Brook

A living skeleton whose Devil Fruit returned his soul to his bones, Brook drifted alone for decades in the Florian Triangle after his original crew perished. He plays violin, cracks skull jokes and asks women inappropriate questions, yet carries a promise to deliver a song to a whale waiting at the start of the Grand Line. He joins the Straw Hats to keep that vow.

Brook is a walking skeleton in a gentleman's wardrobe, his bones held together by the power of a Devil Fruit and crowned by an enormous curly afro that survived death with him. Towering and spindly, he dresses in tailcoats, cravats, top hats and ornate boots, carrying a cane that conceals a slim sword. After the crew's separation he adopts flamboyant stage wear in bright colors, sunglasses and a feathered coat befitting a touring rock star. His empty eye sockets somehow convey expression, and he gestures with theatrical courtliness despite having no flesh at all.

Brook is an old world gentleman with the manners of a courtier and the impulses of a clown, bowing politely one moment and asking women to show him their underwear the next. He is addicted to puns about his own skeletal state and laughs at himself constantly, yet the humor masks fifty years of absolute solitude that nearly broke him. He is deeply sentimental about promises, music and the friends he buried, and he will risk annihilation to keep his word. In battle his silliness evaporates, replaced by cold precision. Loyalty, courtesy and the belief that a song can outlive the singer form the core of who he is.

Once the leader of a kingdom's guard detachment, Brook left that life to sail with the Rumbar Pirates as their musician and swordsman. Entering the Grand Line the crew befriended an infant whale, Laboon, and promised to return for him after circling the world. The voyage went catastrophically wrong: their captain fell ill and separated from the group, and the remaining crew was poisoned in an ambush. Dying, they recorded their favorite song, Bink's Sake, so the whale would someday hear it. Brook had eaten the Yomi Yomi no Mi, and his soul returned to a world of fog, but it took so long to find his corpse that only bones remained. He drifted alone in the Florian Triangle for decades.

1. Thriller Bark

   Met as a singing skeleton in the fog, Brook reveals that Gecko Moria stole his shadow, which keeps him from ever standing in sunlight again. He fights through the haunted island, confronts his own zombified shadow in the warrior Ryuma, reclaims his lost shadow and the sword Shusui, then formally asks to join the crew.

2. Sabaody and the separation

   Scattered along with the others, Brook lands on an island of oddities and is pressed into performing. He turns the two year gap into a global music career, becoming the superstar Soul King, filling stadiums and using his fame to send a coded message confirming the crew's reunion plan.

3. Fish-Man Island

   Arriving as a celebrity, he is mobbed by fans and exploited by promoters, but his concert becomes a weapon when he uses a sleep inducing performance to neutralize enemy forces during the New Fish-Man Pirates' coup. He also demonstrates the new soul based powers developed during his absence.

4. Whole Cake Island

   Infiltrating Big Mom's territory, Brook takes on the suicidal task of stealing a rubbing of the Road Poneglyph from her treasure room. He battles her homies and the Emperor herself long enough to succeed, is captured and turned into a tea party decoration, and still delivers the copy that advances the crew's voyage.

5. Wano Country

   On Onigashima he fights alongside Zoro against Big Mom, using his ice cold soul techniques to freeze the Emperor and create openings no one else could. He also guards allies from Beasts Pirates officers and provides the crew with intelligence gathered by sending his spirit out of his body.

Laboon

Promise kept

The whale who waited decades at the Grand Line's entrance for the Rumbar Pirates. Reuniting with Laboon and delivering the recorded song is the single goal that kept Brook from despair during his long isolation.

Yorki and the Rumbar Pirates

Lost crew

His first family, who died of poison during the voyage. Their final recording and their insistence on laughing to the end shaped Brook's refusal to let grief show on his face.

Monkey D. Luffy

Captain

Luffy invited him aboard almost immediately on hearing him play, giving Brook a crew again after fifty years alone. Brook serves with near devotional loyalty and will undertake suicidal missions on his word.

Ryuma

Defeated opponent

The legendary samurai's corpse, animated by Brook's stolen shadow. Defeating him restored Brook's shadow and won him the sword Shusui, which he later returned to Wano.

Nami and Robin

Crewmates

The targets of his relentless and immediately rebuffed requests to see their underwear, a running gag that coexists with genuine protectiveness toward both women in danger.

• He reveals that he spent decades alone at sea after his soul took too long to find his body.
• He reclaims his stolen shadow by defeating the zombie wielding the legendary swordsman Ryuma's corpse.
• He becomes the world famous musician Soul King during the crew's two year separation.
• He steals a rubbing of Big Mom's Road Poneglyph and survives to deliver it.
• He freezes an Emperor of the Sea with soul infused ice while fighting at Zoro's side.

• His afro is the only part of his original appearance that survived, and it let his wandering soul recognize his remains.
• His swordsmanship techniques are named with musical terminology to match his profession.
• He returned the sword Shusui to Wano after taking it from the zombie of its original owner.
• His stage persona as Soul King made him one of the most famous entertainers in the world.
• He frequently jokes about his lack of flesh, including when apologizing for things he physically cannot do.

• Monkey D. Luffy
• Roronoa Zoro
• Nami
• Usopp
• Sanji
• Nico Robin

• Tony Tony Chopper
• Franky

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