How Far Would the Straw Hats get WITHOUT Usopp? 

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You forgetting the reason the Merry lasted as long as it did was because of the many patches and fixer ups Ussop did on it prior the events of Water 7/Enies Lobby. Without him there to provide the constant care as he did it would probably break much sooner especially since a lot of the repairs he did were the during Skypeia Arc.

Aren't we forgetting that after Alabasta, the strawhats where surrounded, and the only reason they could escape this surroundment was because Usopp destroyed 2 navy ships with 1 cannonball? Also, Sogekings sniping of spandam was actually pretty significant, as it prevented Spandam from just dragging Robin towards a navy ship, and going trough the gates of judgement.

- whole crew defeated by Perona at Thriller Bark - Luffy and Law turned into toys by Sugar - Nico Robin turned over to the World Government and possibly thrown into Impel Down or even executed And that is just when he was a literal life-saver. Then there is all the other stuff Usopp did, like providing Nami with the Clima Tact, maintenance work on the Going Merry, and so on and so forth. He was also an MVP on Little Garden if I remember correctly, and recently he helped in a lot of small but important ways during the Onigashima raid.

Obligatory they could have recruited Sogeking instead.

Without Usopp Robin might have given Luffy the pep talk. But Merry never comes to save them without Usopp.

I love how interconnected One Piece is! The fact that you can take the "weakest" member of the crew out of the story and change sooooo much shows just how much thought Oda puts into making his characters feel important.

They straight up die in Dressrosa with amnesia, if it wasn’t for usopp’s clutching up with that snipe. Usopp is actually very valuable. Not to mention the ship probably would’ve sink a long time ago if it wasnt for Usopps constant repairs.

If we are going with the assumption that Nami never gets caught by Mr 3 because Sanji stays with her, then they never end up going to Drum Island in the first place. The only reason they went was because she got sick, and the only reason she got sick was because she was shirtless on Little Garden for a time because Usopp burning up the wax statue burned her shirt off, and she got bit by a bug. I guess it is feasible that the bug could still bite her with her shirt on, they can crawl under clothes after all, but Dr. Kureha's words to her, which were something along the lines of "were you running around shirtless on a tropical island or something?" to me implies that had she had her shirt on she wouldn't have gotten bit. So there is a very real possibility that without Usopp with them, they also don't get Chopper.

In long ring long land, Luffys afro catches a piece of mirror, allowing him to redirect Foxys slow slow beam and making the fight an absolute wash. Without the fro, there's no telling if luffy would win, seeing as he was too slow to dodge the slow slow beam. I think that is a solid place to have the crew fail

Now hold on. The afro was essential to beating foxy! So foxy leaves the strawhats in shambles and the story basically ends there 😂

At the end of One Piece, the narrator gives his final briefing of how the crew lived out the rest of their days before revealing himself to be Ussop, the great storyteller.

Don't forget that one of the main reasons Robin didn't just give up was because Sogeking made that motivational speech to Robin on the train to believe in Luffy. Also they wouldn't even get there that fast without convincing the giants to defect. Merry would of course also not show up to save them, as it was Usopp crying over it that made Franky drop it so Iceburg could find it on the beach.

I think this goes to show form the video and comments that Usopp is a strong support for the crew. Even though he’s not the best in battle due to his cowardice, his intelligence, handiwork, and spirit is what keeps the crew afloat, especially during pre-time skip. It no longer seems that way anymore post time skip, but without Usopp, or even other members of the crew, everything would’ve fallen apart sooner or later. Usopp definitely has the role of the sniper because he’s considerably the jack of all trades or something of that latter

Another thing to note is that without Usopp's strong ties to Dorry and Brogy after Little Garden, the straw hats likely wouldn't have been able to get help from Oimo and Kashii at Enies Lobby either.

I would argue that the gang most likely get stuck on Skypeia just due to Ussop not being there to do any repairs. It's possible that the spirit of the merry still exist, but I'm pretty sure that the attempts at repairing were still needed for the Merry to get the rest back together after all the damage she takes going up to skypeia and getting thrown on the altar

If you did Nami they would be lost forever the second they got into the grand line if they even made it to the grand line.

There are few things to keep in mind. 1. The crew might be caught by the marines in the end of Alabasta, given how Usopp destroyed two of the ships making it easier to escape. 2. The afro was important to the Foxy fight, and the only other person who seemed to even care about it was Sanji, so high hopes that he'd bring it to them. 3. Merry would realistically break apart before Water 7. Usopp wasn't the best shipwright yeah, but he still kept repairing the ship and delaying her breaking down for water 7. Realistically, The ship would probably break down an arc or 2 earlier. Either Jaya, their fall off the sky island or Long ring long island

WOW! I am a BIG, nay, HUGE fan of Usopp and I never noticed that Usopp facilitated Sanji's recruitment.

To be completely fair he was the MVP for solid portion of thriller bark and dressrosa. In thriller bark he was the only one that personas df couldnt incapacitate and without him taking her out of the game the straw hats might not have gotten as far as they did. Similarly in dressrosa usop warranted the most attention for his ability to keep sugar and the hobi-hobi fruit in check.

Usopp saved the strawhats from sinking post alabasta. It was when the marine ships were shooting the Merry with spears. If Usopps godly aim wouldn't be there then they would've sunk

I love this idea! If one would do this with Nami all these funny short scenes with some bad, wacky weather would become much more dangerous for the Crew than any antagonist. 😂

Literally the most clutch character in the crew. I’m so happy that all of the crew are worth something and it’s not just Luffy being the only useful one.

Without even watching I'm going to say their journey ends at Arlong Park without Usopp. The rest of them were really struggling with Arlong and his henchmen as it was, and Usopp lured one of his main henchmen away from the main battle and ended up defeating him. If that fishman had been there to help the rest of his crew, I'm not sure how it would have went. Maybe he's bigger fodder than I realize and Zoro would just one shot him, but if he could have given them even half the trouble that say, Hachi did, it could have turned the tides. Especially since Luffy was underwater.

I've given this topic a lot of thought myself over the years as an Usopp fan and people stating he isn't needed. I think they honestly fall at Little Garden without Usopp myself. I felt you were a little too generous with this arc. Wall of text but hear me out: Sanji won't bond with the giants like Usopp does because he's going to be too busy trying to get Nami to safety. Luffy and Usopp's relationships with the giants ends up being key to escaping the island at the end of the arc, but that'll be largely irrelevant in this version as Broggy's fate is sealed without Usopp's kit. Luffy and Sanji can't break the wax at this point(without using the wax to do so as shown in the Luffy vs. Mr. 3 fight), Zoro can't cut through it as we saw in canon and even though Nami will be able to work out how to save them, she doesn't have anything to hand that she can use to melt it since they will have given all the alcohol on the ship to Broggy to prevent themselves from being eaten by him earlier. Zoro, Vivi and Broggy die here as nothing can save them from the wax in this scenario. With Vivi dead they lose their main drive to go to Alabasta. Let's say they try to do get the Eternal Pose and decide to avenge her and save her people...but Broggy is dead as they couldn't melt his wax. Dorry cannot defeat the Island Eater alone after his injuries and the crew are swallowed. The adventure ends. If they don't get the Eternal Pose, Nami will want some time to think about their next move, especially if the Island Eater is revealed to her. She dies within a week due to the Kestia bite she recieves on the island. Luffy and Sanji can try to leave the island but the Grand Line weather will sink them quickly. The adventure ends. TL;DR: No one has anything that can save Zoro, Vivi and Broggy from becoming wax statues and that screws everyone over in the end. Of course that's just one scenario, but Little Garden really does feel like the very first place they'd truly fall without Usopp. It seems really minor and like anyone could carry this stuff...but they don't. Usopp's the only one who carries tools and useful items at all times.

Yea Perona immediately came to my mind when I read the title. The monster trio being completely useless against her powers but Usopp being immune to it was one of the funniest scenes in the entire series. I was laughing my ass off when I saw it the first time :D

Sorry Long comment, lol! XD... Overall, you are being too generous by giving the crew too many chances to progress. Sadly I think they would not get off Little Garden. Usopp's bag of tricks was needed to destroy the wax structure & he also got Luffy out of control of the girl with the paint control ability (Miss Goldenweek). Even if Sanji and Nami are there. There would now be 6 Villains [Mr 3, Mr 5, Miss Goldenweek, Miss Valentine & the 2 unluckies] to fight! Since Sanji did not take the unluckies out at Mr 3 camp. Sanji will not fight any ladies, so Nami will 1 v 2. With her current level, she will be easily defeated by the 2. Also, since Sanji rushes to battle, I think Mr 3 will subdue him with wax [Note Luffy is out of commission due to Miss Goldenweek]. Their journey ends here. Usopp, due to his weakness, is the one who always analyzes fights before going in. Allowing him to think about creative ways to beat his opponents. Usopp destroying the wax structure came out of his nature to assess the situation, and no one could have thought of that but him. Even if someone thought about it. They would need Usopp's bag of tricks that had the tools needed to take down the structure. So it's GG for our straw hats here :(

This I guess is a perfect essay on why Usopp was such a polarizing character at first but eventually became a fan favorite and meme generator. He started as nothing more than a joke character, a walking gag that SOMETIMES had an emotional moment. Even in the arcs where he was supposed to be the focus, Syrup Village and Little Garden, he was overshadowed and has minor impact. Then Water 7 happened and almost everyone's perception of him changed. We saw him have a fully fleshed out, 3 dimensional character for the first time. We saw him badly beaten and have it not played up for laughs, saw his insecurities and home sickness boil over, saw his ingenuity shine when pushed too far, saw how far he's willing to go for his friends even when not a part of the crew anymore, met his awesome friend Soge King, saw him learn more about what it means to be a Warrior of the Sea from Elbathe giants, saw him finally come into his own and realizing that even though he can't fight like the monster trio he still has a lot value to the crew, saved Robin and had a moment of genuine remorse. And the fans rejoiced that Usopp was more than just a joke now.

A fun idea I just pondered, is that shortly after the crew leaves syrup Island, usap realizes he does want to join them. Somehow someway he is able to track them, and still comes in as soegaKing on the train at CP9. Everybody who met him at Sierra Island would probably not remember him by his basic features, but when the mask comes off they would all recognize him, and ask him to join the crew again. This time he'd say yes.

Great video! To be fair to Usopp though I don't think they would be able to escape sky island without his connection to merry and the klabauterman. Because Chopper rips the mast off of merry to stop the fire, without klabauterman or Usopp's ability to do a mediocre patch the straw hats would be stranded without the merry being able to move to another island.

interesting idea for a video! though to be fair to usopp, without him loving the merry as much as he did, the merry probably wouldnt have developed her klabautermann, and even if she had, no one would have been going to pee in the night on skypiea to see it! which makes merry much less of an actual character and more of just a ship that they sadly would have to replace ): sad to think about tbh

I'm glad you made this video, dude. Removing a single character in this hypothetical scenario really makes you take notice of how the story beats and structure of One Piece is set up. Usopp helps in foreshadowing, reminding, and helps cohesively involve the Straw Hats more with, the major plot-important Giants; bolster's the emotional goodbye with the ship thanks to his personal involvement with Kaya, and really just makes more big setpieces/emotional moments happen with his everyman persona and his big connection with Luffy. Usopp really is the center of a lot of things with One Piece, at least emotionally.

It’s funny how the weakest members are the the ones most important ones when it comes to outside of combat. Without our long nosed friend, they would’ve failed at sky island or water seven. If they somehow didn’t fail there then at dressrosa they would just loose when sugar is about to feed luffy and law the fruit

the fact the strawhats name would have probbaly never been heard without usopp is crazy

In water 7 without usopp nobody would have got to Robin in time and they would have never seen her again he was shooting from the top of the tower that's why sanji told him to do only what he could do

Usopp is one of the most underrated characters, objectively there are quite a few situations in the anime where the Straw Hats would have lost, or died without his help. Yeah that is the case for other members too but he has earned his place on the crew.

I enjoyed this thought experiment with the "generous pivot," but I would like to mention that, as others have pointed out, Sogeking (Usopp's friend) both stalled Spandam enough for Franky to arrive there, and was the one who "air mailed" the keys unto the bridge. Those are quite crucial elements of Usopp's/Sogeking's presence. However, using the "generous pivot" idea, maybe Franky has managed to reach Robin & Spandam just in time to psychologically stun Spandam enough for Franky to land some hits and stalling until the rest of the crew arrives with the keys. That still leaves the part where Usopp motivates Luffy to stand up one more time. Borrowing your "generous pivot" again, maybe, MAYBE some Dues Ex Machina occurs where the Strawhats manage to put a seastone cuff unto Lucci, and thus not defeating him but allowing themselves to flee. It was done by Oda in Whole Cake Island. But even with that seemingly magical solution to the Enies Lobby arc, the crew's journey is pretty much over at this point. People here have pointed out that the Going Merry had been repaired by Usopp throughout the journey thus far -- amatuerishly, but somewhat repaired nonetheless. Again, with another "generous pivot," maybe the Going Merry was looked over by the now-peaceful Alabasta kingdom? And maybe the crew had landed on some random island along the way where they befriended the local populace and in order the Going Merry received some light repairs to keep it going until Water 7? I find it quite unlikely that the ship would have been manifesting its own klabautermann on either Skypiea or Water 7/Enies Lobby. How would the crew escape from the area without the Going Merry? I don't know, and it feels a bit too generous, even for a "generous pivot" to have them somehow taking over a battleship or managing to flee on a raft boat. And that's without addressing the issue of facing Perona on Thiller Bark. A nice video. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts regarding the other members not joining the crew. How the Strawhats' story will look like then?

Not sure Merry makes it to Sky Island without Usopp. But also without Usopp it would be easier for them to get another ship before then. But would a different ship have survived the knock-up stream? Probably easier for the exercise to not consider this angle.

Damn. What an interesting idea. Great video. It really highlights how interconnected everything is in this world/story. Lynchpins everywhere! Also, does Usopp speak things into existence with his lies or are those just coincidences? Like would the Island Eater even appear if Usopp never talked about it? 🤔 My only complaint is that the entirety of this video was way too easy to guess based on those AI generated pics.

That is awesome to hear. Because by the end of this, you had to make a billion pivots to keep the Straw hats on track. Usopp might have not defeated some bad guy no one else could defeat, but he did provide a support to the crew that added up little by little to eventually saving everyone and permanently changing the dynamic of the show. The little acts of love for the Merry and the many laughs he had with Luffy both showing their true power at the climatic moment of Ennies Lobby is poetic.

You see, without Sogeking (Usopp's friend) handcuffing himself to Zoro, that means that Zoro would never have defeated King in Wano. Sogeking was *clearly* giving Zoro some essential training so that he could overcome bigger challenges in the future, and it paid off. This is the reason that Zoro had become as strong as he has, and the reason why Zoro only lost *one* eye after the time skip instead of both eyes.

In the anime, Usopp had joined the crew before they reached the Island of Strange Animals. Perhaps in this alternate timeline where the crew already has Merry but not Usopp, Gaimon decides to join them.

ussop also has saved the whole crew 2 times in the thriller bark (with his super negative thoughts to fight against perona's hollows) and dressrosa when he "sniped" sugar to save luffy and law

I LOVE thought experiments like this, I hope you do more for the other crewmates!

I think the fact that there is so many what-ifs and branching paths you could take with an Usopp-less crew goes to show how important he is on the crew, even if he isn't a powerhouse in terms of fighting.

Even if the straw hats somehow made it to thriller bark, they would most likely get beaten by Perona, but Usopp was immune to her ghosts

“No reason to head to the restaurant” Excuse me, but Luffy is a pretty good reason to go to a restaurant.

Really good video! Next we just need to see Usopps side with him going out to sea alone to become the great captain Usopp. After watching this I keep thinking of different scenarios like what if Vivi did go with the Strawhats after defeating Crocodile and saving Alabasta, or What if Johnny and Yosaku joined the crew, what if Sanji didnt join, what if Paulie became the Strawhats shipwright. Endless possiblities. keep up the good work!

He forgot that when they were leaving Skypiea, Usopp saved them using his breath dials

strawhats would have all died if usop wasnt in aarlong park

If usopp didn't repair the ship they will need to stop so many time to repair the ship or buy a new one so what i think is that most of the crew will not be in the crew because they will need to stop so many times to repaur the ship and that will change the direction they go because of the different islands they need to go to repair or buy a new ship and the biggest difference is the member they will add after sanji is a guy who can repair the ship

Never seen you before in my feed but you propose such a great question here, can’t wait to hear your conclusions.

this is the best what if video i have watched its funny its collected its great keep up the good work king i belive in you becoming big on youtube

You forgot to mention during the Fishman chapter is that the pinwheel guy died without usopp help

Missed an important part in Arlong Park: Usopp saves Gen's life by distracting Arlong very early in the arc. Maybe Arlong would keep Nojiko and the rest of the town alive as bargaining chips, but Gen was half of what kept the town from throwing their lives away by fighting Arlong. On the other hand, if Usopp wasn't there to stop them, there's no doubt the monster trio would attack Arlong as soon as they arrived; whether Nami changes sides and asks for Luffy's help could come down to whether Arlong stole her saved-up treasure yet. Worst case scenario, she makes them leave, and THEN Arlong takes her savings, leaving her broken with no one to rescue her and the Straw Hats literally lost at sea. Even if she does flip, it's a more desperate fight, with Nami having to take on Chuu, since Usopp isn't there to draw him away, and without the inspiration of Gen's pinwheel, Luffy won't get stuck and will attack Arlong right away. Wild how much changes by removing one character!

I think you did a great job ironing these ideas and possible outcomes. You can really tell you’re a true one piece fan.

Thumbs up for using Ape Escape music in the background of this video. Somehow surprisingly fitting combination with the One Piece voyage vibes. Maybe it's the nostalgia for when I played Ape Escape and first discovered One Piece at the same time while growing up lol.

its also entirely possible they die as early as arlong park because without usopp, chew is not removed from the main battle, which allows him to just dive in and kill luffy as soon as he falls in the water since no one is strong enough to stop him that isn't already fighting someone else. once luffy dies it's just a matter of picking off sanji and zoro and then that's game. arlong wins.

If usopp never joined its end of story. You avoided all the pit falls in order to wish it would work , but in reality the story would end or change completly whit completly new character.

Just saw this video in recommended love the video usopp is my favorite straw hat always pushing through his fears and developing as a brave warrior of the sea !

My man you are really underselling Ussop,he was one of the most important members.Patching up the Merry and acting as Helmsman until Franky was recruited,aswell as an important combatant early on.

Also, One Piece would've ended during DressRosa Arc

They barely make it up to the Ark Maxim as is, without Sanji's interference Enel wins. Doublefinger helping out is already incredibly generous, but Skypeia is an absolute death knell, all the characters are accounted for, and Upper Yard crashes down in pieces into the blue sea. As generous as you can possibly be the story ends here... Although of course only if you try and make it line up, in a more realistic scenario they'd have a completely different cook, and probably loose at Arlong Park because Sanji is the one who freed Luffy... or they'd never get to Arlong Park, and they might even have a whole extra adventure instead of the Baratie, and if that adventure made enough money Nami might even be able to buy her village after stealing from the boys. I think if you don't have Usopp they either just die, or bum around East Blue for several months and make a much larger and more normal pirate crew... which of course means both project Utopia and Deathpeia both succeed, although even if Utopia works they wouldn't have Pluton without travelling to Wano so I can't see that going great for Crocodile, and Enel wouldn't have the survival game to change out his Vassals, he'd still have the same 4 dudes go to the moon with him; since we didn't see much of what went on on the moon that could have been a big deal... or they could have all suffocated because there's no air, who knows what One Piece moon physics are?

Great video

Creative video concept man.

no going merry robin gets taken to imple down they lose at thriller bark best case scenario. with that said i wonder how brook would fare against perona.

i think the merry breaks down FAR before water 7. usopp was pretty much the crew's shipwright until franky joined, and i dont think any of the other straw hats are at all good at handicraft or fixing a ship in any way. usopp might not be a shipwright, but he absolutely still better at repairing anything than the rest combined.

I think this is very spot on, good work

I haven't noticed anyone else say this but in nami's battle with CP9 she wouldn't have been able to tinker with the dials because the main reason that the strawhats have so many dials is from usopp trading rubberbands with the skypians for the dials

do a what if zoro was the navigator

You did not consider the full implication of losing Afro Luffy. Without Usopp, Luffy LOSES to Foxy without question. The only reason he won is because he had a shard of glass lodged in his 'fro that reflected the slow-slow beam. And without Usopp's guidance, Luffy's ADHD ass isn't gonna consider the radical implication of The 'Fro before getting destracted by a gladiator helmet or something. So without Usopp, the Straw Hats lose an extra crewmate, possibly Luffy himself to the Foxy pirates.

This was great:>

I love "What If" threads like these, its always fun to see how things develop when you change just a little bit.

More people need to see this video. Especially Usopp haters and lovers, the latter of which I fall into.

Ussop saved Robin from gates of Justice

Literally Usopp literally kept them going. I mean he pretty much served every role on that ship before an expert came along except captain and navigator. He patched up both the ship and the crew. That ship likely wouldn't have even made it past alibastar or even to their without him. Nami definitely would have been killed without the climitate and she definitely isn't a craftsman to have made great use of the dials. Very generous on how they would have gotten by without him. Once Nami dies they are pretty much stuck without a new navigator even if their boat could still sail.

Great vid

With out usopp NAMI wouldn't have her weapons and they couldn't go fishing and with out usopp they would have taken Robin and with out usopp Luffy would have lost to sugar

They definitely wouldn’t get past water 7 or dressrosa

I really like how you handled this video, you seemed to really understand what could and should be over looked and about where their lack of Ussop likely makes things too different to continue (without adding a new crew member to fulfill the role or change the story entirely). I think it is most telling that they could get that far without Ussop, I don't think anyone outside of Brook and Robin missing would let them get that far. I chalk it up to Ussop not really being a fighter, he is part of the spirit of the crew, he is surprisingly useful but not essential in the way most of the crew is. Without Sanji or Zoro the number of powerful enemies is to much to overcome in most arcs. Without Nami and Chopper they aren't able to get to where they need to go and survive the battles they encounter. Franky literally builds their second ship. Ussop tends to just make things a bit easier... Or a bit more difficult but he is rarely the solution.

It really does fuck me up that Perona genuinely would've solo'd the straw hats without him 💀

Nice video🎉 But i can easily argue and prove that They won't get this far just because Usopp repairing the Ship. Nami won't have clima takt either. Usopp saving Robin from Aokiji was badass. Arlong's commander who Usopp Defeated would help arlong in battle.

He got and fixed their ship, defeated sugar saving Luffy and Law and invented namis weapons. He did a lot that wasn’t appreciated

man i love the fact that you put the lab theme from ape escape for the psx

I fear to think about how the crew would fair without Chopper.

Ussop carries the team. I mean he literally fought a giant gold fish

Wow the algorithm really classed you on this one Denny 👍🏻👍🏻

I think even if everything played out as it did they would have been done sooner, the one keeping the merry going was ussop, they probably didnt make too skypia and if they did they wouldnt have made it back down without the merry fixing herself and so they would have been stranded there longer and that would ruin the continuation of the events to follow.

Don't forget usopp saves zoro

Jesus loves you!

Good video

I think they would have lost the fight at Arlong park without Usopp taking on that one guy by himself.

I knew i recognized your voice from another video lmao. Subbed to both of your channels

Bro do more of these, theyre awesome

I like that . I’m slowly getting into one piece again after a really long break

Great video g!

✨ Bold of you to assume Luffy would let him leave ✨

After Skypeia they fell with the merry all the way back down to the ocean. With Ussops collection of dials he saved not only the merry but the entire crew from drowning in the middle of the ocean.

Usopp is lowkey underestimated because he provides comic relief, but he's a Strawhat thru and thru. It's very clear the crew wouldn't be where it is without everyone's contribution. The show isn't just "Luffy and his helpers". Usopp is incredibly resourceful, pirates should fight to have him in their crew. He's pretty obviously one of the world's best snipers, and even tho he doesn't use a conventional weapon that's actually BETTER, because his unconventional weapons are actually more effective. He has shown to be able to use observation haki to aim with incredible precision in case of emergencies. He's a talented inventor, who studied Skypiea's technology and was able to apply it to a number of contraptions. He created Nami's weapon and perfected it. He's able to operate heavy guns with extreme precision. He's pretty cunning and can come up with very smart tactical plans on the fly. He beat a few opponents with OP hax powers that couldn't be easily dealt with via physical means by tricking them. Albeit not as experienced as Franky, he can do emergence repairs to a ship or other machinery. After timeskip, he has knowledge and use of various special plants with powerful effects. Even tho he's not particularly strong, he has impressive physical resilience, as shown multiple times during his fights. He acts cowardly due to lack of confidence but that actually turns into an advantage since it helps him survive dangerous situations, and he is still extremely corageous if the situation calls for it.

Totally agree with this analysis! It’s nice that you didn’t tie the value of Usopp to the things he did by chance, and actually remarked his importance on his character development moments. I think it can be said based on this video that Usopp really joined the crew after Water 7 and Enies Lobby. Before, he was there because he was a funny meme, not because he was a real, valuable friend to the group. After Water 7 and Enies Lobby, he was officially a Straw Hat member :)