#ch465

My enjoyment of this fight is also greatly enhanced by the fact that Perona is just fucking hilarious

This whole speech is such a beautiful continuation on the character development that started in Enies Lobby. Usopp took the lesson he learned there, that there are certain things that only he can do in the crew, and decided to face Perona alone. But it's hard! Harder than he thought possible! He still needs to reach down into the heroic persona he invented in order to get back up and keep fighting. He's still in 'fake it till you make it' mode, but once he's able to do what he originally thought was possible by defeating Perona, he'll leave the mask behind for good. The lesson will be fully learned, and he'll be able to fully become the person he once had to pretend to be.

I can't blame Usopp for this one. If I saw this in real life I'd be scared shitless, too

Perona's fight is fun because, like Usopp, she's lying about how her power works, but we the audience don't know that. It helps put the reader more in Usopp's frame of mind as we're making these discoveries along with him, and you realize he and Perona are more alike than initially appears

I will forever be sad that Oda completely replaced this setup for Usopp with pop greens when he could have just as easily had him use both

I really like that Usopp/Sogeking bases his confidence on nothing. His whole arc is about becoming the person he wants to be. It's something he has to build up to. Sure, he's had heroic moments, but this is that next step. It's something he's never done before, so he has to believe in himself despite not having anything to base that belief on.