Brook

**Brook** (ブルック, *Burukku*) also known as "**Soul King**" **Brook** (ソウルキングブルック, *Souru Kingu Burukku*), is a fictional character and protagonist from the *One Piece* series. He is a pirate and musician of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Brook was once a member of the Rumbar Pirates. While traveling with them, Brook found a baby whale and named him Laboon. The whale could not follow them to Grand-Line and they had to leave him behind with the promise of returning one day. The crew of the Rumbar Pirates, including Brook, died in battle. Only Brook was resurrected due to his Curséd Fruit ability, though his body became a skeleton by the time he discovered it.

He is a skeleton that the Straw Hats found on board of a ghost ship after while drifting into the Florian Triangle. He is a Curséd Fruit user who ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, and is undead, having been brought back into a pseudo-immortal state because of its powers. Upon seeing him, Luffy immediately asked him to join his crew and Brook eventually agreed when his curse is lifted by Moria's defeat.

He is the ninth member of the Straw Hat crew, and the eighth to join Luffy's crew, as well as being the oldest and the tallest member on board. He is also one of the two swordsmen onboard their current ship, with the other being Zolo Roronoa. He fills the role of the long-awaited musician that Luffy had wanted for his crew ever since his journey began. He currently has a bounty of 83,000,000 berries.

"*Ah, what a wonderful day this is* Yohohohohoho”

—Brook.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Ian Sinclair (English), Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

### Biography

The Straw Hat Pirates' musician. Changed his lifestyle from being the leader of a bodyguard group of a certain kingdom in West Blue to becoming a pirate.

When his other, previous pirate crew, the Rumbar Pirates, were wiped out and died from battle, he was revived as a skeleton by due to the powers of the power of a Paramythia Curséd Fruit that he ate while still alive, "Revive-Revive Fruit", he revived in the form of a skeleton.

Joined Luffy's crew after Luffy took a liking to his appearance, music and skills. In battle, he uses instruments as well as the sword. By acknowledging that his soul had a powerful energy, his sword skills and attacks using instruments have improved in power.

In the two years after the Battle of Marineford he started a career as the musician "Soul King," which also enhancing his soul-based abilities.

### Appearance

#### Before Death

Before his death, Brook was a tall, skinny 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 skeletal 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, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, and other musical celebrities with similar features.

#### Pre-Timeskip

Brook is an extremely tall skeleton dressed in formal attire complete with top hat and cane. Standing at 266 cm (8'8½") in height, he is the tallest member of the Straw Hat crew. Despite having no skin, he still has an afro which he says is because his hair has very strong roots. Brook's style was that of a gentleman consisting of a coat, top hat, trousers and afro, which were black, while the inner linings of his coat were yellow-orange. The cravat that was tied in between his coat and around his neck was blue. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword which he carries was purple. Also, due to his many years of seclusion his clothes were somewhat tattered.

#### Post-Timeskip

He has now changed to more colorful and high-end clothes, as though to represent a rock star. He has heart-shaped sunglasses, a yellow feather boa, a top hat with a giant crown on the brim and orange red trousers with a floral design. Despite being a skeleton, he grew to 277 cm (9'1"), and remains as the tallest Straw Hat member.

##### Outfits

During the *Punk Hazard Arc*, he wore a flashy striped coat, after taking it from a member of Brownbeard's Centaur Patrol Unit.

During the *Dressrosa Arc*, he wore a dark magenta long-coat with an upturned collar in addition to yellow pants. While shown on Zou during this arc, his second outfit consisted of a pink shirt with a white polka dot pattern (which resemble the circles on the SMILE fruits), orange and yellow striped trousers, and pointed dark colored shoes. He also donned his original pre-timeskip top hat, a blue bead necklace, and he swapped his heart shaped sunglasses for a more traditional black pair.

During the *Zou Arc*, he added a dark colored coat with a fluffy lining to his second Dressrosa outfit along with a larger top hat embellished with beads. Due to being chased and chewed on by his canine Mink admirers, his coat had become somewhat tattered by the time he met up with Luffy's group.

During the *Whole Cake Island Arc*, he wore a long, fancy overcoat with puffy sleeves and tall black boots. He also wrapped a decorative scarf around his head and donned a pair of plain black shades. Later on, after the Big Mom pirates stripped him of his clothes, he wore a simple sleeveless cloak with a rope tied around the neck to fasten it. When meeting with the Fire Tank Pirates, he dons a large fedora, a striped vest along with a dark shirt and ascot, and dark trousers. When he took part in the operation to ruin Big Mom's tea party, Brook disguised himself among the Luffy clones created by 's powers by wearing a over sized Luffy mask and hat tied with a string, which got him close enough to destroy Carmel's photo.

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Grey-Blue
* Age: 19 (debut), 21 (after timeskip)
* Birthday: March 2nd
* Height: 266 cm (8'8½"; debut), 277 cm (9'1"; after timeskip)
* Weight: Not Known

## 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 asking to see ladies' panties (although in a mermaid's case he asks if they can lend him some money - however, he asked this question to the Mermaid Princess anyway) and waiting impatiently for food (a trait shared by Luffy D. Monkey). Despite this behavior he still is somewhat polite, usually referring to people using the respectful "-san" ("Sir"). 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.

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 at times, Brook has been known to over-relax 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 when 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. When Chopper broke one of his jokes by saying what he intended to say beforehand, Brook became temporarily depressed.

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 songs and dances. He gave 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's being out of insecurity, Nami's as a survival instinct, and Chopper's from cautiousness - Brook's fear is more down to Earth; 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 would not 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 does not 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 so 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 Sunny Thousand 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 childlike antics.

His distinct personality and laughter allowed Nami, Usopp, and Chopper question a "guardian" of Hogback's lab, Jigoro, who had Brook's signature laughter and personality. This was because Jigoro possessed Brook's shadow until he and the samurai, Ryuma, was defeated by Zolo, 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 Curséd Fruit user himself. He also has a tendency to accidentally go on rides that go obviously fast and sit out on slower rides.

Also in *Movie 10|One Piece Film: Strong World*, he appears to take offense if someone avoids him because he does not have any "substance", later commenting he is like that because he is "dieting". This was later seen again during the *Punk Hazard Arc* when the Straw Hats, Kin'emon, and Brownbeard were attacked by a dragon who ignored him. Brook grew furious, claiming that bones have plenty of nutrition.

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.

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. Standing between Usopp and a Pacifista stating that he shall protect him even though he knew his chances of survival were slim. Even Zolo has quietly acknowledged that Brook is a true man to his heart, facing down odds that are near impossible unflinchingly to save a friend. Also similar to Sanji, while both of them are womanizers with lecherous thoughts, Brook is also very protective over women (as is Sanji), as he chastised the New Merman Pirates for aiming their firearms at Shirahoshi.

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 and his own originals, Bone To Be Wild and New World.

Brook is also clever enough to trick Jora into turning his weapon back to normal by pretending to side with her.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Straw Hat Pirates
	+ Luffy D. Monkey
	+ Nami
	+ Zolo Roronoa
	+ Usopp
	+ Sanji Vinsmoke
	+ Chopper Tony Tony
	+ Robin Nico
	+ Franky
* Laboon
* Crocus
* Rumbar Pirates
	+ Yorki

### Enemies

* Blackbeard Pirates
	+ Teech D. Marshall
* Foxy Pirates
	+ Foxy
* Moria Gecko
* Impostor Straw Hat Pirates
	+ Demalo Black
	+ Manjaro
	+ Chocolat
	+ Mounblutain
	+ Drip
	+ Nora Gitsune
	+ Cocoa
	+ Turco
* Caribou

## Abilities and Powers

As much as Brook normally goofs around on the ship engaging in acts of silliness with Luffy, he is still a formidable opponent. Due to his previous experiences and skills that he had amassed from the days when the King of the Pirates, Roger D. Gol was still active, Brook, in all respects, is a veteran pirate (though these attributes are somewhat downplayed by his overall demeanor, along with the fact that his isolation in the Florian Triangle seemed to have eroded his knowledge of modern society).

### Combat Characteristics

Brook's value to the crew was already evident during the *Thriller Bark Arc*, where he proved indispensable for the Straw Hats on their encounters with the island-vessel's many undead inhabitants.

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.

When Brook fights, his battles often have a comical element to them. Examples include making a few of the members of his own crew fall asleep while fighting the Flying Fish Riders, playing dead halfway through a battle, or launching himself at an enemy with erroneous results.

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

After the timeskip Brook's overall skills have proven to be a very important asset during battle. However, his childish personality somewhat hampers his effectiveness. He has grown significantly in physical strength, as he is now able to launch a *flying slash* strong enough to break through thick ice, and can also block a thrown, weighted chain from an steroid-enhanced mermen.

### Musical Talent

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, "**Nemuriuta Flanc**", loosely translated as "**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.

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 Kuma Bartholomew his music inspires the cult there to fight back against its invaders, the Longarm Tribe.

During the fight with the New Merman Pirates, Brook revealed that he has developed his musical ability to the point where he could completely change the mood and hypnotize his opponents to believe they were at a festival. His opponents believed the illusion was reality and ended up using their cannons as fireworks. Since he is a musician, he has great hearing abilities, as he was able to detect where Zeo was, while he was invisible, even though it was shown to be difficult to figure out where he was based on sound.

### Curséd Fruit

*Main article:* *Revive-Revive Fruit*
The **Revive-Revive Fruit** (ヨミヨミ実, *Yomi Yomi Mi*), a Paramythia-class Curséd Fruit, which as eaten by Brook while he was still alive, allows him the one-time opportunity to return to life, if should the user of this fruit dies, making him a **Reviving Human** (復活人間, *Fukkatsu Ningen*). Though his soul was not 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 his Curséd Fruit powers. One advantage is that because he is just comprised of light weighted bones, he can use his speed and light weight to run across water, but, like all Cursed Fruit users, he can still drown when submerged. With the aid of his 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 perform 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 so fast that he can even run on water without sinking, and can also store things in his skull cavity such as a Tone Dial. His skeletal appearance not only gives him immense amounts of agility on par with Zolo and Sanji, but the fact that he does not have body parts allows him to take less damage in a manner of speaking, as he does not have the physical limitations of a normal human. His bone regeneration from milk also allows him to heal a lot faster than the rest of the crew, effectively making him one of the most tenacious opponents in battle. Due to his agility, he has managed to leap close enough to a firing harpoon and destroy it with his sword, while the harpoon was in flight, with relative ease.

Due to being entirely made of bones, he appeared to be resistant against lightning and electricity in general. Furthermore, Brook appeared to be resistant against the deadly poison of Shinokuni, however gases that enter the body through one's respiratory system such as KYP and the unnamed sleeping gas that Caesar's men used still affect Brook normally. Due to all of his flesh having rotted off, he also no longer suffers from aging, and therefore is immune from senescence, being nearly a century old without showing the ill-effects of the elderly.

After the timeskip, it is revealed that he can separate his spirit to move individually of his body similar to Perona, but is unable to move while in this state. During his battle with Zeo, Brook recalls how in the last two years, he discovered the true power of his devil fruit, and how he is no longer animated by organs or bones, but by his spirit. Brook is also shown to be capable of reattaching his head in the event it is pulled off, and according to the skeleton, as long as his bones are not broken, his core remains unharmed, which will allow him to reconstruct his body. Brook has also shown being able to call upon forces from the other side as seen when he channelled the "**Chill of the Underworld**" through his sword, in order to freeze his opponent's body with ice.

### Fighting Style

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.

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.

Brook's signature attack as of yet is known as "**Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri**". The attack is the fastest cutting technique of his kingdom's assault squad. It was originally named "**Requiem La Banderole**", but was given the other name by his old crew. Due to the attack's blinding speed and Brook's distracting humming, enemies often do not notice they have been hit until after Brook has sheathed his sword.

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

While at Sabaody Archipelago, two years ago, he struck a Pacifista using a high speed sword attack, yet failed to do much damage to it and had to be rescued afterwards. However, when Zolo attacked the same Pacifista, the results were very different. Although not on par with Zolo, he was able to keep up, visually, with what Zolo was doing while he fought Ryuma, while he fought Jigoro, showing that he is still a very skilled swordsman. He works very well with Zolo, as they defeated a Flying Fish Rider together, that was inches away from killing Hatchan.

After the timeskip, Brook has now been shown being able to combine the new freezing ability of his devil fruit with his swordstyle in order to cover whatever or whomever he cuts with ice. His swordmanship has also increased to the degree where a samurai from Wano has commended his skill and he is also now able to use flying slashes as well. It can be safely assumed that he can also cut steel, as he was able to cut down a dragon, whose scales are tougher than steel.

### Weapons

*Main article:* *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.

## History

### Past

#### Early Life

Before **Brook** joined the Rumbar Pirates, Brook was the leader of a battle convoy in a "certain kingdom", where he learned his fencing and many of his attacks received their names. These nicknames of his fencing style were given to him by his previous crew, and nothing else has been spoken of his past, before he joined the Rumbar Pirates.

## External links

* Shikomizue — Wikipedia article about the type of sword Brook uses.
* Skeleton — Wikipedia article about skeletons in general.
* Human Skeleton — Wikipedia article about the human skeleton.
* Skeleton (undead) — Wikipedia article about animated skeletons.
* Skeleton — Monstropedia article about animated skeletons.
* Gentleman — Wikipedia article about the gentleman concept.
* Slash — Wikipedia article about the real-life musician Brook resembles.
* Brook *One Piece Encyclopedia*