Chapter 741: Usoland the Liar

Arc: Dressrosa · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2014-03-03

Summary

In the underground trading port beneath Dressrosa, the enslaved Tontatta dwarves and the toy-workers chant for “Usoland” — the legendary hero Usopp invented, who swore to “save everything.” Trebol’s overseers torment the captives, mocking the absent hero, while Usopp, hiding nearby, tearfully eggs them to abandon hope in him so they can escape. When the overseers stomp on Leo and the other dwarves to taunt them, Usopp breaks cover, first confessing he is no hero — “My name is Usopp, and I’m a pirate!! … my name isn’t even Usoland!!” — and then resolving to make the lie true, demanding a statue beside Noland’s if he dies and firing Green Star: Platanus into the overseers. The chapter then cuts to the palace: the one-legged toy soldier finds a human-sized sword “to use if I get turned back into a human,” and a Kyros-lookalike is reported in the palace, triggering a flashback. We see Kyros’s origin — a 15-year-old slum thug and infamous murderer whom King Riku took an interest in, who was thrown into the Corrida Coliseum, won 100 battles in 4 months, then hundreds more over four years against giants and fish-men, becoming an undefeated “beast” who only ever wished everyone would forget him.

New reveals

• Kyros’s first human appearance. The legendary gladiator no one in Dressrosa remembers is finally shown as a man — via flashback, a 15-year-old “boy from the slums,” captioned “KYROS (AGE 15).”
• Kyros’s crime. He killed a group of men because “they killed my friend”; he was the most infamous thug in the land, beat his cellmates half to death, and refused food for six days in prison.
• King Riku took him in. The king personally intervened — “Come with me, Kyros!!!” — and Kyros was sent to the Coliseum, where a conditional-release rule (win 100 battles) existed.
• The undefeated record’s origin. 100 victories in 4 months → 200 → 300 → his 1,000th victory in his fourth year, fighting giants and fish-men; “every hero he faces ends up beaten.” He rejected the crowd’s love (“people only love beasts when they’re in cages”) and grieved alone at his friend’s grave, wishing “everyone would forget all about me!!!”
• The Usoland faith. The captive Tontatta and toy-slaves believe Usopp (“Usoland”) is a legendary hero who will free them; he is even called a “descendant of the great Noland.”
• Usopp’s choice. He confesses the legend is a lie, then deliberately becomes the hero anyway — debuting Green Star: Platanus.
• The toy soldier (Thunder Soldier) appears in the palace’s Suit Chamber (2F), seeking a human-sized sword for “if I get turned back into a human” — framing the flashback as his memory (Kyros = the toy soldier).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Mentions / appearances

• Usopp (“Usoland”) — confesses, then commits to becoming the dwarves’ hero; debuts Green Star: Platanus
• Kyros — first human appearance (flashback, age 15); the Coliseum’s undefeated gladiator
• King Riku — the king who took young Kyros under his wing (flashback)
• Rebecca — p.14, recalls her father who “was fighting in the Coliseum today” (frames the Kyros flashback)
• Thunder Soldier — the one-legged toy soldier in the palace Suit Chamber (2F)
• Leo — Tontatta commander, stomped and tormented by the overseers (p.9)
• Mont Blanc Noland — invoked; Usopp posed as “a descendant of the great Noland” and asks for a statue “next to Noland’s” — see The Noland Legend and the City of Gold
• Donquixote Pirates — the overseers’ faction (“fighting back against the Donquixote Family”)
• Dwarves — the enslaved Tontatta (“the Tontatta death scream”); their Operation S.O.P.
• Giants, Fish-Men — named as opponents Kyros fought in the Coliseum (flashback)
• Living Toys of Dressrosa — the toy-slaves of the underground port
• Dressrosa, Corrida Colosseum

Notable panels

• Pages 1–2 — Title double-spread, “USOLAND THE LIAR”: the Straw Hats (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Robin, Franky, Chopper, Usopp) rendered in steampunk/military armor and machinery. Decorative themed splash (likely the chapter’s color spread); no obvious foreshadow.
• Page 5 — The captives’ chant “USOLANDH!!!” rolls through the underground port; the Usoland faith made visual.
• Page 10 — Usopp’s silhouette rises from cover (he can no longer watch the dwarves be tortured).
• Pages 11–12 — “My name is Usopp, and I’m a pirate!!” / “Because I’m about to become your legendary hero!!!” — the confession-and-vow beat.
• Page 13 — Green Star: Platanus debut (“ZBA!! … PLATANUS!!! … SHURIKEN!!!”).
• Page 14 — Scene shift: Suit Chamber, Palace 2F — the toy soldier picks a sword “to use if I get turned back into a human”; a Kyros-lookalike reported in the palace.
• Page 15 — “BOY FROM THE SLUMS — KYROS (AGE 15)”: Kyros’s human face revealed.
• Pages 19–20 — Kyros at the grave: “I just wish everyone… would forget all about me!!!”

Open questions raised

• Who is the “someone else who looks like me in the palace” the guards reported (p.14) — a Kyros statue, or the real King Riku/Ricky lookalike thread?
• How does Kyros’s documented, very-real gladiatorial career square with all of Dressrosa having forgotten him — i.e., when and how was he erased?
• Will Usopp’s chosen heroism survive contact with Trebol’s army, or is “Usoland” about to bite off more than the sniper can handle?

Note (bleed-over)

Page 21 in the raw capture is the title page of Chapter 742 (“Ever at Your Side”) — a reader-request illustration (“Robin reads a story to napping alpacas,” by Maru-chan from Tochigi). Not part of Chapter 741; recorded here only to mark the capture boundary.