One Piece Just Crushed a Popular Theory About the 1 Straw Hat Nobody Expected

Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece's Elbaph arc.One Piece seemed to be setting up a major arc for Brook, but it’s just been debunked. Recent chapters set up a mysterious connection between Brook and the Holy Knight Gunko, and while it wasn’t clear what that was, chapter #1149 all but stated that Brook was secretly Gunko’s father, with her being abducted by the Holy Knights after Brook became a pirate.

Brook being Gunko’s father had the makings of a great twist, but it’s been officially debunked by Eiichiro Oda himself. The official previews for volume #112 are out, and according to famous One Piece analyst Artur, it includes an edit to Gunko’s introduction that says she’s from the Manmayer family, meaning that One Piece volume #112 officially confirms that Brook is not Gunko’s father. In retrospect, that should have been fairly obvious, but at the very least, there’s still plenty of room for Brook to have some much-needed character development.

As disappointing as it might be that Gunko isn’t Brook’s daughter, that might not have made as much sense as people think. Gunko called someone her father in her memories, but even after that, she still called Brook by his name. Granted, it’s clear that something is going on with her mind, but the fact that Gunko never explicitly called Brook her father still created room to doubt the idea, and it’s finally come to fruition with volume #112.

More importantly, however, is what the twist would have meant for Brook. The idea of Brook abandoning his child to become a pirate was undeniably a bad look for him, but add in how the only goal he ever seemed to have was to reunite with Laboon, and it made Brook seem flat-out selfish. As such, Brook not being Gunko’s father does a better job of keeping his character consistent, so it makes sense that the story wouldn’t go that route.

The theory that Brook is Gunko’s father might be dead, but that doesn’t mean Brook won’t be doing anything for the Elbaph arc. Even if Brook and Gunko aren’t family, they still have a connection that was important to both of them, so exploring that can still do a lot to flesh them out and add some drama to the arc, especially now that Imu is possessing Gunko.

That’s especially great to think about when it comes to Brook. Brook has always been the Straw Hat with the least amount of focus and development, as he’s a character focused largely on comedic relief, but if Gunko can provide a chance to delve further into his past and personality, then One Piece can still use Brook’s connection to Gunko to finally give him some much-needed character development, even if they aren’t family. One Piece might have debunked one of its biggest theories, but fortunately, there’s still plenty that can be done with everyone involved.

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