Gecko Moria

Gecko Moria (ゲッコー･モリア) is a member of the Shichibukai who resided on the floating island, Thriller Bark, when he was first introduced. His former bounty was 320,000,000. He is the main antagonist of the Thriller Bark arc who stole Brook's and various other beings' shadows with the use of the Kage Kage no Mi.

Appearance
Moria is a gargantuan person with very distinct devil-like features. His animal theme is that of a gecko based off his name, general appearance and the collar of his shirt baring a resemblance to a lizard's frilled neck. He has two horns protruding from the sides of his forehead and stitches running down vertically from the top of his face and down his neck, which is rather long and thick in comparison to his body. His ears and teeth are both pointed, while his lower body is relatively fat and stubby in comparison. Moria's hair is red and his skin is a pale blue of which his lips, armbands and the edges of his gloves share in color. His shirt and gloves are black whilst his pants are bright orange, he also wears a cravat, necklace and a blue crucifix-like ornament with claw-like appendages sprouting out from three of the cross' points. His overall design resembles a giant shallot (similar to an onion). During the meeting of the Shichibukai at the Marine Headquarters, Moria added a fur-laced cape to his attire, which seemed to have fallen off after being punched by Jinbei.

22 years before the current storyline, Moria looked much thinner and had a pointed chin.

Personality
Though he once claimed that he would rely on his own powers to achieve his goals, Moria now is incredibly lazy; his motto is "relying upon others for one’s own objective" and his favorite phrase is "You do it!!". Like other characters in One Piece, he has a distinct laughter ("Ki shi shi shi") that he often cackles. He apparently wants to be the new Pirate King and believes that if he has strong underlings, he can achieve his goal. He is almost always seen grinning maniacally and only seems to change expression when something bad happens to him. He maintains a relaxed and laid-back stance at all times, seemingly appearing to believe he cannot lose. Like Luffy, he had many good friends in the past, considering them valuable nakama and considered himself as once too overconfident, like Luffy is. The loss of his crew to Kaidou changed his outlook on life substantially, making him believe that subordinates are better off as zombies, as, due to their undead status, they cannot be harmed by any physical damage. They can only be "purified" by the sea or elements of the sea. Even if they were purified, he could easily find other shadows to reanimate them.

He feels that a true pirate should fear nothing, even death.

Crew
The Thriller Bark crew is very loyal and very respectful to Moria, and always seem to care about his well being. However, their loyalties towards Gecko seems to be do to a myriad of reasons. For the zombies, their servitude is mainly fueled by Moria's hold on their very being granted to him by his Kage Kage no Mi powers, as for the humans in his crew, they appear to continue serve him due to the deals that Moria seemed to have made with them in the past. That, or their goals appear to be coincidental at the time (i.e. Perona's desire to be granted servants herself, Doctor Hogback's eagerness to grant life into corpses, and Absalom's bride). Hogback and Absolom show their loyalty by escaping Thriller Bark with an unconcious Moria after he is defeated, although Perona is somewhat questionable, not only attempting to flee when she feels her life is endangered, but taking all rations and treasure with her. Moria on the other hand, cares very little about the zombies of Thriller Bark (save perhaps towards his more powerful ones, like the General Zombies and Oars, for reason of their strength if nothing else), as seen when Absalom informs that Brook has returned and is slaying zombies, Moria simply puts him down and turns toward another objective with no apparent concern. Though he views his human crew in a slightly higher standard, he still doesn't seem to display to much dismay if they are defeated.

In stark contrast, Moria appeared to care deeply for his old crew, and still seems to mourn their loss within. This is what apparently gave him a change of heart into turning to zombies for a crew. He even reacts quite heavily when thinking about them.

Enemies
Moria is currently an enemy of Luffy, who played a role in destroying his army of zombies. That feeling is mutual, and they also seem to see each other as rivals, as they both aim to become the Pirate King. Moria has also gained an interest in stealing Luffy's shadow (twice) to empower both Oars and Oars Jr., both in Thriller Bark and Marineford. Moria was also the only Shichibukai to be shocked at the revelation of Revolutionary Dragon being Luffy's father.

Before Luffy, Moria has already made countless enemies in his search to find powerful underlings, scouring the world for corpses of powerful fighters and shadows to reanimate them, making Moria an enemy of every victim whose shadow he extracted. Ironically, Moria seems to care slightly more with the well-being of his victims than his zombies, mainly because the shadows of the victims he stole them from are used to maintain the "lives" of his zombies and as such, if those people were to die then his zombies would also share the demise. Nevertheless, in his quest to acquire powerful warriors to support him in his cause, Moria would either steal their shadows, or kill them, but preserve their bodies enough to be converted into another suitable zombie warrior

However, Moria's apparent biggest enemy is Kaidou, who was seemingly responsible for the death of his old crew. Moria spent ten years creating his zombie army to get his revenge against Kaidou.

Shichibukai
Moria is seen interacting with Bartholomew Kuma, whom he appears to be very ready to fight, as demonstrated when he harshly yells at Kuma for offering assistance. He also seems to have had a hostile encounter with Jinbei, since the latter knows the weakness of Moria's zombie soldiers. The two engage in combat at Marine Headquarters, with Moria claiming that he will steal Jinbei's shadow; however, the fishman lands a powerful hit on him before he can do so.

Abilities and Powers
As a Shichibukai Moria is one of the strongest individuals in the world. He was once an equal to Kaidou, one of the Yonkou.

Devil Fruit
Moria, in general, prefers to avoid fighting altogether, or at least fighting his enemy directly, either making his shadow fight or ordering one of his zombies to do so.

His own shadow can fight for him, while he does nothing but watch. The shadow is mostly solid, and can easily change its form into things like tiny bats. The shadow cannot be destroyed and will continue to reform. Moria is able to switch his location with his shadow's location, which can also be used to dodge attacks.

Even if he has no zombies to do his fighting for him or shadows to increase his own strength, he is an ample enough fighter with just his own shadow, as seen when he used it to impale Oars Jr. in the chest.

Physically, he was capable of getting about ten minutes after a Gomu Gomu no Pistol and a Gomu Gomu no Storm by Nightmare Luffy that toppled Oars over. Also, he didn't seem to be damaged when Nami's thunder-attack struck Oars. Due to his size, he can easily carry a normal human with a single hand. Interestingly, he was back on his feet and still fighting after taking a full power impact from Jinbei.

Moria is able to steal a person's shadow with the Kage Kage no Mi. The loss of that person's shadow causes them to be vaporized if they come in contact with sunlight. Moria is also able create various zombies by implanting a stolen shadow into a lifeless corpse. People who have their shadow stolen are left in comas for two days. If they die, the zombie with their shadow loses the shadow.

Moria can place someone's shadow inside of someone else body, increasing both physical strength and gaining fighting technique (for example using the shadow of a swordmen). Usually he pick-up a bunch of shadows to insert in his own body. At the end of the Thrilliar Bark arc he used the desperate attack "Shadow Asgard", which consist of taking every shadow from every zombie on Thriller Bark (around 1000 shadows) and absorb them. This form increases his mass to the size of a giant, as well as giving him a monstrous boost in physical strength enough to cut the Thrilliar Bark ship in half with one punch. While Luffy could barely withstand 100 shadows (which was know as "Nightmare Luffy"), Moria was able to maintain 1000 shadows in his own body showing his incredible willpower, although this was still over his limit as strikes from Luffy Gear caused him to gradually throw up the absorbed shadows.

Weapons
Moria wields a giant pair of scissors, which he uses in conjuncture with his Kage Kage no Mi, to sever people's shadows. The scissors are also shown to be able to disconnect at the joint, becoming two swords for Moria.

Early Years
Moria was present at the execution of Gol D. Roger and witnessed his famous speech. This probably contributed to Moria's old dream of becoming the new Pirate King. After the execution he, like many others, raised his flag and started to make a name for himself in the New World.

Life as a Pirate
My words... come from experience. My subordinates... they were famed far and wide... Why did I have to lose them all?!!! -Part of Moria's speech on the use of Zombies over real crewmates.

Moria became a pirate whose powers could rival that of Kaidou, one of the Yonkou, and also became a Shichibukai. While in the New World, his entire crew was apparently killed (it is unknown if Absalom and Perona were survivors or new recruits). Their deaths affected his entire outlook about subordinates. After the loss of his crew, Moria set about trying to gain enough power to beat even Kaidou.

Ten years before the current storyline, Moria, along with Absalom and Perona, sought out a man named Dr. Hogback. Upon meeting the doctor, Moria offered him a way to bring his deceased love, Victoria Cindry, back to life. Through the use of his Devil Fruit powers, Moria implanted a stolen shadow into the corpse and gained the doctor's allegiance in return. Together with the doctor and Moria's two associates, they set up the ship "Thriller Bark" and traveled to the Florian Triangle. There they began to ambush anyone who entered, looking for those with strong shadows, such as pirates with high bounties. Moria then started making zombie minions with shadows stolen from his victims and creations supplied by Hogback.

Five years ago, a skeleton named Brook came to Thriller Bark in hopes of fixing the rudder to his ship. He was captured and Moria implanted his shadow into the corpse of Ryuuma. The skeleton then returned to Thriller Bark and purified several of Moria's zombie minions in an attempt to retrieve his shadow. Though the skeleton was defeated by Ryuuma, Moria was forced to rebuild his army from the mess he left behind.

Thriller Bark Arc
After four days of sleep and some nightmares, Moria is awoken by his servants and told of the night attack to be commenced on the Straw Hat Pirates, which he then prepares for.

As the attack commences, Moria takes Sanji's and Zoro's shadows as they are brought before him, implanting them in the zombies, Inuppe and Jigorou respectively. Later, Luffy was brought to Moria. After a brief escape attempt by Luffy, Moria grabbed Luffy's shadow and cut it off with a pair of scissors. With this shadow, he decided to place it in the giant 900th zombie, named Oars. A zombie he stated would be the most powerful in history, and strong enough to beat even Kaidou.

After some time battling with Luffy, Moria is greeted by Oars, now completely obedient. Moria commanded him to rampage through Thriller Bark, assemble the Straw Hats, beat them and put them on their ship. Moria then ran away from Luffy, smiling. He lead Luffy deep within the forest of Thriller Bark and then switched with Doppelman the moment Luffy caught him. Doppleman then left Luffy in the middle of the forest and returned to Moria's feet.

Moria, on the other hand, had been hiding in his dance hall while his shadow lured Luffy away. He was then greeted by Bartholomew Kuma just as his zombie minions, Gyoro, Nin, and Bao came in to report what was happening to Thriller Bark. Kuma then informed Moria that Crocodile's successor was found. He also informed him to be careful to be not defeated by the Straw Hats. Moria, not believing this, told Kuma to just sit back and watch him as he defeats the Straw Hats. Using his Doppelman switching technique, Moria entered Oars' stomach and aided the behemoth against the Straw Hats he was fighting with. With his Devil Fruit powers, Moria aided Oars with his technique by making the behemoth's body stretched during the battle. Slowly, Moria and Oars defeated each Straw Hat one after another. In the middle of the battle, Moria was momentarily held back by Robin's Hana Hana no Mi powers however, he stopped her by cutting off her shadow and continued aiding Oars in the behemoth's belly.

With Moria aiding Oars both by allowing the behemoth's body to stretch and protecting his mouth from swallowing salt, Moria and Oars were about to defeat the last two Straw Hats, when they were suddenly saved by Luffy. With Luffy in the scene, Moria was then suddenly shocked when the Luffy stopped a punch from Oars and threw the behemoth several yards away. To Moria's surprise, Luffy had suddenly become extremely powerful and was now able to land massive hits on Oars. As Moria tumbled around within Oars' belly as the behemoth took hits, the Shichibukai decided to get out before anything could happen to him. Unfortunately, Moria was just then punched in the face by Luffy. Moria was then caught in middle of a barrage of punches sent by Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Storm against the Shichibukai and Oars. Having been punched several times by Luffy, Moria was knocked out.

Moria, however, would not be defeated so easily and managed to recover in the process finding out how Luffy was able to gain his power boost. Angered at the loss of his ship, he uses a mass of tendrils emanating from his body, destroyed all his zombies and sucked their shadows into himself. This gave him a massive power boost and transformed him into a large, lizard-like form. This form, while more powerful, was also quite unstable; filled to the brim with shadows, Moria would occasionally overspill and burp them up. Luffy used this to his advantage during their battle, targeting Moria's stomach to make him give up more shadows. Though both combatants fought hard, Moria - beginning to realize the futility of the situation that he recklessly flung himself into - was eventually hit by Thriller Bark's toppling mast, effectively pumping his stomach and making him give up all the shadows.

Straw Hat... Ughah!... Then you go see for yourself... What a real nightmare is...! In the New World! -Moria's final words upon defeat.

Current Events
He was seen lying unconscious on a ship, steered by Absalom and Hogback, and on its way away from Thriller Bark. Apparently, he has answered to the call of Shichibukai to battle Whitebeard and is joining the war, later shown dining with the other Shichibukai, except for Jinbei and Boa Hancock, with bandages on his head from his fight with Luffy and is also wearing a fur trimmed cape now.

He is at Marineford alongside Bartholomew Kuma, Donquixote Doflamingo, Juracule Mihawk and Boa Hancock, ready for the battle ahead. He was surprised to learn that Portgas D. Ace is Gol D. Roger's son. Upon discovering that Oars Jr. is under the command of Whitebeard, Moria expressed an interest in taking the giant's corpse. For this reason, when Doflamingo cuts the right leg of the giant with his powers, Moria gets angry with him, and decides to finish off Oars Jr., using a shadow spear to achieve this.

When Luffy and his fellow Impel Down escapees fall from the sky and onto the battlefield, Moria is seen screaming Luffy's title in apparent rage. He then attempts to have his zombies fight Luffy saying he wants to use Luffy's shadow to reanimate Oars Jr, only to have Jinbei splash them with saltwater and reduce them to lifeless bodies. When he learns that Luffy's father is none other than Dragon, he's absolutely speechless, being the only Shichibukai to do so. He then attempts to fight Jinbei and take his shadow, though Jinbei manages to evade and strike Moria with ease despite Moria augmenting himself with the shadows of marines. He is then seen provoking the Whitebeard Pirates' 10th squad Captain Curiel to a fight on the battlefield, stating that he would enjoy seeing Whitebeard die during the war.

Major Battles

 * Gecko Moria vs. Kaidou (past battle, unseen)
 * Gecko Moria (with Shadow Doppleman) vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Gecko Moria and Oars vs. Straw Hat Pirates (minus Luffy) and Brook
 * Gecko Moria and Oars vs. Nightmare Luffy
 * Gecko Moria vs. Straw Hats Pirates
 * Gecko Moria (Shadow Asgard form) vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Gecko Moria, Bartholomew Kuma and Donquixote Doflamingo vs. Oars Jr.
 * Gecko Moria vs. Jinbei
 * Gecko Moria vs. Curiel

Translation and Dub Issues
In the introduction pages when Moria was introduced, he is described as "moto Shichibukai", which would mean "former Shichibukai", which turned out to be a mistake. However, when Volume 47 was released, this mistake was left uncorrected on this same place. This left further confusions between the uncorrected text and other references within the volume. This mistake often results in a common Misunderstanding about his status as a Shichibukai.

Another common mistake is that his nickname is believed to be King of the Depths. In reality, the full name for the Shichibukai is "Below King Seven Armed Seas". It was the "Below King" part that caused confusion to many people, thus giving the impression that "Below King", or "King of the Depths", is his nickname.

His first name is not only based on the gecko, but it is also a pun on the Japanese word for moonlight, Gekkou, given his nightmare theme. Also, Mori is a Japanese surname that means death, while 'moria' means 'disease' in Italian.

Trivia

 * Unlike Crocodile who lost his rank after Luffy beat him, Moria still kept his Shichibukai rank, likely due to the fact that the World Government would need all the help they could get and since Moria never actually attacked any countries, his activities were easier to cover up.
 * He has the second highest bounty displayed thus far in One Piece (320,000,000 beli), only behind Doflamingo, another Shichibukai.
 * In a recent Japanese Fan Poll, Gecko Moria is currently ranked the 44th most popular character in One Piece.
 * He, Boa Hancock, and Crocodile all have reptile themes, a gecko, a snake, and a crocodile, respectively. Coincidentally, all of them were deeply effected by some kind of terrible occurrence; in Moria's case, it was the death of all of his nakama.
 * Both parts of his name may support his theme: Gecko, as explained on the beggining means lizard, and "Moria" may come from 蠑螈 which can be read as "iimori", meaning "reptile"