With Elbaf potentially coming after Wano's end, the story is coming closer and closer to the conclusion. The strawhats each need a spotlight moment to achieve their dreams and I think the popular opinion is that Usopp should become a 'brave warrior' in Elbaf, the place he's been excited for since Little Garden, where he first became enamoured with the Giants' way of life.
We all know that the typical pattern for Usopp is to start an arc as a coward, spend the majority of the arc this way until he really needs to face his fear. Then he has a moment of bravery that basically cancels the cowardice out, before he goes back to being scared of everything again. If Oda makes Usopp permanently brave, he's overwriting his entire character to assure us that Usopp has truly become a brave warrior of the sea, which would feel forced and awkward in my opinion. However if Oda just gives Usopp another temporary moment of bravery, even if it's greater than previous moments where Usopp stepped up, he won't be different enough compared to his previous arcs for it to count as a dream fulfilled.
Therefore, I personally believe he has to die in a moment of great bravery and sacrifice, to make his actions worthy of such a hyped moment as well as preventing Usopp from changing himself back to the way he was.
When the arc of Elbaf comes around, I feel like we could have another ZKK situation (at least we will if people care as much about Usopp as they do Zoro) where the community is split between Usopp dying and surviving the arc. What do you think?
We all know that the typical pattern for Usopp is to start an arc as a coward, spend the majority of the arc this way until he really needs to face his fear. Then he has a moment of bravery that basically cancels the cowardice out, before he goes back to being scared of everything again. If Oda makes Usopp permanently brave, he's overwriting his entire character to assure us that Usopp has truly become a brave warrior of the sea, which would feel forced and awkward in my opinion. However if Oda just gives Usopp another temporary moment of bravery, even if it's greater than previous moments where Usopp stepped up, he won't be different enough compared to his previous arcs for it to count as a dream fulfilled.
Therefore, I personally believe he has to die in a moment of great bravery and sacrifice, to make his actions worthy of such a hyped moment as well as preventing Usopp from changing himself back to the way he was.
When the arc of Elbaf comes around, I feel like we could have another ZKK situation (at least we will if people care as much about Usopp as they do Zoro) where the community is split between Usopp dying and surviving the arc. What do you think?
