As shared on X, formerly Twitter, illustrator and animator @ripped1taliano’s visually stunning artwork gives Brook’s a pulse-pounding, life-affirming radiance that belies the fact that he’s a 90-year-old, nine-feet tall, skeleton. Its intuitive feel is a perfect match for Brook’s diverse role as the Straw Hat Pirates’ resident musician, skilled swordsman, and entertaining performer.

Despite its dazzling ambiance and sense of life, Giorna is still able to capture the frightening nature and eeriness of Brook being a living skeleton brought back to life over a year after his skin, tissue, and muscle rotted away.

Brook Developed The Coldest Sword Technique Ever

One Piece is created by Eiichiro Oda

The artwork is a re-imagination of the fight between Brook and Zeo – the fish-man nationalist and pirate, during the Fish-Man Island arc. As told in One Piece chapters 643 – 646, the fight held great importance for Brook as it signified a turning point in his journey within the story. First, it revealed his updated style refresh. As a songwriter and musician, Brook developed a talent for fashion. However, during his time on the Ghost Ship, decades of fashion styles had come and gone. The fight revealed that he’d traded in his conservative dark suit and tie for a flashy, color-laden ensemble more befitting the times and his “creative type” personality.

But the biggest changes revealed in the fight were a host of new powers and abilities he’d acquired since joining the Straw Hat Pirates. These abilities were developed through his better understanding of his Devil Fruit powers. The most important new power he revealed is the ability of his soul to leave his body on demand and reconnect bones that might be knocked off during a fight. He also discovered the ability known as Chills of the Underworld which allows him to imbue his “Soul Solid” sword with the power of his soul to give it a freezing effect on contact. @ripped1taliano pieces capture both these abilities in his image, and the satisfaction Brook got after using his “Song of Scratches Blizzard Strike” to put Zeo down once and for all.

Brook: The Straw Hat Skeleton For All Seasons

In addition to being thoroughly enjoyable as a standalone artwork, Giorna’s portrayal also stands as a graphic summary of the powers the self-named Soul King unleashed in his fight with Zeo. The green streams of light emanating from Brook’s mouth and eye sockets, in the piece, represent his soul leaving his skeleton just as it did when Zeo ripped Brook’s skull off his shoulders in the initial phases of the fight. Thinking that he defeated one of the vaunted Straw Hat Pirates, Zeo is shocked when Brook’s soul reattaches his skull to the body and continues the battle. Similarly, viewers are reminded of the bone-chilling effects of Brook’s sword by the artwork’s inclusion of the “Soul Solid” sword, just as it was used to incapacitate Zeo.

From crafting melodies to mastering martial arts, astral projection, and fashion design, Brook’s many talents make him the ultimate “renaissance man.” Among a sea of polymaths in the One Piece world, the Straw Hats’ Brook shines as the ultimate, and @ripped1taliano’s art beautifully showcases his multifaceted abilities.