@theinvisibleworm:
I really disagree with you (ivotas) on the idea that Usopp obviously doesn't know how to use dials well enough to win a fight because he lost to Luffy.
Luffy could probably take a reject dial to the face several times without too much of a problem, he's way too strong to be defeated by an impact dial, even if the impact is his own punch. His loss against Luffy didn't show weakness on Usopp's part, it showed strength because of how well he did.
Exactly. That´s the reason why I consider Usopp not yet having the experience how to use dials properly in a fight. Of all people he should have known how tough Luffy is and yet his best preparation against him couldn´t get the job done. And Bellamy is an opponent Usopp would know nothing about.
As I said it´s all a matter of opinion and I don´t see him ready yet. Just like Nami had to learn in her fight with Miss Doublefinger how to use the Clima Tact properly, Usopp has to learn how to use the dials properly. I´m sure that after he defeated a CP9er he will be that far. But since the protagonists grow with the fight it means they are not that far before the fight starts.
And I stay by the point, he hasn´t singlehandedly defeated any big player since chew. That´s a fact and is several hundred chapters ago. I have to see him do something like that again before I consider him to be able to take down a guy with a 55.000.000 bounty all by himself.
Considering his ability to make a much better version of his flame shot thing (the huge explosion) and his ability to take a crapload of damage since the very beginning of the series, and the fact that he could pretend to be knocked out/dead and Bellamy would believe it because he's so arrogant he'd think "Took him out in one hit!" or whatever.
As if Bellamy is the guy that gets tricked. Bellamy even thought he was tricked when people spoke the truth. Just think back of Luffy´s and Zoro´s wanted posters. Bellamy may be a dork, but I don´t see him falling for any trick.
It's just a matter of opinion because other than the fight with luffy we haven't see Usopp's strength in a one on one match except when he shot an impossible opponent (Lucci) when he was with Franky.
Cough, chough, that doesn´t mean anything. I can also throw eggs at Mike Tyson but does that mean that I could take him one on one?
Would Usopp kick the crap out of Bellamy with uber snipe skills and do it without trouble? Of course not, but if he really needed to win the fight (in other words, if he's very motivated), he'd find a way. He always has.
That´s what I said before. If the protagonists have to win then Oda will write it like that. That´s why they are the protagonists. BUT Oda does that carefully. He doesn´t boost up someone´s strenght tremendously that it doesn´t make sense. That´s exactly how Usopp´s post-Chew fights were written like. He either fought in teams or he took on an opponent he knew better then anyone else and even then lost to him.
Besides, the sniping does matter. He´s a sharpshooter after all. If he can´t defeat his opponents with that skill than this talent is wasted. It´s like saying that Zoro wouldn´t win with swords but he would find a way with something else.
Usopp is a sharpshooter. And a sharpshooter is only good when he can even take out moving targets. If he can´t his skill is nothing more but a good party trick which doesn´t help in fights. In fights the targets move and the good sharpshooters get seperated from the bad ones if they adapt their skill to the situations. If Usopp want´s to grow as a sharpshooter then he has to take out targets others couldn´t do. And this would be guys performing Soru. I sure as hell hope that he will snipe a CP9er while he does Soru. I so much want to see that. But until he doesn´t get that far he doesn´t have that skill. And with that he wouldn´t be able to take out Bellamy when he uses Spring Hopper.
Anyway I already described a way he could have beaten bellamy, and it was perfectly reasonable if the fight with luffy is taken into account. He was able to use the impact dial to stop a blow and then pass the blow on, which is a perfectly acceptable use of the impact dial, and which if pulled off successfully would take bellamy down in one hit.
Ok I´ll say it again. Usopp knows Luffy, Usopp knows Gomu Gomu no Bazooka and all the other moves. He knows what moves Luffy will come up with and he can anticipate them. Usopp so far never has seen Bellamy and if he would use Spring Hopper against him then Usopp surely as hell would have absolutely no idea what to do against Bellamy because he wouldn´t know how Bellamy would attack him. The only chance for Usopp would be if his eye´s could follow Bellamy´s movement but so far the only character who ever was able to follow fast movements was Luffy (Kuro, Bellamy, Blueno).
So nope, Usopp´s way to deal with Luffy is no indicator for how he would deal with Bellamy because it is two completely different situations. Not to mention that he even lost that fight with what seemed to be a perfect preparation.