#usopp ur the bravest and the best of them all. regular guy stuck in a crazy shonen battle manga i love you

[akairokara]

for usopps bday i went nuts abt water seven below the cut 👍

also not to go craaazy on the whole ‘relating to characters over our shared personal trauma’ but i don’t know that ive ever related to a character more than usopp… the entirety of water seven made me so gd sad bc it was all him struggling with his own insecurity, and it’s not even untrue bc he genuinely is surrounded by insane fighters, people with powers etc. how can usopp- definition of ‘just some guy’ - handle himself in the same fights as these guys. the usopp that was outmatched by the gag characters in baroque works!!

and even compared to nami, the other straw hat of his power level, she’s shown as much more crucial in the narrative up until that point. she’s a genius at navigating! he’s a genius at sniping, but it never plays as big a role UNTIL water seven.

so when the merry has reached the end of her lifespan, usopp also sees it as a sign that he’s reaching the end of his tenure on the ship! and he fights that notion, he confronts franky n everything, but u can’t do what cant be done, so he flips out on luffy, trying to prove his worth once n for all by beating luffy using usopp’s own tricks. ultimately he loses, and that’s his sign that he and the merry aren’t good enough for the straw hats anymore.

it’s only by becoming sogeking that usopps able to overcome the fear that he isn’t good enough, and hes able to use his true abilities to take down the flag in that one pivotal moment for robin…

n throughout, the crew still love and care for him so much!!! chopper, nami, luffy, even sanji tells franky he shld beat him up for ‘giving our long-nose such a hard time’. zoro’s hardassery i think comes from being the first mate, but also acknowledging usopp as an equal w the right to make his own decisions. That fucking scene where usopp apologises and luffy’s FULL FACE sobbing… who among us insecure people wldnt want a group of friends who love us and want us around so bad!!!

And then the transition from that to thriller bark, where usopp faces down perona and says, ‘I finally found something that I could do and the others couldn’t. I thought i could finally protect them’. He puts on the sogeking mask and it helps him separate from those anxieties and think analytically, which usopp is best at. and he does it again! he beats perona using his brain!! and he doesn’t need that mask again after that. It’s about the growth, the realisation that even if you aren’t as strong, you’re still valued and wanted, and that reassurance giving you the support you need to explore ur own strengths that others might not have. cmon man water seven rules and usopp rules. He’s my guy.