Third Shift Musings - One Piece Episode #9

The crew meets Captain Usopp

Sorry for being late. Let’s do this!

The episode opens with a very peaceful scene in a small little town. The birds are chirping, it’s super quiet and the sea’s waves are waving. The peace is broken when one of the town’s people screams “Pirates are attacking!” He runs through the town, screaming about the pirates and that everyone should run for their live.

On the open water, Nami, Zoro and our man Luffy are sailing to the Grand Line. But Nami’s complaining ass thinks they shouldn’t go straight to their destination. Luffy, thinking with his stomach as always, says they should find some meat first cuz eating fruit every day ain’t it. Zoro wants booze (of course). Nami makes sense, telling the men that the Grand Line is dangerous and that stronger and more equipped pirates are making their way there. THEY NEED MORE PEOPLE. She suggests they go to an island to pick up more crew members.

Back in the quiet town, the man running for his life about the pirates attacking is really just a troublemaking kid. Apparently, he does this a lot and the townspeople are fed up. They try to catch him but he’s young as hell, so no way were they gonna catch him. Turns out, this is Captain Usopp, at least that’s what the kids call him. Usopp has his own cute little crew: Carrot, Pepper and Onion. Before they can hang out, Onion comes screaming down the road about pirates coming down into port. For real this time! But Captain Usopp freaks out, and is ready to leave the kids where they stand. He gets called out by Onion who basically tells Usopp he’s a fraidy cat. Usopp is rightfully scared though, cuz he knows about Buggy the Clown. But Onion tells him that the pirate ships he saw are small and only three people were on them, so Usopp tells the kids they’re gonna protect the village and to follow him.

Luffy and the crew land on the island and Luffy just wants meat, meat and more MEAT. Zoro senses people in the trees and tells the others to be careful. Luffy is shot at with pellets and a bunch of pirate flags go up. Out comes Captain Usopp, running his mouth and exaggerating the number of crew members he has (80 million? For real?). The crew see right through him and he folds like origami. Usopp’s little guys run for the hills, as they should. Usopp tries to save face and draws his slingshot. Luffy and Zoro get serious and tell Usopp to stop fucking around and man up if he dares. Usopp starts sweating while Luffy and Zoro stay calm and collected. Sooner than you think, Usopp folds (again) and Luffy and Zoro start laughing like hyenas. Turns out they were using words said by Red-Haired Shanks to scare Usopp. Usopp’s whole attitude changes when he realizes Luffy knows Shanks and also USOPP’S FATHER!

Usopp and the crew end up at a restaurant and are eating GOOD! Luffy tells Usopp how he knew Shanks and Yassop, Usopp’s father. We get a flashback to a man shooting an apple from a great distance and Little Luffy cheering him on. Before the flashback, Luffy said that Usopp looks just like Yassop, but we may need to call Maury cuz no the fuck he doesn’t. Like, at all. Back to the flashback. Yassop is chugging a ton of beer and it turns out, he’s a deadbeat dad. He talks about his son and says it was sad to leave him but the pirates were calling him. Ok.

Back in the present, Nami asks Usopp if anyone on the island can sail or if they have a larger boat. Usopp’s like nah, sorry fam. Nami mentions the mansion at the top of the hill and Usopp freaks out. He leaves abruptly and we find out why. A young rich girl named Kaya is basically a prisoner there. Supposedly she’s sick, but you know how that story goes. It’s probably a lie so her guardian can steal her money. Well, she and Usopp are friends and he visits her when he can. He tells her crazy stories and honestly, the whole thing is sweet.

Meanwhile, Onion, Carrot and Pepper see Luffy and decide to attack. The kids run into the restaurant demanding to know what’s happened to their Captain. Zoro and Luffy pretend they’ve eaten him and the kids freak out, calling Nami an “old hag” in the process (ngl that was funny). After their initial freak out, the kids take Luffy and the crew to Kaya’s mansion. The kids explain why Usopp visits Kaya and Luffy is impressed. He decides to use his Devil Fruit powers to go over the gate and when everyone tries to stop him, they all go over with him.

Usopp is still regaling Kaya with his wild stories, when Luffy and the crew all come tumbling down. Kaya wants to know who they all are but before Luffy can tell her what they want, her guardian appears, ready to start some shit. He probably has some skills but he ain’t Luffy!!

Meanwhile, a mysterious man is walking in the town. He kind of looks like Usopp’s father but I’m delirious for sleep so who the fuck knows? We’ll all find out in the next episode.