I know oda said he will never make ussop strong, but come on did he forget the dreams each strawhat had? Ussops dreams is to become a great warrior like the warriors of Elbaf. Since he is a sniper than means the best sniper.
In dressrosa he awakened his observation haki and then not a mention of it again. Ussop has fellow crew members with haki its not like he never been exposed to it. Plenty of opportunities to explore ussops observation haki and even learn armament haki. But alas oda hates ussop.
Ussop was still standing after imu's kings haki's blast from Imu. I think ussop deserves more as an original strawhat,he has the will even though he is a cowardly clown.
Its just your typical manga deterioration where side characters like in naruto are forgot,and the story only focuses on the MC the choosen one. I am still pissed Neji was completely forgotten,byakugan was suppose to be powerful he should have fought sasuke once showing he is a powerful character,so much for child genius huh?
I can see why you feel like this. But I don't think Oda hates Usopp, if anything, this is all a big build up. Look at the smaller pieces here and there.
Usopp befriends so many different races who have a long history in the World. His parallels to Noland, who was a hero to the Tontatta tribe, and many hundreds of years later Usopp also became their hero.
Noland was sailing on a Moon Ship
Usopp is sailing on a Sun Ship
The Sun and the Moon, 2 omnipresent symbols throughout the entire story.
Noland, who was executed for his truths that turned out to be lies in the eyes of others.
Usopp, who gets immortalized for his lies that turned out to be the truth in the eyes of others.
Think about the Statues, one of them being on Skypea. Usopps "legend" will be known for many generations even after the story ends.
(Would Oda really establish that if he hated him? And there will probably be more statues of him.)
Also, the Kanji next to it on that Shield, literally says "God." A nice foreshadowing by Oda.
No wonder Oda told us that one of his favorite panels ever is the strawhats dancing on Skypea. Look at God Usopp playing the drums of liberation while smiling. He is going to liberate Elbaf next.
Also regarding Usopps haki. I have my own little theory about where it "could" be going. Remember how Usopp saw "Klabautermann" going Merrys Spirit for the first time during Skypea? It was a very ominous scene,
A mysterious figure all shrouded in a Silouhette.
Later when he told this story to Franky, Franky mentioned that this was the first time he had ever heard of someone actually seeing it.
And then again, at the end of Enie's Lobby, he heard Merrys Voice before anyone else did.
To this day, we still don't know what the Klabautermann really is. Where is its origin? It can obviously interact with the physical world, because it fixed the ship. But can it be harmed by devil fruits, haki etc.? What is it exactly? Were there others incarnations besides the going merry?
Now let's take a look at Usopps "special" haki. Apparently, he is able to see people's Auras. Even behind solid matter.
So what if Usopp, being the first to see the Klabautermann, was a foreshadowing by Oda, that he would be able to see the true Imu Sama who's also just a Veil of Nothingness, but perhaps underneath all of that, there will be something he can see with his haki.
When they come face to face it will get very interesting. Imagine a funny scene where Usopp just stares at Imu, and Imu becomes a little uneasy.
Think about how Usopp and Yasopp communicated through Dimensions in Film Red while sharing their visions. Now if only we had enemies that use some strange dimensions as well, Imu and the Abyss ? Blackbeards Dark Hole, Caribous Swamp; bluenos door dimension etc.
I know just a non-canon movie, but Katakuri was able to do something similar on a bit lower scale. He was able to look outside Bruleé's mirror world dimension for a brief moment. We also got Shanks' "observation haki killing" technique confirmed through Film Red, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to say that the display of other people's hakis could become real.
And these were just a few things I picked on. There are way more cooler theories out there with real life references and what not. That's really the fun part of it. I know that not everything will come true at the very end, but having so many different options is really exciting.
I am not trying to convince anybody to believe in Usopps' character. All I am saying is the "signs" were there.
Now we just have to be patient until all his other lies become real.
