User blog:Fantasy Detective/A Tribute to Usopp!

Oi all! Happy April's Fools, fools! The month of April has arrived, my favorite month in the year! And with it my favorite season, spring! So make sure to spend some time outside in this great weather (at least it's great here) and have a lot of fun! Of course, with every start of an April, there's the obligatory April's Fool joke (mwahaha) Which is what made today really crazy for me XD So I wanted to plan something cool for today, a mean joke nonetheless.

HOWEVER, I changed my mind. So instead of you guys getting a fake PokeSOF chapter today, you'll be getting a long winded speech about... you guessed it, Usopp! Yes, the Legendary Captain Usopp himself, who just so happens to be born today! (strange coincidence =_=) So, in order to celebrate, I decided to tell you guys the story of how Usopp became possibly my favorite character in anime! It isn't really much, but I feel like it'd be suitable for today and it's the best I can do. A lot of you may have heard it or are not interested in it, you can pass on this blog right up, thanks for reading so far ^^ For you guys interested, enjoy!

My first experience with One Piece was through One Piece: Grand Adventure; an epic PS2 videogame that I played at a friend's house on regular bases. It was a great game, still my favorite One Piece game after all of those years. Anyway, my friends and I got kinda competitive at it and started making tournaments against each others. Back then my character of choice was Zoro, a powerful badass with three swords. I'd say I excelled at using him since I actually won most of the little tournaments we had. He was also my favorite character... What a swell guy. My friends had favorites as well: Sanji, Luffy, and Shanks, who were all considered to be incredibly cool for us back then. Honestly, all characters were cool in this game... except for one. The butt of all of our jokes as kids, the one we despised and kept making fun of, Usopp.



Seriously, Usopp was like an insult for us. If my friend told me:"You should use Usopp!" I'd be offended as if he is trying to dis me. And would you blame us?! The dude's character design was really weird and borderline ugly. In addition, he used eggs for attacks, used a slingshot, had some really annoying moves, and was just very unimpressive compared to the rest. To top it all of, he was a liar and a coward. Such a guy I can never like or respect. So yea, I started off HATING Usopp.

Then when I finally decided to start watching the show, I was hyped to watch Zoro in action! Early on in the show, Usopp was introduced. Once I saw Usopp, I was like:"Ugh, not this guy..." I got into his arc with very low expectation and little enthusiasm... 'cause it was Usopp. THAT guy. He, however, managed to do it... He managed to change my opinion of him in a SINGLE episode. After the episode where he meets with the Straw Hats and tries to trick them and send them off the island, claiming he had 8000 followers, shooting pellets at Luffy's feet, then eating with the Straw Hats at that restaurant and telling them about his father. Then he talked with Kaya, turns out he lies to make her laugh and feel better... Man, he quickly changed from a hated character to an okay or a fairly likable character in a single episode. He was simply really funny, and showed that he is someone who can use his head as well as managed to be epic in his own right, by lying to lighten a sick girl up! I still clearly remember the episode title, The Honorable Liar... How cool is that?!



Moving on, I clearly saw Usopp play the role of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" classic. As he lied to the villagers that they no longer believed him when actual pirates were coming... Not his Usopp Pirates... Not even Kaya. That's when he tried to take matters into his own hand and stop the pirates before they can make it into the village, proving himself a liar in the process as a consequence. And he shined! He used strategy. He was brave. He sniped them down the hill. Grabbed onto Jango's leg in attempt to stop him from advancing to the village even though Usopp was injured and at his limit. By the time the arc was over and Usopp had joined the crew, he was already one of my favorite present members and I had a great deal of love to him.

It didn't stop there, not at all. Usopp managed to prove it, time and again, that he was a great character and a true man. His dream is to become a brave warrior of the sea...A real man... This is the kind of romance I like. This dream feels like it's just what I want. His entire character is just relatable to me. His personality and social interactions are also something that I respect. Out of everybody in the crew, it always feels like Usopp is holding everybody together... Giving the crew even more heart. He seems to be the easiest to talk to as he talks to everyone, Luffy and Chopper specially as they're some of his best friends. His relationship with Nami is... rather brotherly and they relate to each other. With Franky, with Brook, etc... This guy holds the crew's interactions and he is always the man when ti comes to transitions or hilarious reactions. He IS hilarious, his cowardice and impressions crack me up every time. His fighting style is EXACTLY what I'd hoped for and wanted to see from him, with some amazing sniper skills.

I knew Usopp was my favorite character in Arlong Park arc... That fight with the fishman Chew was just... *thumbs up* As he decided not to turn his back on his friends and man up... Even managed to win the battle!! That's when I saw it in him, and realized he's my favorite character in the show so far.



It didn't stop there, he proved it again



And again



And again... Usopp cemented his spot as one of my favorite anime characters of all time in the Water Seven/Enies Lobby arcs. I vividly remember the events touching me emotionally... I felt for him and it was great. When he was beaten up and the money to repair Merry was stolen from him. When the door for Franky Family blew up and I started thinking:"Who is it?! Luffy? Zoro? Sanji? ... U-USOPP!!!" as he came back to retrieve the money. When the crew destroyed the Franky Family for his sake. His fight with Luffy. Attempting to fix Merry no matter what. Sogeking. Burning down the government flag. Saving Robin. It was all amazing character progression, and done very beautifully.









And I thought his progression would come to a halt there for a while, but no. He kept proving himself more, and more, and more. And there's still a ton more waiting. He is the guys I wanna be like. He is the guy I relate to. A guy who's actually really brave cause he faces his fears. A guy who can never stand someone dissing his friends. A guy who have enough passion and sentiment to have a death duel over a ship. A guy who outsmarts his opponents and manages to come out on top. And most importantly, a guy who improves, learns, and develops. This is why he's my favorite character for good... And it's not changing anytime soon :)

Well, did anybody read all of this? Guess not *derp* I hope that I at least made you guys remember some of the epic Usopp moments we had so far, and just celebrate the guy, haha. And share my story as well. Anyway, happy April's Fools everyone! And most importantly...



Hope you guys have a fantastic day :D Leave your birthday wishes to Usopp :3

P.S: PokeTrainer Zeon is dead.

P.S: April's Fool, Wahahaha.