Usopp/Personality and Relationships

Personality
Usopp is one of the more sentimental Straw Hat Pirates, and cries or loses his temper in moments of emotional stress. At the start of the series, Usopp was an easily frightened, anxious, insecure, compulsive liar. Unlike Nami (whose cowardice is linked to just wanting to stay alive), Usopp's cowardice is the result of his fear and insecurity, especially when faced with uncertainty. Though Usopp is a coward by nature, he is able to put aside his fear during more desperate times: despite being afraid, he faces those fears for the sake of his friends and sometimes people he barely knows. Most of his lying was intended to make him feel better as Usopp is easily overwhelmed by his opponents, such as Aokiji, and usually runs from them. He is the first to come up with an excuse not to do something to avoid putting himself in danger. One of the most frequently used excuses is that he gets a disease named, for example, "Can't-get-on-this-island disease". Before the timeskip, he also had delusions of captainship, refering to himself as "Captain Usopp" when talking to Chopper, opponents, or strangers.

It is this which leads to his feud with Luffy - specifically his refusal to part with the ship he had come to love. This was the result of all his insecurities about his usefulness as a member of the crew culminating within him and finally exploding under the stress of having just been badly beaten by the Franky Family and then losing his ship. He was worried that since he is not as physically strong as compared to Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro, he was just a burden to the crew. Though he is very intelligent and a talented sniper, he had trouble seeing his better qualities and his strengths until the fight at Enies Lobby opened his eyes.

After meeting the giants Dorry and Broggy in the Little Garden arc, Usopp began to want to travel to Elbaf one day and meet the proud warriors there. Usopp gave his first glimpse of understanding the ways of the warrior and the pride of a duel during the giants' battle. As a result Usopp often sees the Elbaf warriors he has met in his travels as sources of inspiration in his journey to become "a brave warrior of the sea".

Throughout Thriller Bark, many members of the crew fell victim to the effects of Perona's negative powers, causing them to become incredibly depressed to the point where they can't move. However Usopp, though slightly effected by the power, got to his feet claiming he could not become negative, because he already is negative/depressed, even saying it in a brag-like way. Perona claimed he was the only person who was ever immune to her powers, to the point using her powers on him causes her to become severely depressed, so she fled from him in fear. After finding out about Ace's death, he developed the courage to escape and help out Luffy through the hardship or else he will not call himself a crewmate. Usopp shows an unusual lack of fear in his attempts to get off the island to rejoin Luffy, showing no hesitation in facing the giant beetle who was bigger than he was.

He also has a dislike for mushrooms, due to eating a poisonous one when he was younger.

After the time-skip Usopp becomes more confident in himself and boasts that he has become a warrior. When he met Nami in a bar, he showed no fear of the impostors with the guns, going as far as having his back to them. He now comically smacks people (mostly Luffy) more frequently when they annoy him or say something stupid. However, now he is willing to stand and fight with the rest of the crew.

Alter-Ego
Sogeking is Usopp's alter-ego developed during the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arc, when he left the crew. Later seeing the others trying to save Robin made him feel guilty for leaving, so he stated to Sanji and Franky that he cannot help them fight for this reason. He hastily 'disguised' himself in a mask and cape and began calling himself "Sogeking".

I heard everything from him. You want to save a defenseless girl right? I will lend you a hand for free.

During this facade, he sometimes dons a deeper voice which can be seen as the "true" Sogeking. Sogeking also refers to nearly everyone with a "kun" suffix (Luffy-kun, Zoro-kun, Chopper-kun etc.) and when asked of the whereabouts of the 'Island of Snipers' he supposedly comes from, maintains that it exists "in your heart". As Sogeking, he changes the name of his attacks from Japanese to English, such as the "Firebird Star" when shooting at the World Government flag. Everyone except for Luffy and Chopper already knew that Sogeking was Usopp at the sight of Usopp's significantly long nose. Tamanegi, Ninjin, Piiman and Kaya were able to recognize him, though they claimed no one else in Syrup Village did.

As his alter-ego Sogeking, Usopp was able to fight alongside the others without having to deal with his departure. During his time spent acting as Sogeking, Usopp began to realize that while he was one of the weaker crew members, his role as the crew's sniper and a supporting crew member made him more valuable than he thought. Ultimately, he was recorded as Sogeking on his bounty. The fact that Usopp himself is not technically wanted allows him to slip through enemy lines seemingly undetected, as shown when Oars originally let Usopp go because (being Luffy's shadow) Oars did not think Usopp was a target.

Sogeking: Calm down!!! Fight with her Usopp-kun. Usopp: Shut up!! I can't do it anymore. There is no way I can win! Sogeking: That's not it. You are a man who can do it certainly. Usopp: Do you have some sort of proof then!!? Sogeking: Nope! Usopp: You don't!!! During his fight with Perona, Usopp showed signs of a split personality and even went so far as to argue inside his head with his alter ego over their situation. Although they are technically the same person, Sogeking in comparison to Usopp is much more confident and took over once Usopp adorned the mask again, only slipping back into Usopp once the mask came off. Whether or not Usopp is developing a multiple personality disorder is debatable and has yet to be confirmed by the author or within the story; though it is also possibly just a coping mechanism to help Usopp deal with the stress of the situation.

During the Straw Hats' return to Sabaody Archipelago, when Usopp and Nami face four of the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates, Usopp sees the mask worn by the Fake Sogeking. While he says "Sogeking", it doesn't indicate whether he is merely surprised that someone is impersonating him or actually believes it is the real Sogeking. Although when he reunites with Chopper, Usopp and Nami tell Chopper that they are impostors.

Crew
He will often goof off with Luffy and Chopper and shares a strong, brotherly relationship with them. He and Luffy share a common path towards an eventual meeting with the Red Haired Pirate Crew: Luffy to reunite with Shanks and Usopp with his father. Through this small connection and the fact that they are the same age and, thus, at the same level of maturity, Luffy and Usopp had a very special bond from the moment they met. Chopper loves Usopp's stories and often falls for his tall tales, and Usopp in turn loves Chopper's hero worship of him and makes a point to act cool in front of his "younger brother". Both Luffy and Chopper were very upset when Usopp left the crew.

He gets along with Nami, but (like Chopper) is often intimidated by her sometimes violent behavior. Usopp and Nami have a special bond as the only "normal" crew members. At some point during the Alabasta arc, Nami approached Usopp and asked him to make a weapon for her, convincing him to do so by confessing her feelings of inadequacy when compared to the awesome strength of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and even Chopper.

She said that Usopp was the only one who could understand these feelings, and thus was the only one who could help her. Upon them reuniting after 2 years apart she hugged him, complimenting on how he has grown. Zoro and Sanji get along well with him, but before the time skip, often admonished Usopp for his cowardice and sentimentality. Zoro displayed unusual caring or loyalty for Usopp by attempting to slash Nami when she lied that she had killed Usopp during the Arlong Arc before being stopped by the recently joined Sanji.

During the Enies Lobby Arc, Sanji showed a special bond with Usopp when he helped him realize that he wasn't useless to the crew like he previously thought. Usopp was scared of Robin, as well as Brook when they first appeared to the Straw Hats, however, he changed his views over time and sees them as good friends. As for Franky, while he did beat up Usopp during the Water 7 arc, they began to understand each other once they talked about the Going Merry. Usopp is usually the one who tests Franky's cannon-type inventions. They have also bonded over their ability and mutual fondness for engineering. They both tend to the ship together, upgrading and maintaining it.

A running gag involving Usopp and the crew is that whenever a topic of discussion is brought up by someone and happens to contain personality traits that link to Usopp (such as his lying habits or his long nose), the crew always turn to stare at him or see a mental image of him (like in Jaya with the tale of the King of Liars Norland, or when they first met Kaku even though the subject may have nothing to do Usopp in particular.)

Friends
He shared a deep fondness for Kaya back in his village due to her losing her parents and often tried to keep her happy. Unfortunately, his lies backfired when he tried to protect her when Kuro put his 3 year plan into action and Kaya lost all respect for him. After Kuro's plan is stopped, she decided to try to remain happy for him while he was gone and Usopp is left happy that she is safe. When his "Sogeking" bounty is made public, Kaya is able to identify him and seemed proud of his accomplishment. Just seeing his poster inspired her to get back to her medical studies, wanting to be able to take care of his injuries upon his eventual return.

Back at the village also, his old pirate trio also await his return. When they last met they parted ways with him to led off on their own dreams. They have been following the reports of him ever since via the newspapers and are proud to have called him captain, even if the other villagers don't know what has become of him, and spoke of making their own imitation masks.

"Sogeking" also made friends with Oimo and Kāshī after he revealed the truth to them concerning the World Governments lie about having their leaders. Having told them of his dream to go to Elbaf, once they felt their debt was repaid to the Galley-La, they offered him a ride to Elbaf with them, though he turned it down to rejoin the Straw Hat crew.

After landing on the Boin Archipelago, Usopp was rescued by, and quickly befriended Heracles, who tried to stop Usopp from injuring himself any more than he already had while he tried to escape the Forest of Gluttony. Heracles also saved Usopp from being eaten by the Stomach Baron, the island they're on itself, when Usopp became fat. He later became Usopp´s sensei and helped train in the 2 years the Straw Hat's were separated to become "the true king of snipers".

Enemies
He has a deep anger at Kuro, whom he defeated to protect Kaya. While he himself is at ease with the Marines, his alter-ego carries a bounty. He also made an enemy of Perona during the Thriller Bark arc for being the first person to defeat her.

Yasopp
Yasopp is Usopp's father. While Usopp has yet to be shown interacting with his father, Usopp has remained proud of him even though he took the path of a pirate. Yasopp also seems to care deeply about his son despite being absent for the majority of his life. It is also unclear as to how well he knows his father, as it was never said when exactly Yasopp left (except for the flashback during the fight between Usopp and Daddy with Yasopp saying "I left when he was just a baby to sail with Shanks' crew"). One clue is in Ch 41, it's said Usopp's mother died not that long after Yasopp left, in the flashback, Usopp looks like a small child. Usopp either knows about his father from stories told by his mother or from actual memories, which one it is remains a mystery.

Banchina
Banchina was Usopp's mother. He deeply cared about her well being, to the point of creating his original set of lies about his father returning in an attempt to give her hope and keep her alive. When she died, he suffered a deep loneliness that led him to keep on lying even though he no longer had a reason to do so.