Brook

Brook is the musician of the Straw Hat Pirates. He is a skeleton that they found onboard a ghost ship after they opened a mysterious barrel adrift on the open ocean and escaped from a mysterious storm. He is a Devil Fruit user who ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi and is an undead being brought back into a pseudo-immortal state because of its powers. He is the ninth member of the Straw Hat crew and the eighth to join Luffy's crew. He is also one of the two swordsmen onboard their current ship with the other being Zoro. He is the long awaited musician that Luffy wanted since his journey began.
 * The subject of this article is sometimes spelt Brooke.

He was originally a part of the Rumbar Pirates and was appointed the position of captain of the remaining half the crew that was left after Captain Yorki split it to save the survivors of a disease. Brook is particularly the closest one to Laboon and is the one who is carrying the final song of him and his crew, recorded on a Tone Dial, before they all died, to be delivered to the whale. Before that, he was the leader of a battle convoy in an as-of-yet unnamed kingdom.

Appearance
Brook is an extremely tall skeleton dressed in formal attire complete with top hat and cane. Despite having no skin, 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 in between his coat and around his neck is blue. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword which he carries is purple. Also, due to his many years of seclusion his clothes have become somewhat tattered.

Before his death, Brook was a tall skinny 38 year old man with a rather distinctive face. He had a slight goatee on his chin and some side burns. He typically wore shades. On his forehead was a scar that slightly resembles a diagonal omega sign (Ω). This scar was retained in his skeleton state as a distinctive crack across his skull. Brook's facial appearance, accompanied with his style of clothing, resembles a type of appearance that is commonly associated with various music artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, and other musical celebrities with similar features.

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.

According to Oda, Brook most resembles a horse. He is identified by the colors black and white, and he smells of tea.

Personality
Brook is an eccentric character with, like the other Straw Hat Pirates, a distinct personality of his own. While he looks like, and claims to be, a gentleman, he possesses very bad manners such as asking to see ladies' panties (in a mermaids case he asks if they can lend him some money) and waiting impatiently for food (a trait shared by Luffy). He appreciates the simplest of things from s gesture of kindness, the company of others and walking in the sunlight after receiving his shadow back.

His reactions to different occurrences can be somewhat extreme, often comically so. For example, when the Straw Hats were alarmed at him for being a living skeleton, he forgets the object of fear is actually himself and also begins to panic. Although he tends to display more extreme emotions of things, however, Brook also has been known to over relax himself when he is told to stay calm. He is also very patient, having stayed on his former crew's ship for years, waiting for the day in which he would eventually be reunited with his shadow. However, due to his rudeness he can also be impatient about things like waiting for dinner to be served. Brook's most notable trait amongst others, however, is that he cracks "skull jokes" about himself being a skeleton complimented with his distinct laughter of "Yohohoho" even if there is no one around to hear him.

Brook is a great lover of music. Whether it be through happy or sad times, music is what generally keeps Brook going. As a result, his love for music often reflects itself in various other aspects of his character such as in his fighting style wherein the names of his attacks are derived from various musical songs and dances. He overall gives himself a musical theme so noticeable that while he was alive in his first life, he was called "Humming Brook" by the authorities.

In contrast to the other cowardly crew members own fears -Usopp(fear), Nami(survival) and Chopper(cautiousness)-, Brook's fear is more down to Earth, abide he fears the things that are not normal. An example would be that Brook is easily scared by the ghosts and zombies (despite technically being undead himself). In order to fight the various Thriller Bark Creatures without fear when he encountered them, Brook convinced himself that if he sings while fighting, he wouldn't be afraid of them (though he starts running in fear when he stops singing). This singing while fighting, however, had a side effect of making him seem like a more sinister creature to the zombies- a rather ironic fact due to him being the contrary and the fact the song he sings during battle being one of life and joy than one of ominous threat and evil as perceived by them. Because of this, despite his equal fear he was given the name of "Humming Swordsman" by the zombies and was ironically feared by them in turn. He apparently doesn't like moving fast, evident when he was in the more intense rides at Sabaody Park. Linked to this is moving at high speeds via the Flying Fish Riders flying fish or theme park rides and fighting a Pacifista cyborg there was little chance to win against. Comically, most of these fears are things he himself has the potential to unintentionally cause such as being an almost living skeleton that can run fast, that most people would have little chance to win against.

Before encountering the Straw Hats, Brook was very lonely while floating adrift on his ship and longed for the company of other people. He initially accepted Luffy's offer to join the crew and invited himself over for dinner upon arriving on board the Thousand Sunny just so he could interact with the crew and fill the void that he experienced all those years. Also, while possibly one of the oldest pirates "alive", Brook still retains an air of childishness about him that enables him to behave in a manner similar to Luffy and Chopper, noted by the ease with which he participates in their child-like antics.

His distinct personality and laughter allowed Nami, Usopp and Chopper question a "guardian" of Hogback's lab, Ryuuma, who had Brook's signature laughter and personality. This was because Ryuuma possessed Brook's shadow until he was defeated by Zoro, upon which Brook's shadow was returned to its rightful place.

Awkwardly, Brook has a tendency to lack common sense in slightly frantic times. For example, when Luffy falls into the water, Brook (and Chopper for that matter) jumps into the water, despite being a Devil Fruit user himself. He also has tendency to accidently go on rides that go obviously fast, and sit out on slower rides.

Crew
The Straw Hats were immediately wary of Brook prior to his initial entry into the crew, but this changes after the events from Thriller Bark: Franky is moved to tears upon hearing Brook's backstory, and the rest of the Straw Hats gain respect for him after hearing about his devotion to keeping his promise to Laboon. Before he officially joined the crew, only Luffy made friends with him, due to finding him hilarious; the two even goofed about in the same manner during their dinner on the Sunny. His eccentric personality often gets on the crew's nerves, showing no appropriate respect for Nami and even Robin when he asks to see their panties, and cracks Skull Jokes in serious situations which often leads to him being beaten up, even shattering Robin's normally limitless patience. Nevertheless, Brook's sense of irony and music can enlighten an entire organization as big as the Thriller Bark Victim's Association.

Friends
Brook cares a lot for his afro. Being the only part of him that didn't rot away after he died, it means a lot 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 recognize 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 afro. Because of the promise Brook and the rest of his crew made to Laboon, Brook feels obligated to meet up with Laboon in order to fulfill that promise. He feels that Laboon wouldn't forgive them for dying irresponsibly in the Grand Line.

Enemies
While alive, Brook encountered many enemies during his journey through West Blue and the Grand Line, including the group that killed him and his crewmates. He also earned a bounty from the Marines in this time.

Because of the mess he made back five years ago in Thriller Bark, three of the Mysterious Four know how troublesome he was. Dr. Hogback, in particular, greatly fears him, mainly because Brook once had him at sword point 5 years ago and knew the weakness of the zombies. Only Perona doesn't know of his doings because she was asleep at the time and ignored Kumashi's attempts to wake her. Brook's main enemy of the time on Thriller Bark was Ryuuma who was the zombie who was animated with his shadow.

Abilities and Powers
Brook is a musician who is able to play any musical instrument. He usually uses a violin to play his music. His musical abilities are so good that Laboon used to sing along to his music when they were together. When Brook fights, his battles often have a comical element to them. Examples include putting several members of his crew asleep while fighting the Flying Fish Riders, playing dead halfway through a battle or launching at an enemy with erroneous results.

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 gained some advantages that would otherwise be impossible to do without being a skeleton supported by Devil Fruit powers. One advantage is that because he's just comprised of light weighted bones, he can use his speed and light weight to run across water, but like all Devil Fruit users he still can drown when submerged. With the aid of the Devil Fruit powers, he is also able to function like a regular human being, and retains all the strength he had when he still had actual muscle mass. He is able to do normal acts such as drink, eat, cry, digest, and even "poop" normally. He has also proven that calcium (such as in milk) will rapidly heal any damaged bones. Due to his light-weight skeleton body, he can leap great distances, jump very high and run fast and can also store things in his skull cavity such as a Tone Dial.

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 and iaido. Brook's main advantage is the speed of his attacks, combined with the light weight of his skeleton body, he's able to deal extremely accurate blows and quick maneuvers before his opponent can react (once taking down and purifying a whole swarm of Surprise Zombies in a fraction of a second) that are much swifter than he was when he still had flesh and blood back in his mortal days. With these advantages, Brook excels best at fighting and taking down large enemy numbers of average fighters on his own. Despite not retaining any muscle tissue, it seems that Brook can still grow stronger over time, as he said to Ryuuma that he is stronger then five years before then.

Brook's signature attack as of yet is known as 鼻唄三丁:矢筈斬り, "Hanauta Sanchou: Yahazu Giri", loosely translated into "Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-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. Due to the attack's blinding speed and Brook's distracting humming, enemies often don't notice they have been hit until after Brook has sheathed his sword.

When the need arises, Brook can also employ his music to aid him in battle. His technique, "Nemuriuta Flanc", loosely translated as "lullaby Parry", shows this, where he strums his violin with his shikomizue like a violinists bow, creating a soothing tune that renders anyone who hears it immediately asleep.

Although an extremely fast swordsman, his skills are not of the same caliber as Zoro's, the Straw Hats other Swordsman. While Brook had been unable to defeat Ryuuma no matter how hard he fought and while Ryuuma only used a fraction of his power, he noticed that Zoro was able to defeat him at full power with only two of his swords. Although Ryuuma did say that Brook's protectiveness of his afro held him back somewhat.

At the Sabaody Archipelago he struck a Pacifista with a high speed sword attack, yet failed to do much damage to it and had to be rescued from this result afterwards. However, when Zoro attacked the same Pacifista, the results were much different. Although not on par with Zoro, he was able to keep up, visually, with what Zoro was doing while he fought Ryuuma showing that he is still a very skilled swordsman.

Meeting and Leaving Laboon
Fifty years ago, Brook used to be part of Yorki's pirate crew, the Rumbar Pirates, as one of the many musicians that comprised most of the crew. While he and the rest of the crew were still in the West Blue, their ship was one day followed by a baby whale who had gotten lost. Seeing that the whale was really upset, Brook suggested to his captain that they should play some music to cheer the whale up. Together with the rest of the crew, Brook played a beautiful song that cheered the whale up. The next day, Brook and the rest of the crew discovered that the whale had continued following them. Despite this, Brook and the rest of the crew allowed the whale to follow them and even gave the whale a name, Laboon. Since then, Brook and the rest of the crew went around adventuring with Laboon tagging along. Together they went through alot all the while singing joyful songs together. As they journeyed together with Laboon, many of Brook's crew mates noticed that he was the one that Laboon was closest to.

When Brook and the rest of the Rumbar Pirates were about to enter the Grand Line, they suddenly faced a dilemma then. Since Laboon was still a baby, they feared that the Grand Line was too dangerous a place for such a young whale. The rest of the Rumbar Pirates tried to convince Laboon to stay in the West Blue but failed, so Brook was asked to tell Laboon to stay personally. Brook tried to convince Laboon but likewise failed. Unable to do anything else, Brook and the other Rumbar Pirates tried to ignore Laboon in hopes that the whale would be dissuaded from following them and leave. Their plan seemingly worked and Laboon was not sighted for some time. However when the Brook and the rest of the Rumbar Pirates entered the Grand Line, they were surprised that Laboon had still continued following them and had followed them into the Grand Line through the Reverse Mountain. Seeing that their ship had some repairs to be made anyway, Brook and the rest of the crew continued to sing along with the whale while their ship was being fixed. After three months of fixing their ship, Brook and the rest of the Rumbar Pirates decided to leave Laboon under the care of Crocus. They promised Laboon then that they would come back for the whale after going around the world. By then Laboon would've become very big and thus they also promised to then take Laboon along with them on their adventures.

The Death of the Rumbar Pirates and Brook's New Life
As Brook and the rest of the Rumbar Pirates traveled across the Grand Line, they experienced all the challenges the sea had to offer. Despite the difficulties, they simply sang along while continuing to sail on. However, disaster struck the crew one day. The captain of the Rumbar Pirates, Yorki, and several others had caught an incurable disease while disembarking at a forest. To keep the disease from spreading to the rest of the crew who weren't infected, Yorki decided to take himself and the infected on the Rumbar Pirates' first ship and try to escape the Grand Line by going through the Calm Belt. Yorki told Brook and the remaining Rumbar Pirates of his decision and how he regretted it as it was the only way to save the uninfected. Seeing as he couldn't return back to Laboon, Yorki asked Brook and the rest of the crew to give his regards to the whale. As Yorki lay dying on his deathbed, Yorki then asked Brook to send him and the infected off with his favorite song, Bink's Sake. With that Brook and the remaining Rumbar Pirates were split from Yorki and those who were infected. Despite losing half of the crew, Brook and the remaining Rumbar Pirates continued sailing through the Grand Line on a new ship. He was appointed to be their new captain and as they traveled through the sea, Brook gained a bounty for himself. Things at first went smoothly for Brook and the remaining Rumbar Pirates, however upon entering the Florian Triangle, Brook and his remaining crewmates were attacked by some enemy pirates. Brook and some of the his crewmates were able to barely survive the assault. However since the enemy had tainted their weapons with poison and that the Rumbar Pirate's doctor was killed in the attack, Brook and the survivors were slowly wasting away. Knowing that he had eaten the Yomi Yomi no Mi, Brook suggested one last thing to his crewmates. He suggested to them that they should play one last song that would be recorded on a Tone Dial that they had previously bought from a merchant. Since he would be revived after death, Brook promised his fellow crewmates that he would take this Dial and play it for Laboon to hear. Overjoyed with Brook's proposal, the remaining Rumbar Pirates mustered what little strength they had and started singing their favorite song one last time. Though joyful at recording their song, the remaining Rumbar Pirates slowly succumbed to the poison and died one after another. They each fell with smile on their faces until only Brook was left. With a heavy heart and remembering the promise he made to Laboon, Brook continued playing all alone until he finally succumbed to the poison and died. Despite some doubts, Brook's soul was able to return to the mortal world thanks to the powers of his Devil Fruit. Unfortunately for him, he had lost his body because of the fog in the area (it made it hard to find the ship) and had to search for it for one year. When he finally found his body, it was just a pile of bones. Only his afro remained intact because it "had strong roots". Upon rising back from the dead, Brook gathered up the skeletal remains of his dead crewmates and stored them all in coffins located deep within the ship. For the next few uneventful decades, due to the the ship's rudder having been broken in the battle, Brook stayed aboard all alone on the ship, left to the whims of the ocean's currents. With nothing much to do, Brook merely did as much as he could, such as rolling on the deck, jumping around, leaning against a wall at a 45 degree angle and singing alone. When he slept, he would dream that he and his crewmates were still alive, and he would always wake up to find a lonely and cruel reality waiting for him. The fifty years Brook spent stranded on the ship were so harsh and painful that he deeply missed the company of others.

A Dead Man comes to the Island of the Dead
After some time, Brook's ship drifted to Thriller Bark five years prior to the start of the series. 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 however believed it to be fish, leading Hogback to accidentally correct him that it was the sea salt on the fish. 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. For the next five years since then, Brook had been training himself in order to beat Ryuuma the next time they would meet.

Meeting Real People and Regaining a Shadow
After five lonely years in the Florian Triangle, Brook's ship happen to come across the Thousand Sunny. Three of the Straw Hats aboard decided to boarded his ship upon seeing Brook singing. Encountering them, he greeted them with his rather eccentric manners. As they were getting acquainted with one another, Luffy asked Brook to join his crew out of the blue. Having been asked this, 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, though refused to say by whom out of regard for the Straw Hats' safety. Because of this, he couldn't go out into the sunlight else he would disintegrate 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 perform 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. Upon arrival back on the island, Brook went around once again purifying the various creatures before finding Ryuuma and battling him again. Unfortunately, he was beaten and was sent flying out of the tower which they were battling in. As he fell, he was 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 defeated Tallaran with a single attack using his sword. With the foe purified, Brook explained to Franky and Robin how shadows are taken. As Brook was about to return to reclaiming his shadow, Franky all of a sudden asked Brook a simple question about his being. Upon asked about this, Brook explained to Franky and Robin about his past with Laboon. He explained to them his wish to return to his whale friend. I don't think he would forgive us for having died irresponsibly and because of our selfish promise would yell into the skies if he could... That death isn't an apology...!!! Because a man once said...!!! That they absolutely would come back!!!

- Words of Brook on Laboon. After explaining things to Franky and Robin, Brook rushed off and found Ryuuma sitting down in Hogback's lab and drinking tea. Challenging the zombie once again, the two got into a fierce battle. As Brook fought and received bone cracking blows, the thought of meeting up with Laboon no matter what ran through his mind.

Despite fighting Ryuuma vigorously, Brook once again lost to the zombie. With his bones severely broken, Brook was laid defeated before Ryuuma. Unable to defend himself against Ryuuma, Brook's assailant decided to cut off Brook's afro. Just as Ryuuma was about to cut it off, the entire island suddenly moved, throwing Ryuuma off balance and preventing him from doing the deed.. At same time, Franky and Zoro arrived in Hogback's lab to help the skeleton.

With a block against one of Ryuuma's strike targeted at Brook and Franky, Zoro told Brook, as the skeleton laid wounded in Franky's arms, that he would fight against Ryuuma instead and get Brook's shadow back. After an intense battle that lead to the roof of mansion, Brook saw as Zoro defeated Ryuuma with a technique that set the zombie ablaze. With Ryuuma's corpse incinerated, Brook got his shadow back.

The Threat of the Shichibukai
As Brook, along with Zoro and Franky, took a moment on the roof to recover from the excitement, Luffy's zombie, Oars 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 Oars, then took place in the inner courtyard 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 as the Straw Hats around stood up from Oars' attacks. He is however told to step aside and rest as they take on the behemoth themselves. Brook however, figuring that they would need a lot of salt to purify Oars, went to Thriller Bark's kitchen and gathered a large amount of the stuff. While there, he drank some milk in order to heal some of his wounds. He then returned just in the nick of time to save Usopp from Oars, who was now aided by Gecko Moria, while carrying a large sack of salt. With the sack of salt, Brook decided to join in the fight against Oars. However, due to still being injured a bit, all that Brook could do at the moment was to hold onto the sack as the Straw Hats attacked Oars. After dodging some of Oars' moves aided by Moria's Devil Fruit powers, Brook asked Nami, Usopp, and Robin to help him in a tactic against Oars. Using Usopp's Kuwagata, Brook was propelled towards Oars. While being propelled, Brook was spun by Robin and was shocked by a cloud created by Nami. With electricity surging through his bones, Brook then thrust himself through Oars' shoulder and shocked the behemoth as he ripped through. After going through Oars, Brook unfortunately then crashed into the building behind Oars. While stuck, Oars tried to stomp Brook. Luckily, Usopp saved the skeleton by redirecting Oars' attention from Brook with an attack.

Though saved by Usopp, Brook was still knocked unconscious by Oars' attempted attack and fell to the ground. As the battle with Oars and the Straw Hats raged on, members of the Straw Hats slowly joined Brook in unconsciousness as they were taken out by Moria and Oars. Just when only Nami and Usopp were left and Oars was about crush them as well as the knocked out combatants, Brook and the Straw Hats were saved by Luffy who was then infused with the strength of a hundred shadows. As Luffy drove Oars and Moria away from the inner courtyard with massive attacks, Brook, as well as the unconscious Straw Hats, were carried off to safety by a group of shadowless victims lead by the pirate Lola.

Despite the damage he sustained, Brook arose along with the rest of the Straw Hats as Oars rose back up after receiving a heavy beating from Luffy. In order to stop the behemoth once and for all, Brook joined in with the Straw Hats in a plan against Oars. While the others immobilized Oars, Brook took Luffy and carried him up Thriller Bark's main mast with some help from Robin. On top of the mast, Brook threw Luffy down towards Oars so that Luffy could deliver a Gomu Gomu no Gigant Bazooka on to the behemoth. With that attack Oars' entire spine was completely pulverized, and Brook and the rest of the Straw Hats were finally saved from the behemoth's seemingly endless power.

Despite Brook and everyone's efforts however, Moria was still able to get back up despite the beating he took from Luffy. Brook then witnessed as Moria attempted one last ditch effort with Shadow's Asgard, a technique in which the Shichibukai powered up with one thousand shadows taken from his zombie minions. With this turn of events, all that Brook could do was watch Luffy gathered his strength back again and battle against the monstrosity that was now Moria. Just as the sun arose and threatened to destroy the Thriller Bark Victim's Association, Sanji, Zoro and Robin, Brook saw Luffy finally defeat Moria and release all of the shadows just in the nick of time.

After the defeat of Moria, it all seemed like all the horrors that Brook and the others faced on Thriller Bark had ended. However before everyone could celebrate, another Shichibukai, Bartholomew Kuma, was found out to be on the island and was given the order to eliminate everyone on the island. Despite a valiant effort against Kuma, it seemed like no one could match against the Shichibukai. As it situation raged on, the Shichibukai offered to spare everyone if they handed Luffy over to him. Brook and the rest flat out refused and were blown away by Kuma's "Ursus Shock". Though the shockwave destroyed most of the island and knocked out nearly everyone, Brook was still conscious enough to see Zoro and Sanji's efforts to save Luffy from being killed by Kuma.

End of the Nightmares
After a whole day after all the chaos had ended wherein everyone rested, Brook decided to join in with the others in the ruins of the Mast Mansion to celebrate their victory against Moria. As the festivities continued, Brook decided to play a piano in the room. As he prepared to play, he revealed to Sanji that he witnessed the actions taken by Zoro and Sanji earlier against Kuma, and commended their bravery. As Brook started to play Bink's Sake, he and Luffy had a conversation about the song he is playing.

Brook explained to Luffy that this song, one Luffy stated that Shanks and his crew sing all the time, is a song that any pirate from the olden days knows of. As the conversation continued on, Luffy once again invited Brook to join his crew now that Brook had reclaimed his shadow, allowing him to walk in the sunlight. Seeing Luffy's point, Brook however told Luffy that he still couldn't join since he still had one thing to do. I made a promise with a nakama. If I do not realize that first... then I am not fit to be a man.

-Brook about his promise to Laboon. Luffy however knowing of Brook's promise to Laboon from Franky, told Brook that not only had he met Laboon but Laboon was still alive and well, waiting for Brook's return at Reverse Mountain. Upon hearing such news and reconfirmation from Sanji and Usopp that it wasn't a lie, Brook suddenly stopped playing the piano and burst into tears. Happy that after fifty long years Laboon still awaited for his return, Brook continued playing while shedding tears of joy.

As he continued playing while remembering his past, Brook decided to heighten the mood of the party by taking out and playing the Tone Dial that he and his crew recorded their last song for Laboon to hear. With the song playing, everyone in the room sang along to the treasured tune. While the others sang, Brook asked in his mind, if Laboon could wait a year or two more so that he could travel around the world and come back over the Red Line as promised so long ago. With this resolve, Brook asked Luffy if he could join the Straw Hats, a decision Luffy accepted without hesitation much to the shock of the majority of the crew. Having joined the Straw Hat crew, Brook showed his bounty poster and pledged his loyalty to Luffy. Two days after joining the Straw Hats, Brook is shown a beautiful sight: a gravestone marking the grave of the Rumbar Pirates. Knowing that the remains of his former crew mates couldn't all fit on the Thousand Sunny, Brook and the rest buried them in the graveyard. For this grave, a gravestone was designed by Usopp, built by Franky, and decorated with flowers by Chopper. Happy with the grave and hoping that his dead crew mates could rest easier since the earth in Thriller Bark came from their native home of West Blue, Brook decided to play them one last song. As he began playing, Brook was greeted by a then recovered Zoro who asked him if Brook could play a song for his destroyed sword. As Brook boarded the Thousand Sunny to continue on his journey around the world, he and Sanji entertained at the idea at meeting a real life mermaid at Fishman Island, and both got a nosebleed when told that mermaids don't wear panties. After everything had been settled, Brook set sail with the rest of the Straw Hats away from Thriller Bark and towards Fishman Island.

Slavery and Bubbles
As Brook and the Straw Hats continued on their journey, he played to them as they went through one Grand Line phenomenon after another. They sailed until they came to a sight that Brook hadn't seen in fifty years, the Red Line. Having arrived at the second part of the great wall, Brook joined in a little expedition with Robin and Luffy in the Shark Submerge to find Fishman Island deep below. Despite their efforts, they couldn't find the underwater paradise due to the sub's limitations. Instead, they unfortunately brought with them a seaking that followed them back to the surface. As the seaking was defeated by Luffy, Brook and rest notice the monster spit out two beings onto the Thousand Sunny, a mermaid named Keimi and her pet starfish Pappug.

Having met the mermaid and her starfish friend, Brook and the others learned that not only could the two lead them to Fishman Island for saving them, but they would also reward the Straw Hats with Takoyaki. However before Brook and the others could be rewarded, they learned that Keimi's Fishman friend Hatchin had been captured by the Flying Fish Riders. For the way to Fishman Island and the reward of Takoyaki, Brook and the others accepted to help. After sailing by using fish to guide them and encountering some of the Flying Fish Riders along the way, they reached the Flying Fish Riders' base. At the base, Brook and the others not only learned the one they were rescuing was a previous enemy of the Straw Hats, but the Flying Fish Riders had laid an ambush for the Straw Hats. Upon engaging the Flying Fish Riders, Brook accidentally dove along with Chopper after Luffy when his captain fell into the sea despite both of them being incapable of swimming themselves. Feeling ashamed for his recklessness and having the others save especially in his first battle as a Straw Hat, Brook decided to make up for it by reducing the swarming numbers of Flying Fish Riders with a technique that left a majority of them asleep and vulnerable. As Brook and the others continued to battle against their foes, they soon learn that the boss of the Flying Fish Riders, Duval, had a grudge against Sanji because of his face looking exactly like Sanji's wanted poster. Though after hearing the tragic coincidence regarding Duval and Sanji, Brook fell onto his knees, pounding the ground laughing. Despite Duval's efforts to get back at Brook's crew mate, the boss was defeated when Sanji rearranged his face and Brook and the rest were able to get away to enjoy some Takoyaki.

After enjoying a well deserved reward of Takoyaki and being thanked by Duval for what Sanji did to his face along with the other Straw Hats, Brook and his crew mates sailed to the Sabaody Archipelago. There, as they were informed by Hatchan, was were they could find a coating mechanic to coat the Thousand Sunny so they can go to Fishman Island. Joining the landing party to search for the mechanic, Brook and his fellow Straw Hats learned from Hatchan of the World Nobles that frequent there and the consequence if people would defy them. As Brook and the rest came to the shadier parts of the mangrove to where the mechanic could be found, they learned a great deal of things from a friend of Hatchan's, Shakuyaku. These included the fact that there very few Marines that were stationed at the moment in the mangrove, and the fact that there were nine other pirates besides Luffy and Zoro whose bounties were higher than 100,000,000. Aside from these other things, Brook and the landing party learned that the mechanic they were searching for, Rayleigh, might be in Sabaody Park among places. Hitting the theme park, Brook and the rest enjoyed the various rides there. However in the midst of all the fun, they discovered that Keimi had been kidnapped. With Keimi kidnapped, Brook and the rest of the Straw Hats decided to seek help from Duval and his Flying Fish Riders. While awaiting with Chopper in Sabaody Park to be picked up by the Flying Fish Riders, Brook convinced his fellow Straw Hat to relax a bit despite the situation. Unfortunately when the Flying Fish Riders arrived with Usopp to picked the two up, both Brook and Chopper were scolded by their fellow crew mate for relaxing too much. Having been picked up, Brook rode alongside one of the riders in order to locate Keimi. Upon learning that Keimi was taken to the Human Auction House in Grove 1 of the mangrove, Brook and his Flying Fish Rider companion immediately headed to the place. By the time they reached there, the place was already in chaos because of Luffy punching a World Noble. Seeing no available entrance through the crowd of people rushing out of the place, Brook's rider companion, along with Robin's and Usopp's rider companions, decided to go in another way. They crashed their flying fish through the walls and delivered the three Straw Hats into the auction house. Once there, Brook and his two crew mates immediately regrouped with the rest of crew and joined in the fighting against the auction house's guards. In the midst of chaos however, Brook and his companions' foes were all suddenly knocked out the mechanic they were all looking for in the first place.

Gold Roger's first mate and Crew Seperation
With Rayleigh in the scene, not only were Brook and his companions' foes knocked out, but Keimi's collar was also taken off without it blowing up in her face thanks to the Coating Mechanic. Though Brook and the rest of the crew found the mechanic and were reunited with Keimi, they had no time for pleasantries. They learned at that very moment that a group of Marines had already surrounded the Auction House in response for what happened there. Despite being surrounded, Brook and the rest of the crew rallied forward to escape from the scene. With Luffy leading the march, Brook and the rest of the Straw Hats fought through the blockade of Marines that awaited them outside the place. Accompanying Brook and the rest of crew in their escape were some members of two other pirate crews, the Kid Pirates of Eustass Kid and the Heart Pirates of Trafalgar Law. These two pirate crews decided to help the Straw Hats at the time since the Marines mistook them for the Straw Hats' accomplices for the assault on the World Nobles. After breaking through the Marine blockade and parting with the two other pirate crews, Brook and the rest escaped the scene and reunited with Duval and his men.

Having escaped from the Marines for the moment, Brook and the rest returned to Shakky's bar and learned from Rayleigh a bit of the mechanic's past. While most of it concerned about a pirate that was a mere rookie during Brook's time, Gol D. Roger, what surprised Brook the most was learning that his old friend, Crocus, had tried to look for him while he was a part of Roger's crew. After hearing Rayleigh's tale of days past, Brook and the rest decided to hand the Thousand Sunny over to the mechanic to work on due to the trouble that they just stirred up. With a promise that the ship's coating would be finished in three days, Brook and the rest set off with the will to survive until the appointed time. As Brook and the rest set off, they encountered a familiar figure. Recognizing the figure as Bartholomew Kuma, Brook and his fellow crew mates began fighting against this encountered foe. As they fought, Brook and the rest soon realized that though figure before them looked like Kuma, it was not due to several differences among which included him not having any paws on his hands. Despite this, Brook and the rest fought to their fullest against the Pacifista.

With their combined strength, Brook and the rest of the crew were able to defeat the Pacifista. Unfortunately, they weren't given a moment's rest as another Pacifista came along with Sentoumaru, a immensely strong Marine captain aiding in the Straw Hat's capture. Seeing as they no longer had the strength to face these new foes, Brook and the rest decided to split up and run for it. Noticing Zoro still having trouble due to his wounds with Kuma, Brook decided to aid the swordsman and Usopp. As Brook and his fellow crew mates were retreating, they unfortunately came across the Marine Admiral sent to apprehend them, Kizaru. Fortunately, they were saved by Rayleigh who was somehow able to counter the Admiral's light based Logia Devil Fruit powers. Having been momentarily saved by the coating mechanic, Brook and Usopp took the wounded Zoro as fast as they can. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts along with those of Sanji, Brook and Usopp weren't able to fend off the Pacifista that came with Sentoumaru. Just as it seemed like their comrade Zoro was about to finished off by the Pacifista, the real Bartholomew Kuma suddenly appeared to the astonishment of Brook and his fellow crew mates with him, and vanish Zoro somewhere else before their eyes. In an attempt to protect Usopp and Sanji from the same fate, Brook got in the way of Kuma's next attack and was pushed away somewhere else by the Shichibukai's Devil Fruit powers.

Brook's Lodgings and Panties Repayment
For three days and three nights, Brook flew through the sky from being pushed by Kuma's attack. On the fourth day, he landed in the country of Harahetternia in Namakura Island. However, the skeleton had landed right in the middle of demon summoning ritual done by some cultists prepared to lose their souls to Satan in exchange for revenge against the Longarm Tribe. Knowing he needed to get back to rest of the crew, Brook ignored the cultists who believed he was the demon they summoned. However, when a frightened girl caught his eye, he asked her to see her panties. Hearing this request, the cultists immediately rushed to pay panties in tribute to Brook in fear that he would return back to the demon realm. This scene is extended in the anime where Brook clearly states that he does not need to see men's underwear, which the cultists in their haste to pay tribute showed him. Brook's only response to this act seems to be stunned in awe.

After being given some panties, Brook witnessed the girl whom he had asked for panties earlier, being kidnapped by some members of the Longarm tribe. To his surprise, he found that the cultists just stood there allowing the atrocity to happen instead of fighting. Instead they asked him to repay his debt of having been given panties. Instead of fighting Brook decided to compose a music composition despite the cultists' pleas and offerings of underwear made by some of the male members.

Major Battles

 * Brook and other Rumbar Pirates vs. unknown pirate crew
 * Brook vs. Ryuuma (Thriller Bark grounds)
 * Brook, Franky, and Robin vs. Talleran
 * Brook vs. Ryuuma (Thriller Bark castle)
 * Brook, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky vs. Oars and Moria
 * Brook, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky vs. Oars
 * 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

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 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 Ryuuma is handled differently in the manga and anime versions. Originally in the manga, the battle against Ryuuma 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 Ryuuma 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 Ryuuma have a more elaborate battle in the anime, the battle is noticeably less violent by the fact that though Brook is attacked by Ryuuma, 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 Ryuuma 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 Ryuuma with normally fatal but otherwise bone cracking strikes.

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 varied 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.

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 and top hat and a cane in place of the crossbone mark. His jolly roger is also shown on his traveller mug.
 * According to Oda, Brook is most like a grandfather figure.
 * Before Brook fulfilled the position of musician, there was a running gag of the need of the position to be filled that was always being brought up by Luffy during important meetings with his crew on who to 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 them 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 41 (dying 3 years after leaving Laboon) 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.
 * Though he knows other songs, Brook's favorite song to sing is Bink's 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.
 * Brook is most likely the lightest member of the crew due to the fact that he lacks everything bodily, except for bones.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * In a recent 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 believes in and has quoted the philosophy "Good things come to those who wait", given the years he spent on the ghost ship, and Laboon's eternal patience.
 * Brook is the third character who was in another pirate crew to join the Straw Hats. However, while Brook shared a strong bond with the other Rumbar pirates, Nami and Robin only joined their previous crews for personal reasons. Neither of the girls considered their crewmates as friends until the Straw Hats.
 * He is the seventh Straw Hat to have his own cover story, Brook's "Lodgings and Panties Repayment".
 * Due to his longevity and the power of his Yomi Yomi no Mi, Brook is the only future Straw Hat who appears alive and exactly the same as he was in modern times in Chapter 0. (though both Nico Robin and Franky also appear in this prologue chapter, both are as children; the rest of the crew was not born at the time)
 * Brook would be Austrian in the real world.

Related Articles

 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Laboon
 * Rumbar Pirates

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