Brook

**Brook** is the musician of the Straw Hat Pirates, wherein he is the very oldest member of the crew, and the former captain of the Rumbar Pirates several decades ago. He is a skeleton that the Straw Hats found on board of a ghost ship after drifting into the Florian Triangle. He is also one of the two swordsmen onboard their ship, with the other being Roronoa Zoro.

## Statistics

* **Name**: Brook, Soul King, Humming Swordsman
* **Origin**: One Piece
* **Gender**: Male
* **Age**: 90
* **Birthday**: April 3
* **Classification**: Living Skeleton (previously a Human), Undead, Straw Hat Pirates Musician, Swordsman, Former Rumbar Pirates Captain, Former Battle Convoy Leader, Paramecia Devil Fruit User
* **Blood Type**: X, A
* **Height**: 277 cm (9'1")
* **Weight**: 25 kg (55 lbs)
* **Hair Color**: Black
* **Alignment**: Good
* **Status**: Active
* **Class**: **B-Class**
* **Notable Attacks/Techniques**: Soul Solid, Lullaby Parry, Party Music, Aubade Coup Droit, Gavotte Bond en Avant, Polka Remise, Quinte Tierce Fantasia, Song of the Wind: Icy Storm, Song of Scratches: Blizzard Slice
* **Voice Actor**: Shigeru "Chō" Nagashima

## Appearance

Brook is an extremely tall skeleton dressed in formal attire complete with top hat and cane. Standing at 277 cm (9'1") in height, he is the tallest member of the Straw Hat crew. Despite having no skin, he still has an black afro which he says is because his hair has very strong roots. Brook's style was that of a rockstar/gentleman, consisting of heart-shaped sunglasses, a black jacket with inner linings being white and the cravat that was tied in between his coat and around his neck was blue, a yellow feather boa, a dark top hat with a giant crown on the brim, orange red trousers with a floral design, and black leather shoes. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword which he carries was purple.

## Personality

Brook is an eccentric character with a distinct personality of his own, like the other Straw Hat Pirates. While he looks like and claims to be a gentleman, he possesses very bad manners such as regularly asking ladies to show their panties (although in a mermaid's or goddess' case he asks if they can lend him some money) and occasionally burping and farting conspicuously. Despite this behavior he still is somewhat polite, usually referring to people using the respectful "-san" honorific. He appreciates the simplest of things: from a gesture of kindness, the company of others, and walking in the sunlight after receiving his shadow back. Awkwardly, Brook has a tendency to lack common sense in slightly frantic times, such as jumping into the water (along with Chopper) to save Luffy from drowning, despite being a Devil Fruit user himself.

Despite being a living skeleton, he is very afraid of ghosts and zombies. Also, he tends to make "skull jokes", which is based on the fact that he is dead. Brook has his own distinct laughter (Yohohoho!). He also has a strange gag when leaning against a wall or object at a forty-five degree angle. Though he mainly uses it to show it off in front of people and his crew just for a laugh, Brook later turned this into one of his signature poses as the Soul King. He has sometimes practiced and attempted to tilt in even further than forty-five degrees, but if he makes the angle too acute, he will lose his balance and slip.

Being a musician, he is very fond of music and was called "Humming Brook" during his life, usually singing Binks' Sake to entertain the crew. 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 songs and dances.

However, one issue he has stood by is the act of wasting lives. As he had experienced death, he knows more than most about the consequences of dying. He shares a very strong emphasis on keeping promises and friendship, as he would do everything in his power to reunite and fulfill his promise to Laboon his long lost friend, something Franky had complimented him upon. Though he is prone to being childish, he proves a loyal and fearless friend, risking his own life for the sake of others and having a big heart. Also similar to Sanji, while both of them are womanizers with lecherous thoughts, Brook is also very protective over women (as is Sanji).

## Abilities and Equipment

**Revive-Revive Fruit**: A Paramecia-type Devil Fruit which enhances the user's soul to the point where they can come back to life after dying once, remain alive until their body is sufficiently damaged, and to use several other soul-based abilities. The power that allows him to live in the human world is not organs nor muscles: it is his soul.

* **Astral Projection**: A new ability Brook demonstrated after the timeskip. Brook is able to separate his body and soul, and move his soul everywhere he wants to, even through walls. When Brook is in spectral form he is both visible and audible to people. It is currently unknown as to how far the extent can Brook maintain this separation of his soul from his body.
* **Soul Energy**: After two years of training, Brook has mastered the use of this Devil Fruit to the extent of knowing its true nature. He reveals that in order for his soul to remain here in this world, it produces a unique and powerful energy that is almost physical in form. He has also mastered the energy his soul emits to the extent that he can reattach his bones by using this energy such as when he is beheaded he then attaches his head back with the help of it.
* **Chills of the Underworld**: Through his soul, Brook is able to summon the very cold of the underworld, which he utilizes in conjunction with his sword, Soul Solid, to generate freezing attacks.

**Music**: Brook's devotion to music not only helped him to pass the lonely days during his long isolation, but also serves as a combat tool. His technique, "**Lullaby Parry**", shows this, where he strums his violin with his shikomizue like a violinist's bow, creating a soothing tune that makes anyone who hears it immediately fall asleep.

* **Lullaby Parry**: Brook swipes his weapon over his violin like a fiddle and plays a soothing melody which makes his opponents fall asleep.
* **Party Music**: Brook uses his music to hypnotize his opponents into believing they are at a night festival. This way, his opponents not only drop their guards, but they are also made vulnerable to suggestions.

**Master Swordsman**: At one point being the captain of the guards in his home country, Brook is well versed in swordplay. Despite his usual goofy personality in battle, he is extremely capable and can do more than hold his own. His fighting style resembles a combination of classical fencing and iaidō. 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 Ryuma no matter how hard he fought and while Ryuma 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 Ryuma did say that Brook's protectiveness of his afro held him back somewhat.

* **Fencing**: Brook uses an unnamed form of swordsmanship that resembles classical fencing. It specializes in speed and thrusting techniques.
	+ **Aubade Coup Droit** (*Dawn Serenade: Right-Handed Strike*): A ranged thrusting technique that creates a highly compressed blast of air.
	+ **Gavotte Bond en Avant** (*Gavotte: Leap Forward*): A thrusting technique in which the user propels himself forward in order to strike an opponent. He can also perform this in the air.
	+ **Polka Remise** (*Polka Continuation*): A combination technique in which the user delivers several consecutive thrusts against the opponent.
	+ **Quinte Tierce Fantasia** (*Fifth Parry and Third Parry Fantasy*): Typically used in conjunction with Party Music, Brook uses a swift draw-and-sheathing technique while his opponents are still under the influence of the hypnotic nature of the musical technique.
	+ **Song of the Wind: Icy Storm**: Coating Soul Solid with freezing energy, Brook spins around in 360 degrees as he generates a giant icy wind that freezes a large number of targets within a wide radius.
	+ **Song of Scratches: Blizzard Slice**: A high-speed technique where Brook swiftly cuts his opponent(s) as he approaches them and then re-sheathe his blade from top to bottom and the streak mark he creates with his "chilled" sword freezes the opponent's blood.

**Soul Solid**: Brook uses a type of sword called a shikomizue, a sword concealed inside a cane. He uses this sword in conjunction with his fencing skills and has had it for at least fifty years. After the timeskip, Brook has named his sword "**Soul Solid**", due to him developing the ability to coat it with the aura of his soul, freezing it in the process, and anyone who comes into contact with it. He also claimed that the Longarm Tribe has helped him sharpen the sword.

**Master Musician**: Brook is a musician who is able to play any musical instrument. He usually uses a violin to play his music, though after two-years he switched his main instrument to a guitar. His musical abilities are so good that Laboon used to sing along to his music when they were together.

Due to his musical background, Brook also moves according to the rhythm of his music to assist him in battle. His musical skill is such that he became a world famous rock star during the two years the Straw Hats were separated; his records in Tone Dials selling in the millions and his fans during his final world tour stop in Sabaody Archipelago were either crying or fainting at his presence.
His music also shows capabilities to change its listener's attitude and emotions such as when he was sent to the Namakura Island by Bartholomew Kuma his music inspires the cult there to fight back against its invaders, the Longarm Tribe.
**Enhanced Speed**: Brook's main advantage is his tremendous speed, which is possible because of the light weight of his skeleton body. This allows him 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 Ryuma that he is stronger than five years ago.

**Enhanced Endurance**: Brook also has somewhat good endurance, as he was able to remain conscious after Bartholomew Kuma used his Ursus Shock on Thriller Bark, however he could not get up or he simply decided not to.

## Weaknesses

Brook cannot swim and becomes immobilized if more than half of his body is covered in water.