Not the owner, not making money, not looking for a suit.
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25. fence
Nami was an expert in fences. After all, she was, for starters, a fence herself. But she was also exceptionally good at building them around her person. They were comfortable, and kept everyone at a safe distance.
It was a habit that she had picked up through all her years of mingling with all sorts, good and bad, only to turn on them in the end and take them for all they were worth. Usually it was easy because they were almost always bad people, but on very rare occasions she did find herself getting somewhat attached, and that was when the fences came up full force.
She had stupidly forgotten to do this quickly enough when it came to Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp, though. Even though she knew from the beginning that she was just using them, she found herself letting her guard down. There was something about them, all of them, that was so disarming. That's why it was so hard to give them the kiss off like she had so many others, why she couldn't kill Zoro even if it meant ruining all her hard work, why she finally broke down and asked Luffy for help even when she had tried so hard to do it alone all those years.
Even now, with Arlong defeated and Cocoyashi safe, she was still building fences--ironically, in an effort not to feel fenced in herself. Old habits die hard, and this one was no exception. Even though she knew it was technically okay to let someone in now, she kept at those fences. She wouldn't be Nami if she didn't.
Though sometimes, she reflected, waking up under Sanji's coat (he was still asleep, a full two feet of space between them), her workmanship was shoddy, and it was possible, though seldom easy, for someone else to find their way through.