A liar, a tactician, and a lover of fooling around, Usopp of the Straw Hats crew in One Piece isn’t exactly the strongest fighter on the team. In fact, quite the opposite. He has no Devil Fruit abilities, and he’s a scaredy cat. The long-nosed sniper is the show’s laughingstock, always mocked for his fear of battles.

RELATED: One Piece: 5 Characters Usopp Can Beat (& 5 He Can't)

Still, that doesn’t stop Usopp from fighting. Trembling, running, and outwitting his opponents, Usopp manages to barely scrape through some incredible beatdowns that literally leave him broken. Let’s take a look at some of Usopp’s most epic battle moments, and how he survived them.

10 Usopp vs. Kuro in Syrup Village

Let’s flashback to the time the Straw Hats and Usopp met at his hometown in Syrup Village in the East Blue. Usopp desperately fought to protect the village from being attacked by Captain Kuro, the evil butler who cared for and eventually turned on Kaya, Usopp’s rich friend. In this battle, Usopp is shown bruised and brought to his knees, but he somehow manages to pull through with the help of the Straw Hats crew, and the Usopp Pirates—his fan club of three young children. The battle ends with Usopp joining the Straw Hats on their adventures at sea.

9 Usopp vs. The Franky Family in Water 7

When the Franky Family steals the money Usopp was assigned to protect—the funds that would be used to fix the ailing Going Merry ship—Usopp goes straight to the Franky Family house to settle the score on his own. But the plan backfires terribly.

RELATED: One Piece: 10 One Piece Fan Theories We Hope Are True

Instead, Usopp gets beaten to a pulp by Franky’s henchmen. Somehow he manages to limp back to town, nearly unconscious. It is Nami who finds Usopp beaten to a pulp. Usopp sustains black eyes, a bent nose, a missing tooth, and a completely broken spirit. He survives and ends up being treated by Chopper.

8 Usopp vs. Luffy in Water 7

Usopp and Monkey D. Luffy, two members of the Straw Hat Pirates, arguing as Nami and Sanji watch during One Piece's Water 7 Arc

The tearful showdown between Luffy and Usopp stemmed from a battle over whether or not to disband the Going Merry, Usopp’s pride and joy. Luffy decided that the crew would buy a new ship due to the damage it had sustained. Fueled by his own insecurities of feeling broken and useless, Usopp refused to accept the Merry's fate and challenged Luffy to a duel. The moonlit battle ended predictably: Luffy defeated Usopp, who was already tending wounds from his fight with the Franky Family. In one scene, Usopp is shown coughing up blood. At the end of the fight, Luffy is shown crying with his back turned to his friend. It’s at this point that Usopp and the crew break up for a bit, and Usopp goes off on his own.

7 Usopp vs. Daddy Masterson in Loguetown

One Piece Usopp

It all started over a pair of goggles. Daddy Masterson, a sniper bounty hunter who is incredibly protective of his young daughter Carol, challenges Usopp to a duel after he learns Usopp and Carol have an argument over the goggles. Usopp initially runs from this challenge, but then works up the courage to challenge Daddy to a real duel. The duel terms? Shoot the faraway weathervane or die. Usopp accepts the challenge, and aces it. Usopp later learns that Daddy and Yasopp, his own father, went toe-to-toe and that Yassop spared Daddy’s life at the end of their showdown.

6 Usopp vs. Kumacy and Perona in Thriller Bark

Usopp’s takedown of teddy bear Kumacy and ghost girl Perona is masterfully comedic. Perona’s Devil Fruit ability to cast opponents into a pit of negativity that brings them to their knees has no effect on Usopp, the most negative character of all time. Still, it’s a struggle to win against the two.

RELATED: One Piece: 15 Best Story Arcs, Ranked

Usopp takes a huge clobbering from Kumacy, but then switches to his alter ego, Sogeking, and defeats the bear. Usopp as Sogeking then uses trickery and his bag of gags to defeat Perona. He hurls a projectile full of cockroaches and hits her with a fake 10-ton hammer, which does the trick: Perona is petrified and Usopp wins another one.

5 Usopp vs. Chew in Arlong Park

Usopp vs Choo One Piece

Usopp and the rest of the crew fight the Arlong Pirates, a crew of strong Fishmen, to free Nami from indentured servitude. In this showdown, Usopp faces off against Chew, an Arlong Pirate. Usopp gets clobbered several times by Chew. He pulls a few tricks, including a “rubber band of doom” which Chew anxiously anticipates by closing his eyes in fear. When he opens them, Usopp is gone like the wind. The two trade attacks, until Usopp finally gets the upper hand; Usopp hammers Chew until Chew passes out with a landscape of lumps on his head. Victory for Usopp!

4 Usopp & Chopper vs. Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas

In Alabasta, Usopp and Chopper face off against Mr. 4, and Miss Merry Christmas, who belong to the Baroque Works crew. Mr. 4 is a giant man with an odd weapon — a baseball bomb-shooting gun called Lassoo, enhanced with a Devil Fruit ability to turn into a dog. Mr. 4’s ability is to bat the baseball bombs, while Miss Merry Christmas is a mole-like villain whose ability includes creating tunnels underground. The two of them run circles around Chopper and Usopp, with Usopp barely withstanding hits from the bat. Ultimately, Usopp and Chopper find a moment to trick the pair and Usopp delivers the final blow with a slingshot hammer.

3 Usopp vs. Daruma on Fishman Island

In the battle for Fishman Island’s fate, Usopp goes head-to-head with Daruma, a Fishman who has the ability to turn himself into a charging fireball. Daruma runs toward Usopp, and catches part of Usopp’s leg on fire. Usopp slings several shots at Daruma, but nothing happens.

RELATED:  One Piece: 10 Most Iconic Fights

It turns out Usopp has placed a trap with his earlier shots. As Daruma is in midair about to attack Usopp, he summons the Green Star- Humandrake, plans which sprout up from the shots he fired earlier. Usopp makes swift work of Daruma after that, finishing him off with a post-timeskip attack called Impact Wolf.

2 Usopp as "Sogeking” & Zoro against Kaku and Jabra in Water 7

zoro fighting against agents

Cipher Pol 9 (CP9) is the assassin Marine group on a mission to make sure pirate Nico Robin gets the ultimate punishment of death. When Zoro is getting ready to fight Kaku and Jabra, two members of CP9, he winds up handcuffed to Usopp, who is masked as Sogeking. In this hilarious battle, Zoro and Sogeking try to plot their moves while glued together. Finally, they resolve to use Sogeking as one of Zoro’s swords. Sogeking gets punched around quite a bit as Zoro uses his three-sword style to take on the pair. This goes on until for a while until Nami and Franky come by with keys to uncuff them.

1 Usopp vs. Trebol and Sugar in Dressrosa

In Dressrosa, the Straw Hats fight DoFlamingo’s formidable crew, known as the Donquixote Family. Usopp is the last remaining fighter who can take down Sugar and Trebol, two members of the family, and he almost chickens out. In his showdown with the pair, he is beaten to a bloody pulp. When Sugar deposits the poison grape Usopp was planning to use to take down Sugar, the joke ends up being on her. Usopp lets out an incredibly agonized scream as flames shoot out of his mouth, knocking Sugar unconscious. This move lifts the curse Sugar has been casting which turns humans into toys. Usopp’s act of heroism elevates him to a new level: God Usopp.

Usopp is often derided as the weakest character on the Straw Hats crew, but the lovable, long-nosed sniper is arguably the most human character of the show. While it’s true he’s not as strong as heavy hitters Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro, Usopp is a reminder to us all that even the weakest among us have moments of strength.

NEXT: One Piece: Every Straw Hat Pirate, Ranked According to Strength