Usopp

A compulsive liar and self-proclaimed captain of a tiny village pirate crew, Usopp inherits his dream from a father who sailed away with the Red-Hair Pirates. He is openly cowardly, yet his slingshot marksmanship and inventive ammunition repeatedly save the Straw Hats. His arc is one of insecurity among monstrously strong friends, resolved through hard-won courage and the alias of a masked hero.

A lanky, dark-skinned young man with black curly hair tied back, and a famously long nose that is the first thing anyone notices about him. Before the crew's separation he favors overalls, a bandana and goggles, with a shoulder bag of ammunition. After the time skip he returns visibly broader and more muscled, having trained relentlessly, wearing a long coat or bandolier, boots and his hair grown out and tied up. In his secret identity he hides behind a cape and a cartoonish mask, adopting a hero's pose.

Loud, theatrical and chronically terrified, Usopp spins tall tales about voyages and monsters he has never met, partly to entertain and partly to armor himself against a world far bigger than he is. He suffers from imaginary illnesses whenever danger looms and is the first to suggest running. Yet his cowardice is paired with a stubborn conscience: when someone weaker needs defending, or when the crew's bond is threatened, he plants his feet and refuses to move. He is sentimental about the ships and friends he loves, prone to crying openly, and deeply insecure about being the ordinary one among monsters. His inventiveness and showmanship make him the crew's morale and its trickster.

Usopp grew up in the quiet Syrup Village as the son of Yasopp, a sharpshooter who left to join the Red Hair Pirates. To comfort his ailing mother, and later himself, the boy began running through the village each morning shouting that pirates were coming, a lie he kept telling long after she died. He formed a small gang of village children who idolized him, befriended the sickly heiress Kaya with his stories, and practiced endlessly with a slingshot until he could hit almost anything. By the time the Straw Hats arrived he was a liar, a tinkerer and a crack shot who had never left home.

1. Syrup Village

   Usopp's warnings about a pirate attack are dismissed as another lie until the butler Kuro's plot to murder Kaya proves them true. Fighting alongside Luffy and Zoro on the slope outside the village, he stands between the assassins and the girl he had always tried to cheer up, then leaves on the caravel Kaya gifts the crew.

2. Water 7 and Enies Lobby

   Devastated when the Going Merry is declared beyond repair, Usopp challenges Luffy and quits the crew. He later joins the rescue of Robin disguised behind a mask as a lone sniper hero, covering the assault on the judicial island from a distance, and finally begs forgiveness and rejoins after the ship's farewell.

3. Dressrosa

   Trapped in a toy kingdom's uprising, Usopp bluffs, flees and schemes his way into becoming a folk hero to the dwarves of the Tontatta tribe. His terror peaks into a burst of awakened observation when he fires a single shot that drops a fairy-controlling officer, saving the entire rebellion and earning worshipful acclaim he never wanted.

4. Wano Country

   Fighting in the war on Onigashima, he supports the samurai alliance from rooftops and corridors with plant seeds and trick ammunition, protects the shrinking Tontatta allies and wounded comrades, and survives attacks from the Beasts Pirates' headliners, contributing to the fall of the Emperor Kaido's rule over the isolated country.

Luffy

Captain and closest friend

Their bond survives the only real fracture in the crew, when Usopp's grief over the ship drives him to fight his captain and leave. Luffy accepts him back without conditions, and Usopp treats following him as a point of pride.

Yasopp

Father

A sniper in Shanks' crew who left while Usopp was small. The son resents the absence and worships the legend in equal measure, and much of his drive to become a brave warrior of the sea is aimed at the father he barely knows.

Kaya

Childhood friend and benefactor

The frail heiress he entertained with invented adventures. She funded the crew's first real ship and chose to study medicine while waiting for him to come back with true stories to tell.

Chopper

Crewmate and partner in mischief

The reindeer doctor believes Usopp's wildest exaggerations completely, and the two form the crew's nervous, panicking comic duo. Usopp enjoys having someone who admires him unconditionally.

• He defends Kaya from her murderous butler despite the whole village treating him as a liar.
• He challenges Luffy to a duel on the streets of Water 7 after the Going Merry is condemned, and loses.
• He fights the Enies Lobby assault from a rooftop under a mask and cape rather than show his face to the crew he abandoned.
• He fells a powerful officer on Dressrosa with a single shot made while screaming in terror, and is hailed as a god by the Tontatta tribe.

• His birthday falls on April Fools' Day, a nod to his constant lying.
• Many of his tall tales later come true in some form during the voyage.
• He refuses to let anyone repair his slingshots for him, treating his weapons as part of his craft.
• He spent his solo training period on an island of carnivorous plants, which is where his seed ammunition comes from.

• Monkey D. Luffy
• Roronoa Zoro
• Nami
• Sanji
• Nico Robin
• Franky

• Tony Tony Chopper
• Brook

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