Usopp was afraid of a lot of things.

A lot of things.

But, strangely enough, falling had never been one of them.

Not even way back at the beginning of their journey when they first came over to the Grand Line and for an instant they looked like they were flying before they fell towards the beginning of their journey, not during the whole Sky Island incident where they plummeted towards the ocean with only an octopus to help them, nor any time after that.

He had never feared falling.

It's the middle of a fight with the Marines, Usopp is standing on a cliff with his back to the fall and taking shots at everyone who moves and it not a Straw Hat, when he realizes consciously why he had never feared falling.

Usopp had known there was a Marine behind him, but he had thought the man was unconscious, so when the hand gripped his ankle and yanked the yell he let out was genuinely shocked.

He crashed to the ground, his trusty slingshot knocked from his hands, and before he can even move the Marine is throwing him towards the cliff ledge.

Usopp doesn't think when he reaches out and snags the wrist of the hand that threw him, and they both are screaming when they go over the edge.

It's instinct to kick the Marine away from his falling body when he tries to stab Usopp with a sword.

Usopp is falling. There's a 300ft drop until the ground, and Usopp knows that if he hits the ground he's dead, but even through he's screaming, he's not frightened of the fall.

He can't even begin to describe why he's so terrified of so much but not of falling.

Even as he screams, it really isn't the fall that's causing it. It's the thought of that sudden stop at the end, the dying; the idea of his journey stopping there.

He's 123 feet from the ground when his downward motion stalls and slows before it stops for just an instant.

He's 112 feet from the ground when he begins his downward motion in reverse moving up, and up and up with a warm solid arm wrapped around his waist and he realizes.

Oh.

He had never feared falling because he had known that someone would catch him before he hit the ground.