Courage Is Humanity's Anthem!

"Yeah! And your dad is Yasopp, right?" Luffy continued with a grin.

"Eh?!" Usopp cried out. So shocked that his foot slipped, he tumbled down the dirt slope head over heels.

Rayson watched the comical scene with an odd smile on his lips.

No wonder Usopp looked exactly like Yasopp... It seemed Luffy remembered people far better than usual when familiar connections were involved. What a classic One Piece progression.

After teasing him inwardly, Rayson fixed his gaze on Usopp.

I wonder if Usopp's panel has any traits I need?

"Shishishi! This is delicious!" Invited over by Usopp, Luffy happily took a huge bite of meat and shouted in heartfelt delight.

Beside the dining table, Rayson's eating speed was equally astonishing.

Having fully equipped Transcendent Physique (deep purple), Rayson's appetite now rivaled Luffy's.

Like Luffy, Rayson had long since grown tired of sour apples during the past few days at sea.

At that moment, vast amounts of roasted meat turned into pure nutrients, rapidly spreading through the effects of his physique trait and continuously tempering Rayson's bones and muscles.

"Tastes good, right? I never expected a guy like you, Luffy, to know my dad!" Usopp grinned so widely that he could barely close his mouth.

Hearing news about his father, Yasopp, filled him with immense satisfaction.

"I met him when I was really little. You look exactly like him, so I recognized you at a glance," Luffy said through a mouthful of meat.

"So my dad worked on the ship of that incredible great pirate, Shanks..." Usopp's eyes brimmed with longing.

"Your dad's shooting was practically divine!" Luffy clicked his tongue in praise as he recalled the past.

"Yasopp used to talk about you in my ear all the time. He talked so much my ears nearly grew calluses! He's an outstanding pirate!" Luffy said with a bright smile.

"Of course! My dad resolutely set out to sea to pursue his dream, even willing to stake his life on it. I'm incredibly proud of him!" Usopp puffed out his chest, his face full of pride.

Check traits.

Rayson swept away most of the roasted meat on the table like a whirlwind before finally freeing up the attention to inspect Usopp's status panel.

If he did not eat faster, then with Luffy's appetite, this meal would probably have nothing to do with him.

> Usopp's Traits: Slingshot Sniping (light purple), Inventor (light purple), Courage Anthem (special trait)

> Slingshot Sniping (light purple): Possesses exceptional shooting talent. When using a slingshot for sniping, its destructive power, lethality, and accuracy can even surpass ordinary firearms.

> Inventor (light purple): Possesses outstanding creative talent and can personally make all sorts of novel auxiliary devices and tools.

Slingshot Sniping (light purple) was a combat-oriented trait similar to Transcendent Physique. It represented the current upper limit of Usopp's sniping ability, not the ceiling of his ultimate potential.

In the power system of this world, shooters who relied solely on guns and cannons for damage found it difficult to reach the absolute peak. Ordinary firearms had minimal effect against true experts renowned for their powerful bodies.

For Usopp, who currently had no foundation in Haki at all, to be rated at the light-purple combat threshold through his own talent and the specialized ammunition he created with his Inventor trait already said a great deal.

For truly top-tier shooters, their destructive power ultimately had to be supported by Haki.

Therefore, possessing light-purple shooting mastery before ever coming into contact with Haki proved that Usopp's talent in sniping was absolutely no inferior to that of his father, Yasopp.

Of course, pure shooting fundamentals were equally indispensable. Haki was already difficult to control, and attaching it to a projectile while still accurately striking an opponent after it flew out at high speed became exponentially harder as the Haki's strength increased.

Only consummate marksmanship could ensure that, when firing devastating Haki-infused bullets, one could precisely lock onto an opponent's vital point.

Even Usopp's future style of using strange plants as tactical weapons would require peerless sniping skill to deliver seeds flawlessly into the golden positions where they could produce the greatest effect.

Even shooters who had awakened Observation Haki still followed this principle.

Observation Haki could only be used to lock onto a target and predict its trajectory, but being able to "see" did not mean one could definitely "hit."

To guide a shot, it still came down to hard sniping skill.

As for Inventor (light purple), it was a non-combat trait of the same type as Navigation. Its rank corresponded to Usopp's current level in invention and creation.

As Usopp's strength rose and his experience grew, both traits would undergo corresponding leaps.

Even so, compared to monsters like Luffy and Zoro, Usopp's current traits seemed somewhat ordinary.

But when Rayson's gaze moved to the final trait, his expression suddenly turned solemn.

> Courage Anthem (special trait): Fear is the survival instinct of living beings, while courage is humanity's only anthem! Though naturally cowardly, incompetent, and weak-willed, at the most critical moments, he can sing humanity's song of courage and erupt with several times the power of his own limits to turn the tide!

After reading that description, Rayson felt a trace of genuine respect rise in his heart.

Usopp was timid by nature. Among the Straw Hat Pirates' "Weakling Trio," he was undoubtedly the one most likely to feel panic and despair.

Even Perona's Negative Hollows, which could make people completely lose the will to live, could not exert the slightest effect on Usopp.

That was because this long-nosed guy was already constantly at the lowly bottom of negativity and pessimism, a peculiar constitution that even a Devil Fruit could not diminish any further.

Compared to fearless people like Zoro and Luffy, Usopp's personality might not be particularly likable in the eyes of some readers.

But that was not entirely his fault. It was an inborn nature determined by his genes, not something human effort could easily change.

Precisely because of that, Usopp's shining quality seemed especially noble: whenever he faced a desperate situation where death was certain, he could always overcome the terror in his heart and sing the courage anthem of an ordinary man!

For someone countless times more cowardly than an ordinary person, this fearlessness that conquered instinct was more admirable than the strength of those naturally thick-nerved powerhouses.

He had spent his entire life striving to become a brave warrior of the sea, and Usopp had proven through his actions that he truly deserved that vow.

A man like that was worthy of Rayson's respect.