Brook

Brook is a skeleton who was found by the Straw Hats onboard a ghost ship after they opened a mysterious barrel adrift on the open ocean and escaped from a mysterious storm. He is a musician who ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi and is apparently one of the main focuses of the current arc.

Appearance
Brook is a tall skeleton dressed in formal attire complete with top hat and cane. Despite being completely fleshless, his head still has an afro which he says is because his hair has deep roots. Brook's coat, top hat, pants, and afro, are black while the inner linings of his coat are yellow orange. The ribbon tied inbetween his coat and around his neck is blue. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword which he carries is purple.

Personality
Brook is an eccentric character with a distinct personality of his own. While he looks like, and claims to be, a gentleman, he possesses very bad manners such asking to see ladies' panties and waiting impatiently for food. He also seems to overreact at times like when the Straw Hats were alarmed at him for being a living skeleton or having no shadow he was the one making more fuss than they were.

Despite being a skeleton, Brook says that he is scared by ghosts and zombies. In order to fight the various Thriller Bark Creatures without fear, Brook has convinced himself that if he sings while fighting, he wouldn't be afraid of them. This singing of his while fighting, has given him the name of "Humming Swordsman" by the zombies. Brook also often cracks "dead jokes" about himself complimented with his distinct laughter of "Yohohoho".

Before encountering the Straw Hats, Brook stated that he was very lonely while floating adrift on his ship and adored the company of the Straw Hats. He invited himself in for dinner upon arriving on board the Thousand Sunny. While most of the crew seem content with him, for now Zoro and Sanji seem unhappy about him being around (at one point Sanji told Franky not to get friendly with him).

A "guardian" of Hogback's lab, Ryuuma, has Brook's signature laughter and personality. This has been noted by several characters. This was because Ryuuma possesses Brook's shadow until Zoro defeated Ryuuma, returning Brook's shadow to its rightful place.

Friends
Brook cares alot for his afro. Being the only thing of him that didn't rot away after he died, it means alot to him. It is the only thing he believes that Laboon would still recognize after fifty years. Since it won't ever grow back again should it be cut, Brook is ever more protective of it.

"In addition to losing our nakama, my face, my body, I've lost it all. Even if we met again you wouldn't recognise me at all in this skeleton form. I don't have anything left but they all said... this head of mine made you laugh...!!!  I'll protect this look to the end because I'm coming to see you I just hope you're waiting at our promised cape...!!! "  - Brook about the need to protect his look.

Because of the promise Brook and the rest of his crew made to Laboon, Brook feels obligated to meet up with Laboon in order fufill that promise. He feels that Laboon wouldn't forgive them for dying irresponsibly in the Grand Line.

Enemies
Because of the mess he made back five years ago in Thriller Bark, three of the Mysterious Four know how troublesome he was. Only Perona doesn't know of his doings well because she was asleep back then.

Abilities and Powers
Brook is a musician. His musical abilities are supposedly good enough that Laboon sang along to his music. The full extent of his talents however have yet to be revealed.

Brook also knows how to purify the various Thriller Bark Creatures with sea-salt.

Devil Fruit
While he was still alive, Brook ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi. The fruit allows the user to come back to life for a second time. Though his soul wasn't able to find his body in time before it decomposed completely to a skeleton, he has some advantages. One that has been seen so far is that because he just light weighted bones, he is able to run on water, despite being a hammer.

Fighting Style
In his cane Brook hides a sword known as a shikomizue, which he can use to great extent. His fighting style while using it resembles classical fencing. Though not as physically gifted as Zoro, he was able to keep up with what Zoro was during while he fought Ryuuma.

Brook's main attack as of yet is known as 鼻唄三丁:やはずぎり, "Hanauta Sanchou: Yahuza Giri", loosely translated into "Three-Verse Crooning: Notch Slice". The attack is the fastest cutting technique of his kingdom's assault squad, it was originally named "Requiem Banderole", but was given the other name by his old nakama.

Broken Promises
Fifty years ago, Brook used to be part of Yoki's pirate crew, the Rumba Pirates. His job was being a musician who plays the violin. He and the rest of the crew used to sing songs with Laboon. Seeing as the Grand Line was a dangerous place for a young whale, Brook and the rest of the Rumba Pirates left Laboon at Reverse Mountain under the care of Crocus. Upon entering the Florian Triangle however, Brook and his crewmates were attacked by pirates. He was killed in the battle however since he ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi, his soul was able to return to his body. Unfortunately for him, though, he lost his body because of the fog in the area and searched for it for one year. When he returned to it, it was just a pile of bones. Only his afro remained in tact because it was firmly rooted.

The Humming Swordsman
After some time, Brook's ship drifted to Thriller Bark five years ago. Wanting to fix the rudder, he disembarked and explored the island. All he found however was the various creatures that inhabited there. He was then captured and saw how Moria was able to create zombies. His shadow was then stolen. After being set adrift on his ship, Brook retraced his path and went back to the island. There he learned of the zombies' weakness while spying on some. He then interrogated Hogback for where his zombie counterpart was.

After dispatching some zombies, Brook found his zombie counterpart, Ryuuma. However during the battle, Ryuuma proved too strong for Brook. After receiving some severe blows to his skull, Brook asked for mercy from Ryuuma and quietly ran away from Thriller Bark. The battle left Brook with a crack in his skull, which healed for some reason. For the next five years since then, Brook had been training himself in order to beat Ryuuma the next time they would meet.

Surpise Meeting
After the Straw Hats escaped from the mysterious storm, the pirates encountered Brook's ship floating aimlessy with Brook apparently singing. Wanting to discover what was onboard Luffy, Nami, and Sanji boarded his ship. There they met the skeleton apparently drinking tea. After being punched by Nami for indencency, Luffy asked him to join his crew. Brook accepted much to everyone's surprise.

After boarding the Thousand Sunny and joining the Straw Hats for dinner, Brook explained his past. It was later revealed that Brook had no reflection or shadow. Brook explained that his shadow was stolen by Gecko Moria. Because of this, he couldn't go out into the sunlight else he would disentegrate like a similar person who also lost his shadow. With this, Brook humbly declined to join the Straw Hats since he felt he would be a burden to them. Luffy however promised Brook that he would get Brook's shadow back.

Happy to see living people after being alone for so long and overjoyed at the welcome the Straw Hats had given him he decided to preform for them. Suddenly, just as Brook was about to perform before the Straw Hats, a ghost appeared out of the wall. Brook, followed by the Straw Hats, then rushed out of the kitchen and found out that the Thousand Sunny was drifting apparently beside an island from West Blue, Thiller Bark. Upon seeing this, Brook said his farewell and jumped off board the ship and ran across the water to the island.

Return of the Dead Man
Upon arrival back on the island, Brook goes around once again purifying the various creatures. Brook is then later seen by Franky and Robin falling from the sky and onto the rubble that was once a bridge connecting Hogback's mansion to the main mast of Thriller bark. After getting up, he beat Tallaran (the spider monkey) with a single attack using a sword hidden in his cane. After purifying Tallaran, Brook then explained to Franky and Robin how shadows are taken. Franky then asked Brook a simple question about his being. Upon asked about this, Brook then explained to Franky and Robin about his past with Laboon. He explained to them his wish to meet back his whale friend.

I don't think he would forgive us for having died irresponsibly and because of our seflish promise would yell into the skies if he could... That death isn't an apology...!!! Because a man once said...!!! That they absoulutely would come back!!! - Words of Brook on Laboon.

After explaining things to Franky and Robin, Brook then rushed off. He then found Ryuuma sitting down in Hogback's lab and drinking tea. He then challenges him. The battle with Ryuuma, is currently a fierce one as Ryuuma is able to match Brook's swordsmanship. As Brook fights and receives bone cracking blows, the thought of meeting up with Laboon no matter what runs through his mind.

Current Events (Spoilers)
Despite fighting Ryuuma vigorously, Brook once again loses to the zombie. With his bones severly broken, Brook is laid defeated before Ryuuma. Unable to defend himself against Ryuuma, Brook's assailant decided to cut off Brook's afro. However just as Ryuuma was about to cut off Brook's afro, the entire island suddenly moved thus luckily saving Brook. Franky and Zoro then came to Hogback's lab. With a block against one of Ryuuma's strike targeted at Brook and Franky, Zoro then tells Brook that he will fight against Ryuuma instead and get Brook's shadow back. After an intense battle that lead to the roof of mansion, Zoro defeated Ryuuma with a technique that set the zombie ablaze. With Ryuuma's corpse incenirated, Brook got his shadow back.

As Brook, along with Zoro and Franky, took a momment on the roof to recover from the excitement, Luffy's zombie, Oz came rampaging out of the main mast and calling out for the Straw Hats. The behemoth's appearance frightened Brook completely. Brook then witnessed a gigantic battle, between the Straw Hats nearby and Oz, then took place in the area between the main mast and the mansion. The battle unfortunately didn't go all too well for the Straw Hats and Brook was unfortunately included in the fray.

Due to his previous battle with Ryuuma, Brook was completely unable to move completely as the Strawhats around stood up from Oz's attacks. He is however told to step aside and rest as they take on the behemoth themselves. Brook however, figuring that they would need alot of salt to purify Oz, went out and gathered a large amount of the stuff. He then returned just in the nick of time to save Usopp from Oz, while carrying a large sack of salt.

Major Battles

 * Brook, Yoki, and other Rumba Pirates vs. Unknown
 * Brook vs. Ryuuma
 * Brook, Franky, and Robin vs. Talleran
 * Brook vs. Ryuuma (round 2)

Trivia

 * If Brook joins the Straw Hats, he will be the oldest and tallest member being over 50 years old at least, not to mention that his afro makes him even taller than Franky who is over seven feet tall. Also he will be the second swordsman after Zoro.
 * Brook is playable in Gear Spirit.