Brook/Misc.

Early One Piece
The concept of Brook, a skeleton musician, had already been thought up by Oda the first time he drew Laboon. Brook's overall design however wasn't finalized back then but the basic idea was kept for a long time until Brook was finally revealed.

Anime and Manga Influences
Brook, like the rest of various characters introduced in the Thriller Bark arc, is based on certain elements taken from The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Addams Family, and various zombie movies.

Early One Piece
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces was revealed an early concept of Brook. Oda thought about the skeleton Brook back when One Piece reached the Laboon Arc, but only in the Thriller Bark Arc he was introduced.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids English dub adaption of the anime, the sequence in which the Straw Hats encountered Laboon was cut for various reasons. Due to this, aside from parts of the story being changed in order to coincide with the cut, a plot hole was created in the 4Kids version of the anime concerning an integral part of Brook's character, namely Brook's relationship with the whale. Though the 4Kids dub stopped at the start of the Jaya arc, the plot hole created still stands.

Major Battles

 * Brook and other Rumbar Pirates vs. unknown pirate crew
 * Brook vs. Ryuma (Thriller Bark grounds)
 * Brook, Franky, and Robin vs. Tararan
 * Brook vs. Ryuma (Thriller Bark castle)
 * Brook, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky vs. Oars and Gekko Moriah
 * Brook, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky vs. Oars
 * Brook vs. Guntai Aris
 * Straw Hat Pirates vs. Golden Lion Pirates
 * Brook vs. Batch Fly
 * Brook and Sanji vs. Boxer Penguin, Kill Rabi, Big Tree and other animals (offscreen)
 * Brook, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky vs. Flying Fish Riders
 * Brook, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin and Franky, vs. PX-4
 * Brook, Zoro, and Usopp vs. Kizaru
 * Brook vs. Kuma
 * Brook vs. His managers
 * Brook, Usopp, Nami, and Zoro vs. Ammo Knights, Ryugu palace guards, and King Neptune.

Anime and Manga Differences
In the anime when Brook first joined the Straw Hats for dinner, the dinner that was being served was a banquet of various octopus based cuisine, whereas in the manga the dinner was unspecified. While this scene doesn't differ from the manga much due to it being unspecified in the manga, it however somewhat contradicts what is stated in the manga in a later scene. Among the dishes being served in the anime are some Takoyaki balls made by Sanji. Though Brook isn't seen eating them, it may be implied that he also ate them among other things. This contradicts what happens later when Brook and rest of the Straw Hats enjoy some Takoyaki as a reward for saving Hatchan. The later manga scene has Brook stating that it was the first time he enjoyed Takoyaki thus making the contradiction.



The flashback of the first battle between Brook and Ryuma is handled differently in the manga and anime versions. Originally in the manga, the battle against Ryuma is so fierce that pieces of Brook's bones are broken and fly off in the process as he takes hits from the zombie. The battle ultimately ends violently with Ryuma stabbing his sword through Brook's skull and creating a huge crack which fortunately "healed" over time. In the anime, the battle is much longer with more moves portrayed but relatively less violent. While Brook and Ryuma have a more elaborate battle in the anime, the battle is noticeably less violent by the fact that though Brook is attacked by Ryuma, there is only one instance where a few pieces of bone are broken off by the attacks. The battle in the anime ends considerably much different with Ryuma threatening to stab Brook's skull instead of stabbing through it like in manga. While the anime portrayed the fight in the flashback less violently, it however portrayed the rematch between the two with the same intensity as in the manga. It showed scenes wherein Brook was stabbed by Ryuma with normally fatal but otherwise bone cracking strikes.

In Gear Spirit, Brook is presented with a different color scheme than the one depicted in both the manga and anime. The color of the collar of his coat is gray while the ribbon and the frills coming out of his coat are purple. In some artwork within the game, Brook's nose socket is uncolored. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword is also colored red in the game. This color scheme is so because the game was developed before an official color scheme from the manga was presented.

Although Brook's cane has normally been portrayed in various media as purple (after his official color scheme is revealed), there is an exception on the cover of volume 50, where it is unexpectedly light blue. The mistake seems to be that the colors between Brook's ribbon and cane have been switched, because on the same cover the ribbon is purple instead of its normal blue.

Trivia



 * Like other members of the Straw Hat crew, Brook has his own personal Jolly Roger: it is a skull without a jaw with Brook's trademark afro, a top hat, and a cane in place of the cross bone mark. His jolly roger is also shown on his travel mug.
 * According to Oda, Brook most resembles a horse. He is identified by the colors black and white, he smells of tea, and is most like a grandfather figure.
 * Unlike the other members in the crew, Brook was never shown in his youth.
 * Brook's eyes were never shown.
 * Before Brook fulfilled the position of musician, there was a running gag of the need for the position to be filled that was always being brought up by Luffy during important meetings with his crew on who should join next. Whenever the Straw Hats hold a serious meeting about a situation they are in that might require the addition of a new crew member with skills to aid in that situation, or anything similar like that, Luffy would always bring up the need of getting a musician. His reasoning is that pirates love to sing and a musician is essential to a pirate crew. Luffy's request however would always be turned down by his crew for more practical solutions to the situation.
 * Brook is the oldest member of the Straw Hats, being 38 (dying 2 years after leaving Laboon, then spending a year seeking his body) at the time of his death and 88 years old when he meets the crew (most likely a reference to the number of keys on a piano), and he is the tallest, as he is even taller than Franky who is over seven feet tall.
 * Brook's birthday, April 3, comes from his Devil Fruit's name since 4-3 can be derived from yo-mi.
 * It is possible a partial inspiration for Brook's backstory came from the poem (and song by the British metal band Iron Maiden) The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It involves a mariner and his crew who are led out of the fog of Antarctica by an albatross, but the mariner shoots it down and curses his crew into calm waters. Through a game of dice, Death claims the lives of all his crew, but Life-in-Death claims the mariner, who is cursed to a fate worse than death by remaining on the bleak, foggy ship alongside his dead crew for ages, forced to relive all their deaths through the looks in their eyes, until finally aknowledging the beauty of life and its creatures, and released from drifting through the fog, ecstatically jumping for joy when he sees the first living people to approach and take him away, to tell his tale of warning, now a sadder but wiser man.
 * Though he knows other songs, Brook's favorite song to sing is Binks' Sake which he was singing upon his first appearance. Even when he asks for requests from the others, he seemed to instantly switch over to singing this song. Other songs Brook sings include Black Handkerchief of Happiness.
 * In an SBS, when asked which flower Brook resembles the most, Robin's Voice Actress replied he most resembles a rose.
 * Brook's unique laugh of "Yoho" is a stereotypical pirate line commonly found in various pirate related pop culture. It originates from the book Treasure Island.
 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, he came out as the ninth most popular character. Coincidentally, he is also the ninth member to join the Straw Hats.
 * Brook would be Austrian in the real world.
 * He is the second skeleton pirate shown in One Piece. The first was the non-canonical Captain Joke.
 * Since the introduction of Brook's bounty, there was speculation of whether his 33,000,000 bounty was active or not. In chapter 600, Marines declared that his bounty was still active, thus ending the speculation.
 * Brook's height being 8' 8" could be related to the number of keys on a piano, 88.
 * In an SBS, when asked which flower Brook resembles the most, Robin's Voice Actress replied he most resembles a rose.