Luffy and Usopp’s bond is quite unique in One Piece and it was seen when Usopp saved Luffy from a near death experience during Thriller Bark.

SUMMARY

Luffy and Usopp’s bond is one of the highlights of the Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece.
Usopp once saved Luffy from Perona during the Thriller Bark arc.
However, his experience was so traumatic that he has felt its effects even in Egghead Island arc.

The bond between Luffy and Usopp is one of the most humorous highlights of One Piece. The two characters are the best of friends, and they are often considered the notorious ones of the group, always playing pranks and using their goofiness to make everyone else laugh. However, their bond has more to it than fun and games.

Usopp and Luffy in One Piece | Credit: Toei Animation

While Luffy has helped Usopp multiple times, there was one instance where Usopp literally saved Luffy’s life. Fans might not remember this, but Luffy had a near-death experience during the Thriller Bark arc, and he was saved by Usopp. This was when the entire Straw Hat crew faced the dangerous Devil Fruit powers of Perona, one of the Mysterious Four of the Thriller Bark Pirates.

That near-death experience traumatized Luffy so much that its effects were even seen during the Egghead Island arc. This was visible when Luffy saw Vegapunk’s holograms for the first time and couldn’t conceptualize what they were. He was so hurt by his past experience that he even changed his form to the one that One Piece fans had never seen before.

When Usopp Saved Luffy’s Life in One Piece

During the Thriller Bark arc in One Piece, one of the most dangerous characters was indeed Perona. Her Devil Fruit abilities allowed her to conjure different kinds of hollows that could phase through others. Among her army of hollows, a few of them were called negative hollows, which can make a person have negative feelings about themselves and ultimately lose all confidence.

While this was certainly the most basic aspect of her abilities, it was so powerful that it took down not only Zoro but also Luffy. In fact, Perona’s hollows were the only reason why Gecko Moria was able to capture Luffy and extract his shadow. Thus, her abilities could have destroyed the entire Straw Hat Pirates if Usopp had not been there.

Perona from One Piece | Credit: Toei Animation

Usopp was the only character in the entire One Piece who was not at all affected by the negative hollow ability of Perona. Thus, he was tasked with defeating Perona to save everyone else, and the sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates was successful in completing his task. Although it was a little weird, he still managed to take down Perona in the end.

Luffy is Still Traumatized

While in a way Usopp saved Luffy during the Thriller Bark arc, he could not help him with the trauma he suffered from the negative hollows of Perona. Luffy’s encounter with Perona’s negative hollow left a long-lasting effect on the Straw Hat’s captain, and it was witnessed during the Egghead Island arc when he encountered similar hollows in One Piece.

Luffy Unlocks New Transformation | Credit: Toei Animation

When Luffy and his friends first explored Egghead Island, they encountered a lot of holograms that were placed there by Vegapunk, but Luffy couldn’t understand their concept.

Vegapunk even tried to explain it to Luffy, but he couldn’t conceptualize what they actually were and just named them Hollow-Hollow (which is the English name of Perona’s fruit).

Not only that, these holograms even enraged Luffy. During his exploration, he came across a hologram of a sundae, and when he realized he couldn’t eat it, he transformed it into a unique form that was never seen before in One Piece. Thus, these moments in Egghead clearly reflected that Luffy was not over the trauma that he experienced with hollows during the Thriller Bark arc.