One Piece: Here’s Why Usopp Is Seemingly Useless!

The great Usopp is actually one of the most recognizable One Piece characters and definitely one of the more popular ones in the series. Thanks to his lies and deception skills, Usopp has managed to build a feeble reputation in the series, but in practice. He wasn’t shown to be too capable, at least at the beginning of the series. In this article, we are actually going to address this issue and reveal to you why Usopp only seems to be the most useless member of the crew.

Usopp’s enormous cowardice and inability to fight properly made him look like a pretty useless team member, but Usopp is far from useless. He is a technical genius who devised various inventions and improvements for his crewmates. On top of that, he is an exceptionally skilled marksman, which has come in handy on more than one occasion in the series, and recently, he has also mustered up the courage to actually participate in fights himself more and more.

The rest of this article will tell you more about Usopp and his personality, as well as how the latter is reflected in how fans perceive the character throughout the series. We will provide you with all the details you need to know and explain all the necessary phenomena so that you will have all the answers you need when you read this article. Of course, some spoilers might be present, but we do have to stress that the article will not be spoiler-heavy, so you can relax as far as that is concerned.

Usopp is far from useless, but due to his cowardly behavior, he is commonly perceived as being useless

To properly explain this issue, we actually have to talk a bit about Usopp first. We know that he is the son of Shank’s crewmember Yasopp and Banchina, who died when Usopp was a child because she was very ill. As a child, Usopp developed a habit of warning Syrup Village about pirates coming to attack them, but since he was always lying, people stopped believing him.

He was, thus, left to himself, and he learned how to get through life by lying trickery, and his own wits. With time, he has devised numerous fake stories about his adventures, some of which he used to entertain Kaya. This is how he met the Straw Hats and would ultimately join them.

But, Usopp didn’t seem to be of much use initially, and that was all due to his personality. Namely, Usopp is quite cowardly and fearful. In his home village, he was famous for being a liar, having repeatedly told invented stories and passed them off as truth.

Despite his lack of courage, he always made himself available to the crew, proving to also be very altruistic. In fact, even if he usually cries or loses his temper in critical moments, for the good of his companions, he is willing to sacrifice even himself, as demonstrated when, once he lost the briefcases containing the crew’s money at Water Seven, he faced the Franky Family alone to recover them.

His lies are usually intended to make his companions flatter him or intimidate his opponents, of whom he is usually very afraid. Although these lies usually do not affect enemies, some of his allies blindly believe what he says. Sometimes, even some opponents believe his lies, such as Jango.

Furthermore, he makes numerous excuses to avoid danger. Despite this, his dream remains to one day become a brave pirate.

Despite these sides of his character, Usopp has also proven to be a very stubborn and determined person, so much so that he fought against his own captain and even left the crew to keep and save the Going Merry. Usopp was very doubtful of his potential until the events of Enies Lobby.

In fact, here, under the guise of Sogeking, he discovered, also thanks to Sanji’s words, that as a sniper, he was fundamental for the crew. He has a strong attachment to life, so much so that he admits that he cannot conceive the code of honor of the samurai, who desire death, because one must continue to live even if one has fallen into disgrace.

As you can see, the main reason why many fans (and in-universe characters) consider Usopp useless is his personality. He openly admits that he is a coward and will do anything he can to actually avoid danger, which has become a trademark of his, so to speak. Usopp’s general lack of fighting skills at the time seemed like a wholly valid reason for the marksman to actually avoid fighting, but his cowardly nature persisted even after he joined the crew, although the situation has improved.

Namely, as Usopp realized how important he was to his crewmates, he also started becoming more courageous. His crewmates have accepted him for who he is and have supported him throughout, regardless of his cowardice, which gave him the strength to become stronger and better. His inventions have helped the crew on more than one occasion. He has also used his marksmanship skills, and he can also use Observation Haki, which was also helpful.

This is the main story; we shall now answer two additional questions related to this, which will further elaborate on the subject.

Is Usopp the weakest Straw Hat?

In terms of pure physical strength and fighting skills, he is. All of the others are exceptionally strong (Luffy, Zoro, Jinbe, Franky), have special powers (Nico Robin, Chopper, Brook), or are skilled fighters (Nami, Sanji). Usopp is not useless because of that, though, as he possesses unique skills that the others don’t, making him an invaluable crew member.

This has been proven repeatedly, so we cannot really state that he is useless. He is not as strong as the others because he possesses unique skills that others don’t, making him not only useful but wholly invaluable.

Is Usopp the least loyal?

Considering his cowardice, you might think that Usopp would not be too loyal, as he watches out only for himself and doesn’t care for the other crew members, but you would be wrong.

Usopp found a family in the crew, and despite his cowardice and his desire to stay alive, he will nevertheless put the crew’s interests in front of his own and will, in that aspect, put even his own life in danger to save them. So no, Usopp is not the least loyal member of the crew, and he is, in fact, as loyal as the others.