Episode 15: Who are you fighting for?
"You're tired!? You're not fit to be a pirate if having a name on the seas scares you." -Luffy
Last episode, I compared Kuro’s leadership to Luffy’s. In this episode, we get to see where Usopp stands amongst other captains in how they view their crew. The last interaction we saw between Usopp and his “men,” was him lying to try and keep them out of harm's way. At the moment, Onion, Pepper, and Carrot believed Usopp’s lie. However, they had strong doubts that Usopp would ever tell such a hurtful lie, and upon investigating further they saw that Kuro was in fact planning on killing Kaya and destroying the rest of the village.
After following Kaya to the beach, they jump at the chance to attack Kuro after he was knocked down by Luffy. Usopp tries to stop them, knowing that they’re only children, and they’d only be putting themselves in danger. Although all of them are able to land a blow on Kuro, their attacks only anger Kuro. Usopp knows he can’t protect them if Kuro turns his fury on the three boys.
He still wants to protect them, knowing how much trust they’ve placed in him as their leader. Usopp is not as powerful as Luffy, but he still tries to protect any allies he can. Then there is a turn. The situation is becoming more dire. Kuro stands between our heroes and Kaya. Jango is ordered to kill her.
Usopp doesn’t want to ask this of his friends, but he realizes that he has no choice but to rely on these young boys who have put so much trust in him. After all, the fight is not over. He tells them to take Kaya and run away, knowing that if they try to fight Jango, they will be overwhelmed and killed.
This might seem like a drop in the bucket toward a victory for Usopp and his friends. After all, Luffy is able to hold off Kuro long enough to allow Zoro and Usopp to go after Jango. Perhaps, but Kaya is still reeling from Kuro’s betrayal and manipulation, and it is the three boys that are able to get her moving, buying them a little extra time.
Why are Kuro’s men fighting for him? It seems to be largely out of fear, and for good reason. They were told that if they cannot follow his plan, he will kill them all. Kuro is not attempting to achieve his goal with his crew intact. While his men are stronger than Onion, Pepper, and Carrot, there are real shortcomings to viewing one’s subordinates as kindling on the fire of one’s own ambition. They may be able to function as a crew, but unlike the Usopp pirates who spring into action at their captains orders, the Kuro pirates are only able to cower at the impossibility of their task. They know that they are not strong enough to defeat Zoro and Luffy, nor are they strong enough to challenge Kuro. They’re doomed either way.
Just because Kuro’s style of leadership is more prevalent in our world than Usopp’s, it’s an important message to take in. Although the world often operates through predatory hierarchies, that doesn’t mean we should buy into the idea that managing people through fear is an effective way to lead.
We see how Usopp’s care for these three boys creates a more powerful bond, one that does not bend even when the situation seems hopeless. We must make sure that we lead like Usopp, or abandon leaders like Kuro, as anyone who doesn’t value a person because they are “beneath” them, should not be in power in the first place.
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