With a small break I took, I continued to think about Usopp’s defense here and I had been wondering if he ever risked his life so blatantly for people he didn’t consider his responsibility before. He hardly had the onus to fight for the Straw Hats in Arlong because he didn’t see them as his at the time. And, before this, I honestly can’t think of a time where he genuinely risked his life like that if it wasn’t for his friends. I may be forgetting something and embarrassing myself but I think this is development for Usopp. I think this is his promotion from a brave pirate to a brave hero. To wipe Robin from his mind is brilliant because it means he can’t be fighting for her, he has to be fighting for the Tontatta and this episode reminded me of why Usopp is almost my favorite Straw Hat. He’s so dangerously close, I was bawling and oozing snot like I was Trebol this episode. But let’s get into that.
The beginning forced us to see how many people are relying on Usopp. Robin as a toy, Franky as he holds off a barrage of enemies like no other refusing to lead them underground, Luffy and his trio, all of the toys, all of the Tontatta, he is the centerpiece of everything whether he realizes his importance or not. Yet this sequence also had Luffy giving us a reminder of Usopp’s speech in Punk Hazard, Violet worried about the Tontatta and Luffy said that Usopp was going to handle it with complete faith. “If he were the kind of person to betray us, it would’ve been a lot easier for me. I would’ve just run away with my tail between my legs! But he never ever stops believing in us so we had no choice but to support him”. And likewise the scene continued to force Usopp to face people who utterly believed in him, the snailsponder was on and the Tontatta fought for his honor, refusing to believe he lied. They got stepped on one by one holding onto their hopes for Usoland. And Usopp must have felt like a pathetic piece of garbage running away. As is implied in his previous speech, if someone doesn’t believe in him then it’s a lot easier to conform into their expectations and run. But when he has to hear the crushing of people that believe he’s the man he dreams of being then he has to fight. He was torn up begging them to stop believing him and crying. If he left then he'd have no excuse but to admit he's a coward.
He made it to a ship, he could have escaped, yet he ran back to be honest with the Tontatta. He ran back to make sure they knew he was a coward, so that they wouldn’t hold and die with false hopes. It was a sense of respect, he could not let them go on thinking he was what he was not. In the moment he was the antithesis of Usoland. But that belief was also enough to force him into fighting for them, how could he let them down, and his language when he initiated was clear. He isn’t expecting to get out of this okay, he’s sacrificing himself and his announcement was so touching. He came clean with them out of compassion and told them that now is when he becomes the legendary hero he told them he was. His first attack reminded me of his expertise against Luffy from Water 7, it maneuvered around and cut through Trebol. But it won’t be easy, Sugar picked up the grape and thinks it is poison. Trebol can’t be dead that easily and I’m concerned that he’s logia if he can be cut up like he was at the end. But let’s have faith in Usopp like Luffy does as he is revealed to everyone as a legendary hero. This is somewhat analogous to the Perona fight as well, he doesn’t need to lie to be strong anymore. He is not roleplaying Sogeking nor Usoland, he uses them for strength but fights as Captain Usopp the deadly sniper of the Straw Hats!!! HECK YEAH!!!
An arc which has central importance on Franky and Usopp as they are as heartfelt and strong as ever while revolving around organized crime and parties playing around and bending the rules to attack each other? Was this made for me? |