How Strong Is Usopp in One Piece? Powers & Abilities Explained!
Out of all the Straw Hat Pirates crew members in One Piece, Usopp is known as the comical relief and by far its most cowardly member. Now, while Usopp’s cowardice might not be a reflection of his true powers, we certainly did not see much of the latter because of the former. That is why we have ventured on a journey to discover how strong Usopp is, as we think that it is quite important. In the rest of this article, we are going to explain Usopp’s powers and abilities in more detail.
Usopp’s powers and abilities
Usopp is the Sharpshooter of the Crew, and one of the weakest and most cowardly members in comparison. Oda wished to make him the weakest of the crew permanently, in order to keep a balance in the story, and because Usopp is the crew member who is closest to a normal human being. Since the beginning of the series, he is inferior in power and strength to the other characters and needs his weapons for strength. Even if he is a coward before the timeskip, after the timeskip he has changed, more mature, more reckless, and more sure of himself.
Physical powers and strength
Usopp does not have superhuman abilities like Luffy or Sanji. Before the timeskip, he used the bluff to hide the fact that he can only lift 5 kg at best, being, with Nami, one of the weakest members without any fighting technique; the duo often improvised with the means at hand during fights. After the timeskip, however, he is strong enough to be able to hold Luffy and Robin in freezing water without sinking.
He often emerges wounded from the battles he suffers, but his endurance remains exceptional, continuing to fight even after serious injuries. When Mr. 4 destroys his face at bat and Miss Merry Christmas sends him against several walls, he continues to fight regardless, for Luffy. He fights for Luffy at Water 7 even after being seriously injured by the Franky Family. Still wounded, he survived the CP9 and Marine attacks at Enies Lobby.
He’s tough enough to hold his own against Perona, who has many ghosts detonated on him and to survive a beating from Kuma. On Punk Hazard, a giant kid punched him, but he got up almost immediately, ready to fight him. When Caesar Clown asphyxiates him and causes an explosion, Usopp emerges with minor injuries.
During Strong World, he is also the only member of the crew to remain conscious after being beaten by Shiki. Usopp is also a very fast runner, even without training. He was able to evade Smack for several minutes, despite Smack’s superior skills on him. He often tries to run away from battles if he can, though this behavior regressed after the timeskip. According to him, he has never been sick in his life.
However, according to SBS Volume 73, he hates mushrooms because he once got sick from eating them. Although it has never been clearly established, we can say that he also has a very developed sense of hearing. In the anime, at Enies Lobby, when the Straw Hat Pirates run through the tunnel under the sea to escape, Usopp happens to hear a sound like water, which gives him a bad feeling. With good reason, since at the end of the tunnel, a large quantity of water is heading in their direction.
Haki
During the Dressrosa Arc, under fear of permanently forgetting Luffy due to Sugar’s powers, he manifests Observation Haki for the first time when he manages to see the aura of Luffy, Law, and Sugar through a wall more than 3 kilometers away.
Marksmanship
Usopp is an outstanding marksman, having obviously inherited this from his father, also a marksman, and is the Sniper of the Crew. He is able to shoot a distant rock with a cannon accurately without difficulty. He uses a slingshot which he handles with great dexterity, never missing his target. He uses all kinds of objects instead of ammunition such as eggs, shurikens or, more effectively, explosive or flaming balls.
He uses a lot of tactics during his fights. His strategies are often surprising, even comical, but the fact is that they are relatively effective. As a sniper, he must have perfect vision. That’s why he bought riflescopes in Loguetown. They prove to be very effective and very useful during his fights. Since the trip to Skypiea, he also uses Dials during his confrontations, extremely formidable weapons, especially when mixed with the fine tactical intelligence of Usopp.
His vision is unmatched among the crew, often being the first to notice details that others miss. He is, for example, the first to see Gecko Moria hidden in the stomach of Oars, and he is the only one of the group to see Monet observing them on Punk Hazard. He also sometimes serves as a lookout, and helps neutralize outposts, such as when he spots Kaido’s guards on Onigashima Island and neutralizes them from a distance.
He is also the first to note cyborgs with eyes that broadcast Sanji’s voice over Onigashima. In addition to being the sniper, he is also the person who maintains and uses the default crew ship’s cannons. His marksmanship is second to none, as he is able to accurately hit targets while they are at improbable ranges, which is proven when he fires at the stunned Marines on the Bridge of Hesitation from the top of the Tower of Justice, successfully and while the Marines’ guns fail to reach that range.
He is able to hit Sugar at almost 3 km, a distance at which he cannot even see his target, while he must pass his shot through a small window taking into account the wind, boosters that change the trajectory of its ammunition, and inside buildings.
Not only can he shoot with precision, but with just the right amount of power as well. Against Perona, and as he has just spotted the room she is in, he is able to fire 4 exploding balls with enough accuracy to cause a single wall to collapse, leaving Perona’s body without a single scratch.
Engineering and mechanical skills
Of the crew, Usopp is the one with the most technical skills with Franky. He understands the tunnel system that Miss Merry Christmas creates and uses it to his advantage. He is responsible for almost all of the weapons Nami uses, primarily the Climatic Wand. he was also able to use technology from Weatheria, which he only knew about from Nami, to create the Ultimate Climate Wand.
He also upgraded his Kabuto through Dials, or Pop Green. He can create various weapons he calls “stars”, which can throw shurikens, tabasco balls, and incendiary balls. Against Caesar Clown, he proves shrewd, understanding that he would explode if exposed to fire, due to his Logia powers.
Usopp was the Carpenter and main repairman on the Vogue Merry, even though he had no experience in this field, because no one else could take care of it. He often tinkered with sketchy solutions to combat the degradations that the Merry suffered, with enough perseverance that the Klabautermann of the Merry even showed up to help him.
When Franky joins the crew, Usopp becomes Franky’s assistant, who has much more skill in this area. In return, Franky reserves a spot on the ship where Usopp can work making gadgets, which is more his thing, earning Franky compliments on it. Usopp is the crew’s gunner, and he knows how to use the Vogue Merry’s cannons and the Thousand Sunny’s front cannon by default.
Tactical abilities
Partly due to his lack of courage, Usopp is, along with Sanji, one of the most tactically gifted members of the crew. He can lie brazenly with enough confidence to scare some naive enough people, even if they are stronger than him. He often uses these abilities to have a winning tactic in a fight. When Smack confronts him, Usopp throws a bottle of alcohol at him, which he catches, in order to set him on fire, in order to finish him off with a hammer.
During the Little Garden Arc, Usopp tricks Mr. 5 into thinking he’s throwing an incendiary marble at him for him to swallow, believing his powers are protecting him, unaware that it’s actually a tabasco ball to which he is sensitive. During the Alabasta Arc, he is the one who thinks of using Mr. 3’s power to forge a wax key to free them from Crocodile’s prison.
During the fight in Alubarna, Usopp uses Drophy’s own power to infiltrate the tunnels she created and attack Mr. 4. He uses Mr. 4’s slowness to hit Miss Merry Christmas when she comes right on him. , when he thought he was hitting Usopp. During his fight against Luffy, Usopp, although at a great physical disadvantage, uses diversions to prevent Luffy from seeing or smelling the gas-generating dial, in order to detonate that gas right on Luffy.
On the Puffing Tom, he also uses a dial to create smoke to surprise CP9 and retrieve Robin, successfully until Blueno catches up to them. Against Perona, Usopp was able to guess that she had to use a diversion to act from scared runaway to arrogant ghost, and guessed where her real body was. After the timeskip, Usopp uses these tactical skills even more to create traps that allow, with Chopper, to beat Daruma, a very fast enemy who also uses tunnels.
On Punk Hazard, Usopp took advantage of Caesar Clown’s fleeing arrogance to gain his confidence with his powers that allowed him to escape whatever Usopp was throwing at him, in order to more easily throw a pair of Granite Handcuffs at him, immobilizing him. On Dressrosa, Usopp understood the mindset that Sugar would find himself in after his traumatic defeat after nearly 10 years of controlling the population of Dressrosa bit by bit.
He then took advantage of this weakness to attack her again by sending her a rough drawing of his face to traumatize her again. In One Piece Film: Gold, Usopp quickly thinks of a solution to Baccarat’s lucky powers during the final battle, using her incredible luck to win her at a slot machine hidden in a bag when she flips a coin. on the group, before taking the opportunity to shoot him directly. Without her realizing that she had no remaining chance, she let herself be shot.
