What does the perfect skeleton in a great pirate story look like? That´s only one of
the many questions you have to ask yourself when you are trying to create a world like
One Piece. Does it have an eyepatch? Maybe some rotten skin left on its face? Of course
not. A REAL skeleton pirate needs just ONE thing: And that is an afro. There we go.
Brook is without a doubt one of the most creative and bizarre character´s that Eiichiro Oda
has created over all these years. And as we all know, that definitely says something.
Even in a world, where talking reindeers, giant mermaids and other crazy figures are
a part of everyday life; a reanimated, music-loving and joke-cracking skeleton with an afro is
something that catches the eye…even if it doesn´t have any. But beyond his unique appearance,
Brook as a character actually has a lot more to him than meets the eye, to stay with the
reference. Not only does he play one of my favorite songs in anime ever, but he also
represents a theme that all of the straw hats share. But none as blatantly as Brook: Loyalty.
There is actually a good reason that Brook is not only one of the quirkiest, but also
the oldest straw hat on Luffy´s ship. With a proud 90 years on his back, he had already
experienced a lot in his life before any of the other straw hats were even born. We actually
do not know too much about Brook´s early years, except that he used to serve as a soldier
in an unnamed kingdom located somewhere in the West Blue. We do not know exactly WHAT
HAPPENED during that time. However, a couple of years later Brook finally decided to set
out to sea. He joined the music loving Rumbar Pirates under the lead of captain Yorki and
together they set out towards the grand line. On their way there they encountered the small
island whale Laboon that had been separated from his herd. Brook and the others, who quickly
developed a close relationship with him, decided to take the young whale with them on their
journey. Upon traversing reverse mountain however, they decided to leave Laboon with
Crocus at the lighthouse, promising him that they would come back for him one day and take
him with them on their journey. However, this wasn´t meant to happen, as parts of the crew
one day caught an incurable disease, during one of their adventures. To protect the rest
of the crew, those who were infected, including Brook´s captain Yorki, decided to leave the
ship and try to make their way through the calm belt. An utterly hopeless endeavor, to
say the least. After losing half of his friends, Brook was appointed as the new captain. And
he led his men successfully for some time, before they were attacked by enemies upon
entering the Florian triangle. While they somehow just managed to get away from the
fight, to their horror they had to find out that their enemy´s weapons had been poisoned.
Brook, knowing that he would be revived by the power of his devil fruit, suggested in
tears to play one final song together, that he would record and bring to Laboon, in order
to keep their promise. Slowly one by one, he had to watch his friends die, before finally
he also succumbed to the poison. After his soul actually returned back to earth, for
a long time, he wasn´t able to find his body in the thick mists of the Florian triangle.
And when he finally managed to find his way back to the ship, his body had already turned
into a skeleton. Unable to stir the ship on his own, he was damned to spent nearly 50
years in bitter loneliness. Finally, he stranded on thriller bark. However instead of finding
new friends, he had his shadow stolen by Gekko Moria, who used it to reanimate the legendary
samurai Ryuma. Brook tried to take his shadow back from the swordsman but was utterly defeated.
He then fled back to his ship and spent the next 5 years training for their rematch. This
is, when Brook finally meets Luffy and the other straw hats. Despite being overwhelmed
with joy by finally meeting other people, he at first declines Luffy´s invitation to
join the crew, not wanting to be a nuisance. However, after the events on thriller bark,
fighting side by side with the straw hats, he finally accepts and officially becomes
the 9th member of the crew. Now, as we can tell from this quite extensive
backstory, Brook has not only suffered through many hardships and tragedies in his life but
has also already had a great deal of character development even before the start of the story
itself. Keep that in mind, because this is something that will become important again
later on. Before we can look at his character arc though, we first have to understand what
kind of person Brook actually is. In the context of the story we know Brook
as a very polite and at times extremely eccentric personality. In the manga, this is combined
with a strong sense of humor and a bit of perverted mentality. The anime, however, takes
this a step further. And in many cases one step too far. Random jokes are often inserted
at unfitting moments and his perverted nature is often also taken way overboard. As a result,
anime-brook sometimes feels a bit like a forced running gag. Which is sad, because in the
manga Brook´s personality appears rather charming. Here the focus lies more on his
compassionate and kind side. In addition to that Brook is also a very skilled fighter.
Being a more than capable swordsman and owning a very unique and powerful devil fruit, Brook
is always there to fight side by side with his friends, which rounds him of as a great
character in an action-based story. Brook´s psychological need in the story is
rather straightforward. Up until joining Luffy and the crew, he heavily suffers under the
loneliness he had to endure for almost half a century. In other words, when we first get
to meet him, Brook has to learn how to overcome his loneliness. This also translates directly
to his moral need. His long time alone, being disconnected form the world has resulted in
Brook often overexpressing his emotions. While it is not something that emotionally hurts
those around him, it still often leads to a lot of annoyance and confusion towards him.
We can see this for example the first time Brook encounters the straw hats. While they
are understandably terrified about a speaking skeleton, Brook forgets, they are talking
about himself and starts freaking out too. At the same time, it should be noted however,
that his emotional side is also one of Brook´s greatest qualities. This best reflects in
his dream, which is to finally reunite with his old friend Laboon at reverse mountain.
Underlying this beautiful, but also simple dream is the famous theme of getting a second
shot at life and making the best out of it. In a world that is centered around the idea
of dreams, Brook has gotten the ultimate opportunity to get a second chance at living his live
the way he wants. As a result, Brook holds a clear set of values
and ideals, that are closely connected to his long and extraordinary life. Having spent
many years quite literally in darkness and solitude, relationships between people are
one of the most important things for the skeleton. He treasures being and sharing experiences
with other people above all else. No wonder then, that in close relation to this, kindness
and friendship are also an important part of that list. Of course, we can BEST see all
of this in his relationship with Laboon. But Brook also lives by these principles in the
adventures he shares with his crew. He doesn´t hesitate one second to protect Franky and
Robin on Thriller Bark, even though he barely knows them at this point. And a little later
he stands in front of Kuma on Sabaody, protecting Sanji and Usopp. As the musician of the straw-hat
crew, Brook of course also strongly values the power of music which is a big part of
his character in many ways. He even uses it as part of his fighting style, as we can for
example see in his standoff with Big Mom. Most importantly however, Brook has a strong
sense of loyalty. While everyone in the crew without a doubt shares that quality, I think
Brook personifies it best. Not only is he extremely loyal towards Luffy, following all
his orders without question, but he generally became loyal towards everyone in the crew
at an incredible speed. Despite joining the crew only very late on in the story, he faithfully
stands in front of his newfound family right from the start.
So now that we got to understand Brook as a character a little better, let´s find out
how his character has developed over the course of the story.
Being the last straw hat to join the crew, with the exception of Jinbei, who is an exception
in more than just one way, Brook´s character arc so far has been significantly different
from the other straw hats. The most important arc for him is without a doubt Thriller Bark,
where we get introduced to his character as well as to his past. In a way, Brook´s flashbacks
in themselves ALREADY serve as a significant amount of character development: Becoming
a pirate, setting out to sea, meeting Laboon, losing his crew, returning back to life, being
alone and lost in the darkness for years and year and then finally getting his shadow stolen
from him? I think we can all agree that all this DOES something to a person. It´s a very
emotional and impressive backstory. But the problem here is, that it´s exactly that:
A backstory. We were not there to witness any of these events as they were happening
and even though they have largely shaped Brook into the amazing character he is today, we
didn´t have the chance to witness and suffer through all of this WITH him, as we could
with for example Usopp. The most important character development for Brook that we are
able to be a part of, is him overcoming his loneliness and regaining control over his
life by joining Luffy. Yes, with the end of thriller bark, Brook has found a new purpose
in his second chance at life; but all this development happened over a very short span
of time after we had JUST gotten introduced to his character. The timing of Brook joining
left us very little time for emotionally integrating him properly into the ranks of the crew. As
a result, it truly speaks for his personality that he could use the little time he was given
before the time skip the way he did. He protects his new friends on Sabaody and following Ace's
death, he already shows a surprising amount of compassion and concern for Luffy's feelings.
He also immediately finds the resolve to work hard for his new captain and get even stronger.
However, both these arcs make it difficult for Brook to show case his skills and find
his niche in the crew. Which is probably the reason why some people have had difficulties
truly warming up to his character. The same problem occurred after the time skip, where
similar to the other grand-line straw hats, he had a significant lack of screen time.
In Brook´s case, this lack proved to be a lot more impactful though than it did for
Chopper, Robin and Franky, who all had important roles to play up until this point.
And then, out of the blue Whole Cake Island happened. And as if Oda wanted to make up
for his previous lack of focus, it somehow developed into the most significant arc for
our skeleton since Thriller bark. Somewhere in between escaping Dressrosa and leaving
Zou to help save Sanji, Brook seems to have gained a much stronger resolve. It’s very
possible that his fight with Giolla, as well as his fight with Sheepshead, made Brook feel
like he wasn’t pulling his weight. Maybe he felt like he needed to make a better effort
to help his captain and crewmates, now that they were starting to face more and more powerful
enemies. What appears certain to me though, is that this was a true turning point for
his character, which felt really really good seeing after such a long time. It just would
have been really cathartic to see that change of heart in the story in some way or form.
Because it is moments like these which make One Piece so amazing. So hopefully we will
get to see more of that in the future. Coming back to the arc itself however, Brook
was finally able to play a significant part in the crew´s actions for pretty much the
first time ever. He takes on many of Big Mom´s men, giving us some amazing battle scenes
where he makes full use of his truly badass powers. Later he manages to retrieve a copy
of Big Mom´s Road Poneglyph that is an essential element in finding the One Piece. And then
he actually singlehandedly dares to face the emperor herself. And despite being hopelessly
overpowered, he stood his ground without a second thought. He then gave a flaming speech,
once again showing his great loyalty and respect towards his captain, in which he even dares
to call Big Mom a “young lady”. While this alone would already have been an incredible
feat for him, Brook then goes on to be the one to break mother caramel´s photo at the
tea party. Together with Chopper he stands his ground against Katakuri´s and Perospero´s
men, defending the Sunny. And later he helps carrot taking out Daifuku´s fleet. Finally,
he is the one to take out Zeus from underneath Big Mom´s feet, not only saving the ship
but also granting Nami a powerful new weapon. So, finally long after joining Luffy Brook
seems to have found his place in the crew and has proven himself to be a true straw