Manga: Chapter 740 (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS

Don't run away! Read One Piece on Weekly Shonen Jump!

Summary
Zoro is left to fight against Pica.

Luffy and Violet finds Lightning Solider and together they make it to the second floor of the castle.

Kinemon disguise himself as Doflamingo in order to look for Kanjuro.

Franky causes havoc in front of the House of Toys.

Robin is turned into a toy by Sugar while Usopp runs away.

Thoughts

This chapter has so many things going on including something upsetting. I am going to go over the smaller things before discussing the thing that has gotten everybody fussed up.

The Riku Castle has a small chance to survive the fighting that is happening within its walls. You have chaos in the basement. There is chaos at the front of the castle. There is chaos on the first floor. Lastly, you have Luffy at the very top.

There is so much fighting in the castle that the building is bound the take some heavy damage. Pica has made the whole castle part of himself which means it gives Zoro and Luffy a reason to demolish the palace using their hands, feet, and swords. Trebol has shown that he can be reckless with how he attacks. Did we mention that Franky has stated that he is willing to go on a rampage if needed? Well, he sounds like he is going to in order to keep the Marines and the Diamante Army distracted. 

Then somehow Luffy made it to the top floor where Doflamingo and his officers are. That is pretty lucky and surprisingly nobody heard the kid and his friends come in. I wonder how long this will take Luffy to cause some ruckus because we all know from Water Seven that Luffy doesn't like to sit down and wait for long. The problem is that they are at the wrong place. Luffy wants to come face to face with Doflamingo but Violet wants to go to the Suit Chamber. There must be something important there.

At least Robin is a cute doll.

Now to one of the most shocking reveals of the chapter: Robin being turned into a toy. I had a feeling it would be due to her ability as we saw that Sugar had turned Robin into a doll by touching one of the limbs that Robin has sprouted.

We have seen this happen to Robin before where one of her limbs would get hurt and she would feel the pain from it. She displayed this recently at Fishman Island where she was hesitant to strike the Puffer Fishman with her giant legs. Thus, I was not surprise that Robin was affected by Sugar's Hobby Hobby abilities if one of her sprouted limbs was touched. I was curious though if it would only turn that limb into a toy or would it carry over to the main body which would be Robin. Apparently "magical" status effects can reach Robin.

This makes me wonder what kind of flower or plant is Robin's ability based off. Normally if a flower is cut then it doesn't hurt the "mother flower" or the flower that the seed had originated from. So if Robin was "producing" seeds to sprout her limbs then when one is hurt, she shouldn't feel the pain. Does that means that her "flowers" are actually coming from unseen roots. That way they would all be part of Robin and explain why she feels the pain of each of her "flowers". If that was the case then her sprouting abilities is similar to how a White Clover grows and spread. It would be interesting seeing that one of her childhood mentors was named Clover.

Example of a White Clover's root structure.

Lets get back to the chapter. Robin has become a doll and it should have been easy to figure out based on how Franky mention that the operation's success depends on Usopp but had forgotten to mention Robin because...He has forgotten her! Even Robin knows that the success of this mission depends on Usopp but that looks like it will take a long time.

Now to what has gotten several fans upset: Usopp's reaction to everything that is going on. Throughout Dressrosa, we have seen the return of Usopp the Coward. We saw hints of this throughout the last two arcs but Oda has been laying it thick in this arc with Usopp's reluctance to be part of the Caesar Drop-off Team, making the Tontattas do all the work and wanting to run away at a moment's notice. The worst part is that he knows that this is the most important component for the coup d'etat to work. Instead, he is running away like he did back during the Arlong Arc.

What is the problem? Usopp should be passed this. He has gone though the most character development compare to the rest of the crew and knows he has to do things to help support the crew. Usopp knew that when he returned to the crew after Water Seven and preformed during Thriller Bark against Perona. A person that only he could defeat and while he may have slipped up, Usopp came though and defeated her. Usopp fought right along side his comrades during and after Thriller Bark  against Oars, a Pacifista and Kuma without running away. He came to the realization twice, once at the end of Thriller Bark and post Marineford, that he needs to become stronger for the sake of Luffy. Which he succeeded and knew he did upon leaving Boin Archipelago with a muscular physic. Did you know that the island he was on for two years was filled with deadly plants and insects? You think that would have made him a tiny bit braver. Instead Oda decided to use an Usopp that we haven't seen since pre-Alabasta instead of a character that has accumulated arcs worth of development.

I would admit that I have notice that Oda has shown that the characters have grown stronger after the timeskip but they surely haven't changed much personality wise. Some of this is good in the case of Zoro and Robin who had peaked in their development pre-Timeskip and have kept it. Zoro understand that he must be the rock that Luffy stands on and is willing to do anything to make Luffy the Pirate King. Robin has been much more trusting and open with her fellow crew mates.  Others like Nami and Chopper have remain cowards for possibly explainable reasons. Franky and Brook have a bit development in store seeing that they are both "new" characters that have plenty to grow if Oda wishes. Sanji has slowly redeem himself even after his mishaps at Fishman Island but still stays the womanizer that he is. I guess being on an island filled with men would do that to a woman chaser. Usopp on the other hand continue to be the coward for the sake of laughs.

Usopp is in a unique situation. He is the sniper of the crew which a fighter role. He doesn't have raw strength like Zoro but he can fight using his mind which he has done on several occasions. Usopp is also part of the "Weakling Trio" that is made up of Nami, Chopper and himself. The difference between Usopp and the other two is that Nami and Chopper both play support roles within the crew. Nami being the Navigator and Chopper as the Doctor. By no means are they require to fight but both know that they may be required to fight which explains why they honed their battle prowess along with their technical skill during the time skip. Fighting should be a thing that is a second thought and maybe why Nami and Chopper are afraid of doing brawls at times. They may have the strength but their roles on the crew doesn't involve getting into fights. That saying, you wouldn't send out  your Navigator and Doctor out first to a fight because if they die then you will have several problems once the battle is over. Instead you send out your fighters like your swordsman, sharpshooter or a sniper.

By using that logic, Usopp is expected to fight or do something to defend he crew from faraway foes. By now, we all know that Usopp will never be the first one to volunteer to fight but he should know that he is expected to do things for the crew. That means possibly shooting a ball of super hot Tabasco sauce into the mouth of a "little girl".

Don't forget Robin! 

I don't mind if Usopp shows some cowardice because that is just part of who he is. I just want Oda to recognize that he needs to write Usopp as the warrior that he needs to be. Usopp shouldn't be taking so long to realize that he needs to be "The Brave Warrior of the Sea" to tackle the task at hand. Oda needs to show that Usopp has grown a little during the last two years outside of his fighting skills!

We all know what will happen next. We will at least have a chapter where Usopp runs away and tries to avoid Sugar and Trebol. Eventually Usopp will have a moment where he realize that he has to buckle down and face Sugar and Trebol. Hopefully Robin hasn't been place under a contract so she can be the one to help bring Usopp to his senses. Hopefully she was well hidden when her sprouted arms were touched and couldn't be administrated a contract. If she was given a contract then maybe she could at least lead Trebol and Sugar to Usopp and finally push him to go into action.

Enjoy the Law.

I want to see the Usopp that claimed Luffy will become the Pirate King from Alabasta. Not the Usopp who spent most of his battle running away in Cocoyashi Village.

Maybe we will get a surprise. Oda has always been good at those but it is becoming tiring to see Usopp crack under pressure when he has shown that he can preform several times. What do you think about this whole Usopp situation? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Until next time true believers!