Quick answer

Gunko is a God's Knight of the World Noble Manmayer family. Everything the manga has shown says she was once Shuri, princess of the Kingdom of Esperia, the girl Brook served 70 years ago.

She has not accepted that name. In chapter 1195, Brook faces her and asks if she is Shuri, and she answers that she is Gunko of the Manmayer family.

What has not appeared is a caption or narration stating "Gunko is Shuri." The identification rests on:

  • Brook's word;
  • her memories;
  • a flashback that ends with Shuri leaving Esperia with the Manmayer family.

Evidence layers. Chapter 1195 is PRIMARY — MANGA VERIFIED, read directly on Shonen Jump+. Earlier chapters are CHAPTER-REFERENCED: each point below is one that at least two independent chapter reviews agree on (sources at the foot of the page). Where reviews disagree, we say so.

Gunko now: the God's Knight

  • A God's Knight. One of the order's active members. Our God's Knights ranking has her at third on evidence.
  • Her Devil Fruit. The Aro Aro no Mi: arrow-tipped ribbons from her sleeves and bandages, used as weapons, restraints and platforms.
  • The family name. Volume 112 changed her credit to 「マンマイヤー家 軍子宮」 — Gunko of the Manmayer family.
  • Imu's vessel. Imu possesses her body at the end of chapter 1149 and fights through it.
  • Frozen, then thawed. In chapter 1178, Loki freezes Imu-in-Gunko in ice. She has just thawed out at the start of chapter 1195.

The thread to Brook, chapter by chapter

Chapter 1149 — a buried memory. Inside Gunko, a memory surfaces: a young Brook, and a girl crying Father!

Chapter 1173 — Brook names her. Brook calls her 「シュリ姫」 — Princess Shuri.

  • Two titles. He also calls Shuri a "father-killing princess", and says the father she killed was his benefactor.
  • A brief return. For a moment Gunko seems to come back to herself — the arrows binding the crew come loose — before Imu takes over again.
  • Her age. Brook notes that Shuri, if alive, would be around 80. Gunko does not look it.

Chapters 1183–1186 — Brook's past in Esperia. The flashback goes back about 70 years.

Esperia and Brook's place in it:

  • The kingdom. A West Blue nation of instrument makers — a kingdom that no longer exists.
  • Ruven. Brook was an orphan, taken in as a boy by Prince Ruven, travelling incognito. Brook calls him 「アニキ」 — big brother. Ruven became king and raised Shuri as his daughter.
  • Brook's role. He served in the kingdom's escort corps as a unit captain, alongside its former leader, Queen Candelle. (In chapter 1195 Brook introduces himself as Esperia's former 「騎士団団長」, knight commander. That wording is his own, from 1195.)

The fall:

  • Shuri's childhood. Brook is 20 and Shuri is 7 when the flashback opens. Seven years later she is 14.
  • The fog. When Shuri is 15, a fog settles over Esperia for about six months. It rots the instruments, sickens the people and kills Queen Candelle.
  • The demand. The World Government demands a thousand people as slaves, and Ruven goes to war rather than pay.
  • The real demand. In chapter 1186 it is revealed to have been Shuri herself. Ruven had hidden it.

Chapter 1186 — the Manmayer family comes for her:

  • Grow arrives. Manmayer Grow, a World Noble of the Manmayer family, comes for Shuri on orders. He has the same rare odd eyes as hers — the Bipolar Irises.
  • The eyes. He says they can awaken, and that Imu wants their power.
  • Shuri's own words. She says she was a Celestial Dragon. She refuses to call Ruven her father, and says she wasted sixteen years.
  • Ruven. He lies fallen, with a demonised Shuri — horns and wings — standing over him.
  • Brook. Shuri runs him through the head with Gavotte Bond en Avant, a technique Brook taught her. That is the origin of his forehead scar. He survives.
  • She leaves with Grow.

Chapter 1195: the confrontation

(PRIMARY — MANGA VERIFIED.) Full chapter: our 1195 report.

She wakes. Gunko has just thawed and is breathing hard. Her memories flash past:

  • big brother;
  • a scarred man shouting;
  • a woman crying Father;
  • an eye;
  • a figure lying down, saying 「イム様…… 生きたい……!!」 — Lord Imu… I want to live…!!

Brook speaks to her:

  • Her pain. An enemy wouldn't feel pain like that.
  • The name. He calls her Princess Shuri.
  • "That day." He couldn't forgive what she did that day, but if it was beyond her control, she suffered too.
  • The flashback. A horned Shuri with a bloodied blade tells him the war will end — aren't you happy, Brook?
  • His introduction. He introduces himself: Esperia's former knight commander, "Humming Brook", who died once fifty years ago and lives on as bones. He asks her outright if she is Princess Shuri.

Her answer: 「世界貴族マンマイヤー家の"軍子"!!!」 — Gunko of the World Noble Manmayer family!

Brook keeps going:

  • The tears. He asks what her tears are, then.
  • The song. He sings the song a young Shuri once loved.
  • Her reply. She attacks, puts her goggles and mask back on, and says she doesn't know him.
  • The stance. Brook points at her sword stance: I taught you that, didn't I?

What is still not stated

  • That Gunko is Shuri, in narration or in her own words. It is very strongly implied and she rejects it.
  • That Grow is her birth father. The matching eyes and her "I was a Celestial Dragon" make it a strong implication. Japanese reviews of 1186 treat it as implied, not stated.
  • That the killing of Ruven is shown. Ruven is shown fallen with Shuri over him, and her words point the same way. Reviews disagree on whether the blow itself is drawn.
  • Whether her Bipolar Irises have awakened. Reviews of 1186 disagree.
  • How she has stayed young, and exactly how Imu made her what she is. The flashback calls her demonised; the mechanism isn't spelled out.

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