bellemère realized she wasn't acting like an adult back there, she decided to spare some money and prepare Nami's favorite meal even though it would hit her budget. She sent Nojiko to fetch her while she prepared the meal.

Arrival of Arlong
That same day Arlong invaded the island and found her home, Bellemère tried to fend them off but was quickly subdued. When asked for the fee needed to stay alive, it turned out all the money Bellemère had would either save herself or her two daughters. Things would've been okay, as Arlong was unaware of the two girls' existence, but Bellemère gave it to her two girls as she would rather have died than not call herself a mother. To that end, Arlong shot her right in front of the eyes of her two adopted daughters, but not before Bellemère apologized to Nami for not being richer, and not being able to buy the girls whatever they wanted. With that, she said her final words to the girls: "I love you."

Translation and Dub Issues
Belle-mère is French for "stepmother".

Although Bellemère's role in the story was very important, in the 4Kids English Anime, Bellemère's role was toned down to a background character. Arlong's gun was edited out by enlarging his hand to make it look like he's pointing at her and his text was change so he said she was sent to the dungeon. She still dies in the 4Kids dub and the references to her being shot in front of her daughters is completely unreferenced.

The word Mace was removed from her shirt and all images of her smoking were erased.

Mercandise
Bellemere has been the choice character in many forms of mercandise. She has been featured in the series of models Portrait of Pirates. She was issued alongside Nami in a One Piece Block Figures set featuring the Straw Hats and their past mentors/loved ones.

Trivia

 * In a recent Japanese Fan Poll, Bellemère is currently ranked the 32nd most popular character in One Piece.
 * According to a joke answer from Oda in one SBS, Bellemere's hairstyle is called "Women have guts!".
 * Belle-mere is French for "step-mother."