According to Oda in a discussion with Mayumi Tanaka, Luffy's voice actress, 'no matter who joins, he always wants Usopp to be the weakest' since it would upset the balance of the story. Oda also states that this is because Usopp is the only one in the entire crew who is the closest in strength as compared to a regular human. Since early in the series he has struggled to match the physical feats of the stronger characters, and needed his weapons or ammunition to take out foes. He used to be a huge coward and often wanted to run away immediately, a trait he still carries to a lesser extent after his two years of training. This, coupled with him getting easily distracted or confused in battle have often made him less effective than his real potential as a sniper. So far, he appears to have mo