#i also love what used to be known as merryshipping

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What makes Usopp so shippable for you (or even overall, what do you enjoy about Usopp's dynamics in his gen/romantic ships)?

He was one of my favorites from the little I've seen/read of OP, so I'm curious to know your thoughts!

What a cool ask! I have an old post both on Tumblr and Dreamwidth about Usopp's emotional role among the Strawhats in general and his platonic dynamics with Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and Chopper in particular. The Dreamwidth post is available here: https://rainsometimes.dreamwidth.org/167329.html . In romantic ships, well, when it comes to Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Sanji, I would just add romantic and sexual attraction to the platonic foundations mentioned above. With Luffy - Usopp is up for silly shenanigans and while he will veto the most bizarre ideas Luffy might come up with in bed, he's likely to caught up in fun flights of fancy. I view Luffy as pretty uninterested in dominance play in the bedroom and I think Usopp would be all on board with that, too. They have a really strong bond in canon and it would be a silly and for the most part - if not always - harmonious ship. (Naturally there would be plenty of slapstick violence when Luffy is being idiotic.) With Zoro - the chill relationship I mentioned in the old post would serve them well in a romantic relationship. Now, I do think that Zoro is someone who will always place Luffy's dream and wellbeing higher than anything else, but I actually think that Usopp is similar to Zoro in that regard, and so it makes good sense to ship them. At the same time that they are mostly pretty chill, there's also an interesting potential tension there especially tied to them both being so much engaged in the idea of being a "warrior", with inner and outer strength, pride, and masculinity - but not in the combative way that Zoro and Sanji have. -That being said, I also think Usopp/Sanji/Zoro makes for a spicy yet ultimately functional three-way-ship.

With Nami: they are just such good buddies and they're easily tactile and it's not that hard for me to see them in a more physical and sensual light. Nami generally doesn't seem to be into dudes but I can see Usopp as her one exception. ...Except I also like both Luffy/Nami/Usopp and Sanji/Nami/Usopp! Look, Usopp is just so great for OT3 ships. With Sanji: it can easily be seen as bros with benefits, but they also both have a romantic side in common, even as they're both heteronormative enough to have assumed that romantic side will be directed towards women. Sanji/Usopp can have a delicious yearning undertone, whether mutually or not. With Robin: here the maturity gap might be just a bit too big (I'm not thinking so much in number of years, more in personality types) but there are still ways I can see them working together. Even more than Robin/Usopp separately, though, I think Franky/Robin/Usopp would be a delightful OT3. With Franky: despite Franky being older than Robin in years, he's got more childish sides to him and I don't feel as much of a maturity gap with him. Him and Usopp have a number of things in common and they hang out a lot. And one more OT3 I've seen in the wild is Franky/Zoro/Usopp which I also think would be a fine ship! (Incidentally, putting Usopp at the end of most of these shipnames here doesn't say anything about my headcanons for sex preferences, it's just a random way of writing the shipnames. Personally I see Usopp as a switch, most of the Strawhats as switches, and Zoro as a bottom. But I'm totally on board with other interpretations too!) Then Kaya of course is the one with the canon shiptease and I think has a pretty good chance of becoming canon at the end. I like the ship - but only if either Usopp is willing to settle down for at least ten years or so on an island and stay put, or Kaya is healthy enough to sail with adventures as a shipdoctor with Usopp. I don't want Usopp to be an absentee husband and father like Yasopp was. I was going to go on naming other ships but if you haven't read or watched much of One Piece I'm not sure if they would mean much to you. Summing up, I think the one caveat with shipping Usopp is that he's pretty young in years and while he's seen and experienced lots of things on their journey, he's still not the most mature character out there. So for these reasons many people in the One Piece world might not be into him. Of course there could be other reasons he wouldn't be their type too. Obviously he's not conventionally handsome or consistently fearless and confident! But many of Usopp's qualities are on the social and emotional side and the way he's a tactile dude with flexible personal boundaries means he's easy to ship all over the place, in my eyes!

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Fic recs for Usopp pairings except Luffy/Usopp and Zoro/Usopp

For @blackusopp and anyone else taking an interest! Er, these are mostly pretty old because I haven't gone looking for fics as much in the last few years. My recs for Luffy/Usopp and Zoro/Usopp fics have already been posted. (See the tag "myficrecs" on my blog if you're curious.) There's a lot more than these out there, many of which I haven't read! Especially for Sanji/Usopp, which I think is probably the most popular Usopp ship overall.

(One might think from this list that I don't like Usopp/Kaya, but I do! It's just that I can't remember at the moment any particular fic with that pairing that really stayed with me.)

Please, let me know if any of the links below no longer work! (Or if I messed up the formatting and that's why they don't work.)

Luffy/Sanji/Usopp/Zoro

I actually only know one fic for this ship, and it's very brief, but nice: Reconciliation by chibi-trillian. PG-13. Post-Enies Lobby but written before the real crew reunion took place in canon

Merryshipping (Luffy/Zoro/Nami/Usopp/Sanji)

Five's Bad Company by Guardian 1. Author's summary: "It's indecently hard to get privacy on this ship. Luckily, nobody wants it. Nobody ships like Nami ships". Note: I read this fic fairly early on in the fandom and loved it. It struck a chord in how I like to approach Strawhats shipping in general, I think.

Merryship 50 by Lonicera Japonica. Author's summary: "Fifty sentences of piratical polyamory".

Nami/Sanji/Usopp

The Art of Getting What You Want by tFantasyFan. Sanji/Nami/Usopp, rated T. Author's summary: "Nami is the master of figuring things out. It all goes her way from there."

Nami/Usopp

The Lies That Bind by Guardian1. Fifty onesentence challenge for this pairing, with perhaps just a hint of Merryshipping as well.

Something Worth Saving by Loniceraa Japonica. Brief ficlet, set after Arlong Park.

Turnabout Is Not Fair Play by spiderflower. Hard R. Before you click on this one, I should warn you that this is replete with Water 7 angst and does not end in happy fluff. Both characters are in a bad place here, especially Usopp, but Nami's not in the best state of mind either. They both do and say some pretty messed-up things. But it's well-written stuff if one is in the mood for dark-tinted angst.

Sanji/Usopp

All Very Romantic by tFantasyFan. Author's summary: "The first consideration and the first acknowledgment of the desire. Kissing, Sanji-style."

Ashes NC-17 and That Other First Time by Tonko. Both of these are NC-17 and part of a Vampire Sanji AU where the main couple is really Sanji/Zoro: Sanji and Usopp are very close FWB here. You can also find them on AO3 as part of this series.

Happy by Lonicera Japonica. Author's summary: "It takes a lot to make Sanji really laugh."

In Good Hands by Tonko. Hurt/comfort: Sanji gets a massage, and gets lucky.

Music Box by midnightdiddle. (PG-13, Sanji/Usopp) Two castaway pirates start going nuts. Set early on in the canon (before Chopper joins).

Sanji/Usopp/Zoro (This pairing used to be known as "Red Shirt Trio" on the old LJ fandom once upon a time)

Pathetic Excuse For a Flirt, Really, But At Least He Smells Good by runic-binary. Short and funny to the prompt "vanilla".

Yes, He Could by plotbunny-tiff. R. Getting Zoro to truly unwind is no mean feat. Note: Another fic that's influenced me a lot. It's fairly short, but the intimate atmosphere in this one just stuns me. When I wrote my own fic with this pairing much later on, I kept comparing it to this one and felt mine fell short...