Brook (One Piece)

A living skeleton thanks to the Revive Revive Fruit, Brook "yearns to reunite with his long-lost crewmate, the whale Laboon. He is the oldest member of the crew and a skilled jokester." Brook's backstory and goal reflects the three main themes of One Piece: dreams, freedom, and friendship. Though Brook did not appear in the story until 2007, the idea of a skeleton musician was first conceived by Oda in 2000, about the time of Laboon's introduction. This was seven years before the first appearance of Brook. Oda's concept art shows Brook originally had a western cowboy hat instead of an afro. This design was later incorporated as Yorki's cowboy hat instead. ==Character outline==

Personality Brook is a combination of a gentlemanly persona and a perverted sort. He speaks in a dignified, educated manner at most times, but has amazingly bad manners. He burps and farts at dinner, casually asks to see women's panties, and picks in other peoples' food, to name only a few. He takes being a skeleton lightly, using any chance he can to joke about it. However, his backstory from Thriller Bark became the most tragic moment for Brook when he lost his crewmate along the journey before being stranded at the Florian Triangle. Brook endure his time of loneliness for fifty years by expressing his passion of music, jokes, amorous habits, and his value of life. Brook expressing his remorse on abandoning Laboon at the Twin Capes and wishes to see him again believing he had failed to fulfill his promise. When Luffy offers him to join the crew, Brook accepts his offer with tearful relief and join the Strawhat for his dream of reuniting with Laboon after his adventure across the Grand Line. After the Thriller Bark Arc, Brook become loyal to the Straw Hats on accomplishing their dreams. Despite his eccentric behavior, Brook is shown to be extremely upright and compassionate person befitting of a true gentleman, as Brook utterly disdains wickedness and cruelty. Devil Fruit Abilities Brook ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit which enhances the user's soul to the point where they resurrect after their first death. He can possess his own deceased body which allows him to animate his body which he cannot feel injuries or attacks. He even demonstrated a new form of Devil Fruit ability that allows his soul to leave the body, usually by exiting his mouth and move it everywhere he wants to. After his separation from the Straw Hats, Brook learns how to use his Devil Fruit ability to leave his skeleton body and explore his surroundings as a disembodied soul. He carries a shikomizue, a Japanese cane sword, and is skilled in its use. He can also combine his shikomizue and violin to create sound-based attacks. He was once a fighter in the surprise-attack squadron of an unknown kingdom. Brook claims he can heal from most fractures to his body by drinking milk. His head can also be opened up and used as a storage device. Brook uses an unnamed fencing sword style and is a skilled fencer who can use quick stabs because of his skeleton anatomy. In addition to his sword skill, Brook's lightweight skeleton body gives him great speed and the ability to jump extraordinarily high. His body is so light that he is even capable of running on water. However, Brook is still powerless if submerged in water, like all Devil Fruit users, and will sink if he stops running. Musical talent Brook is an excellent musician, displaying the ability to play any instrument at a highly skilled level. He is usually seen playing the violin. Brook can even influence people with his music to the point of making them fall asleep. While separated from the other Straw Hats, and incognito as "Soul King" Brook, he gains world fame, filling concert halls with fans. He is also a skilled fencer who uses a shikomizue (a Japanese cane sword) in battle. His reduced weight allows him to jump extraordinarily high and to run across water. Eventually, Brook learns how to use his Devil Fruit ability to leave his skeleton body and explore his surroundings as a disembodied soul. ==Appearances==

One Piece Over fifty years ago, Brook was once the leader of "a battle convoy in a certain kingdom". At some point before becoming a pirate, Brook was friends with a mysterious little girl named Gunko who would later be revealed as a World Noble of the Manmayer Family and direct servant to Great Imu. Then he became the musician swordsman of the music-themed Rumbar Pirates, and later Brook took over the crew as the new captain. The Rumbar Pirates were all killed by the poisons used by an enemy pirate crew which couldn't be treated because their doctor was killed. The power of the Paramecia-type allowed "Dead Bones" Brook to rise again and live a second life as a skeleton. Even after fifty years, Brook's goal is still to fulfill his late crew's promise after the Straw Hat Pirates go through the entirety of the Grand Line. While separated from the other Straw Hats, and incognito as "Soul King" Brook, he gains world fame, filling concert halls with fans. Despite Franky speculating he might not ever return to the pirate life, Brook rejoins the Straw Hats after it is revealed he is a pirate. On the island of Zou that is on the back of the Naitamie-Norida Zunesha, Brook and the Straw Hats learn from the elders of the talking animal Mink tribe that to find the One Piece located at Laugh Tale, one must find the Four Road Poneglyphs that together reveal the coordinates to Laugh Tale. Two of these Road Poneglyphs were being held by two of the four pirate Emperors of the Sea, Big Mom and Kaido. Luffy and Brook later infiltrate Whole Cake Island, home to Big Mom, to recover their crewmate Sanji. Brook attempts to steal Big Mom's road poneglyph. In the process, he fights Big Mom and realizes his Devil Fruit matches up well against her Soul Soul power. Brook notes that acquiring the Road Poneglyph is crucial because it allows the Straw Hats to win even if Sanji did not return to the crew. Brook managed to steal a copy of the Road Poneglyph and hide it in his head. Brook later smashes Big Mom's picture of Mother Caramel, one of her only weaknesses. The success of the raid leads to Luffy being dubbed the "Fifth Emperor" of the Sea. Big Mom and Kaido then form an alliance to take down the Straw Hats on Wano Country, but are defeated by the Straw Hats' Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance. Brook becomes recognized as one of Emperor of the Sea Monkey D. Luffy's Senior Officers. Appearances in other media Brook appears in the anime adaptation of One Piece, as well as its films from the tenth onwards, being voiced by Chō in the original Japanese version and by Ian Sinclair in the English dub. Brook is featured in several One Piece video games, in most of his appearances being part of the playable characters. Brook appears in the episode "Good Whale Hunting" of the live-action adaptation, played by Martial T. Batchamen. He is seen in a flashback of when the Rumbar Pirates met Crocus. ==Reception==

Brook ranked in the Top 30 of several Shōnen Jump character popularity polls, making it to the 26th position in the worldwide character popularity poll. Brook's connection to Laboon was called "one of the most notable examples of a seemingly innocuous story beat in One Piece becoming important years later, but with it involving the backstory of a main character like Brook, it's arguably one of the most important". Brook was called "a perfect illustration of One Piece's brilliance. So many characters initially seem silly and wacky, but turn out to have tragic backstories which give that wacky presentation a haunting gravity." ==See also==