"Humming" Brook

About Brook

Brook is known for his strange personality, being a combination of a gentlemanly persona and a perverted sort. He speaks in a dignified, educated manner at most times, but is known to have amazingly bad manners (burping and farting at dinner, casually asking to see womens' panties, picking at other peoples' food, etc).

Brook is also known to adore bone puns. He takes any chance he can to make a comment about his skeletal nature, almost inevitably following with "Yoho! Skull joke!!" Example: "I was so shocked, my eyes nearly popped out of my head! BUT I HAVE NO EYES!!"

Brook has a distinct laugh, always known to give off a jolly "Yohoho!"

Abilities

Brook carries a shikomizue (Japanese cane sword), and is extremely 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. 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. Brook is also an excellent musician, displaying the ability to play any instrument at a highly skilled level. He's even capable of playing songs that drive anyone who hears them to sleep, which proves to be useful in combat. 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, which is currently being used to store a Tone Dial containing the last song of the Rumba Pirates. Brook uses an unnamed fencing sword style and is actually quite a skilled fencer and can use quick stabs because of his skeleton anatomy.

One of his signature attacks is the "Arrow Notch Strike", a sword technique so fast that the actual strike is not seen, and the recipient is unaware they have been struck until a significant amount of time after the attack (usually a few seconds, about the amount of time it takes to resheath his sword).

During his time on Thriller Bark, Brook developed a reputation among the inhabitants as a mysterious warrior who would sing a haunting tune just before he struck down a squad of zombies in a flash. This turned out to be because Brook himself was afraid of the horrible place, and sought to calm himself by humming or singing as he went. He also used his superior speed to mow down the opponents, mostly so that he could not scare himself with their appearance.

While dead and seemingly able to last long periods without food or water, Brook's body seems to be able to act as a normal person's. That is, he is either shown or implied to be able to eat, drink, cry and digest normally. His skeletal body may possibly give him enhanced resistance to pain or injury, as he would be more difficult to injure without blood or organs.

"Cyborg" Franky

About Franky

According to Eiichiro Oda, Franky is represented by the color light blue, and he smells of carpentry wood and gunpowder, much like Usopp. Franky was created by Oda with Kazuki Yao's voice in mind because of his portrayals as Jango and Mr. 2 Bon Clay.

Franky is a cyborg who makes his first appearance in the city of Water 7 as the founder and leader of the Franky Family, a group of ship dismantlers and delinquents. Even though he is not technically part of the crew during the Water 7 Arc he joins with the Straw Hat crew to fight the World Government and CP9. With Nico Robin they are both held by CP9 who holds him for Tom's work on the Gold Roger's ship. With the help of the Straw Hat pirates, Franky defeats Spandam and helps the pirates escape from the marines. With their escape he is reluctant to join the crew because he doesn't want to leave his friends and home behind. His dream is to build a ship capable of sailing to the end of the Grand Line. He partially accomplished this when he constructed the Straw Hat pirates' second ship, the Thousand Sunny. He is currently sailing with the crew to completely fulfill his dream.

Franky (known originally as Cutty Flam) was born the son of a pirate in South Blue and crossed into the Grand Line when he was four years old. After being abandoned at 10 years old, he became the apprentice of the master shipwright Tom, who built Gold Roger's ship, the Oro Jackson. He and Iceburg helped Tom construct the sea train after Spandam, leader of CP5 at that time, brought charges against Tom in order to pressure him into surrendering the blueprints to the superweapon, Pluton. After completing the sea train, Tom refused to give up the blueprints of the ancient warship Pluton, resulting in Spandam using Cutty Flam's fleet of warships to attack Water 7. In order to protect Cutty, Tom takes the blame for the attack and is sentenced to the Marine prison Impel Down. Cutty Flam tries to stop the sea train as it is taking Tom away, but is run over by the charging engine. Nearly dead, he awakens on a scrapped vessel and uses the nearby parts to create his cyborg body. Cutty Flam later returns to Water 7 under the name Franky, where he rounds up the lowlifes of the city to form the Franky Family. Franky has 'BF36' carved into his shoulders, indicating he is the thirty-sixth iteration of his Battle Franky line. Series creator Eiichiro Oda says Franky has a 'butt-butt-chin.

When asked why Franky is powered by cola, Oda simply replied "COLA IS GOOD".

Powers and abilities

As a cyborg, Franky's artificial parts grant him incredible strength, as well as making him practically invulnerable to most frontal attacks. He built his cyborg body himself, making his back his only weak point, as he couldn't reach it during construction. His fighting style focuses on projectile attacks, including an extendable right arm and cannons in his left arm. Franky's body is powered by cola, which he stores in a refrigerator built into his stomach. His supply of cola can be refilled by either drinking cola or manually inserting full bottles directly into his refrigerator. His physical strength was enough to easily break through Fukurou's tekkai technique (which gives the body the hardness of steel), while completely out of cola.

Franky is very talented in many forms of construction; aside from building the Straw Hat's Thousand Sunny, Franky is able to build a very stable bridge across a large gap in an instant, using only nearby debris (while also paying amazing attention to detail). He has even proven able to build a flight of stairs as quickly as he can climb them, though they will not remain standing for very long.

Franky's body is also equipped with countless weapons he has installed. These include and are not limited to machine guns, grenade launchers, shields, fire breath, projectile nails, boomerang sideburns, and an intensely strong air gun. His right arm seems to be primarily used for close combat, being revealed to be entirely steel beneath a fleshy glove (which is implied to hit harder when he removes it). His right hand is linked to his wrist by a long chain, allowing him to shoot it like a grappling hook or to punch at great lengths. His left is primarily armed with guns, such as a machine gun in his wrist and a pistol in his finger.

Franky's hair style and attitude are affected by the type of drink he uses for fuel, seen when Chopper accidentally hands him vegetable juice and tea.Franky's strength and weapons are much more powerful when he is fueled by cola, and some of his attacks can not be used without it.His hair acts as a kind of meter to the amount of cola in his stomach, being tall if he is full and sagging if empty. Franky's stomach compartment can hold up to three bottles of cola.

"Demon Child" Nico Robin

About Robin

Series creator Eiichiro Oda has stated that Nico Robin is represented by the color purple and she smells of flowers. Her favorite foods are sandwiches, cakes that are not too sweet, and things that go well with coffee.

Nico Robin is an archaeologist and historian, and possibly the only person in the current One Piece era who can read the fictional poneglyph language. Her dream is to find and decipher the Rio Poneglyph, which is believed to lie at the end of the Grand Line on the island of Raftel.

As an archaeologist, Robin values ancient artifacts and buildings and will risk her life to protect them. She becomes extremely angry with those who destroy these ancient relics. This is best demonstrated during her fight against the Skypeian Yama, who destroyed many of the ruins they were surrounded by to hurt Robin. Robin is consistently portrayed as the wisest and most sensible member of the crew. She has vast knowledge of the One Piece world, and usually keeps her head during surprising situations, allowing her to logically analyze them without losing her cool. This is in direct contrast to the other Straw Hats, who often overreact comically or melodramatically to unexpected happenings and hold irrational ideas and conclusions. Even if the rest of the crew are subjected to extreme facial expressions at the same time, Robin would continue to keep the same calm face.

As a child, Robin lived on the island of Ohara in the West Blue. She studied archeology and history, and became an official archaeologist at the age of eight. Her mother Nico Olivia left her when she was two years old to study poneglyphs and discover the truth of the One Piece world's lost history. Olivia is captured and the Marines discover the secret of Ohara's scholars. She escapes and rushes to Ohara to warn her colleagues. Robin meanwhile has been spending time with a giant named Jaguar D. Saul, who washed up on shore and later turns out to be a vice-admiral of the marines. Robin and Saul make quick friends while he is building a raft to leave the island, but when he discovers who Robin's mother is he warns her that a 'Buster Call' is on the way to Ohara to destroy all of the scholars. During the ensuing battle, Saul destroys a number of Marine ships to protect Robin, but he is eventually killed by Vice-Admiral Kuzan (later known as Aokiji) Kuzan shows Robin mercy, allowing her to escape to a nearby island. The World Government places a bounty on her head of 79 Million beli, claiming she is responsible for the destruction of six Marine ships. She spends several years allying herself with various pirates and other unsavory groups in her search for the poneglyphs, but she is constantly betrayed, gradually eroding her ability to trust people. At 24 years old, she goes to work for Sir Crocodile as "Miss All Sunday", and meets the Straw Hat pirates during the Arabasta rebellion. After the defeat of Crocodile, she stows away on board the Going Merry, telling Luffy that since he saved her when she had no reason to live, he is now responsible for her life.

After the Enies Lobby Arc, Robin becomes one of the center pieces of the crew as she is taken by the World Government. With the help of Franky, the Straw Hat crew go to war with the World Government and face the dreaded CP9 all for the sake of rescuing Robin. It is here Luffy ask Robin what she wants and she exclaims that she wants to live and that she now has a purpose to live for. With this the Straw Hat crew go on the offensive and rescue Robin (Episodes 227-316).

In the most recent Shonen Jump fan poll, Robin ranked as the fifth most popular character and the overall most popular female character.

Another one of Robin's unique characteristic is the way she calls her fellow crew members by their own distinct characteristics. Zoro as Mr. Swordsman, Nami as Miss Navigator, Usopp as Mr. Long Nose, and so forth.

Robin's measurements, according to series author Eiichiro Oda are:

• Height: 188cm (6'2")
• Bust99 Waist59 Hips89 (39-23-35").

Powers and abilities

Robin ate the Hana Hana no Mi (Flower Flower Fruit in the English Manga) allowing her to create copies of any of her body parts on any solid surface that she can see, such as her own body, on the bodies of others or on other objects. In battle she most often employs grappling techniques to incapacitate her foe; by replicating her limbs on their body she eliminates the need for close range combat. Robin usually names her techniques using the French word 'Fleur', preceded by a Spanish number corresponding to the number of limbs reproduced. In the 4kids dub, she instead says a number in English before saying "floret". If Robin's replicated body parts are damaged in some way, the damage appears on her actual body.

Robin is extremely intelligent, having taught herself archeology at a very young age. She is also capable of reading poneglyphs, indestructible tablets believed to have been created by an extinct civilization that contain information about the 'Void Century'.

No limit has been given for Robin's replicating ability, but Oda has confirmed that she can only sprout limbs a distance of "200 Hana Hanas" away