Let’s talk this scene for a moment;
there’s a lot to pull away.
(Transcription available below!)
*Brook falls to his hands and knees, beginning to get upset*
(Tone, quietly, disbelief/grief)
*The rain muddles his tears, however the liquid streams still down his face, we can only see his sorrowful sockets at this moment*
“Pedro-San sacrificed himself..”
(In a sudden fit of action, he raises his fist, punching the turf HARD, teeth clenched. He begins punching the ground, arms raised high above before striking with pure emotion.)
(The crew just watches on as Brook, still on his knees, beats the ships turf, growing more and more emotionally raged.)
“If I had only protected the Sunny to the end!!”
(Brooks voice starts breaking, face showing more sorrow then anger at himself now. The punching stops.)
“If only I was, if only we had,”
(Brook dunks his head into the grass itself, beating his face into the earth.)
“If only we (I) were stronger. .”
1. Brook doesn’t say “us” or “we” during most of this dialogue.
This is the exact emotion we saw from him on Thriller Bark originally, implying he still blames himself after 50+ years for those many, if not hundreds of men’s deaths.
(And, one thing I think people don’t consider is, the fact he IS responsible technically. I have a whole post on this.)
The blood, in his eyes, still drips from his hands, and now he sees this event as another caused by him.
2. Brook beating of the ground and himself, striking his body, and his skull multiple times, is not something that paints a good picture on how he acted alone.
I don’t even need to give a picture of this.
3. The images shown of Brook and Pedro bonding reminds me strongly of Brook’s ties with Yorki, and his crew.
Brook is shown to be someone who clearly bonds, but, his time with Pedro seemed different. Him and the blonde clearly got along well but, we even had episode segments of just them, being guys, having a good time and going through things as a team.
This… I cannot help but remember how much Brook adored Yorki, and still does apparently, and, how closely Pedro and him got us just  testament of not just Brook being a great friend, but of how much he honestly bonds with people. However, we’ve seen him be friendly, but, it’s rare he opens up, or, clings onto someone so closely.
Pedro was like a Strawhat. Which brings me to my last point,
4. Brook sees himself as something somewhat separate from the Strawhats still.
Brook doesn’t use “us,” or “we,” not just because he feels like it’s only his fault and he should suffer, but because he still hasn’t forgiven himself enough to have mistakes around his loved ones, in the fear of loosing them due to these mistakes.
He doesn’t even see himself as a true member, because if he did, it would mean the possibility of him loosing everyone all over again, because of him. Always him, and it always seems to be him.
Let’s hope he can forgive himself over time and learn to work with this trauma,,