Brook of One Piece

Brook is a skeleton and joined the Straw Hat Pirates after the events on Thriller Bark. His joining finally fulfilled Luffy’s wish to be a musician in the gang. Brook made new friends through the gang and returned to the pirate life. Thanks to his devil powers, he was resurrected after his passing, but not in time to save his body from decomposition. During the two-year time jump, Brook established himself as a world star as a musician with the stage name Soul King (jap. ソウルキング, Souru Kingu).

Appearance

Brook is a very tall and slender walking skeleton. The most striking thing about him is his large, voluminous black afro. On this he wears a black top hat. He wears a black suit with an orange shirt underneath. Around his neck he wears a blue scarf fixed with purple crystals. His shoes are black and beaded to match the suit. Around his arm he has always hung his purple walking stick.

After his rise to world stardom, Brook has acquired new clothes, including a hat in the shape of a crown and sunglasses. On his shoulders he wears brownish feather capes, and his trousers have a floral pattern. For his concerts he carries a green electric guitar in the shape of a shark.

Personality

Brook is actually a very fun-loving character. He exudes joy wherever he can. His favorite way to do that is to sing happily. He is a talented musician by nature and plays the violin and piano. His favorite song is “Binks’ Sake,” which he often sings or plays on an instrument.

He is very convinced that he has good manners and is a proper gentleman. In reality, however, he has perverted sayings, burps, farts, spills food on himself and is very impatient.

He is also very determined to see his only living friend Laboon again. That’s why he took 50 years of lonely wandering in the fog just to see him again. Because of him, he kept his Afro and makes sure that nothing happens to him. It should serve as a recognition mark. It is also because of him that he eventually joins the Straw Hat Pirates and accompanies them on their journey to meet Laboon again soon. This is his greatest wish, for which he would give anything in the world.

In recent years, however, Brook has been very depressed. After his death, he drifted around Florian Triangle for 50 years, all alone, until he came across the Straw Hat Pirates. They were the first people he met since his death and for the first time he felt what joy is again and is very grateful to them for meeting him. He also has an enormous fear of high speeds, screaming for the entire ride on a roller coaster at Sabaody Park. Ironically, he is also terrified of the undead.

Because Brook has died before, he has great respect for the value of life, which is why he despises people like Zeo who don’t value life and just waste it.

Today is really a lucky day!
I met people!!!
I did not even notice the change of day from today to tomorrow!
In this dark sea with the thick fog….
I have been all alone on a ship unable to maneuver!
For so many decades!
I have been really very, very lonely!
I have been so lonely…!
I was so scared…!
I wanted to die!!!

– Brook

Skills and strength

Even during his time as a pirate in the Rumbar Pirates, the Marines considered Brook dangerous and put a bounty of 33 million berries on his head. After the Dressrosa incidents, all of the bounties on the Straw Hat Pirates were increased, so Brook’s head is currently worth 83 million berry.

Brook has been eating from the Dead Realm Fruit. Its devil power allows him to live on only once after death. It is activated once the user of the devil power has died. Thus, after his death, his soul could return to the body, which had already rotted into a skeleton.

In addition, Brook is an exceptionally gifted swordsman. He fights his enemies with a shikomizue (jap. 仕込み杖 ~ “prepared walking stick”). This is a blade hidden in his walking stick. Just like most other straw hats, Brook can easily take on several opponents of average strength. He also fought valiantly against his nemesis Ryuma, but could never defeat him, no matter how many times he challenged him. Only Zoro was able to win back his shadow. Two years later, Brook was the first of the Straw Hats to face Big Mom alone. Even in this duel, he did not surrender so quickly, survived numerous attacks and injured the homie Prometheus, which no one had ever managed before.

Due to his light physique, Brook can jump very high and even run over water if he kicks his legs fast enough. One of his greatest strengths is his high speed. He is the fastest runner in the Straw Hat Pirates and even surpasses Sanji’s running speed. Even in his time as a soldier, he mastered the technique “Requiem La Banderole”. It was considered the fastest sword technique in the kingdom where Brook did his military service. It was later renamed “Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri” by the members of the Rumbar Pirates and became his trademark. The sword stroke is done at such a high speed that the enemies hit do not feel the effects of the hit until several seconds later. Although Brook is only a skeleton, he can still exert an above-average amount of force. This becomes apparent when he parries his opponents’ attacks, for example Zeo’s, who has 10 times the strength of normal humans due to his fish-man genes alone.

All members of the Rumbar Pirates were musicians, as was Brook. The latter held the post of vice-captain and later captain. The musical vein is also clearly reflected in the names of his attaches. He can even use his music in battle, for example, to play his enemies to sleep. Thus, with his music, he is also able to awaken ambitions in people, for example, to make them more courageous, as he did with the inhabitants of Namakura.

Through the two-year separation, Brook has refined his music to the point where he could use it to gather huge crowds in concert halls and thus go on tour. The concerts were always in high demand, so tickets for them always sold out very quickly. Brook had also learned to use his devil powers better, and can now separate his soul from his body and reunite it later, so that, like Perona, he can walk through walls as a ghost, for example, to scout out places. He has also learned to transfer his devil powers to his Sword, and can thus freeze anything he touches with the blade. Advanced sword techniques are also now part of his repertoire.

Just as Franky draws new strength with the help of Coke, Brook can recover from his injuries with a glass of milk. Most, including Chopper, can not explain this phenomenon.

Brook’s Power & Abilities

Aubade Coup Droit

Aubade Coup Droit is an attack used by both Brook and Samurai Ryuma.

Ryuma uses it for the first time in the fight against Zoro, as he didn’t have to show all his skills with Brook as his opponent.

When using this technique, Brook or Ryuma first pulls the arm with the sword back, then quickly thrusts the sword forward, firing an invisible shot.

Brook immediately realized that Ryuma could execute the attack much better than he could.

The Aubade is a classical music style. It can be translated as “morning song(from French aube = dawn).
In fencing the forehand is called „coup droit”.

Kasuriuta: Fubuki Giri

He slashes his opponents unnoticed, similar to Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri. With the help of his devil power, Brook is now able to envelop his sword Soul Solid with a cold aura, which is why the opponent freezes at the touch of the blade.

Kasuri translates roughly as small scratch or abrasion. This results in Kasuriuta: Fubuki Giri as translation scratch song: blizzard cut.

Nemuriuta Flanc

Nemuriuta Flanc is an attack from Brook. It litterally means Lullaby Parry. (眠り歌・フラン Nemuriuta Furan)

He uses it for the first time against the Tobiuo Riders. Here he first plays a lullaby on his violin, which puts the opponents into a deep sleep. He then attacks with his Shikomizue, effortlessly knocking out several opponents with one blow.

Flanc is a fencing attack that involves thrusting the weapon forward with a powerful leap into the opponent. This is exactly what Brook does with this attack.
The pronunciation of Flanc does not quite match the original sound of furanbut it seems to be the most obvious here.

Past

Before joining the Rumbar Pirates, Brook held a high position in a royal force. More details are not known at this point.

The meeting with Laboon

Brook was a violinist in the Rumbar Pirates 50 years ago and was also a vice captain. Every morning he woke up his crew with a cheerful song. One day, the pleasant sound attracted a small whale to the Ship and he was visibly happy about the music. Because of them, the little whale followed the Ship of the gang everywhere from now on. They had numerous adventures. It all came to an end when Yorki decided to sail to the Grand Line with his gang. They were going to leave the Westblue. The captain did not want to put the baby whale through such a dangerous journey, so he told Brook to make sure the whale would not follow them to the Grand Line. The swordsman tried to explain this to Laboon, but he refused with a loud roar. With heavy hearts, they left their little friend behind, who was now infinitely sad. They set course for Reverse Mountain and finally reached the Grand Line via it.

The journey on the Grand Line

At the Cape of Twins they immediately made friends with the lighthouse keeper Crocus. The latter noticed a small whale and the gang was shocked to discover that Laboon had followed them. After a three-day celebration at the Cape, they finally left, leaving Laboon with Krokus after Brook spoke to him again and vowed that they would return after a trip around the world and visit him no matter what.

After they had already visited many countries, Captain Yorki fell ill with a serious illness. The ship’s doctor was unable to help him. The captain’s last wish was to sail to his death alone on his ship. He transferred the leadership of the gang to Brook. The gang got a new Ship and sadly continued their journey.

They had many adventures and after three years reached the Florian Triangle, where there was a brutal battle between his and a foreign Pirates gang. The gang was later devastated and no one survived the battle as all were hit by poisonous arrows. With their last breaths, the gang once again sang their favorite song “Binks’ Sake” and recorded this with a sound dial for Laboon. They hoped he would ever hear it. The gang was saddened beyond measure as they could not keep their promise to Laboon.

With the occurrence of his death, his devil power activated. His soul returned from the realm of the dead and returned to the body. Unfortunately for him, he got lost in the dense fog during the search and only found his body after more than a year, which had been reduced to bare bones during this time. Since then he lived as a skeleton and wandered on his Ship through the fog.

The encounter with Gecko Moria

Five years ago, Brook and his ship finally encountered the Thriller Bark. He was overpowered and robbed of his shadow. This was given to the legendary swordsman Samurai Ryuma

. To reclaim it, he challenged Ryuma to a fencing match, but lost out and had to flee without his shadow. From then on, he had no reflection and burned on contact with sunlight, so he had no choice but to remain in the mist of Florian Triangle.

During his exploration on Thriller Bark, he discovered that the zombies have a weakness, namely salt. He found that if you sprinkled the salt in their mouth, they would lose their shadow. In this way, he defeated many zombies and created a disaster for the Moria gang before having to retreat defeated. From then on, he continued to sail through the fog alone and dejected.

Present

The meeting with the Straw Hat Pirates

After five years of loneliness, he finally met people again. It is the Straw Hat Pirates, which was brought to the mysterious triangle by a storm. His ship sailed past the Thousand Sunny and Luffy was immediately smitten. He was eager to add the skeleton to his gang. Brook was not averse to this. The rest of the Straw Hat Pirates was outraged at the captain’s decision. Usopp and Chopper in particular were very suspicious and fearful of him.

Over dinner, however, they gradually became friends with him as he told him his story. Luffy was literally smitten by Brook when he also learned that he was a musician. He wanted to help him get his shadow back. Brook, however, refused. Likewise, he didn’t want to join the gang either. He didn’t want to drag them into his affairs. Shortly after the Thriller Bark emerged from the fog, Brook instantly made his way there. He warned the Straw Hat Pirates not to follow him, but Luffy was unstoppable.

Decision about Brook’s shadow

Screaming at the top of his voice, Brook falls from the sky some time later and lands with Franky and Robin, who had just had to deal with the Zombie Generals. The most stubborn of them was Tararan, who gave the two pirates a run for their money. They seemed to be outnumbered by him, but then Brook helped them by defeating Tararan for them. He then told them what Moria, the zombies, their connection to Salt and Shadow, and his friend Laboon were all about. After that, they parted ways. While Franky and Robin returned to the rest of the gang to share the knowledge they had received from Brook, Brook sought out Hogback’s lab.

There he challenged Ryuma to a fight again, convinced he had become stronger. The two fought like true masters, but Ryuma was still superior to Brook. After a fierce fight, Brook finally had to admit defeat again. Ryuma thought it was a shame that the owner of his shadow had an afro, so he wanted to cut it off. Brook was completely debilitated and could not stop this. He feared that Laboon would not recognize him without it and therefore he would lose his friend. Just as Ryuma was about to apply the blade, the earth shook and he was shaken off Brook. Oars raged around outside.

A few seconds later, Franky arrived to help Brook. Ryuma tried to attack the two, but Zoro protected them. He was now going to challenge the legendary samurai. Brook now hoped to finally get his shadow back through him. Franky took care of the injured skeleton. Ryuma and Zoro engaged in a fierce battle, from which Zoro eventually emerged victorious. Ryuma burned and Brook got his shadow back and Zoro gained a new sword. Now all problems seemed to be solved, but that’s when Oars showed up and challenged the Straw Hat Pirates to show themselves. He challenged them to a fight.

Brook supports the Straw Hat Pirates

The Straw Hat Pirates fought the giant, but were no match for him. After the latter had received help from Moria, all seemed lost. Brook, meanwhile, had recovered. He also had a huge bag of salt with him to defeat Oars. From then on, he also fought vigorously alongside the Straw Hats, but was also defeated. After Nightmare Luffy gave Oars and Moria a hard time, Brook ran up the main mast of the Thriller Bark with Luffy on Robin’s Pierna Fleurs to do his part in the grand finale. He threw Luffy down to Oars so he could finally defeat him with Gear 3. The Devil was actually knocked out by this attack as well, and Moria was defeated by Luffy a short time later. He also sided with the Straw Hat Pirates in their encounter with Bartholomew Kuma and was defeated along with them. Zoro survived Bear’s harsh test, after which Bear made his escape, as agreed.

Joining the Straw Hat Pirates

After all the fights, the Straw Hat Pirates had a big party as usual. Brook provided the appropriate music with his playing on the piano. Luffy took the chance and finally wanted to convince Brook to join his gang. Brook tried to refuse again, but when Luffy mentioned Laboon and said he was still waiting, Brook was unstoppable. He was overcome with tears and is just overjoyed that Laboon is okay. His whole past came up in him and he revealed to the Straw Hat Pirates his most fervent wish: to keep the promise with Laboon. After that, he decided to join her. With that, Brook became the ninth member of the gang. Now Luffy has his long-awaited musician in the crew. His tactic of approaching Brook about Laboon had worked. After all, he had already decided to include Brook in the gang before the big counterattack because of his connection to Laboon.

With the help of Franky and Usopp, Brook built a monument to the Rumba Pirates in the Thriller Bark cemetery. He then prayed for them all by himself until Zoro showed up and buried his destroyed sword Yubashili. Shortly after, he learned that the next stop on the journey would be Fish Man Island. When he learned that mermaids don’t wear panties, he got a nosebleed, as did Sanji. A short time later, the Straw Hat Pirates left the Thriller Bark with their newest comrade-in-arms, Brook.

„	Is that really true? He’s fine…! […] Laboon…! You’ve waited for me faithfully for 50 years… Do you mind waiting a year or two longer? I still have the soul of a pirate! If you continue to stare at the wall and wait… We’ll meet again from the “front” as promised! […] I’m so glad he’s alive!!!	„
	– brook

On the Sabaody Archipelago

When the Straw Hat Pirates was attacked by the Tobiuo Riders, Brook eagerly fought them along. He formed a good sword fighting combo with Zoro. Eventually, the gang was able to win and made the Tobiuo Riders their friends.

Arriving on the Sabaody Archipelago, Brook went exploring through the mangroves with Luffy, Chopper, Nami, Robin, Hatchan, Camie and Pappag. When they stopped at Antonio’s Graman with their Bon Charis, Brook bought a pennant. He also wanted to help Devil Dias when his collar exploded, but Pappag stopped him. After Nami and Robin split off to go shopping, the group arrived at Bottakuri Bar. After a brief conversation with Shakuyaku, the group moved on to Sabaody Park to look for Silver’s Rayleigh. After Camie was kidnapped, he waited for Usopp and the Tobiuo Riders with Chopper and then searched together with them. Afterwards, he also participated in the battle in the Human Auctioning House. After having a debate with Rayleigh in the Bottakuri Bar, the Straw Hat Pirates encountered the Pacifista PX-4 and had to defeat him. After a hard battle with combined forces, they finally succeeded.

But now the real trouble was just beginning. Sentomaru showed up with PX-1 and fought the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy decided to run away. They split up. Brook formed a team with Zoro and Usopp. Unfortunately for them, Kizaru got in their way and defeated Zoro. He tried to kill him, but Brook and Usopp desperately tried to prevent it. Brook met a Logia user for the first time here. He wondered why his attacks had no effect. A short time later he was defeated by PX-1, and like all the other Straw Hats, was attacked by Bartholomew Kuma, who had also shown up to add to all the mischief. Like all the others, he disappeared without a trace.

The separation of the gang

After the attack by Bartholomew Kuma, Brook was flung away like all the other members of the Straw Hat Pirates and landed in Harahettarnia on Namakura Island. Just as a devil worship was underway there, Brook crashed through the roof of the Satanist cult site after his 3 day flight across the Grand Line. The people thought the skeleton was their ruler, Satan. When Brook spied a young, pretty girl among them, he asked to see her panties, as usual.

The others ordered her to comply with his request. As it turned out, the people of Namakura were terrorized by long-armed people. Therefore, the Satanists asked Brook for his help. The latter composed a song that made them braver. Thus, the long-armed people were finally defeated and imprisoned. When one of the Satanists wanted to show off the long-armed people with their two arm joints, Brook countered that it was wrong and suggested that it would be better to free them and scare them into never terrorizing the people of Namakura again. After the release, however, the long-armed people kidnapped Brook, again to exhibit him in their homeland for money.

Kenzan – The Kingdom of Tena Gena

The long-armed humans took Brook away to Kenzan, their home island. He was put on display in a cage as a talking skeleton. When he got his hands on a newspaper, he also read the article about Luffy’s short-lived return to Marine Ford and its bell ringing. The message on his upper arm that they would not meet again for two years on the Sabaody Archipelago, he understood immediately. So he thought about how he could help Luffy, because that was when he retrieved his shadow and accepted him into his pirate gang. Brook then grabbed a guitar and played his new song “Bone to be Wild” for the long-armed humans.

Two years later – The reunification

Two years later he had managed to establish himself as a world star “Soul King” Brook. He started a world tour, which now ended on the Sabaody Archipelago. On Grove 33, at the Sabao Dome concert hall, his last concert was to be held. His managers were the long-armed people who kidnapped him at the time, to whom Brook now announced his retirement from the music business before his performance. The concert that followed was abruptly interrupted by a squad of marines who knew about Brook’s past and wanted to arrest him for being a pirate in the Straw Hat Pirates.

His managers Captain Nezumid him out to the Navy because they disagreed with his resignation. The cheering fans, still wanting to hear Brook’s last song, “New World,” prevented the Marines from rushing the stage. Saying that “Straw Hat” Luffy was still alive, he began to sing his last song. Afterwards, the skeleton was picked up by one of the Rosy-Life Riders and taken to the Thousand Sunny, where he asked Nami – after two long years – for her panties, which she answered with a hard kick. Reunited at last, the coated Thousand Sunny dove down into the deep, with the long-awaited goal of reaching Paradise at 10,000 meters: Fish-Man Island.

Fishmen’s Island

There were a few obstacles in front of the gang, but they managed to get over them unscathed. Upon entering Fish Man Island, however, they were separated again and Brook was fished by Pappag. Shortly after, the two encountered Luffy, Usopp, Camie, and Nami, who received an invitation to the Ryuuguu Palace from King Neptune. At the palace, Brook noticed that Luffy had disappeared. There wasn’t much time, however, as he, Usopp, and Nami were attacked by Neptune’s army. This was because the fortune teller Madame Shyarly foresaw Luffy destroying Fish Man Island, making the Straw Hat Pirates a threat. Thanks to Zoro, who was already in the palace, all the soldiers were defeated and King Neptune was captured. Brook then went to check on Princess Shirahoshi, as noise was coming from Kokaku Tower. Arriving at Shirahoshi’s tower, Brook saw Luffy fleeing the palace with her shark Megalo, but there was no sign of the princess herself. The skeleton was immediately attacked by pirates, who were able to enter the palace thanks to Vander Decken IX’s devil power. He fought the pirates, but decided to retreat to tell his friends about the invasion. However, the next disaster happened right away, as Hody Jones, the captain of the New Fishmen Pirates, infiltrated the Ryuuguu Palace and submerged it. Nami was able to escape with Camie, but Brook, Usopp, Zoro as well as King Neptune were captured.

After Hody Jones declared that he was going to make himself king and kill all the Fishmen who sympathized with the humans, and also that the three captured Straw Hats were going to be executed, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates with Jinbe and Shirahoshi set out to foil this plan. Brook, Usopp and Zoro managed to escape thanks to Pappag and they fought the New Fishmen Pirates in Gyoncorde Plaza. Brook showed that he could perform ice attacks with his sword Soul Solid in the fight against Zeo and defeated the Carpet Shark Fishman. Luffy also managed to defeat Hody Jones in the end. The latter was imprisoned with his gang and was never to harm Fish Man Island again. Eventually, a big celebration was organized for the Straw Hats as they had saved the island. The pirates eventually left the underwater island and made their way to the New World.

Punk Hazard

Arriving in the New World, the Straw Hat Pirates received a distress call over their Den-den Mushi from a stranger. The pirates then sailed to Punk Hazard. While Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Robin made their way to the burning island, Brook and the rest stayed behind on the ship. A short time later, however, the pirates who stayed behind were ambushed by figures in full body suits and stunned with sleeping gas. The ship was taken to the snowy side of the island. Brook was left on deck, believing he was already dead, while the rest were captured. After reporting the kidnapping to Luffy’s group, he went looking for Nami’s group on his own. While doing so, he encountered a samurai torso that he became afraid of. He ran to a lake where he helped Luffy’s group fight a horde of centaurs. Afterwards, the pirates abused the boss Brownbeard as a means of transportation and headed to the lab. There, the Samurai of the Seas Trafalgar Law told them where to find their friends. In a secluded laboratory ruin, the Straw Hat Pirates now exchanged their information. With them now was the samurai Kinemon, who was cut up by Law.

Brook accompanied Zoro, Sanji, and Kinemon as they searched for the torso that the skeleton had hit earlier. On the way, however, the Straw Hat trio was attacked with stun gas by the Yeti Cool Brothers. Despite this, they made it to the island’s lake, into which Kinemon’s torso had fallen. Unfortunately, the island’s mastermind, scientist Caesar Clown, had freed the slime creature Smiley, who was threatening the pirates. Things only got more dangerous when Smiley turned into the deadly poison gas Shinokuni. It was only through a small dragon that the Straw Hats and Kinemon made it to Caesar’s safe laboratory. Here, Brook and Kinemon fought the dragon, which had previously been stunned by a tranquilizer. Afterwards, Brook joined in the search for Kinemon’s son, Momonosuke. Brook brought Kinemon, who was hit by Shinokuni in the process, to safety. Together with the rest of the pirates and the navy, they escaped from the lab and had a party after Caesar was successfully captured. Despite Brook breaking the petrified Kinemon, the samurai was alive, which visibly shocked the skeleton.

Dressrosa

After everyone was told that the Straw Hat Pirates had formed an alliance with Trafalgar Law to overthrow Emperor Kaidou, the next port of call was Dress Rosa. There, Caesar was to hand over Crown Doflamingo and destroy the SAD factory so that Smile production would cease. Brook, along with Nami, Chopper, and Momonosuke, formed the team that would protect the Thousand Sunny and received a Vivre Card from Trafalgar Law in case of emergency.

The team was surprised by Giolla, who had managed to turn the Straw Hats as well as the Sunny into artistic figures, rendering the ship unseaworthy. While they were fighting Giolla, Law called, directing his allies to come to Green Bit. By tricking Brooks, Giolla was quickly defeated. Unfortunately for them, Doflamingo noticed Sunny when she showed up at the island. He unceremoniously attacked her, at which point Sanji intervened to save his friends. Law took over the fight, trading his hostage Caesar Clown for Giolla in the process, and disappeared to Green Bit. A short time later, Sanji, who had remained with the others, contacted Luffy to report that the team had been attacked by Big Mom’s pirate gang. After receiving permission to return fire, Brook and the rest made their way to Zou to relocate the altercation. Brook and the other Straw Hats, with the help of Caesar Clown, managed to severely damage the flagship of the Big Mom pirate gang before escaping with the help of a smoke screen that Nami had created.

Zou

A few days later, the escaped Straw Hats reached Zou, which they were able to climb with the help of Caesar’s devil powers. Once on the giant elephant’s back, they encountered a mink named Tristan. Brook, Nami, and Momonosuke, who had briefly separated from Sanji and the others, were confronted by Sheepshead and other pirates who were after Tristan. After Sanji and Brook took out Sheepshead, the Straw Hats united to seek out the center of Zou. They then arrived at the island’s completely destroyed capital and massacred Minks, where they were begged by Pedro to rescue the island’s two rulers, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. Together, they tended to the Minks’ injuries after coercing Caesar to neutralize the deadly gas. Brook and the others then decided to linger on Zou until the rest of the Straw Hats and Trafalgar Law would arrive there as well.

However, it wasn’t Luffy and the others who would enter Zou next, but Pekom’s and Capone Gang Bege, who had allied with the Big Mom pirate gang. Brook was captured inside Bege’s body along with Nami and Chopper, and together they witnessed the revelation of Sanji’s past. They idly watched as Sanji agreed to the invitation to the tea party and marriage to Charlotte Pudding, Big Mom’s 26th daughter, for the time being, so as not to further endanger his comrades and the weakened Minks. When the remaining Straw Hats finally reached Zou after defeating Doflamingo, Brook was in Ubala’s fortress. He informed Luffy’s group of the initial details of the split. After the group then made their way to Inuarashi and then Nekomamushi along with Wanda, Brook filled the Straw Hats in on the details that he had previously been unable to elaborate on.

Nekomamushi, Luffy and the others decided to celebrate first, while Brook, Robin and Franky posted themselves outside the city gates to prevent Kinemon and Kanjuro from entering, fearing a conflict with the Minks. However, by the time the two samurai arrived the following morning, the three had fallen asleep, allowing the samurai to enter the city unhindered.

Together with the other Straw Hats, they managed to conceal the samurai from the sight of the quarreling rulers, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. However, contrary to the panicked Straw Hats’ expectations, the two rulers desisted from their quarrel and the other Minks welcomed the samurai as well. After the revelations about the Road Pornoglyph and an emotional decision by Momonosuke, Luffy sealed an alliance between the Straw Hat Pirates, the Minks, and the samurai. Before that, however, Luffy wanted to settle the matter with Sanji, so the group split up with different goals. Brook, along with Nami and Chopper, joined their captain to head to Whole Cake Island, and together with the recovering Pekoms and Pedro, Brook and the others left Zou. Aboard the Sunny, a surprise awaited them before they left, as Carrot the bunny mink joined their venture on short notice and unexpectedly. Together, they left Zou to head to Whole Cake Island.

Whole Cake Island

On their journey to Whole Cake Island to rescue Sanji, the Straw Hats reached the outer limits of Big Mom’s territory, also known as Totto Land, after some turbulence. When Luffy was dying due to eating a poisonous fish, Brook and the others had to rely on the help of the suddenly appearing Germa 66. Through this, they met Sanji’s younger brother, Yonji Vinsmoke, and his older sister, Reiju Vinsmoke, who was able to extract the poisoning from Luffy’s body, saving his life. The Germa 66 then departed without informing Big Mom of the Straw Hats’ location and their incursion into their territory. The Straw Hats made a first stop to replenish their depleted food supplies on Cacao. When Luffy and Chopper got into trouble for starving themselves on the town’s chocolate, they were rescued by a woman who was subsequently revealed to be Charlotte Pudding. Pudding even drew them a map that would help the Straw Hats sail unnoticed through Big Mom’s territory to Whole Cake Island.

The following day, the Straw Hats arrived at Whole Cake Island. Together, Brook and Pedro set out to steal the Road Porn glyph from Big Mom. With the help of the Thousand Sunny’s submarine, Pedro and Brook were able to penetrate deep into Big Mom’s territory, where they learned, however, that the Empress already knew of the Straw Hats’ arrival. Inside a patrolling Cookie Soldier, they infiltrated the castle and devised a plan to steal the Poneglyph. Pedro, meanwhile, offered himself as a decoy so Brook could complete the mission on his own. Using his devil powers, Brook managed to take out Big Mom’s chess soldiers and other guards inside the locked treasure room.

As he was about to make the copies, Big Mom burst through the locked gates, leaving Brook only a split second to hide the copies he had made inside his skull. In an exchange of blows in which Brook was outmatched, Brook proved his skill by injuring Prometheus. After Brook was searched by the Chess Soldiers, but they were unable to find the copies, Big Mom kept the whimsical musician from the Straw Hat Pirates as a trophy. The following night, the Straw Hats managed to literally steal Brook from the clutches of the sleeping Big Mom through the mirror world. In the process, Brook revealed the success of the Poneglyph mission to the positive surprise of all present.

The Straw Hats then formed an alliance with Capone and Caesar to kill Big Mom, save the Vinsmokes from execution, and escape. During the wedding, Luffy stirred up trouble to distract the guests in attendance as well as Big Mom. Brook disguised himself as Luffy and used the commotion to smash the picture of Mother Carmel with a hammer. In the ensuing chaos, Capone’s assassination attempt on Big Mom failed and the Straw Hats were forced to retreat to the massive fortress Capone transformed into. The unplanned explosion of the Tamatebako ensured the Alliance’s escape, so while the Chateau collapsed, Brook and Chopper separated from the others for the time being to bring the Shark Submerge to the Sunny.

Together, the two defended the ship against the Chess Soldiers, Perospero and Katakuri, who had previously been able to get onto the Sunny primarily through the mirrors. However, when Perospero used his devil powers to take the Sunny and the two Straw Hats out of play, they had to watch Pedro blow himself up to allow the Sunny to escape. Despite adverse circumstances fighting Big Mom and her forces on the high seas, the Straw Hats, led by Jinbe, were able to sail reasonably successfully through the waters of Deadland and agreed with Luffy to meet up on Cacao. At a later point, the Big Mom pirates had managed to surround the Sunny once again, so Carrot felt compelled to switch to her Su Long form in an attempt to disable Daifuku’s fleet. Brook managed to save the bunny mink before she completely lost control of her form before the group directly faced Big Mom, Zeus, and Prometheus. Though Big Mom raged at the Sunny, the Straw Hats managed to withstand her attack and Brook split Zeus with a nimble attack, allowing the Sunny to escape again for the time being. A little later, Brook and the others ran into Capone, Sanji, and Pudding, who had the new wedding cake in tow. While Capone lured Big Mom away with the cake, the Sunny set course for Cacao once more. Despite the enemy fleet behind them, the Sunny managed to reach Cacao and even get Sanji and Luffy on board once more before heading off to leave Totto Land for good. With the help of the Sun Pirates, the Sunny escaped the catastrophic attack of Big Mom’s flagship by Wadatsumi swapping ships. Jinbe joined his old comrades to keep the Big Mom pirate gang busy until the Straw Hat Pirates successfully left Totto Land. This was successful, for a short time later the Straw Hat Pirates had left the confines of Big Mom’s territory and headed straight for Wano Country.

Wano Country

On their way to Wano Country, the crew learned of Luffy and Sanji’s new bounty through the newspaper, as well as details about the Levely taking place at the same time. When they reached the coast of Wano Country and were pulled into a mysterious whirlpool, Sanji brought Brook, Chopper, Nami, and Carrot to safety, but this separated them from Luffy and the Sunny.

On the island, Brook’s group then met Kinemon and later joined Luffy, Law, Momonosuke, and O-Kiku in the ruins of Castle Oden. There, Kinemon told those present that he, Momonosuke, Kanjuro, Raizo, and O-Kiku were from the past of 20 years ago. Furthermore, the Straw Hat Pirates also learned more about Kozuki Oden and the raid plan on Kaidou, who resided on the neighboring island of Onigashima.

To further prepare for the battle, Kinemon assigned some tasks to the Straw Hats, with Brook procuring food. The samurai also dressed the pirates in clothing typical of the country. A short time later, however, the meeting in the ruins was abruptly disrupted when Kaidou, in his dragon form, appeared distantly on the horizon. To everyone’s shock, the emperor suddenly attacked the mountain where Brook’s group was staying with his fire breath, leveling it to the ground in an instant. However, they were able to escape the attack thanks to Shinobu’s devil powers. Luffy, on the other hand, who had previously run from the mountain, was defeated and captured by Kaidou.

Since the Straw Hat Pirates wasn’t too worried about their captured captain, most of the gang continued their mission on the island. Brook hid in Orochi’s castle well as they did so. There, however, he soon received a call from Nami informing him that Robin’s cover had been blown at the Shogun’s banquet. The skeleton then assisted Robin in escaping and, using his disguise as a ghost, frightened several members of the Orochi secret agents. Afterwards, Robin and Brook, along with Nami, Shinobu, and Kanjuro, retreated to Ringo to exchange information.

While there, Brook reported that he had come across a poneglyph in the basement of Orochi’s castle. Afterwards, Brook separated from the others again and sought out what he thought was an abandoned house in Ringo. There he found Zoro with Kozuki Hiyori and O-Toko. To them, Brook told of the capture of a man named Tonoyasu and his planned execution in the flower capital. Shocked by this news, O-Toko immediately ran off towards the capital since Tonoyasu was her father. Zoro, Brook and Hiyori followed her, however, they arrived at the scene too late, as Orochi had already killed Tonoyasu. After the mystery surrounding the Smile fruit was revealed, the Straw Hat Pirates stepped in to protect O-Toko, who had been targeted by the Shogun, and to take Tonoyasu’s body.

In order to shield Hiyori from the Orochi secret agents, Brook frightened her again in his soul form. Because the gang was wanted everywhere by Orochi’s guards after that, Brook, Usopp, and Robin had to smuggle themselves out of the Flower Capital with the rescued O-Toko. The alliance used the remaining days to further prepare for the big battle on Onigashima.

Onigashima

On the day of the Fire Festival, the Straw Hat Pirates, along with the Heart and Kid Piratess, sailed towards Onigashima, where the Alliance planned to attack Kaidou and his Beast Pirates. On the high seas, they encountered the Red Sword Sheaths, who were on a confrontation course with ships belonging to the Beasts Pirates. Kanjuro turned out to be Orochi’s spy here, who kidnapped Momonosuke. When the Beast Pirates attacked the Alliance with their long-range cannons, Jinbe showed up and sank the enemy ship. With a new comrade at their side, the Straw Hat Pirates also took out the enemy sentries at the entrance to Onigashima. In order to blend in with the beast pirates, Kinemon equipped the rebels with camouflage using his devil powers after landing on the island. Franky then readied the Black Rhino FR-U 4 and headed towards the Skull with Brook in the back seat. The next time the two appeared on the live floor inside the skull dome, they raced the Black Rhino head-on into Big Mom’s face to save Nami. In the process, Brook also immediately dismembered Zeus, whom the Empress had previously reclaimed from Nami.

After Queen released his ice demon virus on the live floor, Brook, Robin and Chopper were surrounded by the infected. While Brook was touched by the infected and thus was also affected by the virus, the skeleton was immune to it as he has no skin or body heat according to Chopper. Thus, Brook was able to continue to move freely and shortly thereafter run further inside the castle with Robin. On the way, the two heard Sanji’s cries for help over the loudspeaker from the banquet hall, where he was currently being tortured by Black Maria, and rushed to his aid. Brook freed Sanji from Black Maria’s spider webs in the process. Because Sanji can’t do anything against women, he left Black Maria and her subordinates to Robin and Brook in good conscience. Black Maria then tried to fool the Straw Hats with some illusions, but the two quickly saw through them. After a brief chase, Brook incapacitated Wanyudo before turning his attention to Black Maria’s subordinates Kunyun, Nure-Onna, Tenjo-Sagari, and Sarahebi. In order for Robin to focus solely on Black Maria, he separated the quartet from them with a wall of ice. After Black Maria’s defeat, Brook also defeated her subordinates in a single strike. With Robin collapsing exhausted after their fight, Brook carried her away from the spreading fire.

Miscellaneous

• A skeleton appeared very early on in Oda’s concept drawings for the Straw Hat Pirates. These were published in One Piece Green: Secret Pieces and One Piece Magazine Vol.10. In fact, as early as Chapter 8, Luffy lists that he needs a musician for his gang in addition to a cook, which he eventually meets over 400 chapters later in the form of Brook.
• Since Brook is a very funny fellow, he likes to make jokes, his so-called “Skull Jokes.” Luffy, however, is the only one who finds them funny besides himself.
• Even before leaving, when Grandma Kokoro told him about Florian Triangle, Luffy was hoping to meet a walking skeleton. A little later, he met Brook.
• Brook is officially called gallant swordsman Hanauta (“Hanauta” (鼻歌) translates to “humming”).
• He got this nickname because he cheers himself up by humming a song when he is scared.
• Since Binks’ sake is his favorite song, he has adopted the words “Yohoho.” He often appends them to the end of sentences.
• As a result, his laugh is also “Yohoho.”
• Although Brook is merely a skeleton, he can eat, drink, cry, bleed, vomit, burp and fart. In addition, he can also “poop.”
• He also appears to breathe, as he falls asleep from sleeping gas in Punk Hazard and thus must have inhaled it.
• He is also a panty fetishist. Every attractive woman he meets, he asks if he could see her panties.
• Hence, his favorite line is “Could you show me your panties?” (jap. パンツ見せて貰ってもよろしいですか?, Pantsu Misete Moratte Mo Yoroshii Desu Ka?)
• He likes to drink tea, being a “well-mannered gentleman”.
• Oda derived the name from one of his favorite musicians: Brook Benton.
• From the character design, he could be based on the musician and guitarist Slash from the band Guns N’ Roses. Occupation, hairstyle and especially the top hat allow this assumption.
• Brook’s bones heal when injured only if he drinks milk and thus absorbs calcium.
• Brook claims to be able to play any musical instrument.
• Brook is the oldest and was also the tallest member of the Straw Hat Pirates until Jinbei joined. He measures a full 2.66 m and is about 20 cm taller still with his top hat on.
• His birthday is April 3. This comes from his Devil Fruit, the Yomi Yomi no Mi, because it syllable “Yo” means 4 and “Mi” 3, according to American reading April 3. In addition, he is already 90 years old after the time jump.
• Brook had heard of Gol D. Roger many years ago when he was a rookie.
• In the movie Strong World, Brook is smoking a cigarette.
• After the time jump, Brook’s Wanted Posters is in the style of a concert poster.
• When Giolla turns the straw hats on Dressrosa into works of art, Brook is turned into the scream.
• Brook is the only member of the Straw Hat Pirates who has yet to meet any of Ruffy’s brothers.
• Brook’s Vivre Card and volume 333 feature his autograph.
• One Piece was part of Nissin Foods’ advertising campaign called Hungry Days to promote Cup Noodles. The ad features the Straw Hat Pirates and many other List of Characters from the One Piece universe in a high school setting. The List of Characters in this were designed by mangaka Eisaku Kubonouchi.
• On November 08, 2020, a bronze statue of Brook was erected at Fureai Hiroba Square in the city of Mifune, Kumamoto, as part of the One Piece Kumamoto Revival Project. The unveiling was originally scheduled to take place on March 29, 2020, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Algerian rapper Soolking chose his name in reference to Brook’s stage name “Soul King.” He named his first album “Fruit du démon,” which translates to “Devil Fruit” in English. In his song “Guerilla” he also uses Brook’s original laugh.

Information from the SBSs

• Of all the animals, Brook reminds Oda most of a horse. (SBS Volume 50)
• He smells like tea, according to Chopper. (SBS Volume 50)
• Brook’s assigned number is 09. (SBS Volume 50)
• His assigned colors are black and white. (SBS Volume 50)
• Oda even designed his own Jolly Roger for him. (SBS Volume 50)
• Brook would prefer to be on a spring island in the fall. (SBS Vol. 50)
• If the Straw Hat Gang were a family, Brook would be the grandpa. (SBS Vol. 50)
• If Brook lived in the real world, he would be from Austria (Australia in the Carlsen translation). (SBS Volume 56)
• In SBS Volume 56, Oda shows us what Brook would look like if he were female.
• Brook’s thoughts are “panties, panties, laugh, tea, tea” and as with all straw hats, “friendship.” (SBS Volume 59)
• If each straw hat were assigned a flower that most resembles her/him, Brook would most resemble a rose, according to Nico Robin’s Seiyuu Yuriko Yamaguchi. (SBS Vol. 60)
• Brook, like Luffy and Zoro, bathes once a week. (SBS Volume 67)
• Trafalgar Law’s nickname for Brook is bone-ya. (SBS Vol. 72)
• Brook would represent Tottori Prefecture in Japan. (SBS Vol. 72)
• At least he likes lemons because he can’t contort his face without cheeks. (SBS Tape 73)
• Brook goes to sleep at 00:00 and gets up at 05:00. (SBS Vol. 74)
• If Brook were not a pirate, he would work as a detective. (SBS Vol. 76)
• The dish Brook can cook best is churrasco. (SBS Vol. 79)
• Like Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Robin, Brook also eats ice cream. (SBS Vol. 84)
• In a 50-meter race, Brook would finish in 1st place because he has an advantage in a short distance thanks to his light weight. (SBS Tape 85)
• Brook’s favorite dish is curry. (SBS Volume 86)
• If Brook were allowed to give O-Soba Mask another name, it would be “Women’s Bathroom Lucky Mushroom.” (SBS Vol. 94)
• Brook likes his fried eggs best fried on one side, poached, and with ketchup. (SBS Vol. 99)