Usopp Week 2025

Usopp liked to consider himself an observant person.

   It sort of came with the territory of being a sniper, he thought, being that he had to keep a sharp eye for making long shots. And that just happened to bleed into his day-to-day, too.

   There wasn’t exactly much to observe on the Sunny.

   The fish in the aquarium were neat, of course, and there was always some kind of bug on Nami’s tangerine trees.

   But even then, after sailing on the Sunny for so long, and with many of the same people before, on the Merry, there wasn’t really anything new to see.

   The same old, same old.

  Which was fine, as far as Usopp was concerned! They had plenty of weird things happening anyway while sailing the Grand Line!

   The ship and crew being the same as always was a comfort, something Usopp could count on.

   Usually.

   Usopp also considered himself a bit of a worrier, among other things. An over-reactor, some may say.

   Something he’d made peace with, really. No big deal.

   This felt like a teeny-tiny big deal.

   Usopp leaned further against the back of the couch, staring off at the all the fish in the aquarium.

   Everything had started out fine. He woke up at his usual time and shuffled into the galley right before breakfast was done.

//

   Usopp pushed open the galley door, happy to leave the early morning chill behind him in favor of the warmth coming from inside.

   Robin, Brook, and Zoro were all awake, already sitting at the table.

   Usopp knew that, with the exception of Sanji, Brook was the earliest riser out of the crew.

   Robin tended to be awake quite early too, sometimes because she hadn’t even gone to sleep in the first place the night before.

   For Zoro, it depended on what time his night watch was at. But even then he didn’t often sleep in too much.

   And then there was of course Sanji, who woke earlier than any of them so he could make breakfast. Usopp would occasionally be awake in the very early mornings, even much before the sun rises. But no matter how early he’d woken up, Sanji always seemed to be in the galley offering him some tea or a snack.

   Usopp himself had a very inconsistent sleep schedule, in no small part due to the amount of times he stayed up late working on his projects.

   “Good morning, Mr. Longnose,” Robin called.

   Usopp shot her a smile, taking his usual seat at the table (in-between Zoro and Sanji’s seats, which tended to end interestingly).

   Luckily the cook was, well, cooking so Usopp didn’t have to worry about being in the middle of a fight at least for a while.

   “Morning!” he responded.

   Brook greeted him as well, before he and Robin turned back to their conversation. Zoro just gave him an incredibly neutral look that Usopp assumed was supposed to be a greeting, too.

   Usopp glanced back at Sanji, sipping on the glass of water that the was left out for him.

   The cook seemed to be hard at work on at least three different dishes, going back and forth around the kitchen.

   From the powdered sugar set out on the counter, Usopp assumed they were having more of those fancy pancakes Sanji liked to make.

   Not that the sniper was complaining, by any means!

   But still that didn’t explain the batter he was mixing up, since Usopp could spot another bowl that had pancake batter in it.

   “Are you making dinner ahead of time, Sanji?” He asked, after a moment.

   The cook paused, arm going still from where it had been whisking vigorously. “What makes you think that?” He asked cooly.

   Usopp blinked, surprised by Sanji’s seriousness. “Well, it just seems like you have a lot of bowls and stuff out…”

   Sanji bristled. “What do you know? I’m the cook, aren’t I?”

   “Yeah. Sorry, Sanji,” he said, placatingly.

   “Whatever,” he huffed, somehow whisking with even more vigor than before.

   Talk about a bad mood…

   Usopp shook his head, accidentally catching Robin’s eye. He glanced away from him, saying something to Brook.

   When the two’s conversation picked up again, Usopp realized they had stopped talking when he asked Sanji about his cooking.

   Weird.

   Maybe Sanji had been in a bad mood all morning to they were watching Usopp dig his own grave?

   Usopp didn’t pay it much mind. His crewmates did tend to be very weird, he thought with a smile.

///

   But that was just the start.

   All things considered, breakfast had gone fairly normally.

   A typical amount of chaos, between Luffy’s rubbery food stealing hands, and snippy remarks coming back and forth from Zoro and Sanji.

   But again, that was only the start.

///

Usopp handed the stack he made of his and Luffy’s plates over to Sanji, watching the man take them over to the sink.

   Sanji seemed to be in a slightly better mood– or really, he just at his normal amount of pissed-off.

   Still, just to be safe…

   “Hey Sanji, want some help with the dishes?” Usopp asked, smiling.

   It was partially an attempt to put Sanji in a better mood, yes, but really Usopp was curious about what might’ve put the cook in a bad mood to start with. And he was lucky enough to be one of the people Sanji would talk (somewhat) honestly about his feelings to, anyway.

   Sanji froze again, in the same way as before, seeming to take a moment to come up with a response.

   “I already said I’d help with the dishes!” Nami chirped, having done, to Usopp’s knowledge at least, no such thing.

   Suddenly, Usopp thought Nami ought to sit down for a bit, maybe go have Chopper give her a checkup.

   Because there was no world where Nami would volunteer to do dishes without anyone else’s help. And there was truly no world where Sanji would agree to have her help him with–

   “Yes, thank you, Nami-swa~an! You’re so sweet…” Sanji sing-songed.

   Wait, what the hell?

    Usopp was ushered out of the kitchen after that.

///

   So not only was Sanji in some kind of mood, Nami was acting weirdly, too.

   It sort of felt like they were trying to keep Usopp away for some reason.

   Crewmates’ odd behavior aside, Usopp did have better things to do, which is why he made his way over to his garden.

///

   Usopp sat on his knees, plucking up weeds from his planters with gloved hands.

   A cool breeze blew by him. The branches of Nami’s tangerine trees swayed with that familiar rustling sound of the leaves.

   Behind him was the clop-clop of hooves, in an odd rhythm you wouldn’t normally hear.

   The hooves, of course, belonged to the one and only Tony Tony Chopper. The rhythm wasn’t exactly odd by itself, though, really it was the opposite.  It was just that hooved animals tend to walk on four legs, and Chopper only walked on two.

    There were just less clop-clops than one might expect, Usopp supposed.

   Either way, Usopp continued his work, now with an audience.

   “So, what are you doing?” Chopper asked, stepping to the side to get a better look around Usopp’s shoulder.

   “Just doing a little work on my planters.”

   “Oh, neat!” The reindeer said, in a tone that really made it sound like he didn’t think it was that neat. “So, how long is that gonna take?”

   “Well, I’m not really sure…” Usopp started. “Do you need me for something?”

   “No! No, I don’t,” Chopper said quickly. (Okay, ouch.) “I just don’t think you should be out here in the sun for so long! You could get sun poisoning.”

   Usopp blinked.

   Sun poisoning from spending an hour or two sitting… in the shade. Okay.

   “I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal, but I can stay inside today if it would make you feel better,” he offered.

   Chopper nodded. “Yes. Thank you, Usopp. You always listen to me.”

   That made Usopp smile a bit. He did listen to Chopper’s advice unlike some green-haired swordsmen and blond cooks.

   He pushed himself up off the deck and onto his feet, taking his gloves off and stuffing them into the pocket of his overalls.

   “I guess I’ll head inside now,” he said after a moment of Chopper staring at him intently.

   “What are you gonna do now?” Chopper blinked, still looking up at him.

   Usopp scratched his cheek, shrugging. “I don’t know, I guess I could just hang out in the aquarium room for a while. Draw the fishes, or something,” he mumbled the last part, speaking more to himself than to Chopper.

   That seemed to be a satisfactory answer, and Chopper wasted no time shuffling off to do… whatever he does in his free time.

///

   Which was, more or less, what got Usopp to where he was now, sitting alone in front of a giant fishtank filled with judgmental-looking sea creatures.

   He blew a long breath out of his mouth, sinking down into the cushions. He eyed his sketchbook where it rested on the couch beside him, half done drawings littering the pages.

   Something about today was weird, he thought, shifting his eyes back to a particularly funny looking fish.

   Struck with sudden inspiration, he sat up straighter, grabbing his sketchbook, eraser, and pencil.

   That fish was effectively a circle with a few big triangles (fins) and wide eyes that gave it an awestruck look. It proved to be fairly easy to draw, especially since it seemed to enjoy spending all its time staring directly at him through the glass instead of swimming around with its friends.

   Or maybe the other fish didn’t want to hang out with this one, and that’s why it looked at him.

   Maybe they were kindred spirits.

   Usopp shot the fish a distrusting look.

   He wasn’t that desperate for company.

   Fish social lives aside, that drawing really wasn’t half bad.

   Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar shade of red.

   “Oh! Hey, Luffy!” Usopp called, dropping his pencil onto his sketchbook. “C’mere a sec! I wanna show you this.”

   Luffy grinned, starting to walk towards the sniper, when Nami seemed to come out of nowhere and grab the back of his vest. She whispered something to him, glancing at Usopp and back.

   Luffy pouted, mumbling something, which Nami sighed in response to.

   “Sorry, Usopp! Luffy is busy right now with pirate captain stuff, you know how it is!” Nami said in a syrupy voice, leading Luffy away by his arm.

   Usopp blinked.

   “…right,” he muttered, picking his pencil back up.

   This was fine. Normal, even.

   Except Luffy didn’t really do ‘important pirate captain stuff’, and everyone didn’t really avoid Usopp all day.

   It was nothing, he assured himself.

   His pencil went over his sketch again even when it didn’t really need darkening.

   Maybe they were just in a bad mood.

   The sound of Luffy and Nami’s footsteps faded out.

   Yeah, all of them just happened to be upset at something that definitely had nothing to do with him. Even though it felt like it had everything to do with him.

   Usopp took a long breath in, letting it out through his teeth in a hiss.

   …what did he do?

   It seemed like everyone was upset, save maybe Brook. And Luffy was supposed to be mad at him, if how Nami acted was any indication.

   He tossed his sketchbook aside, turning on the couch so he was sitting upside down, legs propped up against the back of the couch and head hanging off the cushions.

   The fish looked just about the same from this angle.

   Usopp narrowed his eyes at the fish he’d just finished drawing. Maybe he’d judged the poor guy too harshly.

   The sniper decided he would call the fish ‘Brook Jr.’ for his blank stare.

   “I just wish I knew what was going on…” Usopp started, meeting Brook Jr.’s gaze through the thick glass.

   “I mean, Sanji has been in the galley all day, you know! He didn’t even bring out very many snacks.”

   Brook Jr. didn’t blink or really move in any way other than opening and closing his mouth.

   “I haven’t seen Zoro or Robin at all, or at least not since breakfast. Which is weird ‘cause they’re usually out on the deck!” He waved his hand around as he spoke, before letting it drop back down onto his chest. “I don’t even think Zoro’s been working out.”

   Usopp quieted for a moment. Zoro breaking his routine was really, really weird.

   Robin tended to get caught up in her books from time to time, but really, Usopp was half expecting her to pop up in the aquarium and keep him company while he’d draw and she’d read.

   (Usopp didn’t notice the disembodied ear stuck to the side of the couch.)

   “…It sounds like Franky is doing something fun in the workshop,” he muttered, sounding much more like a pouting child than he intended.

   He didn’t want Brook Jr. to get the wrong idea about him.

    But, then again, he had  been complaining to the poor fish this whole time.

   He probably already had the wrong idea.

   Usopp took that as his incentive to stop talking.

   His brain didn’t stop thinking, though, and the brief distraction in the form of Brook Jr.’s feelings on him didn’t prove to do much to stop his spiral.

   He could hear Nami from above him, seemingly speed walking around the Sunny again like she had been doing all day, judging by the distinct sound of her heels against the deck.

   But there was still ‘nothing wrong’.

   He could faintly hear Brook rehearsing a song over and over, though he couldn’t really tell what it was due to how muffled it sounded to him.

   What were they doing? And why wasn’t he in on it?

   Nami always told him he was ‘one of the responsible ones’, so why…

   “He-ey, bro!”

   Usopp jumped, startled out of his thoughts by Franky’s voice.

   “Oh, uh- hey, Franky!” the sniper said, sounding more nervous than he meant.

   Franky, for his part, seemed nervous too. He swayed back and forth on his feet, tapping his fingers together. A contrast from his usual casual demeanor.

   Usopp blinked, before he realized he was still sitting upside down. The blood was rushing to his head by now…

   He hoisted himself up onto the couch, blinking his eyes to clear the spots.

   “So,” Franky started. “How about we…” he trailed off, glancing around as if he was expecting something to happen.

   Usopp stared at him. “…Franky, is something wrong, or…?”

   The cyborg shook his head violently, which caused his sunglasses to fall down his head. “Nope! Everything is A-Okay, bro! I was just thinking, we should go--uh, re-fill the cola barrels!”

   “…sure?”

   Franky shot him a grin. “Cool, cool.” He waved Usopp over, practically dragging him away from the aquarium.

   Brook Jr. swam away, too.

///

   The sniper watched Franky lining all the empty barrels up. He seemed fine now, but something about this request just didn’t sit right with Usopp.

   They –his crew– were keeping something from him.

   Usopp absently chewed on his lip, eyeing Franky as he uncapped bottles of cola. The glass was cool in his hands even though the bottles weren’t refrigerated.

   He never minded helping Franky with stuff like this, really, he enjoyed it a lot of the time. But now, he sat in silence, opening each bottle and setting them in a line for Franky to pour into the barrel.

   Franky’s brows were furrowed, a slight frown on his face. He stared into the vat of cola as if it owed him something personally.

   Usopp swallowed. Why was his mouth dry all of a sudden?

   “Franky,” he started, quietly. The man glanced up at him over his sunglasses. “Is there something wrong?”

   Franky glanced away. “I don’t think so, bro,” he offered.

   Usopp nodded, looking away, too. “Right. Uh, sorry. Forget I said anything.”

   “What’s on your mind?”

   “It’s just that everyone’s been acting so weird today. And I don’t know why.” He pursed his lips. “I guess… I’m worried I did something to make them mad, and I don’t know it?”

   Franky didn’t seem surprised, responding quickly like he already knew what Usopp was going to say. “No one’s mad at you, bro! I know for sure, we’re all just… busy with, uh, various things. You know.” He waved his hand around. “But don’t sweat it!”

   Humming, Usopp pried another cap off the cola bottle in his hand.

   He wanted to believe Franky. The cyborg was probably right, anyway. Usopp knew he was just overthinking, reading too much into what all his friends did and making a big thing out of nothing.

   But still.

   “Hey, Franky, would you help me with something?” came Nami’s voice, from behind him.

   Usopp watched Franky’s head snap up.

   “Sure thing!” he shot her a smile, before turning to Usopp as he started to stand. “Would you finish up here while I’m gone?”

   “Yeah, of course.”

   Franky held up two thumbs-ups.

   Usopp turned back to the cola bottles in front of him, listening absently to Nami’s voice as it faded put.

   He only had three left to open, then he’d just pour those and the others Franky hadn’t gotten to yet into the barrel.

   He ran his fingers over the smooth glass of the bottle.

   One more left to open.

   Now that Franky was gone, it was shockingly quiet. He couldn’t even hear any noise abovedecks, which was rare.

   Standing up from the floor, Usopp grabbed a few of the open cola bottles and started pouring them into the barrel.

   He swirled the bottles around as he did. It was a trick he learned a while ago, that if you make a mini whirlpool inside the bottle, it pours faster.

   Usopp frowned.

   He set the empty bottles aside, grabbing new ones and doing the same.

   It really didn’t make that much difference anyway, he thought.

   The bottles clinked when he set them back down.

   Usopp stretched his arms over his head, looking around the empty storeroom. Everything around him was still quiet.

   He eyed the door.

   No point in staying down here, he thought, dragging his feet forward and up the ladder.

   He squinted against the sunlight that shined into his eyes. It was very much evening by now, the sun much lower in the sky than it had been before.

   Blinking to clear his vision, he drug himself up the rest of the way and walked onto the main deck where there were…

   Decorations?

   The railings of the staircases were lined with streamers, clusters of balloons on the corners of either end.

   In the center of the deck were two tables. One was their dinner table, somehow no longer in the galley. It was set with plates and silverware.

   The other table was completely covered with plates of food. In the center was a huge, tiered cake. The edges of it were decorated with swirling shapes made in white frosting.

   Above the table was a banner that said-

   “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USOPP!”

   Usopp gaped at his crewmates, who were now all gathered around him, grinning. Confetti fluttered down from above, landing on top of all of them.

   “Wait, what’s all this stuff for…?” he glanced around, eyes finding Franky who was holding some kind of… confetti launching machine, if he had to hazard a guess.

   Cool.

   Sanji rolled his eye(s). “It’s your birthday party, dumbass.”

   “Oh, shit, that’s today, isn’t it?” Usopp laughed.

   “Yeah, its today!” Nami said. “We’ve been planning this since forever ago.”

    Wait-

   “So, this is what you guys have been doing all day?” He said quietly.

   Nami blinked at him “Duh.”

    Usopp looked at her, mouth making an ‘o’ shape. “I thought you were mad at me, or something.”

   “We aren’t mad at you!” Luffy said. “We’re happy at you, ‘cause it’s your birthday.”

   The sniper laughed quietly. “Yeah, okay. That makes more sense.”

   “We aren’t mad at all!” Chopper reassured, hugging Usopp’s legs.

   He smiled, looking up at the faces of his friends.

   They’d spent all day preparing decorations and food for his birthday and even went as far as to make it a surprise.

   It definitely explained their weird behavior, and why Luffy wasn’t around near him.

   Their captain was made of rubber, after all, which seemed to have the side effect of making him very loose lipped.

   Speaking of captain…

   “Let’s go eat now!” Usopp said.

   Luffy sprung forward, but Sanji caught him by the neck of his shirt.

   As he made his way over to the table, he could hear Sanji threatening to ‘throw Luffy’s rubber ass overboard if he doesn’t sit down’.

   Shaking his head fondly, he took his seat with the others.

   Robin sprouted several hands around them, depositing a party hat on each of their heads. Orange for Nami, green for Zoro, Purple for herself…

    Usopp smiled.

    His crewmates had already started chatting, filling his ears with the sounds of their voices and laughter. Sanji seemed to be almost done dishing out food, if Luffy’s grin was any indication.

   Usopp couldn’t blame him, it did look great…

   He leaned further into his seat.

   Usopp considered himself to be a worrier, among other things.