All spoilers regarding the Super Rookies era are unmarked. New World spoilers are unmarked in character descriptions, and examples relating to the New World era can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.
"Soul King" Brook
Voiced by: Chō (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)note
Age: 88 (Pre-Timeskip), 90 (Post-Timeskip)
Debut: Chapter 442 (Manga), Episode 337 (Anime)
Devil Fruit: Revive-Revive Fruit
Click here to see his Pre-Time Skip appearance
"I can't just die hoping to be forgiven! Because when a man promises to return, he must return!!!"
—Chapter 459
Brook is the musician of the Straw Hat Pirates. He ate the Revive-Revive Fruit (Yomi Yomi no Mi), which enabled his spirit to reanimate his corpse after he died. Unfortunately, after his death, his spirit got lost for an entire year before finding his body, which had decayed into a skeleton. He later develops the ability to control his own soul. Deprived of his shadow by the Warlord of the Sea, Gecko Moria, he was adrift within the gloomy Florian Triangle until he meets the Straw Hats by chance. After the Straw Hats recover his shadow from Gecko Moria, Brook happily accepts Luffy's invite to join the crew.
He's something of a Dirty Old Man who repeatedly asks Nami and Robin to show him their panties, and he also has the distinct habit of making cringe-inducing puns relating to his skeletal state at every opportunity. He's eighty-eight/ninety years old, though he doesn't age after dying at the age of thirty-eight. He is also a fencer who executes extremely fast attacks and can use music as a form of hypnosis.
His dream is to reunite with Laboon, a whale who lives at the entrance to the Grand Line, whom the Straw Hats meet prior to Brook. Fifty years ago, the baby whale had befriended the Rumbar Pirates, the pirate crew Brook was a part of, but they had to leave him behind as their travels became more dangerous.
He has a bounty of 383,000,000 berries.note
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- Afro Asskicker: Brook is powerful afro-wearing undead musician! His afro is part of his iconic appearance and has remained unchanged over the timeskip.
- Almighty Janitor:
- Brook's official position in the Straw Hat Pirates is the musician. That doesn't mean he won't leave you dead before you can blink.
- Brook actually manages to fight and impress Big Mom, though he ultimately loses. It's implied that she's going easy on him because she wants to add him to her collection of rare creatures, and his Revive ability is uniquely suited to counter her Soul ability, but Brook was still the first Straw Hat to face off against an Emperor alone with anything to show for it, as he was able to wound Prometheus during their battle.
- The Aloner: It's implied that Brook developed his bizarre humor and Pungeon Master tendencies as a means to entertain himself while he was stuck alone on a ship full of (inanimate) dead people for half a century.
- Amazon Chaser: Nami kicking him in the skull just makes Brook even more enamoured."Feisty! I~ like it!"
- Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: A non-sexual example. A minor Running Gag with him is that he gets mad when monsters don't attack him because he has no meat on him (at one point he even gets a bit upset that a disease bioweapon doesn't affect him). He gets his wish in the Zou Arc, since his bony body is irresistibly delicious to the dog Minks, but he's no happier about being constantly gnawed on.
- Artistic License – Biology: While being a living skeleton is because of his Devil Fruit, and we can understand that milk heals him, there's the fact he became taller during the timeskip, this despite being a 88-90 years old skeleton. (Even though, strangely, he said his hair won't grow.)
- Astral Projection: A power he developed over the Time Skip is to leave his skeleton and travel as just a spirit.
- Back from the Dead: The Devil Fruit he ate let him come back to life after being killed. Once. Though he's harder to kill a second time.
- Badass Longcoat: His outfits after the Timeskip usually feature longcoats.
- Banishing Ritual: At Thriller Bark, Brook teaches the Straw Hats how to use salt to purify the zombies. At Whole Cake Island, Brook's control over souls lets him hurt Big Mom's homies, including Zeus and Prometheus.
- Berserk Button: How dare something turn up its nose after trying to eat him. Bone has plenty of nutritional value! (Becomes a case of Be Careful What You Wish For after encountering the canine Minks on Zou.)
- Beware the Silly Ones: He's a simpleton and loves cracking jokes about his skeletal status, but don't let that fool you into thinking he's weak. Because just like his captain he won't back down even if it means fighting one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom alone.
- Brook is quietly one of the most competent members of the Straw Hats, despite his strength being somewhere comfortably in the middle of the group. If Brook has a task, it will be handled.
- Blessed with Suck: Initially, though it's later subverted. His Devil Fruit only returns someone from the dead once, and his skeletal body didn't seem to offer much additional resistance against damage and pain, leaving him at first with little more than Super Drowning Skills. However, he later discovers many more uses to both his Devil Fruit power and his skeletal body.
- Borrowin' Samedi: Brook doesn't just look skeletal, he is in fact a walking skeleton and dresses in a nice suit and top hat as a matter of course. About the only switch-up is the huge afro. His love of music, jovial, fun-loving demeanor, and horrible manners might be further references to Samedi. He's even pictured in the trope page itself!
- Brick Joke: Throughout the series, starting right after teaming up with Zoro in Episode 3, Luffy keeps suggesting that they need a musician for a crew member next, his suggestion getting shot down every time. 300+ episodes later...
- Butt-Monkey: At times, Brook is the butt of the Joke, although not as often as other straw hats, partly because he joins the crew much later in the story. One notable mention is how he keeps getting chewed on by Dog Minks in Zou, thanks to him being a skeleton.
- Came Back Strong: The more his powers are revealed, the more obvious it becomes his revival was necessary to use his Devil Fruit at his best. First of all, as a skeleton, he is immune to poison because he doesn't have any blood or internal organs, is resistant to lightning and temperature extremes for the same reason, and much harder to damage with conventional weapons.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "Excuse me Miss, may I see your panties?" This includes variants such as "May I borrow some money?" should panties be unavailable. These are all variants on a running joke (which works better in Japanese because of the billions of levels of politeness they have built into their language), in which he asks extremely rude things in an extremely polite manner.
- "SKULL JOKE!"
- Character Signature Song: Bink's Sake
(or Bink's Brew depending of the translation) is Brook's iconic song. It's a famous pirate shanty in-universe and was often sang by his old crew. Brook's most prized possession is a record dial containing a recording of the last song of the Rumbar Pirates, an interpretation of Bink's Sake they all sang together before dying. - Chekhov's Skill: That crack in his skull cap that allows him to open it and carry a Tone Dial inside the empty space where his brain used to be is only seen in use during the arc in which he was introduced, so it probably slipped a lot of people's minds that he has this compartment unless they considered the possibility he might find another use for it in the future. Which he did: Brook used that very same compartment to hide rubbings of the Poneglyphs he copied from Big Mom's hall of treasures and slip away with them totally unnoticed, because even though he got cornered and defeated in battle against her and underwent a body check down to his underwear, Big Mom and company did not realize Brook's skull has a hatch in it. Because of this, Brook obtains one of the most important endgame pieces to finding Laugh Tale and two other important recordings, and with the Straw Hats en route to Wano, birthplace of the Poneglyphs, having these rubbings becomes all the more vital. In short, this is a huge leap forward in their quest to find the One Piece.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Never asks to see panties without a courteous "Excuse me, miss..." first, after all. There's more emphasis on "pervert" over "chivalrous" compared to fellow lady-lover Sanji, however.
- Close to Home: Brook hates when people don't value their lives because he has first-hand experience dying and knows it's no light matter. When Zeo orders his men to throw their lives away to become martyrs for a grudge against humans, Brook singles him out for his callousness.Brook: Nothing but bones are left behind when you die, let alone something as a grudge.
- Cool Old Guy: He's the oldest of the Straw Hats, an amazing musician, expert swordsman, and a Nice Guy (if a Dirty Old Man at times).
- Cool Shades: We've never seen what Brook's eyes look like because even when he was alive — as both a child and an adult — he always wore a pair of these, hiding his eyes. After he becomes a rockstar during the Timeskip, he goes back to this look, usually always sporting a pair of shades with his outfits.
- Cranium Compartment: Being a skeleton, he's fine having his skullcap opened up like a lid. He tends to secretly hide stuff inside his head that way.
- Creepy Good: A reader can forget that Brook is still a walking talking corpse, which always frightens people whenever they meet him, or at least spooks them? And now that he can detach his soul from his body, he can also pass as a ghost too! And let's not forget how he channels the energy of the underworld and can dominate souls. Thankfully, it's balanced by his constant humor.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: On the surface, Brook is a highly immature, deeply eccentric loon. That doesn't stop him from being a highly skilled combatant, as well as a peer of Sanji and Robin in terms of his tactical prowess.
- Cursed with Awesome: Because Brook took so long to find his body, the lack of any skin or organs renders him immune to most threats that a normal human would face. Ironically, the fact his body decayed to only bones was actually far more beneficial than if he had simply revived as a full-flesh human. He moves faster and is much lighter due to having no flesh, allowing him to dash across water because he's so light. He can also jump extraordinarily far and high. Since Brook doesn't have any skin or organs, he's pretty much immune to chemicals like poison or sleeping gas, and lightning doesn't affect him either.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Brook entered the Grand Line 50 years with the Rumbar Pirates before as a musician after befriending the young whale Laboon and promising he would return for him at Reverse Mountain. His captain, Calico Yorki, and half the crew then contracted an incurable disease and were forced to be abandoned. After taking over as captain, Brook and the remaining members of the crew were wiped out by an enemy with poisoned weapons after entering the Florian Triangle. Although he was resurrected by the Revive-Revive Fruit, his ship's rudder was broken, so he was stuck in the same spot for over 50 years with no way to return to his friend as promised. He wasn't even revived instantly, and spent the first of those fifty years in soul form, wandering aimlessly until he found his body, which had already decayed into a skeleton by then. And as mentioned above, he spent the remaining 49 years alone, with nothing to eat or drink, and the bodies of his crew as his sole company. Even worse, for the last five of those fifty years, he was without a shadow thanks to it being stolen by Gecko Moriah, so he couldn't leave the Florian Triangle even if he was able to.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Brook's main color scheme is black and white, and is also a skeleton due to his body having decayed to mere bones by the time his soul found it. He's also one of the nicer and more polite Straw Hat members, with a love for music (and panties) and an absolutely boneheaded sense of humor. Downplayed a bit post-timeskip as his outfits tend to become a lot more colorful.
- The Dead Can Dance: He can dance, and sing, and play just about any instrument. In fact, death made his playing even better. He now knows firsthand exactly what touches your soul.
- Death-Activated Superpower: His Devil Fruit powers only kicked in after he died. Althoug he's still unable to swim.
- Dem Bones: While his Devil Fruit brought his soul back into the realm of the living, by the time he found his body it had already decayed to a skeleton.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Zigzagged, he distracts Big Mom by asking her to see her panties so he can cut Zeus in half. Not said as an insult exactly, but not something you would say to someone as scary as Big Mom.
- Dirty Old Man: He has a habit of asking women to see their panties (including mermaids), with the usual reaction of being pummeled.
- Dissonant Serenity: When he's introduced in Thriller Bark, he has a trick of calming his nerves by humming a serene song, so that he can maintain the focus he need to slice up and purify the zombies. All the zombies see is a mysterious skeleton calmly humming as he returns them all to their graves.
- Don't Explain the Joke: His Skull Jokes would probably be funnier if he let their inherent irony sink in instead of either explaining why they should be hilarious or quickly laughing at them himself. His jokes would, but he wouldn't.
- The Dreaded: To the denizens of Thriller Bark. He was the only man who knew the zombies' weakness to salt and used that knowledge to decimate their numbers when he tried to retrieve his own shadow. He hummed to himself to keep his spirits up, and the zombies associated his music with death, dubbing him "the Humming Swordsman".
- Duty That Transcends Death: He will not break his promise to one day return to Laboon. Dying is no excuse.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: His power of the soul makes him immune to abilities that can affect the souls of others. Much like Luffy Vs. Eneru, this lets Brook stand against Big Mom despite her threat level being way above him, as he's the perfect counter to her life manipulating abilities.
- Expressive Skull: Brook can emote with his eye sockets, shifting from a neutral to a battle ready angry expression frequently. He can also cry and receive lumps when hit on the head.
- Famed In-Story: During the timeskip, he becomes a ridiculously famous musician known as "Soul King" and when he reaches Sabaody, he performs the last concert of his musical tour.
- Fights Like a Normal: He originally relies on his swordsmanship due to not being able to utilize his Devil Fruit for combat. After the Time Skip however, Brook has learned to do so, such as turning his sword into an ice weapon by channeling the power of the underworld.
- Force and Finesse: He's the finesse to Zoro's force, using more fancy sword techniques compared to Zoro's more power-based moves.
- Formal Characters Use Keigo: His Japanese speech patterns are extremely formal, giving him the character of a polite gentleman despite being a living skeleton. He speaks politely even when he asks a woman to show him her panties.
- Fragile Speedster: Brook's light body makes him very fast but frail as well. This trait is what sets him apart from Zoro as the crew's primary swordsmen, who is a "Strong Blade" type. While Brook doesn’t have the strength that Zoro has, his sword style is much faster and precise (this style is called "Gentle Blade" In-Universe). In SBS 85, Oda actually clears up that Brook would win a 50 meter dash among the Straw Hats (with Sanji in second and Luffy in third).
- Freeze Ray: Doubles as a Sword Beam, he can fire the energy of his soul at his opponent with his sword which freezes them.
- Friendly Skeleton: He instantly befriends the Straw Hats when he meets them, although part of it is because he craves socialization after having spent fifty years all alone, and his eccentric and entertaining personality, plus his musical skills, convince Luffy to ask Brook if he could join the crew.
- Funny Afro: That somehow survived even after he died. Luffy finds it to be an endless source of humor, and it's in fact one of the reasons he cites for being hell-bent on recruiting Brook to the crew. Though on a more serious note, Brook's afro is very important to him since he fears that Laboon won't recognize him without it, since the rest of his body is unrecognizable compared to when he was alive. Also, because of his "condition", it won't grow back if it's cut.
- Gallows Humor: Has a tendency to make 'Skull Jokes' which involve him making a comment, then realizing it wouldn't make sense as he's dead. Definitely more literal than most cases.
- Gentle Giant: He's the tallest member of the Straw Hat crew, and also the kindest and most even tempered.
- Ghostly Chill: Weaponized version. After the Timeskip, his Revive-Revive Fruit's power enables him to harness the chill of underworld and channel it through his blade.
- Ghost Pirate: Becomes the skeletal variant after dying once and his Devil Fruit allows his spirit to return, only for his body to be reduced to bones by the time he found it.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: You can see some slippage during his fifty year isolation, with things such as hallucinations of his crew alive and well again. Some of his quirkiness in the present is also likely attributable to this.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Brook's old head wound is, pre-skeleton, a bit more messy-looking and disfiguring than the usual Good Guy scar.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: His attack names are a mix of terminology from fencing and music, so it's an eclectic mix of French, German, Latin, and Italian.
- Hates Being Alone: Decades of isolation have left him warped and deeply lonely. He happily accepts Luffy's offer to join the crew as it means he finally has others to interact with.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: He, along with the other Straw Hat Pirates, borders on anti-heroic. 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.
- Horrifying Hero: Especially after the timeskip, when his Yomi Yomi abilities have gotten really creepy — but, of course, mostly Played for Laughs. However, this is played straight when Brook fights against the homies of Big Mom, as the projection of his soul takes a demonic appearance.
- Horrifying the Horror: On an island full of horrific zombies of every shape and size, Brook was feared as an unstoppable boogeyman, "the humming swordsman", who's song heralded their deaths.
- Human Hummingbird: Thanks to his light body, he's able to run at amazing speeds, even across water without sinking for a few minutes.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: His fighting style is a combination of this and classical fencing.
- An Ice Person: After the Timeskip, Brook's Devil Fruit abilities go far beyond just reviving him. One of these powers is the ability to summon and wield the freezing cold of the Underworld for powerful ice attacks like freezing slashes or covering the whole area in ice.
- I Gave My Word: Brook's drive to fulfill his 50 year promise to Laboon firmly cements him as a Determinator. As he puts it:Brook: Death is never an apology!! Because when a man makes a promise, he doesn't stop fighting until he fulfills it!!
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Invoked with his powers, which let him summon the freezing cold of death with every swipe of his sword, leaving thin trails of ice. It's cold enough to damage equipment that works fine on the frigid half of Punk Hazard.
- Immortal Immaturity: Brook has a serious side, but is very quick to join in on the unnecessary playfulness that the younger members make. He claims to just love having fun. Considering he was alone for over 50 years, he's probably just regressed mentally and is making up for lost time.
- Impossible Theft: In the first half of the Whole Cake Island Arc, Brook worked alongside Pedro to pull off the seemingly Impossible Task of stealing rubbings of the Poneglyphs in Big Mom's possession. Despite WCI's security being strongest in the Treasure Room and Brook being captured by Big Mom herself, he ended up succeeding in obtaining the imprints of the Poneglyphs and stashed them in his skull.
- In a Single Bound: Since he's nothing but bone, hair and clothing, Brook is very lightweight and can jump great heights because of it.
- Inhuman Human: Brook ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, which gave him the ability to come back to life after he died. Problem is, he died in a very foggy region of sea, and it took him an entire year for his soul to find his body again. By this time, all that was left of it was a skeleton and a massive afro.
- Insane Equals Violent: Greatly subverted. As described by some of the other tropes listed, Brook is not entirely well. As described by still other tropes, he is also the least likely to even act like a jerk, let alone be particularly violent as pirates go.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Brook is old enough to be Franky's grandfather or Luffy's greatgrandfather!
- Ironic Fear: He is easily scared by spooky things, like ghosts and zombies.
- It Only Works Once: The Revive-Revive Fruit can only bring you Back from the Dead once. If Brook dies a second time, it will be permanent.
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: His entire existence.
- According to The Other Wiki, his Devil Fruit allows him to function like a normal human despite not having the necessary organs to do so. (Yes Luffy, he poops.) He's finally given an explanation. It's not organs, or muscles, it's his soul!
- The reason why he still has an afro even as a skeleton? Deep roots.
- An 88 year old somehow grew five more inches by the time he was 90. A technically dead 88/90 year old, mind you. How? Who knows. Why? Because why not, that's why.
- He can completely heal a cracked bone and regains missing bone fragments with milk. Because... calcium!
- Just Between You and Me: He witnesses the conversation between Big Mom and Pudding about their plans to murder both the Straw Hats and Germa 66 at the wedding ceremony.
L-Y
- The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Brook regularly sustains what would be life-ending injuries for anyone else, largely because he can recover from any injury that doesn't damage his bones too much. Of particular note is when he's beheaded by Zeo on Fishman Island, after which he cheerfully re-attaches his head to his spine without missing a beat. In fact, the only damage he goes out of his way make sure never happens is to his hair, as he claims that since he's dead, he can't regrow it (despite this, his afro grew bigger in the timeskip). He does however still seem to feel pain, so he tries not to get hurt in general if he can.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Once, when he says "to be continued in the next chapter".
- Leitmotif: Brook Eyecatcher.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: For all his antics, Brook did manage to amass a large bounty while he was still alive, and can hold his own on a fight, though he's not as badass as Zoro is in swordsmanship.Brook: Young lady...What kind of fool would ever... plan to die?
- Loner-Turned-Friend: After his crew, including himself, died, Brook was left alone and stranded on his ship for fifty long years, until he met the Straw Hats.
- Losing Your Head: During their fight, Zeo rips Brook's head off with a chain. After a moment of Zeo bragging about killing a Straw Hat, Brook reveals he's perfectly fine. His head even floats back up to reattach to his body. Since learning it's his soul that controls his body, which is made of bones, such injuries are trifles to him now.
- Mad Libs Catch Phrase: Usually often would make a common phrase that includes a body part (eyes, stomach, etc.) and then say: wait, I don't have [said body part].
- Magic Music: Brook uses violin chords to put people to sleep. After the Time-Skip, he can use music to hypnotize people into seeing illusions, such as a festival.
- Misery Trigger: He loves making skull jokes, but they are all he's got. He gets very sad when somebody steals his punchline.
- Musical Assassin: Brook sometimes uses his music as a weapon, combining his musical and fighting skills together. Especially because his violin bow hides his sword.
- Named After Someone Famous: Brook's name comes from the Soul Musician Brook Benton, Eiichiro Oda's favorite artist of that genre.
- Nerves of Steel: A Downplayed case when one compares it to Jimbei's absolute lack of fear towards Big Mom, but despite Brook's normal tendency to react exaggeratedly to some of the most dangerous situation the Straw Hats finds themselves in the New World (not unlike Nami or Usopp) in every confrontation Brook has with Big Mom during the Whole Cake Arc he's actually a lot more composed and self-assured than normal, even once blatantly condescending her by calling her "Young Lady". The fact that his own Devil Fruit is a hard-counter for her own somewhat explains this, but even taking that into consideration Big Mom is monstrously and far more powerful than Brook, yet Brook is surprisingly and notably less fearful of her than the majority of his Crew or their allies during the Whole Cake Arc.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's a pirate musician and swordsman resurrected as an undead skeleton with an afro.
- Nobody Touches the Hair: He'll try to prevent enemy combatants from contact with his hair at any cost. This is because being a skeleton, he considers it his only visible trait still the same from when he was still alive, and it won't grow back if it gets cut off again (and considering his sole purpose now is to meet up with Laboon again, he kinda needs Laboon to still be able to recognize him somehow). He protects it to such an extent that he loses his very first real fight in the series in order to avoid damage to his hair.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Brook is undoubtedly based on famous guitarist Saul "Slash" Hudson of Guns N' Roses. The resemblance is more noticeable in his younger appearances.◊ When he was alive, he also wore rocker shades that added to the resemblance. He also shares some minor resemblance to Jimi Hendrix, Phil Lynott, and Ozzy Osbourne, the former moreso after the Time Skip. As a skeletal being, much of the resemblances are, of course, ancient history now.
- No Last Name Given: Brook has said absolutely nothing of his family or if he even has one... or if he even remembers them anymore.
- No-Sell: Has a habit of doing this to enemy attacks. Some examples include:
- Pierce or shoot him, and it goes right through gaps in his body harmlessly (unless you strike his bones directly).
- Suck the moisture out of him? There's nothing left to drain.
- Decapitate him? He simply reattaches his head.
- Try to fry him with lightning? He has no flesh or organs or nerves to affect, so he'll shrug it right off.
- Not Hyperbole: His stage name and new epithet "Soul King" isn't a mere title that references his soulful music. As he demonstrated against Big Mom's homies, he truly has become the King of Souls.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Brook is the Straw Hat most likely to play dumb for a purpose. It helps that he doesn't have any facial expressions to read and usually has to announce how he's feeling at any given time. Notably, he'll often act scared in the face of a threat, only to quickly and competently neutralise it once it becomes too big a danger.
- Odd Friendship: Despite the fact his personality resembles Sanji's, Brook actually gets along extremely well with Zoro of all people. It probably helps they're both dedicated to the sword and Brook has a very powerful respect for his fellow swordsman.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Simultaneously played straight and subverted to humorous effect. By default, he's far more polite and formal than the rest of the Strawhat Crew in both his speech patterns and his mannerisms. This serves to make the actual content of his speech, which is extremely rude, all the funnier.
- Old Soldier: He's a 90 years old swordsman and pirate. Granted, being an animated skeleton mitigates the problem of age. So much so that he refers to Big Mom as "young lady" to her face!
- Our Souls Are Different: Due to the effect of his Devil Fruit. Even more so after the Time Skip.
- Out of Focus: He, Chopper, Nami, and Sanji during the second half of the Dressrosa Arc. They were absent from the story for more than a year and a half in the real world before reappearing (from December 2013 to July 2015).
- Papa Wolf: Don't dare attack his crew. "I already lost a crew once. You won't make me lose another!"
- Plucky Comic Relief: Invoked In-Universe by himself, he acknowledges that he can help fight to protect his crew, but thinks his primary purpose is to raise their spirits with his humor and positivity.
- The Pollyanna: "If we're going to die, we might as well enjoy it..."
- Power Perversion Potential: First thing he did once he learned to separate soul and body at will: peep in women's baths.
- Pulling Themselves Together: A natural extension of being a living skeleton, which he unveils after the timeskip.
- Pungeon Master: He's constantly making puns about being a skeleton, to either the amusement or annoyance of others around him. Puns of the incredibly lame variety are his favorite types of jokes.
- Random Smoking Scene: In the movie One Piece Film: Strong World. (While dressed like a hippie. Exactly what he's smoking is anyone's guess.)
- Red Baron: "Humming". After the Time Skip it's "Soul King", his stage name while he was a famous musician.
- Ridiculously Alive Undead: Thanks to the Revive-Revive Fruit, Brook is a living skeleton who can get bruised despite lacking skin, and when asked by Luffy, he confirms that he is capable of pooping. He also eats despite lacking a stomach, is shown frequently to be a Dirty Old Man, and like every other Devil Fruit user, he is weak to seawater.
- Running Gag:
- "(Common expression including a body part). Oh, wait, I don't have (body part). Yohohohoho!"
- Demonstrating that he can make a forty-five degree angle by standing straight and leaning forward so his head is against a wall. He's improved to forty degrees since the timeskip.
- Sad Clown: Especially in his introductory storyline. He's by far one of the goofiest Straw Hats, in no small part because he's a goofy pervy skeleton with an affinity for puns. He's also a lonely, miserable soul who's at the lowest point in his life by the time the Straw Hats find him.
- Scars Are Forever: Even 52+ years later and with all his flesh gone, whatever head injury he once suffered while alive remains visible.
- Screams Like a Little Girl:
- In the English dub, he and Franky have this reaction just before Oars throws a tower from Thriller Bark at them, not that it's not warranted mind you.
- He reacts like this again when he rides the rollercoaster at Sabaody Park.Brook: Oh, look at this view, how relaxing! [Beat as the coaster enters the drop.] AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Or "screw politeness, I spent fifty years of my afterlife without food or company after watching my friends die". He still regards himself as a gentleman, but that's less to do with his (bad) manners and more to do with his own personal code.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Brook's former captain, Yorki, presented himself as a tough (if a bit silly) guy and affectionately teased Brook for being sentimental.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: While fighting Big Mom, of all people, Brook coldly replies to her death threats and remains confident that none of his allies will die.Big Mom: Ma ma ma ma! That worst-case scenario you envision is rather tame!! Sanji not returning?! That's the worst thing you can imagine?! Nobody dies?!Brook: Young Lady, what kind of idiot draws up plans with the expectation of dying?
- Signature Laugh: The traditional pirate laugh: Yohohohoho! Often done after making a joke about a body part that he no longer has.
- Silly Walk: Brook can run on water by flailing his legs wildly, avoiding one major Devi Fruit user weakness.
- Skeletal Musician: He was an excellent musician in life, and remains one in death.
- Soul Power: During the Time Skip, he learned the true power of his Devil Fruit: the power to control the inexhaustable energy of his soul.
- Stealth Pun: (Combined with Punny Name and Fridge Brilliance.) His becoming the Soul King, because (apart from his skeleton and his hair) that's the only part of him remaining after he came back to life. After the Time Skip, his soul can become mobile at will.
- Stepford Smiler: He kept himself (sorta) sane over fifty years of isolation by constantly cracking lame jokes and performing silly stunts. Underneath that though... It's telling that at the end of the Thriller Bark arc, he's surprised he was happy to be alive.
- Super Drowning Skills: As with all Devil Fruit users, he sinks like a stone in water. Though one would assume, since he has no organs, that this wouldn't be as inconvenient for him, his body still seems to act as if it has the organs even if they don't physically exist. Like Chopper, he also forgets he can't swim, but he can at least run on the surface of the water.
- Super-Speed: Certainly one of the quickest Straw Hats.
- Surreal Humor: Loves making "skull jokes" about the fact that as a skeleton, he no longer has skin, blood or stuff like that.
- Sword Cane: His primary weapon. During the timeskip, the longarms sharpened the blade and it was given the name "Soul Solid."
- Thanatos Gambit: Having already died once (and not by choice), he heavily disapproves of these on general principle.Brook: Young Lady... what kind of fool... would ever plan to die?!
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The power of his Devil Fruit really shines during the Totto Land arc due to many of the enemies being animated by errant souls, courtesy of Big Mom's power, which he can exorcise with little effort. He even gets to fight Big Mom directly because of this, and though he can't exorcise Prometheus, Zeus and Napoleon (they're extensions of Big Mom's own soul), he can still harm them.
- Unable to Cry: Subverted. He claims that he's so happy to meet the Straw Hats after decades of solitude that he would cry if he could. At the end of the Thriller Bark arc, he sheds Tears of Joy after Luffy informs him that Laboon is alive and well.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
- Played with; the Grand Line is full of people with odd powers and Devil Fruit abilities, so Brook being a nine foot tall living skeleton might not raise too many eyebrows, but at the same time, even Franky warns him that he might stand out too much... yet no one ever comments on his appearance. The most he ever gets is someone thinking that he's wearing a mask.
- While it was kind of weird before the time-skip, it's justified after, since he became a famous musician.
- Visual Pun: Brook sees the world through rose-tinted glasses.
- Vocal Dissonance: He's a living skeleton with creepy (and downright horrific) abilities. Yet his voice is amazingly soft, calm and musical. In fact, most of the time he sounds as if he's about to burst into good, healthy laughter at any moment, as indeed he often does.
- Walk on Water: Due to his light frame, he can dash across the ocean's surface for a short time and avoid the main Devil Fruit weakness. How long is only limited by endurance.
- Warrior Undead: Brook is a skeletal pirate with a cane sword and a massive afro. He later gains the ability to use ice by channeling his Ghostly Chill. He's also a Skeletal Musician.
- Wowing Cthulhu: Big Mom becomes practically smitten with him after he actually manages to put up a fight against her personal homies.
- You Are Already Dead:
- His signature attack, Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri (Three Verse Humming; Arrow Notch Slash), involves slicing his opponent once at incomprehensible speeds (literally, the audience never even sees Brook do so much as Flash Step during this attack), and then slowly walks away. After three steps, Brook sheathes his sword... followed by a massive slash bursting from his opponent. He has many variations on it, as well.
- After the time skip, Brook has added new Diagonal Cuts to his arsenal. Quinto Tierce Fantasia which he uses on victims hypnotized by his Magic Music and Song of Scratches: Blizzard Slice.
- You Shall Not Pass!: He tries to stop a Pacifista with his own body to protect Sanji and Usopp at Sabaody Archipelago, but it doesn't go very well.
- Your Size May Vary: Brook is ridiculously tall, but sometimes sloppy animators forget this fact while others exaggerate it. In other words, his height (and the size of his afro) depends on the art director of an episode. Officially, he's 8'9 before the timeskip and 9'1 afterwards.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: His "Soul King" moniker is no empty boast; he really can manipulate souls, up to ripping unnatural souls off the physical shell.
