Heracles

Heracles cuts a strange figure in beetle-themed armor resembling a costumed hero's getup, complete with a full face mask, a mantle, and a purple cape. His body is rounded and bulky, set on comparatively slender arms and legs.

A verbal tic has him tacking an extra n onto names and the ends of his sentences in Japanese, a friendly quirk, so that Usopp becomes Usoppun and he refers to himself as Heraclesun. He also loves to reintroduce himself again and again. Generally easygoing, he snaps to attention the instant he senses danger, and he proves an easy mark for flattery and praise. Toward Usopp he is consistently warm, repeatedly saving the sniper from being devoured and fretting over his rapid weight gain, then happily agreeing to share all his knowledge once Usopp resolved to grow stronger.

Born in South Blue, Heracles set out at twenty-three as a botanist and reached the Boin Archipelago three years on. He lost his companions a year later but pressed forward with his research alone, and four years before the present he crossed paths with Bartholomew Kuma, who was hunting a cure for Jewelry Bonney's illness. His fighting style centers on a spear and explosives, his blows reportedly very fast, and despite his round shape he is genuinely powerful, having flattened a giant beetle and a man-eating plant with single strikes. He stocks Pop Greens at his belt, commands giant beetles, and carries deep knowledge of the island's flora and fauna, though he is prone to clumsiness and an alarming nonchalance about his own painful methods.

After Kuma scattered the Straw Hats, Usopp landed on the Boin Archipelago, where Heracles repeatedly rescued him from carnivorous creatures and plants while urging caution. The lush, edible forest, full of spaghetti plants and ham fruits, soon left Usopp dangerously fat, until news of the Whitebeard War and Luffy's grief sparked a fierce new determination in him. Begging Heracles to teach him, Usopp won the warrior over with eager compliments, and Heracles began schooling him in the island's plants and especially the explosive Pop Greens, training him for two full years. When the time came, Heracles helped Usopp escape the archipelago and reach Sabaody, where he sent a swarm of giant beetles to hold off the Marines and let the reunited Straw Hats set sail for Fish-Man Island.