Usopp

Usopp (ウソップ, Usoppu), also "King of Snipers" Usopp (狙撃の王ウソップ. Sogeki no Ō Usoppu), is the sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates, and the former captain of his self-named "pirate brigade", the Veggie Pirates in the One Piece series. He was born in Syrup Village, and was first mentioned by Yasopp, his father who is a member of Shanks' crew (Luffy's idol). His mother passed away when he was a child due to illness, yet Usopp wanted to give her hope that his father would return by lying he would come back. Even after his mother's death, Usopp kept the lying habit to inspire hope in himself and others. During his journey with Luffy, it also helps the crew in unexpected ways.

He garners Luffy's interest when Usopp momentarily overcomes his cowardice and bravely helps the Straw Hats' struggle against Captain Kuro, a pirate captain who schemed to use Usopp's home for himself. After Kuro is defeated by the Straw Hats, Usopp joins them. Preferring to leave his make-believe reputation at his home, Usopp joins the Straw Hats in hopes of becoming a real hero. He acts as the crew's sniper, artist, and secondary shipbuilder.

When Usopp was first introduced, he was often (comically) labeled as the "Liar" of the Straw Hat Pirates, due to the "Uso" (うそ) in his name meaning "lie" or "falsehood". He was officially the third (unofficially fourth) member of the crew, and the third to join, and, including Nami and Robin, also the third to rejoin, doing so at the end of the Post-Enies Lobby Arc. During the events in Dressrosa of the Dressrosa Arc, Usopp awakened his Observation Haki, making him the fourth member of the Straw Hat crew to demonstrate and use a form of Haki.

His original bounty of 30,000,000 berries was credited to his alias and alter-ego "Sogeking" (そげキング, Sogekingu). His current bounty, 200,000,000 Berries, is a huge jump from his original, due to his role for saving all the toy slaves in Doflamingo's underground trades. This takes him from the third lowest bounty of the crew to the third highest, jumping past the previous holder, Robin Nico.

"Hey... if you wanna run, now's the time!"
 * —Usopp.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Sonny Strait (English), Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

Biography
The son of Yasopp, marksman for the famous Red-Haired Pirates. Usopp takes after his father and fights as the Straw Hat Pirates' sniper. He has a talent for inventing which helps in unlikely ways.

Originally from Syrup village of the East Blue. Admiring his father who served under the great pirate Shanks, he aspires his dream is to become a "brave warrior of the sea". Carrying on his father’s aiming talents, he has 100% precision with his slingshot. During Luffy’s coincidental visit to the village, Usopp’s courage was acknowledged by Luffy and his crew, leading Usopp to join the crew. With his steady hands, he develops weapons as well as repairs the ship. Also blessed with an artistic sense, he designed the Straw Hat Pirates flag.

In the two years after the Battle of Navyford he trained under Heracles on Greenstone of the Boin Archipelago full of gigantic bugs, he obtained mastering the use of the seeds of a new weapon called “Pop Green” that allow quicker and more offensive attacks.

Appearance
Usopp is a slim teenager with medium-length black woolly hair and a long nose, which is apparently an allusion to Pinocchio (a wooden boy from a story of the same name who possessed a nose that would stretch after he lied). Usopp inherited his famous nose from his mother, while the rest of his face closely resembles his father's.

He usually wears an olive green plaid bandanna, a blue and white striped armband on his left arm, along with special sniper goggles (he also has a pair of clear rectangular goggles that he sometimes wears in situations where he does not have his sniper goggles, like when he first met the Straw Hat Pirates or when his sniper goggles were stolen by Mr. 2), brown overalls with a white sash and no shirt underneath (although he wore a murky green shirt during the Skypiea Arc).

He also carries with him a brown satchel, which he stores all his tools and gadgets in.

Pre-Timeskip
During the Straw Hat separation, after landing in the Boin Archipelago, Usopp grew obese from overeating.

Post-Timeskip
After the two year timeskip, Usopp has become much more muscular than before and has grown his hair out. He has become "manlier" and is slightly taller than before.

Usopp now has a new pair of goggles around his neck (his sniper goggles weren't shown) and has some headphones or ear protectors on. He also now has a little goatee along with a new white suncap he wears on his head. He also has a new pair of rolled-up yellow pants with red suspenders, and a pair of boots.

His trademark yellow satchel has been replaced with a red one, but he still has his blue and white striped wrist band on his left arm.

Outfits
During the Punk Hazard Arc, he wore a purple coat with light blue lining on the sides, which he took from one of Brownbeard's Centaur Patrol Unit.

During the Dressrosa Arc, he wore an orange open jacket with a ring of circles on the arms and a red cap which has a pointy stub on the end, which he used to make the Dwarves believe he was a descendant of Noland.

During the Zou Arc, he wore a light green short-sleeved collared shirt buttoned up halfway with a short, black line on the middle of each sleeve and a dark green cap with his signature goggles resting on top of it.


 * Hair Color: Black
 * Skin Color: Mot Known
 * Eye Color: Black
 * Age: 17 (debut), 19 (after timeskip)
 * Birthday: April 1st
 * Height: 174 cm (5'8½"; debut), 176 cm (5'9½"; after timeskip)
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
Usopp is one of the more sentimental Straw Hat Pirates, and cries or loses his temper in moments of emotional stress. At the start of the series, Usopp was an easily frightened, anxious, insecure, compulsive liar. Unlike Nami (whose cowardice is linked to just wanting to stay alive), Usopp's cowardice was the result of his fear and insecurity, especially when faced with uncertainty. Usopp is able to put aside his fear during more desperate times: despite being afraid, he faces those fears for the sake of his friends and people he barely knows. Most of his lying was intended to make him feel better as Usopp is easily overwhelmed by his opponents, such as Kuma Bartholomew or Aokiji, and used to usually run from them. He used to be the first to come up with an excuse to avoid doing something or to avoid putting himself in danger. One of the most frequently used excuses is that he gets a disease named, for example, "Can't-get-on-this-island disease". Before the timeskip, he also had delusions of acting like the captain, referring to himself as "Captain Usopp" when talking to Chopper, opponents, or strangers.

It is this which leads to his feud with Luffy - specifically his refusal to part with the ship he had come to love. This was the result of all his insecurities about his usefulness as a member of the crew culminating within him and finally exploding under the stress of having just been badly beaten by the Franky Family and then losing his ship. He was worried that since he was not as physically strong as Luffy, Sanji, and Zolo, he was just a burden to their crew. Though he is very intelligent and a talented sniper, he had trouble seeing his better qualities and his strengths until the fight at Enies Lobby opened his eyes. After said fight, Usopp was able to finally see his better half and realized that even though he was not as strong as the others, he was still quite powerful in his own right.

After meeting the giants Dorry and Broggy in the Little Garden Arc, Usopp began to want to travel to Elbaph one day and meet the proud warriors there. Usopp gave his first glimpse of understanding the ways of the warrior and the pride of a duel during the giants' battle. As a result Usopp often sees the Elbaph warriors he has met in his travels as sources of inspiration in his journey to become "a brave warrior of the sea".

Throughout Thriller Bark, many members of the crew fell victim to the effects of Perona's negative powers, causing them to become incredibly depressed to the point where they could not move. However Usopp, though slightly affected by the power, got to his feet claiming he could not become negative, because he already is negative, even saying it in a brag-like way. Perona claimed he was the only person who was ever immune to her powers; to the point using her powers on him causes her to become severely depressed, so she fled from him in fear. After finding out about Ace's death, he developed the courage to escape and help out Luffy through the hardship or else he will not call himself a crewmate. Usopp shows an unusual lack of fear in his attempts to get off the island to rejoin Luffy, showing no hesitation in facing the giant beetle who was bigger than he was.

He also has a dislike for mushrooms, due to eating a poisonous one when he was younger.

After the timeskip Usopp becomes more confident in himself, especially in terms of his fighting abilities, and boasts that he has become a warrior. Prior to the timeskip Usopp freaks out about joining his crew in the fight at the Human Auction House. However, on his return to the Sabaody Archipelago, he shows no fear of the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates despite them having guns and attacks them without hesitation, and then turns his back to them to talk peacefully with Nami. Later in the battle of Gyoncorde Plaza, when facing off against Daruma, an officer of the New Merman Pirates, he is shown to be smiling, seemingly excited about his imminent fight, though at the time, he was under the impression that Chopper would be providing him with backup. He now comically smacks people (mostly Luffy) more frequently when they annoy him or say something stupid. However, now he is willing to stand and fight with the rest of the crew. He is still reasonably frightened of danger that is beyond his ability though, such as Natsu, Luffy, Happy and Zolo popping the coating bubble while deep under the sea or the White Strom or when traveling on Green Bit he was adamant that he and Robin stay close together. His "I-can't-go-on-this-island-or-I'll-die-disease" is still the same as shown when he did not want to go to Punk Hazard, even despite the fact he understood the strength of his crew members. His habit of lying also remains, as displayed on Green Bit, where he adapted quickly to the naive dwarves, and immediately proclaimed himself to be Usoland, descendant of the hero Noland, after discovering the connection between the two.

Usopp has also, on a few occasions displayed a subtle perverted side of him, that is often not noted upon. The best example of this is when he, Zolo, and Brook are trapped in a suspended cage in Ryugu Palace and Brook explains his newfound ability to extend his soul over long distances. He also explains that his soul can travel through solid objects, including walls, to which he begins to have a small nosebleed, indicating that he used this ability to peep on girls over the duration of the timeskip. Usopp begins crying to Zolo, stating that Brook was, "making him jealous."

Alter-Ego (Sogeking)
Sogeking is Usopp's alter-ego developed during the Water 7 and Enies Lobby Arcs, when he left the crew. Later seeing the others trying to save Robin made him feel guilty for leaving, so he stated to Sanji and Franky that he cannot help them fight for this reason. He hastily 'disguised' himself in a mask and cape and began calling himself "Sogeking". The Sogeking mask is from the Sea Train Puffing Tom. As Sanji leaves the last car of the Sea Train the mask is visible sitting in an open suitcase. He is called "Soge King" in the FUNimation subs. In the Viz manga and FUNimation dub, he is called "King of Snipers".

During this facade, he sometimes dons a deeper voice to disguise himself, which can be seen as the "true" Sogeking. Sogeking also refers to nearly everyone with a "kun" suffix (Luffy-kun, Zolo-kun, Chopper-kun etc.) and when asked of the whereabouts of the 'Island of Snipers' he supposedly comes from, maintains that it exists "in your heart". As Sogeking, he changes the name of his attacks from Japanese to English, such as the "Firebird Star" when shooting at the World Government flag. Everyone except for Luffy and Chopper already knew that Sogeking was Usopp at the sight of Usopp's significantly long nose. Pepper, Carrot, Onion and Kaya were able to recognize him, though they claimed no one else in Syrup Village did.

As his alter-ego Sogeking, Usopp was able to fight alongside the others without having to deal with his departure. During his time spent acting as Sogeking, Usopp began to realize that while he was one of the weaker crew members, his role as the crew's sniper and a supporting crew member made him more valuable than he thought. Ultimately, he was recorded as Sogeking on his bounty. The fact that Usopp himself is not technically wanted allows him to slip through enemy lines seemingly undetected, as shown when Oars originally let Usopp go because (being Luffy's shadow) Oars did not think Usopp was a target.

During his fight with Perona, Usopp started arguing inside his head with his alter ego over their situation. Once he put on the mask he gained the confidence that enabled him to defeat Kumashi. Whether or not Usopp is developing a multiple personality disorder is debatable and has yet to be confirmed by the author or within the story; though it is also possibly just a coping mechanism to help Usopp deal with the stress of the situation.

The genuine Sogeking has not yet made an appearance since the two year time skip. However, during the Straw Hats' return to Sabaody Archipelago, when Usopp and Nami face four of the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates, Usopp sees the mask worn by the Fake Sogeking. While he says "Sogeking", it does not indicate whether he is merely surprised that someone is impersonating him or actually believes it is the real Sogeking. Although when he reunites with Chopper, Usopp and Nami tell Chopper that they are impostors.

Friends/Allies

 * Veggie Pirates
 * Pepper
 * Carrot
 * Onion
 * Kaya
 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Luffy D. Monkey
 * Nami
 * Zolo Roronoa
 * Sanji Vinsmoke
 * Chopper Tony Tony
 * Robin Nico
 * Franky
 * Brook
 * Gaimon
 * Johnny
 * Yosaku
 * Vivi Nefeltari
 * Karoo
 * Giants
 * Dorry
 * Broggy
 * Oimo
 * Kashii
 * Kureha
 * Whitebeard Pirates
 * Trace D. Portgaz
 * Nebra Nefeltari
 * Cricket Mombran
 * Hatchan
 * Camie
 * Rayleigh Silvers
 * Heracles
 * Kuja
 * Hancock Boa
 * Ivankov Emporio
 * Jimbei
 * Fukaboshi

Family

 * Yasopp (father)
 * Bachina (mother; deceased)
 * Mounblutain (imposter counterpart)

Rivals

 * Mounblutain

Enemies

 * Black Cat Pirates
 * Kuro
 * Krieg Pirates
 * Krieg
 * Arlong Pirates
 * Arlong
 * Wapol Pirates
 * Wapol
 * Baroque Works
 * Crocodile
 * Galdino
 * Bellamy
 * Blackbeard Pirates
 * Teech D. Marshall
 * Eneru
 * Foxy
 * Lucci Rob
 * Moria Gecko
 * Impostor Straw Hat Pirates
 * Demalo Black
 * Manjaro
 * Chocolat
 * Mounblutain
 * Drip
 * Nora Gitsune
 * Cocoa
 * Turco
 * Caribou

Abilities and Powers
According to Oda in a discussion with Mayumi Tanaka, Luffy's voice actress, 'no matter who joins, he always wants Usopp to be the weakest' since otherwise it might upset the balance of the story. Oda also states that this is because Usopp is the closest in strength to a regular human compared to the others and thus this portrayal can be easily related to by the average person's own strength.

Both his physical and mental strength have all increased greatly during the two years away from the crew, as he was able to quickly dispatch all of Caesar's men on his own. While many of his attributes lie mainly in his ability to hit nearly anything he sets his sights on with his slingshot, he is now shown to be strong enough to keep both Robin, Luffy, and himself afloat in freezing water.

Physical Abilities
Usopp's endurance and willpower is considerable as well. After a major battle, Usopp tends to have severe injuries often caused by his determination to reach his goal. He will attempt to continue even with his injuries. A prominent example of his incredible durability can be observed when Usopp was hit in the face by Mr. 4's 4-ton bat, and smashed repeatedly through walls by Miss Merry Christmas, and not only survived, but was able to continue fighting. This has been seen more recently with their fight against the legendary Golden Lion Shiki where he was the only Straw Hat that managed to remain conscious after the battle, also during the Water 7 arc, He endured physical abuse from the Franky Family twice while trying to retrieve the stolen money. After being beaten up, Usopp managed to focus enough stamina to fight Luffy and later endured attacks from CP9 and the marines in Enies Lobby.

Usopp's endurance after the timeskip was once again displayed when he was attacked by a drug enhanced giant child from Punk Hazard and almost immediately got back up ready to attack. He was then suffocated by Caesar Clown with his Gas-Gas Fruit abilities before taking a direct "Gastanet" attack only to come out of it with a few bruises. This emphasizes the fact that his training and new found physique are not just for show.

Another one of Usopp's attributes is that he is a fast runner. In battle, Usopp uses hit-and-run tactics, and works best as part of a team where there are more physical fighters to watch his back. This is due to the fact that he is so high-strung and jumpy, and he often gives into his basic survival instincts: fight or flight (usually choosing flight), although this seems to have changed after the timeskip where he is shown to be more confident in his abilities. Even before his extensive physical training during the timeskip, Usopp was capable of running faster than a Pacifista while carrying a wounded Zolo.

Sniper Skills and Creative Wit
Usopp's role in the crew is that of the sniper, and also a jack-of-all-trades craftsman. Since early in the series, he was shown to have inherited much of his father Yasopp's exceptional marksman skills. In a challenge to shoot a whale-shaped weather vane that was far off in the distance, he managed to shoot the center of a jewel on the whale's crown, which amazed a bounty hunter named Daddy Masterson, an ex-Navy sniper.

His abilities rely primarily on his resourcefulness and understanding towards engineering (such as easily understanding the tunnel networks made by Ms. Groundhog's Day), and using the cannons of the ship with great ease. He is also very analytical in battle. For example, in his battle against Caesar Clown he understood that even though Caesar Clown had the Gas-Gas Fruit, therefore making him a Logia type, he would still explode if he was exposed to fire as he was still just gas. He then later understood that a plan would not work as Caesar Clown was in control of the gases around him and that if he removed the oxygen from the atmosphere, the flame would no longer burn.

He has also been proven clever enough to stop a foe like Caesar Clown from escaping by surprising him with a pair of Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs that he fired at him, effectively negating his Logia powers.

His marksmanship is nearly unmatched, hitting Spandam and some of the Navy from a distance of over a mile (out-distancing even the guns the Navy had) with the wind against him.

Usopp also has impeccable eyesight, and has on more than one occasion seen or noticed things before his crewmates. Examples of this include being the first one to see Moria Gecko inside the stomach of the gargantuan zombie, Oz, and being the only one able to see the harpy Monet watching them on Punk Hazard.

Prior to the introduction of Franky, Usopp served as the Straw Hat's sole unofficial gadgets and mechanics specialist. His creative engineering has resulted in the creation of both the Weather Forcer and Kabuto. He also appears to have some knowledge concerning chemistry, being solely responsible for manufacturing the highly innovative slingshot pellets, or "stars", that he uses for ammunition. For other more complex activities, such as acting as the shipwright for the Merry Go, he is largely inexperienced, as he was barely able to keep the Merry Go going doing patchwork repairs. As Franky pointed out, his skills are amateur and he barely knows how to use a hammer correctly for such jobs. After Franky joined the crew, Usopp gladly let him take over maintaining the ship, even agreeing to Franky's request to assist him. In return, Franky provided a workshop for Usopp to work on his gadgets and creations, something he is more at home with. Even Franky admitted that his skills in gadgets are considerable.

Miscellaneous Skills
Usopp is also a great artist, as he proved in the beginning of the series when he designed the Straw Hat's Jolly Roger after seeing Luffy's poor art skills. A running gag involves Luffy and Chopper building simple snowmen or sand castles only for Usopp to show off his vastly superior skills with a professional work of his own, which ended up being destroyed in a comical way. He also enjoyed boasting, much like Luffy and Sanji, that he has never been ill during his life (which impressed Vivi). Usopp used to make spiders fight when he was young and knows how to handle them without being bitten by their fangs or being poisoned in the process. Usopp is also an adept liar, which can be useful in certain situations. Although many of his lies are outrageous, they've been shown to be a useful distraction at times; especially against gullible opponents. At times, it even succeeds as a deterrence albeit for a short period of time until his enemies figure out his bluff. He often incorporates his bluffs into his arsenal with mixed results.

Likely due to his time with Heracles, Usopp has gardening skills, which he uses to cultivate Pop Greens for his arsenal after the timeskip.

Haki

 * Main article: Haki

Usopp has awakened his Observation Haki during the latter half of the Dressrosa revolt, as he was able to see auras of Luffy, Law, and Sugar, who were in the royal palace, from the old King's Plateau near the Corrida Colosseum. With this, he was able to pinpoint Sugar's location and snipe her down from such a distance. Usopp does not yet have control over it as he just awakened it during his attack to knock out Sugar.

Weapons

 * Further information: Usopp's Arsenal

Usopp has outstanding marksmanship abilities with his weapon of choice, the slingshot, which is the primary reason why he serves as the Straw Hat's Sniper, and also why he is often tasked with anything that needs precision at a distance, most notably the Sunny Thousand's "Gaon Cannon".

Usopp has developed other attacks unrelated to projectiles, though they are mainly jokes. These include the 5 Ton Hammer and others. After the Skypiea Arc, he has started using Dials for attacks such as using the Breath Dial to house explosive gas, using the Flash Dial to blind his foes, and using the Impact Dial to absorb and return blows.

Usopp improves his sight and/or focus with special goggles. He purchased an upgraded pair in Roguetown, but the actual scene of him purchasing them was cut out in the 4Kids dub. The scene was also absent in the original manga due to a lack of room. Since the timeskip, he has discarded those goggles, and gained a new pair which he typically wears around his neck.

Galaxy Slingshot
His slingshot also known as the "Galaxy Slingshot", was his primary form of combat, and he had many different types of ammunition in which he carried inside a large shoulder bag of his. He also often uses eggs in order to blind his opponents and rocks whenever he runs out of ammunition (before the timeskip).

Kabuto
In the Enies Lobby Arc, Usopp introduced a new weapon, the "Kabuto", a slingshot with five bands connected to a long staff. It has much greater power than his normal slingshot because it is powered by Skypiean Dials. Its range is enormous, and Usopp can use it to strike individual targets quite accurately from seemingly impossible distances over a mile.

The exact workings of the Kabuto are unknown, except that the five bands increase stability (and thus range), and the Dials in the instrument add spin to the ammunition similar to rifling to increase damage and accuracy, as well as allowing Usopp to choose a variety of different Dial effects to add to each shot. Usopp explained some of the workings of Kabuto to Perona during their fight, but was interrupted before he could finish.

Black Kabuto
After the timeskip, he uses a new slingshot called "Black Kabuto", which retains the five band design of the original "Kabuto". The only immediately clear difference is that it is colored black and has a smaller size (whereas the first Kabuto was a staff, the new one is nearly the same size as his original slingshot).

Grow Up Black Kabuto
His new Kabuto also has the ability to take on a more powerful and larger form that he calls "Black Kabuto Chomping Grass". After being given water, it eats up anything in the immediate area, such as rocks and boulders, to use as ammunition. This technique allowed Usopp to capture Caesar, along with Buffalo and Baby 5. He can expand it to an even larger size which he dubs "Super Grow Up Black Kabuto" which is useful for particularly long range attacks.

Pop Greens

 * Further information: Pop Greens

After the timeskip, Usopp is shown to be quite adept in using Pop Greens, as shown when he defeated some of the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates by creating a carnivorous plant that resembled a monstrous venus flytrap with tendrils. During the Merman Island Arc, he also manages to save the crew and the Sunny Thousand from being crushed by boulders by using Pop Greens to grow sea weed like plants to trap the boulders, and again, when they encountered the New Merman Pirates in the Ryugu Palace, he used a giant flower with a terrible smell to deter them.

In another battle with some of the New Fishman Pirate lackeys, Usopp is also seen using a particular type of Pop Green that makes bamboo shoots erupt from the ground, impaling or gouging his enemies. Later in a fight with Daruma he shoots a special exploding Pop Green into the tunnels made by Daruma's teeth, which explodes in the shape of a skull. He later uses one that transforms into a giant wolf, with the bulb that it grew from acting as its nose, which releases a stunning shockwave that is 3 meters in diameter, to finally defeat Daruma.

During his trip to Green Bit with Robin, Law and Caesar, Usopp's Pop Greens have been shown to be powerful enough to take out a full grown adult Fighting Fish.

Usopp has also been shown to be able to catch opponents off guard by using the Pop Greens in intricate ways. Also while Pop Greens are useful for battle purposes, some can also be used for utility functions (likes boats and paddles), as seen in Punk Hazard.

He keeps a small garden on the Sunny Thousand for growing more Pop Greens, in order to maintain a continuous supply of seeds.

Hope Born from a Lie
Usopp is the son of Yasopp, a pirate who joined "Red-Haired" Shanks' crew and sailed away, leaving behind his wife and son. Usopp began to lie that pirates were coming. He first began this practice when he started yelling to his mother that pirates were coming in the hopes that it would strengthen her spirits enough to keep her alive. After his mother died, he just continued to do so because of the pain of having lost both parents one way or another, leaving himself alone.

Many of the villagers made a show of chasing him and throwing things at him for running through the town, but they were used to his antics. Some villagers even used his daily run through town as a sort of alarm clock. Aside from his cries of pirates attacking, he also made up stories about adventures to entertain Kaya, a young girl he met who was sick and had to stay in bed all day.

Usopp called himself a pirate and took in three younger kids, Carrot, Onion and Pepper, as his "crew"; he dubs the group "Veggie Pirates".