Qiuqa put together 10 key points after reading manga One Piece Chapter 1184.

1. Teenage Princess Shuri

News of the fourteen-year-old Esperian Princess’s radiant beauty echoed across the seas. Princes from five neighboring kingdoms flocked to the palace, eager to claim her hand in marriage. What they failed to realize was that beneath her captivating looks, Princess Shuri had inherited her parents’ formidable swordsmanship. Forged by Brook’s rigorous training since childhood, she had grown into a fierce warrior.

Rather than accepting their proposals, she challenged all five suitors to a duel. The result was a brutal, one-sided thrashing. Leaving the battered princes on the floor, Shuri coldly declared she had absolutely no interest in weak men who couldn’t even play an instrument, sending them home in utter disgrace.

2. Princess Shuri Teases Brook

Sometime later, Brook—now serving as the Commander of the Esperian Royal Guard—strolled casually, holding Princess Shuri’s hand.

“I heard you thrashed the visiting princes?” Brook asked.

Shuri nodded. Flashing a cute, teasing smile, she shot back, “You like strong women, right? Well, I’m strong now! And eventually, my chest is going to get bigger, too!”

Brook immediately scolded her, sternly reminding her that such reckless talk was entirely unfitting for a royal princess. Yet, mere seconds later, Brook’s own composure vanished. Spotting two gorgeous women walking by, he instantly dropped to his knees. With a perfectly innocent expression, he politely begged them to show him their panties.

Shuri’s face flushed with absolute irritation. She hurled her sword, clocking Brook squarely in the head. “You’re the one acting inappropriately, you idiot!” she snapped.

3. Princess Shuri Loves Brook’s Song

Later, the two relaxed in the palace gardens. Brook strummed his guitar, singing a gentle melody:

“Be it a cow or a frog, be it a slave or a king… all will become bones when they meet their end.”

As the final chord faded, Shuri praised the song, telling him how much she loved it. Brook smiled, noting that King Leuven had once told him the exact same thing. Intrigued, Shuri asked why Brook held such deep reverence for her parents.

Brook’s demeanor turned somber. “King Leuven and Queen Candle saved my life,” he answered earnestly. “If I had never met them, I would already be a pile of bones, just like the lyrics of my song.”

4. Brook the Street Rat

The narrative shifted back to a memory of Brook as an eleven-year-old boy. The scruffy child peeked through the window of a music school. His eyes sparkled with joy as he watched children his own age happily playing violins and pianos under a teacher’s guidance.

His fleeting happiness didn’t last. A school security guard spotted him. Realizing the danger, Brook bolted, running for his life to avoid capture.

“Hey, you little street rat! Why do you keep creeping around this school?!” the guard barked as he gave chase. “You’re scaring the elite students inside!”

The commotion drew the attention of passing townsfolk. Rather than helping the fleeing child, they stared at him in sheer disgust. Pinching their noses, they openly mocked his foul stench and branded him a living disgrace to the nation of Esperia.

5. King Leuven, Brook’s Fan

Despite being born into absolute poverty, Brook never lost heart, nor did he let the harsh world turn him bitter. Instead, he lived his life like a character in a musical—channeling every ounce of his joy and sorrow through song and rhythm.

In an Esperian junkyard, Brook danced wildly atop a mountain of scrap. His nimble hands played a makeshift violin he had rigged together from a discarded bottle and some wire. As he danced, he belted out lyrics steeped in the bitter reality of his life.

“Damn king… bastard king! Someday, I’m going to play real music. My father, my mother, my little brother… they all starved to death. Why am I the only one left alive? Even though my stomach feels full just from eating warty frogs.”

Moments later, a man named Leuven approached him. Naturally, the young Brook had no idea that this man, who visited him so often, was actually the Crown Prince of Esperia.

“Why do you come around here so much, old man?” Brook asked. “Are you a fan of mine?”

Leuven offered a faint smile. “You could say that. But please, don’t call me ‘old man.’ I’m only twenty-one.”

Brook’s eyes widened in shock. He instantly deduced that the man in front of him must carry an incredibly heavy burden to look so terribly old for his age. “Wow, in that case, I’ll just call you ‘Big Bro’!” he decided firmly.

6. Friendship

As a token of their friendship, Brook cooked a meal of grasshoppers and frogs in a battered pot to serve Leuven. To his surprise, Leuven praised the dish, calling it delicious. Thrilled by the compliment, Brook leaned in to share his secret.

“Curry powder is my secret ingredient. I get it by swiping it from the Marine ships that sometimes pass by here,” he confessed proudly.

Struck by the boy’s sheer innocence, Leuven fell silent. His mind drifted to his life in the palace, where he was served extravagant banquets every day and constantly introduced to the beautiful daughters of elite conglomerates. The stark contrast between their fates made his chest ache.

“Hey, why are you crying?” Brook asked, snapping Leuven out of his thoughts.

With tear-filled eyes and a voice trembling with emotion, Leuven looked at his desolate surroundings. “This place… this is a part of Esperia too, isn’t it?” he murmured, utterly devastated by the reality of his people’s suffering while he lived in luxury.

Seeing his ‘Big Bro’ so sad, Brook invited him to sing along. He assured Leuven that he didn’t need to pay him any money, assuming they were both just a couple of poor guys trying to get by. Deeply moved by the boy’s kindness, Leuven offered a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of liquor for them to share.

Amidst the mountains of trash that day, a profound friendship was forged. Brook sang and sawed away at his makeshift violin, while Leuven sat peacefully, fishing, smoking, and savoring every note of the boy’s song.

7. Brook is Kidnapped

One fateful day at Cello Port, disaster struck Brook. He was abducted, bound tightly to a chair, and his face was beaten black and blue.

A group of Marine soldiers ruthlessly interrogated him. “Just confess! You’re the courier, aren’t you?!” one of them barked. “We know the syndicate hired you to transport illicit powder! Where are you hiding it?! We paid a fortune for this intel, and you show up carrying nothing but damn curry powder!”

Sensing that his end was near, Brook tried to comfort himself. Instead of answering their questions, he shouted out his signature song:

“Be it a cow or a frog, be it a slave or a king… all will become bones when they meet their end.”

The lyrics only fueled the Marines’ rage. Even as they began to realize that Brook probably wasn’t the syndicate courier they were looking for, it didn’t matter. Since the boy had already seen their faces and knew their location, the corrupt Marines agreed to execute him anyway.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the wall of the room shattered into a million pieces. From the billowing dust and smoke, Leuven emerged, desperately screaming Brook’s name.

The Marines were thrown into absolute panic. “Prince Leuven?! What is he doing here?!” they cried out in shock.

Brook’s eyes bulged. He was completely stunned to realize that the ‘Big Bro’ who had become his closest friend was actually a Prince of Esperia. Leuven rushed forward, pulling the bound Brook into a tight embrace. “Thank god you’re alive,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “I wouldn’t have known what to do if I had lost you.”

8. Candle & Leuven Thrash the Marines

Moments later, a platoon of Royal Guard knights stormed the facility. They urged Leuven to step back and let them handle the Marines. But Leuven, his face twisted in fury, flatly refused.

“I will deal with them myself,” Leuven hissed sharply. “I am going to make them feel the exact same pain they inflicted on my friend!”

One of the knights stepped forward, reporting that they had successfully apprehended the real drug courier, along with the Murlon syndicate members involved in the deal. Hearing this, the blood drained from the Marines’ faces. They finally realized that the street urchin they had been torturing was literally just a kid who loved curry powder, not a narcotics runner.

“Please do not let your emotions get the better of you, Your Highness!” one of the knights pleaded frantically. “The Marines are protected by the World Government!”

The warning did nothing to halt Leuven’s advance. He drew his blade. “If the Government protects the kind of scum who would torture my friend… then this world is already damned. Isn’t that right, Candle?”

Candle—then serving as the Commander of the Esperian Royal Guard—slowly stepped out from behind Leuven, unsheathing her own weapon. “I am your right hand. I will always stand by your decisions.”

“These Marines are nothing but trash,” Leuven stated coldly.

In the blink of an eye, Leuven and Candle surged forward. Unleashing their lethal, breathtaking swordsmanship, the duo mercilessly decimated every single Marine in the room. Still tied to his chair, Brook could only gape in awe. He was utterly mesmerized by the magnificent swordplay of Leuven and Candle as they saved his life.

9. Leuven and Candle Care for Brook

At Esperia Castle, Brook finally regained consciousness. He found himself lying on a plush bed, his body wrapped in bandages. Sitting faithfully by his bedside was Leuven.

Seeing his friend awake, Leuven smiled in relief. He quickly apologized for keeping his true identity a secret all this time. “I never intended to deceive you,” Leuven said sincerely. “It’s just that I was always so incredibly happy spending time with you, I simply lost myself in it.”

Leaning in close, Leuven whispered, “And let’s keep your habit of stealing curry powder from Marine ships between us, alright?”

From across the room, Candle chimed in. She told Brook how the entire palace would erupt into chaos every time Prince Leuven sneaked out of the castle. Leaning down, Candle gently brushed her fingers against Brook’s cheek. “To think, all this time the Prince was out having fun with such a sweet friend,” she said, offering a captivating smile.

At her touch, Brook’s nose instantly bled. His heart hammered wildly in his chest, completely overwhelmed by Candle’s breathtaking beauty up close.

Leuven chuckled and turned to Candle. “Just so you know, Brook here is actually my favorite musician,” he declared proudly. “What if we give him a room in the soldiers’ barracks? I’ll buy him a real instrument and enroll him in the music academy.”

10. The Birth of a Star

And so, this very moment marked the birth of a great star in Esperia. Brook’s new life within the castle walls was destined to be infinitely brighter and far more dignified than the dark, wretched existence he had left behind.

Lying on his bed, Brook pretended to drift back to sleep, but he had heard every word of Leuven and Candle’s warm exchange. Slowly, tears slid down his cheeks. For the first time in his life, he wept in silence, overwhelmed by a joy and happiness he had never known.