Discussion Usopp's courage

[M3J]

Maybe the difference isn't how much of a coward he is, but how Oda shows it to us.

Usopp has always trembled in fear and tried to skip fights with ridiculous lies, but up until the timeskip Oda kept portraying this in a consequence-free manner. He may have acted scared and cowardy, but that was usually done with great comic effect and at the expense of other Straw Hats whom we knew would save the day, unless he himself manned up and did the job.

Whereas here in Dressrosa, for the first time we're seeing Usopp go through wih the coward act. He's not only claiming to be afraid, but also manipulates a stronger party who isn't a Straw Hat into taking the risks in his stead. For the first time, we're looking at the real prospect of Usopp not doing his share of the work. Yet unless he actually turns his heels and abandons his responsibility, he won't have been a bigger coward than usual. His acts have simply caught up with his words, which we might want to consider as better characterization.

Given the fact that Usopp is still there helping the dwarves when he could have come up with an excuse to stay back, I don't think he's that much of a coward. Plus, it's normal to see Usopp be scared, but he almost always delivers when the time comes. His convictions can be strong when his crew mates are threatened in some way.

Though, I am annoyed by how cowardly Usopp is acting. He's never been that cowardly, but I am confident he will help the dwarves when they're in serious danger.

 

[sameel]

I dont really have any problem with being so cowardly. He was cowardly before and he always faught courageously when he had no choice but to fight. He is still the same. We are being annoyed now because we havent seen the courageous side of him yet. When he fights sugar or trebol, we might be thinking he is a genious sniper and all. I know there is more to usop than that. He always said he will look for an oppurtunity to escape but he doesnt seem to have tried to escape yet. This is probably the perfect chance for him to escape but he isnt. He is being cowardly and not appearing before the enemy himself but he is still helping the dwarves out of their gullibleness and even risked being found out by sugar when he did so.

 

[Sproumfch]

Well now we can say that he's a real coward.
Usopp doesn't even remember Robin, but she and Franky are betting that he'll fulfill the mission.
Oda placed a very important mission in his hands, but maaaaaaan. How would Usopp come back in frond of all the crew and saying "I fled because I'm a coward".
I'm sure there will be something in his head that'll make him come back and try to defeat Sugar. Like "I can't face Franky after what I've done..".

But maaaan, that's a crazy chapter ending (740)

 

[M3J]

Judging far too early. How many times has Usopp ran or tried to run only to turn back and face his enemies? Although he was running from Chuu, he still eventually fought Chuu. Same with Mr. 4 or the explosion guy, and many other opponents. I'll bet Josef's account and modship that Usopp goes back and at the least, takes down Sugar.

My guess is Oda wants to slowly show Usopp becoming the brave warrior of the sea.

 

[Josef]

Okay, this topic gets a sticky, it seems it cost quite an outburst these last few chapters, Usopp is probably a minor thing tho, just as a way to defeat Sugar, I can't see Oda going further into Usopp's character unless the time his father shows up, going by how the arc is crazy we might see even him appearing. xD

 

[Asarii]

Usopp that's not cowardly isn't Usopp at all imo. He's basically like a yo-yo or a boomerang. There will be moments when he runs away due to fear, but he always comes back to show that he does have the attribute of courage- it just needs a little push.

Also, didn't Oda say that Usopp was the most human and relatable character in the series? I'm pretty sure all of us would be running away too if we were in his shoes.

 

[Cavendish]

Well, If youre in a crew with strong characters as Franky, Zoro, Sanji and Luffy etc etc, I wouldnt be scared as Usopp is...

And if youre delegated the "Sniper of the Crew" - why not practice and so on, he sits and build weapons and clowning around on the boat instead.
I'm just tired of watching a character not growing since timeskip, he is rather shrinking in my eyes. Everyone has a more mature and focused aim for the goal to reach their dreams, but Usopp just act like a 10 year old kid..

the Sogeking thing is fun, but I dont like the idea of being a "other person" to gain confidence..Its been to long to keep on continue on Sogeking.

If my dad is on one of the Yonkous ship, I would have alot of confidence.
So I really hope he gets a stronger weapons soon as a rifle or a gun(imbued haki when time comes).

There was a anime episode when they where at Logue Town when Usopp met someone in a duel, the guy lost to Yasopp ages ago and Usopp won the "revenge" battle with a skillshot, more of that.

please Oda, make Usopp a true warrior now

 

[M3J]

Well, If youre in a crew with strong characters as Franky, Zoro, Sanji and Luffy etc etc, I wouldnt be scared as Usopp is...

But if you're by yourself or without strong allies, then you would be pretty scared.

And if youre delegated the "Sniper of the Crew" - why not practice and so on, he sits and build weapons and clowning around on the boat instead.
I'm just tired of watching a character not growing since timeskip, he is rather shrinking in my eyes. Everyone has a more mature and focused aim for the goal to reach their dreams, but Usopp just act like a 10 year old kid..

Well, Usopp is a pretty expert sniper, given how he was able to shoot the keys all the way to Robin and hurt Spandex-chan from such distance. Even the Marines weren't able to see where he was. Usopp is outnumbered, it's not shocking that he'd be too cowardly to be honest. He's facing one person who he thought was weak, and he's facing someone who threw a ship and blew up the midgets.


Usopp's time will come. Hopefully as himself, not as Sogeking. Again, I can see Oda slowly turning Usopp braver as the arcs pass.

 

[danzouismadara]

Usopp's goal is to be the bravest warrior of the sea. He willl turn back and whoop some serious arse!
I'm sure he learned out to deal with sticky flower monsters during the two year time-skip, so Trebol should not be a problem. Shit will get real, so just be patient, and don't jump to conclusions thinking that usopp is just going to bail. Personally, I think Usopp is doing the right thing, since if he attacks blindly then he will end up like robin and the whole thing will fail. HE should take as much time as he needs to come up with a sogeking strategy.

 

[Necron]

When it comes to Usopp, or any charater from the Strawhat crew, I alsways like to take a step back and look at the situation in the grand scheme of things.
Usopp's final goal is to become a brave warrior of the sea, just as Luffy's goal is to become the King of Pirates or Zorro's goal is to become the best swordsman in the world.
Now imagine Zorro becomes the strongest swordsman right now, or about 3/4 into the story rather than obtaining that title almost at the end of the manga. That would mean that Luffy will just have the strongest swordsman chilling around on the ship for the remainder of the story with not really anything to do besides fighting off some bad guys. That would be pretty anticlimatic and/or boring (at least in my opinion). If Zorro has the decisive battle for that title in the last arc however, that builds a great deal of tension and makes the finale of Zorro's development a lot more (for lack of a better word) epic.

And the same goes for Usopp. If Usopp loses all of his cowardly traits right now and starts to throw himself into every dangerous situation before his friends, then his development would be complete, he would have reached his goal and there would be nothing more for him to do other than fighting the bad guys in order for everyone else to reach their personal goals. Now of course one could say that there need to be steps in between in order to become a brave warrior, or whatever else the goal might be and I agree with that. We see Zorro grow with every fight he has and Usopp has been getting his growth spurts aswell, Arlong Park and Enies Lobby being very apperent examples.

With this arc, I think Oda wants to set up a pretty strong contrast effect for Usopp. He was being carefull throughout the start of the SOP operation already and now with Robin, and therefore a lot of Usopps previous development, being erased from his memory he acts like the good old run-away-from-any-sign-of-danger Usopp. But once the moment for the toys to be turned back will be inevitable for the savety of one or more characters, Usopp will strike and end up one of the more important puzzel pieces of this arc.

 

[jimtors]

I love Ussop because of his bravery and cowardly together. it makes him who he is... Whether we admit it or not.. running is the best strategy for Ussop right now.. When he gets the distance and see sugar and trebol on small panic he will grab the situation and save the day. ^_^

 

[THM Nindo]

Yeah.

Since we learned that the plan was to have Sugar eat a grape, it was pretty clear to me what would happened.
Usopp is a sniper, so obviously the best way to help right now is to take some distance, and use his slingshot to throw the grape right into Sugar's mouth.

I'll actually be very surprised, if it doesn't go down that way.
But, you know... Oda is a pretty unpredictable writer, so who knows...

 

[sameel]

Yeah.

Since we learned that the plan was to have Sugar eat a grape, it was pretty clear to me what would happened.
Usopp is a sniper, so obviously the best way to help right now is to take some distance, and use his slingshot to throw the grape right into Sugar's mouth.

I'll actually be very surprised, if it doesn't go down that way.
But, you know... Oda is a pretty unpredictable writer, so who knows...

But sugar doesent open her mouth unless she wants to eat or talk unlike trebol.

 

[Syphin]

But sugar doesent open her mouth unless she wants to eat or talk unlike trebol.

Incoming Robin forcing Sugar's mouth open. Now that she is a toy, she won't have to worry about being transformed into a toy again =).