Gecko Moria

Gecko Moria is the captain of the Thriller Bark Pirates and a former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea who resides on Thriller Bark, the largest ship in the world. His bounty is 320,000,000, which was frozen until he lost his Warlord position.

In his youth, Moria served as captain of the Gecko Pirates, until a vast majority of its members were killed in a fight against Kaidou of the Four Emperors. This traumatic event led Moria to seek power through an army of zombies, constructed by his subordinate, Dr. Hogback.

He is the primary antagonist of the Thriller Bark Saga who stole the shadows of Brook and various other beings with the power of the Kage Kage no Mi. He is also a major antagonist in the Marineford Arc where he took part in the Summit War of Marineford and sided with the Marines, along with most of the other Warlords.

After the end of the war, he was stripped of his title and was to be eliminated by Donquixote Doflamingo, but he managed to escape. Vegapunk later cloned Moria as one of the Seraphim to replace the Warlords.

Appearance
Moria is an abnormally large humanoid creature with very distinct, devil-like features. Standing at 692 cm (22'8½") in height, he was the tallest among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

He has two horns protruding from the sides of his forehead and stitches running 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, matching his lips, armbands and the edges of his gloves. His coat and gloves are black, while his pants are bright orange with pale window shapes imprinted on them. He wears a fishnet shirt underneath a cravat, a necklace, and a blue crucifix-like ornament with claw-like appendages sprouting out from three of the cross's points. During the meeting of the Warlords of the Sea at the Marine Headquarters and later on during/after the war, Moria added a fur-laced cape to his attire.

After the timeskip, Moria has switched his cravat and crucifix for a tie with a print of the aforementioned crucifix on it. His coat now has a jagged appearance, and he no longer wears a fishnet undershirt, but a regular shirt with chain-like ornaments in it. He still wears a fur-laced cape, although a much shorter one.

During Gol D. Roger's execution twenty-two years before Monkey D. Luffy set out on his adventure, Moria looked much thinner, had a pointed chin, and a little longer hair. He also did not have any cross stitches from below his lip, though he did possess them on his forehead. His appearance was similar when he challenged Kaidou in Wano a year later.

In SBS Volume 63, Oda drew the Seven Warlords as children. Moria had shorter horns and hair and was missing the cross stitches running down the middle of his face. He wore a baggy, long-sleeved white shirt with suspenders and dark, knee-high pants. He also wore his usual long black gloves with cowboy boots with spurs and a jewel-encrusted dagger on his belt. He was also much thinner and had a chin and longer legs.

Personality


Moria has a relaxed, laid-back, and even lazy personality, seemingly appearing to believe he cannot lose. He also believes that a true pirate should fear nothing, not even death.

Similar to fellow Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo, in most situations Moria is constantly grinning maniacally, and only seems to change expression when something bad happens to him or when he believes his power is being ridiculed. Like many others, Moria has a distinct style of laughing: "Kishishishi".

In general, he prefers to avoid fighting altogether, or at least fighting his enemy directly, either making his shadow fight or ordering one of his subordinates to do so. His proclivity to delegate tasks to his minions is also a weakness in and of itself, along with making exceptions to act out himself should his personal pride or power be questioned; Jinbe noted that Moria had grown weak from his lack of training.

Moria desires to become the new Pirate King and believes that this is possible to achieve if he has powerful subordinates. Though he once claimed that he would rely on his own powers to achieve his goals, he is incredibly lazy; his motto is "relying upon others for one's own objective" (他力本願) and his favorite phrase is "You do it!!" (お前がやれ). This also extends to his fighting style, as he prefers to lay back and let his shadow battle with the powers of the Kage Kage no Mi.

He also appears to have considerable knowledge of the New World and how terrifying it is. At Thriller Bark, he told Luffy that with his current strength, he would lose his crew; his prediction came true before the Straw Hats went to the New World, at the Sabaody Archipelago.

Moria has a lot of experience, having fought many opponents in the past, including an Emperor. He is a good battle tactician, being able to outsmart even Nico Robin. However, his overconfidence and laziness made him underestimate his opponents, and ultimately led to his defeat at the hands of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Even if I had allowed you to continue peacefully on your voyage... At your level, death is all you would have found... You're nowhere near ready for the "New World"...!!! Though it would appear you have gathered yourself quite a fine crew.... You would only lose it all!!![...] My words...come from experience. My subordinates... They were famed, far and wide... Why did I have to lose them all...?!!! My friends were lost to me precisely because they were still alive!!! If they had all been zombies, dead from the start, I would have lost nothing!!! For zombies are invulnerable!! Eternal warriors; even if they are purified, a replacement can be found!!!

In the past, Moria had the Gecko Pirates who he considered to be valuable comrades, and by his own admission was overconfident and headstrong. He also deeply cared for his crewmates, which was a point of tragedy when his last encounter with the Emperor known as Kaidou ended with Moria being the sole survivor of his crew. Shell-shocked and traumatized by the horrific event, Moria immediately departed from the New World, and decided that the only way he would not have to face such pain ever again would be to make his comrades unable to suffer by turning them into mindless zombies that serve only his desires. The loss of his crew to Kaidou changed Moria's outlook on life substantially, making him believe that subordinates are better off as zombies because, 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 and even if they were purified, he could easily find other shadows to reanimate them. In addition, creating a zombie powerful enough to defeat Kaidou became one of Moria's driving motivations.

Despite his cruelty and twisted outlook on life, he is capable of showing true care towards those close to him. When Absalom was kidnapped by Blackbeard, Moria did not hesitate to go try to rescue him despite the risks of entering an Emperor's territory, especially given how the Blackbeard Pirates are hunting powerful Devil Fruits. He was also shown to be loving towards Perona when she was growing up, as Perona herself viewed Moria as a father figure, suggesting he is capable of displaying affection to others.

Gecko Pirates
Moria appears to have cared deeply for the Gecko Pirates, who were famous throughout the world. Upon losing them all in the battle between his crew and the Beasts Pirates at Wano Country, Moria became bitter and his ideals of a crew changed drastically, desiring a crew of zombies that would never result in another irreplaceable loss. Despite his twisted perceptions, Moria still seems to mourn their loss and even reacts quite heavily when thinking about them.

Thriller Bark Pirates
The Thriller Bark Pirates were very loyal and very respectful to Moria, and always seemed to care about his well-being; however, their loyalties towards Moria seemed to be due to a myriad of reasons. For the zombies, their servitude was 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 continued to serve him either due to the deals that Moria seemed to have made with them in the past or their goals coinciding with his at the time (i.e., Perona's desire to be granted servants of her own, Doctor Hogback's eagerness to breathe life into corpses, and Absalom's wish to become the "Graveyard King").

Among the Mysterious Four, Absalom was easily the most dutiful crewmate under Moria, having actively worked for Moria's best interests, such as when he awakened the General Zombies to fight the Straw Hats. During the Wano Country Arc, it is revealed that Moria also cared about Absalom when he forced his way on to Blackbeard's island in order to rescue Absalom and was beyond relieved when Absalom was supposedly fine but was extremely angered when it was revealed that "Absalom" was actually Catarina Devon who used her Devil Fruit abilities to trick him and informed him that Absalom was killed by them so Shiryu could have Absalom's Devil Fruit.

When Moria came to Hogback requesting his assistance in creating an army of the undead to conquer the New World, Hogback agreed on the condition that he would have his late love, Victoria Cindry, resurrected. Ever since then, Hogback saw Moria as his master, and helped him to create his zombie army and improve Moria's subordinate Absalom's physical strength. Hogback greatly preferred his position as a pirate's scientist committing blasphemous experiments over being a world-famous surgeon saving people's lives.

After Moria's defeat, Hogback and Absalom proved their loyalty by escaping Thriller Bark with an unconscious Moria after he was defeated. Perona has been with Moria since she was a child, having been adopted by the latter and raising her as a daughter. While Perona is very close and loving to Moria, Perona's loyalty was somewhat questionable, as she not only attempted to flee when she felt her life was endangered but took all the rations and treasure on board with her. However, after receiving news of Moria's supposed death, she appeared to be distraught and lamented his demise. When she learned that Moria is alive two years later, Perona was overjoyed and quickly departed Mihawk's castle to go find him.

Buhichuck was loyal to Moria as well, having tricked some of the Straw Hats into being trapped in a room full of General Zombies.

Gyoro, Nin, and Bao seemed to be very scared of Moria, but they were still loyal to him, as they told him when the other members of the Mysterious Four arrived.

Originally, Oars was very defiant against Moria's will, possessing a strong sense of individuality. However, as is the fate of all zombies, Oars eventually became obedient to Moria. Despite this, Oars still had his own way of doing things, preferring to fight his battles by himself. While Oars allowed Moria to aid him in the execution of his stretching techniques, he was against his master interrupting his battles or fighting them for him.

Moria, on the other hand, cared very little about most of the zombies of Thriller Bark; when Absalom informed him that Brook had returned and was slaying zombies, Moria simply insulted him and turned toward another objective with no apparent concern. However, he held his human crew in a much higher regard, and was left in shock and despair by their deaths.

Enemies
Before Monkey D. Luffy, Moria had 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.

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 suitable zombie warriors. Lola has sworn a grudge against Moria for stealing her and everyone else's shadows, and has remained on Thriller Bark fighting back by purifying zombies and stealing shadows. She even mustered the courage to threaten Moria when he was weakened.

Monkey D. Luffy
Moria is an enemy of Monkey D. Luffy, who played a pivotal role in defeating him and destroying his army of zombies. That feeling is mutual, and they also seemed to see each other as rivals, as they both aimed to become the Pirate King. Moria did acknowledge Luffy's strength, as he chose to use his shadow to empower Oars in Thriller Bark.

At Thriller Bark, he told Luffy that with his current strength, he would lose his crew. Not long after that, the Straw Hats did indeed suffer a crushing defeat and separation at the Sabaody Archipelago, thus beginning a training period of two years to prepare themselves for the New World. At Marineford, he was angry to see Luffy once again, but took an interest in stealing his shadow again, but Jinbe intervened on Luffy's behalf. Moria was also the only Warlord of the Sea to be shocked at the revelation of Revolutionary Dragon being Luffy's father.

Kaidou
Moria's apparent biggest enemy is Emperor Kaidou, who was responsible for the death of his old crew twenty-three years ago during a clash against the Beasts Pirates at Wano Country. Moria spent ten years creating his zombie army to get his revenge against Kaidou, while expressing how much he hated Kaidou for the defeat he suffered back then.

World Government and Marines
Despite being allied with the government, Moria does not care about them. During his time as a Warlord of the Sea, Moria had no problem in stealing Marines, pirates, and even civilians' shadows to increase his army of zombies. Moria was furious to learn that the government sent Kuma personally, fearing of Moria's defeat at the hand of the Straw Hats, a fear that would come true. Fearing what would happen if word got out of another Warlord of the Sea falling, the World Government attempted to cover up his defeat by having Kuma kill all of the survivors of Thriller Bark before word got out. Moria's defeat at Thriller Bark was met with annoyance and disappointment by the World Government, as they had only just replaced Crocodile after the latter's own defeat and ejection from the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Even though Kuma chose to disregard the order of the Five Elders, Moria was able to retain his status for a time, later answering the call to arms against the Whitebeard Pirates.

During the war at Marineford, Moria did not care whether the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies or the Marines won the Summit War of Marineford, but only thought that Whitebeard's death would be amusing.

However, after the war, the World Government finally deemed Moria to be far too weak to continue as a Warlord and decided to annul his pact and eliminate him, under the pretense of Moria dying in the war to preserve the Warlord's reputation of strength. However, Moria was able to escape.

Moria seems to view the Marines as no different from the pirates and civilians whom he usually extracts shadows from, displaying no qualms about forcibly taking the shadows of nearby Marines to empower himself against Jinbe. When Doflamingo informed him that he had received orders for Moria's eradication, Moria immediately suspected Sengoku was responsible but was told to think higher up the ranks.

Jinbe
Moria seems to have had a hostile encounter with Jinbe in the past, since the latter knows the weakness of Moria's zombie soldiers. The two engaged in combat during the Marineford War, with Moria claiming that he would steal Jinbe's shadow. However, the fish-man landed a powerful hit on him before he could do so and berated Moria for growing weak because of his refusal to train.

Donquixote Doflamingo
Moria was also quite negative toward Donquixote Doflamingo, as Doflamingo damaged Little Oars Jr. despite Moria wanting the giant's corpse intact. After the war, he got attacked by Doflamingo, who received orders to kill him. As Moria laid bleeding on the ground, a laughing Doflamingo claimed that he was far too weak to be a Warlord of the Sea and that it would be better for it to look like he died honorably in the war. Even though Moria managed to escape Doflamingo's clutches, Doflamingo was unconcerned, certain that he would die from the wounds he received.

Marshall D. Teach
Although they had no interaction when Blackbeard was a Warlord of the Sea, Moria was amused to hear that Blackbeard filled the vacant spot left by Crocodile. After the timeskip, Moria showed hostility towards Blackbeard by invading his personal island to rescue Absalom while yelling for Blackbeard to show himself despite him having become an Emperor. Even after Moria attacked his underlings, Teach still gave Moria the option to join him, albeit in a mocking tone. However, Moria refused and was imprisoned.

Bartholomew Kuma
Moria's interactions with Bartholomew Kuma have been brief but display an understanding between the two of them. While Moria chastises Kuma for being so loyal to the World Government and not having his own agenda, Kuma showed much patience around Moria, offering to assist him in fighting the Straw Hats despite his disrespect towards him. However, Moria was gravely insulted at his offer and showed no qualms about attacking him, despite Kuma not being affected by his intimidation tactics. Moria also knows about Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi abilities and his habit of asking other people where they would like to go for a vacation before sending the person flying away.

Abilities and Powers
Moria is a former Warlord of the Sea, as well as one of the most experienced pirates in the entire Grand Line. In his prime, he was referred to as being a "rival" to Kaidou, one of the Four Emperors (though eventually he lost his entire crew to the man). During the Summit War of Marineford, he was strong enough to battle Curiel, the 10th division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, while sustaining no injuries aside from a strike he suffered from Jinbe (a fellow former Warlord). He also managed to fell Little Oars Jr. in one move, though others had already injured the mighty giant beforehand.

Unfortunately, his tendency to heavily rely on underlings (or his own shadow) to fight for him in the battlefield may have contributed to his diminished prowess in single combat; often, Moria would run away from or ignore an adversary if he deemed the battle as "pointless", as seen when he dismissed Luffy's challenge on Thriller Bark because he had already extracted the Straw Hat's shadow from him. Jinbe claimed that Moria's dependence on absorbing the shadows of other people had weakened him.

After the Summit War of Marineford ended, Donquixote Doflamingo claimed that the government had deemed Moria to be far too weak to continue to bear the title of Warlord of the Sea and that he was better off eliminated; despite this, Mihawk recalls that Moria was perfectly fine at the end of the war, it still took Doflamingo and a group of Pacifistas to corner him, and Moria still managed to escape (though that was mostly thanks to Absalom).

As further testament to his potential, Blackbeard, who is known for refusing to recruit weaklings into his crew, asked Moria to become his subordinate.

Moria has a very strong will, which allowed him to sustain 1000 shadows within his body by using Shadow's Asgard, though it did exert him greatly. He was also completely unaffected by a burst of Luffy's Haoshoku Haki during the Summit War of Marineford.

Physical Abilities
True to his large size and mass, Moria has great strength; he effortlessly lifted a grown man with a single hand while squeezing him hard to enough to make him cough up blood. In spite of his physique, however, Moria is incredibly fast: he outran Luffy, who is both much smaller and more accustomed to physical movement, for a considerable amount of time.

Moria possesses considerable endurance, having gotten up immediately after attacks by Nightmare Luffy that toppled Oars and quickly recovered from a powerful strike from Jinbe to battle a commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He is also fairly durable, as he did not take any damage when Nami's Thunderbolt Tempo struck Oars. Also, even though he was crushed under the main tower of Thriller Bark, only a small injury to his head remained after his recovery, as evidenced by his appearance at Marineford.

Tactical Skills
Moria is smart and strategic, demonstrating keen planning on multiple occasions. He often plans ahead with his zombies, placing certain shadows in certain bodies and altering the bodies to suit whatever his purpose would be under the circumstances. He apparently knows of the mechanics behind Bartholomew Kuma's ability to transport people elsewhere instantly, something that most people are not even aware of.

Devil Fruit


Moria ate the Kage Kage no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows him to manifest and control shadows as physical entities. Moria can manifest his own shadow and have it fight in his place, as well as split his shadow into a number of bat-like creatures that he can use to swarm his enemy. He can also instantaneously swap locations with his shadow. His shadow cannot be destroyed and it will simply reform if it gets taken down.

As a basic law for nature, the body and the shadow are always the same shape. Normally, the shadow is slave to the body, but Moria can put the reverse into practice. By altering the shape of a shadow, he can change the shape of the body.

Moria can steal other people's shadows by cutting them off of the owner's body. People who have their shadow stolen are left in a coma for about two days. Furthermore, once someone's shadow has been stolen, sunlight becomes deadly to them, reducing them to ashes almost instantly if they are exposed to it. Victims of shadow theft also lose their reflection. If the person dies, then the shadow will die with them; even when separated, the body and the shadow count as a single being. When stolen shadows are released, they automatically fly back to their original owners.



Moria can insert stolen shadows into his own body, causing him to become bigger and stronger. The more shadows he takes in, the more gigantic he becomes, though it also makes him uncoordinated. The stolen shadows can also be inserted into corpses, reanimating the corpse into a zombie loyal to Moria. When reanimating a zombie, the physical strength comes from the corpse itself, while the personality and fighting techniques come from the shadow and are identical to those of the shadow's original owner.

Shadows can also be placed into the bodies of living people, increasing their physical power and granting them the ability to use the fighting techniques of the shadow's original owner. However, since a living body already has a soul residing inside it, a shadow placed within a living body will only remain for 10 minutes. After that, the shadow will leave and fly back to its owner.

Weapons
Moria wields a giant pair of scissors, which he uses in conjuncture with his Kage Kage no Mi to sever people's shadows. He carries these with him all the time so he can steal shadows even during battle, such as when he took Robin's shadow.

The scissor blades can be disconnected at the joint, becoming two inverted swords for Moria. With shadows of capable swordsmen implanted into himself, Moria can become a swordsman with dual swords.

He is also seen with a sword during his battle against the Beasts Pirates.

Early Years
My words... come from experience. My subordinates... they were famed far and wide... Why did I have to lose them all?!!! At age 26, upon travelling to Loguetown, Moria attended the planned execution of Gol D. Roger, during which he listened to Roger's speech about his treasure One Piece, which presumably contributed to his 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 world.



A year later, while Moria had a bounty of 320,000,000, the Gecko Pirates clashed with the Beasts Pirates in the Ringo region of Wano, during which Moria stole Ryuma's corpse along with Shusui from his grave. The battle resulted in Moria's entire crew being killed in battle. Following his defeat, Moria set about trying to gain enough power to defeat Kaidou, and his outlook of crewmates led to him seeking an undead crew. Returning to his home sea of West Blue, he constructed Thriller Bark, and some time afterwards joined the Seven Warlords of the Sea, resulting in his bounty being frozen.

Crew Reformation


At an unknown point, Moria accepted Absalom into the Thriller Bark Pirates and also found a child named Perona, who he chose to take in and raise as his own, leading to her eventually seeing him as a father figure. Later, at age 38, the crew met Hogback. Upon encountering 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.

In order to build an army, Moria stole corpses from across the world including John, Ryuma, and Oars from the Land of Ice. He stored them in Thriller Park in order for Hogback to transform into zombies. Situating Thriller Park in the the Florian Triangle, the crew ambushed anyone who entered, looking for those with strong shadows, such as pirates with high bounties, and Moria 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 Ryuma. However, Brook returned to Thriller Bark shortly afterward and purified several of Moria's zombie minions in an attempt to retrieve his shadow. Though Brook was defeated by Ryuma, Moria was forced to rebuild his army from the mess he left behind.

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



As the attack commenced, Moria took Sanji and Roronoa Zoro's shadows as they were brought before him, implanting them in the zombies Inuppe and Jigoro, respectively. Later, Luffy was brought to Moria, who expressed his desire to become the Pirate King. After noting that they had only caught Zoro and Sanji prior to obtaining Luffy, Moria berated his subordinates for bickering among themselves over the other Straw Hats escaping and reminded them that he had brought them here to witness the birth of an exceptionally powerful zombie. Luffy attempted to escape but was incapacitated by Perona's Horo Horo no Mi, allowing Moria to cut off his shadow.

Noting that obtaining Luffy's shadow had put him one step closer to becoming the Pirate King, Moria proclaimed that he would not have lost to Kaidou in the New World if he had possessed such a powerful underling before ordering Gyoro, Nin, and Bao to open the door to the special freezer. When Absalom informed him that Brook had returned and was purifying the zombies once more, Moria merely told him to do something about it himself. Soon afterward, Moria, Hogback, Absalom, Perona, and Kumashi walked down the hall to the special freezer, with Moria listening to Hogback explaining the legend of the being whose corpse he found in the ice country before stating that they would revive that legend as the group reached the corpse of Oars.

Moria approached Oars's corpse before informing Luffy's shadow that he was its new master. When Moria explained how he would give it a body and ordered it to forget its past and become his soldier, the shadow nodded its head, prompting Moria to note that the contract was complete before shoving the shadow into Oars's corpse. After a few seconds, Oars began moving and roared, prompting Nami, Usopp, and Tony Tony Chopper to fall out of Kumashi, which Moria noticed and was confused by. However, Moria quickly turned his attention back to Oars, whom he noted with delight was easily ripping off his large chains.

While his zombie minions brought in large amounts of food to satisfy Oars's hunger, Moria explained to Oars how he was a legendary villain from five hundred years ago who was revived to become Moria's underling. However, Oars refused to serve Moria and broke out of the freezer as a grinning Moria watched.

After being informed of Oars climbing up Thriller Bark's mast, Moria noted that they will be able to obtain the shadows of even stronger people and create more special zombies before informing Hogback that they would be needing more marios. When Hildon arrived and informed Hogback of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji waking up and learning how to purify zombies, Moria listened with interest, but was left disappointed when Hogback told him that everything was fine after Perona claimed that she would deal with them herself. Sitting down, Moria told Hogback that he would stay there and play with Oars for a bit.

Soon afterward, Moria was confronted by Luffy. When Luffy demanded that Moria give back the shadows he had taken and threatened to beat him up in order to make him do so, Moria explained that the shadows would only to return to their owners if he commanded them to do so and that he would need to be severely weakened in order to do this, though he did not believe that Luffy would even be able to touch him at his current level of power. Having Doppelman block Luffy's subsequent attack, Moria admitted that he once aspired to become stronger before claiming that he would become the Pirate King through the strength of others. When Luffy proclaimed that he would be the one to become the Pirate King, Moria noted that Oars said the same thing and that Luffy's will was strong in him before revealing that Oars would eventually lose his memories of being Luffy and become completely obedient toward him. Moria proceeded to attack Luffy with Brick Bat while claiming that an inexperienced brat who underestimates others will only be embarrassed in the end. However, Luffy suddenly jumped off the observation deck and kicked Moria from below, angering him.

Eventually, Oars returned, and Moria confirmed that he had become obedient to him before ordering him to mercilessly attack the Straw Hats and transport the survivors to their ship. After telling Oars to display all of his power, Moria ran away, prompting Luffy to pursue him. While continuing to run, Moria taunted Luffy by proclaiming that his crewmates would be falling victim to his fighting prowess while Luffy was chasing him. Eventually, Luffy seemingly caught up with Moria and tackled him, only to discover that it was actually Doppelman, which quickly returned to Moria himself.



When Thriller Bark began moving out of the Florian Triangle due to Oars fooling around with the rudder, Gyoro, Nin, and Bao informed Moria, who merely claimed that he did not care as long as they remained on the ocean before turning his attention to his newly arrived guest, Bartholomew Kuma. Identifying Kuma as being the only Warlord of the Sea who followed the World Government's every order without question, Moria claimed that he was very ominous because his intentions were mysterious before interpreting Kuma's inquiry of where he would like to go on a trip as a challenge to battle. Kuma revealed that he had come to inform Moria of the appointment of Crocodile's successor in the Seven Warlords, Marshall D. Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard. Upon learning that Blackbeard's former bounty was 0, Moria noted that he had done well for the World Government to recognize him before stating that this would restore the world's balance. However, Kuma disagreed and revealed that the World Government was afraid that another Warlord of the Sea would be defeated by the Straw Hats, greatly angering Moria, who was only further enraged when Kuma offered to help him fight the Straw Hats. Demanding to know if Kuma believed he would be defeated by this rookie crew, Moria told him to inform the World Government that the pirate crew that outwitted them were easily made into loyal zombies.

Soon afterward, Moria entered the cockpit within Oars's stomach and noted that the night air was refreshing before asking the shocked Straw Hats if they could really afford to waste time with the dawn approaching. Offering the Straw Hats a chance to fight him, Moria explained that they would be able to free all the shadows if they beat him before pointing out that they would not be able to reach him if they did not beat Oars first. When Usopp attempted to enter the ship's kitchen in order to find more salt, Moria had Oars smash his fist into Usopp and the entrance of the mansion, only for Usopp to be rescued by Brook, who had brought a large bag of salt.

As Moria promised that he was not a mere passenger and that he would show the Straw Hats their worst nightmare, Oars cried out in pain from being burned, which prompted Moria to remind him that the pain he felt was merely a lingering reaction from when he was human before ordering him to put out the fire. When Franky attempted to attack Moria directly with his mortar, Oars moved himself and Moria out of the way before smashing Franky into a nearby building, prompting Moria to gleefully order him to finish Franky off. When Nami arrived, Oars managed to stretch his arm while attacking her, leading Roronoa Zoro to realize that Moria did something upon noticing him laughing.

After making Oars's limbs stretch when he used Gomu Gomu no Kane and Gomu Gomu no Spear, Moria revealed that he was using Kage Kakumei to change the shape of Oars's shadow and thus his body, which is what allowed his body to stretch. When Moria demonstrated that Oars was not limited to simply stretching like rubber by turning his body into a sphere for Oars Ball, Oars asked him to not interfere with his fight, which prompted Moria to apologize and explain that he only wanted to help before ordering Oars to crush the Straw Hats one by one. However, after the Straw Hats managed to inflict a severe injury on Oars's right arm, Moria was prevented from allowing him to stretch by Nico Robin, who physically restrained him with Ochenta Fleur: Cuatro Manos: Hold.

Admitting that Robin's restraints hurt, Moria asked her if she really thought this would stop him before having Doppelman rise from Oars's shadow and using Brick Bat, which injured Robin and knocked her down. When Moria had Doppelman appear behind Robin in preparation for a long-range battle, Robin attempted to break his neck with Cuatro Mano: Clutch, only for Moria to evade the attack by switching places with Doppelman before cutting off Robin's shadow with his scissors. As Moria noted that he did not have a zombie to put Robin's shadow into and that he would simply have to hold onto her for the time being, Sanji attacked him with Diable Jambe: Extra Hachis, but Moria switched places with Doppelman once more to return to Oars's cockpit and apologized for leaving to have a little fun. After Oars pummeled Sanji and Chopper with Gomu Gomu no Gatling, Moria gleefully noted that there were only three targets left.

Moria ordered Oars to crush the remaining three targets. When Usopp shot a large bag of salt into Oars's mouth in an attempt to purify him, Moria had Doppelman catch the bag and throw it back at Usopp, whom he asked if he did not think Moria would be prepared to counter his zombies' weaknesses. As Oars began stomping on Usopp and Nami, Moria enthusiastically encouraged him while proclaiming that he did not want to be able to identify the Straw Hats as human anymore when Oars was done. However, he was interrupted when Nightmare Luffy appeared, having rescued Nami and Usopp. Wondering if Luffy had the power to transform or if he had absorbed shadows, Moria ordered Oars to destroy him, but was shocked when Luffy stopped Oars's Gomu Gomu no Rifle before proceeding to punch Oars back and slam him into the ground with Moria still inside.

As Luffy continued to toss Oars around, a battered Moria wondered what was going on and called Oars pathetic for being beaten up by a lone pirate before wondering if he should leave the cockpit again. However, he was interrupted by Luffy, who punched him in the face with Gomu Gomu no Pistol before unleashing a barrage of punches on both him and Oars with Gomu Gomu no Storm, causing Oars to crash into the mansion and seemingly knocking out Moria.

After Luffy defeated Oars by shattering his spine, Moria emerged from the cockpit and, upon seeing the Rolling Pirates, noted that he now understood how the now-normal Luffy obtained his powerup while refusing to back down from the fight. Noting that Luffy and his crew were not yet strong enough for the New World, Moria proclaimed that Luffy would lose his entire crew like he did and that he only lost his subordinates because they were alive as black tendrils spread out from him across the ground to the zombies nearby. Activating Shadow's Asgard, Moria proceeded to remove the shadows of one thousand zombies and place them in his own body, resulting in him growing to an enormous and misshapen form, before splitting Thriller Bark in half with a single punch. Seeing this, the Straw Hats got up to confront Moria one last time.

Moria struck at Luffy several times, but the latter managed to evade him due to the speed of Gear 2. When Luffy hit him with Gomu Gomu no Jet Rocket and Gomu Gomu no Jet Bazooka, Moria spit up dozens of shadows due to being unable to fully control all of them, prompting him to trap Luffy with Black Box before smashing the box into a wall. When the crumpled box fell on the ground, Moria stomped on it while claiming that this was Luffy's baptism for not knowing his place by defying a Warlord of the Sea. However, Luffy merely broke out of the box and claimed that he would not be crushed by the world because he was made of rubber, angering Moria, before inflating his body with Gear 3 in order to hit Moria with Gomu Gomu no Jet Shell, causing him to spit up even more shadows. Refusing to let his soldiers go, Moria clasped his hands over his mouth in an attempt to keep the shadows in, but Luffy hit him with Gomu Gomu no Jet Shell once more, forcing Moria back into the main mast with such force that it toppled over and fell on him. Finally defeated, Moria told Luffy to go forth and see the real terror of the New World before losing consciousness as the rest of the shadows left his body.

Later, Hogback and Absalom rescued the still unconscious Moria and left Thriller Bark with him on a separate ship.

Amazon Lily Arc
When the World Government called upon the Seven Warlords of the Sea to help them battle Whitebeard and his allies, Moria answered the call and dined alongside all of his fellow Warlords save for Jinbe and Boa Hancock.

Marineford Arc
Moria was present at Marineford alongside Bartholomew Kuma, Donquixote Doflamingo, Dracule Mihawk and Boa Hancock, ready for the battle ahead. He was surprised to learn that Portgas D. Ace was Roger's son.

Upon discovering that Little Oars Jr. is under the command of Whitebeard, Moria expressed an interest in taking the giant's corpse. When Doflamingo cut off Little Oars Jr.'s right leg, an angered Moria decided to demonstrate how to finish him off properly by impaling the giant with Tsuno-Tokage.



When Luffy and his fellow Impel Down escapees fell from the sky and onto the battlefield, an enraged Moria screamed Luffy's title. Wanting to use Luffy's shadow to reanimate Little Oars Jr., Moria attempted to have his zombies fight Luffy, only for Jinbe to splash them with saltwater and reduce them to lifeless bodies. Immediately afterward, Moria was shocked to learn that Luffy was the son of Revolutionary Dragon.



Moria decided to fight Jinbe head-on and absorbed several shadows in order to empower himself, but Jinbe took him down with a single strike. Later, Moria provoked the Whitebeard Pirates' 10th Division Captain Curiel into a fight on the battlefield by stating that he would enjoy seeing Whitebeard die during the war. When Whitebeard was stabbed by Squard, Moria reacted with visible joy.

In the plaza, Moria fought the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies until Whitebeard created a fissure to separate the pirates and the marines. When Whitebeard met his end at the hands of the Blackbeard Pirates, Moria merely smiled while watching.

After Shanks arrived with the purpose of bringing the war to an end, Moria continued to grin. When Sengoku called the war off, Moria stood down along with the rest of the Warlords and Marines.

Post-War Arc


After the war, Moria was brutally attacked by Doflamingo and a group of Pacifista in the backstreets of Marineford because, according to Doflamingo, Moria was deemed to be far too weak to continue serving as a Warlord of the Sea and was to be eliminated there with the world believing him to have died in the war. When Moria asked him if the order was from Sengoku, Doflamingo merely grinned and revealed that it came from even higher up.

Both Absalom and Hogback rescued Moria from Doflamingo's attack at some point.

Perona later read a newspaper article claiming that he died in the war, though Mihawk questioned the validity of this due to recalling that Moria was alive at the end of the battle. Later, while discussing the incident with a member of the World Government, Doflamingo revealed that Moria disappeared before he could deliver the killing blow and wondered if Moria's Devil Fruit ability could be the cause of his disappearance, though his interlocutor had doubts about this. Nonetheless, Doflamingo affirmed that Moria was critically injured and would die no matter what he did.

During the Timeskip
Despite Doflamingo's assertions, several people have reported they have seen Moria alive, and he was in hiding somewhere in the New World.

Wano Country Arc


Moria and his zombie army went on a rampage on Blackbeard's island Hachinosu with Moria demanding for Blackbeard while also searching for Absalom. Moria was relieved when he thought he saw Absalom (actually Catarina Devon in disguise) safe and sound, but he was then struck from behind by an invisible Shiryu, and Moria was shocked that Shiryu used Absalom's power. Moria was then furious when Devon revealed herself and stated that Absalom was killed. Moria then heard Blackbeard's voice on a loudspeaker, inviting him to join his crew while also mentioning the morning newspaper. However, Moria refused and was imprisoned along with other prisoners.

Major Battles

 * Gecko Pirates vs. Beasts Pirates (unseen)
 * Moria and Doppelman vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Moria and Oars vs. Straw Hat Pirates (minus Luffy) and Brook
 * Moria and Oars vs. Nightmare Luffy
 * Moria vs. Straw Hat Pirates
 * Moria (Shadow Asgard form) vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Warlords of the Sea and the Marines vs. Whitebeard Pirates and their allies
 * Moria, Bartholomew Kuma and Donquixote Doflamingo vs. Little Oars Jr.
 * Moria vs. Jinbe
 * Moria vs. Curiel
 * Moria vs. Donquixote Doflamingo and the Pacifista army
 * Moria and his zombie army vs. Blackbeard Pirates

Early Concepts
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces, an early concepts of Moria were revealed, showing how he underwent many transformations before becoming his official appearance. One picture shows an early concept of Moria that looks nothing like his current look, with him wearing a strange mask and a hood. The other shows how first, Moria was supposed to be a pastor who had a split personality, and even after his appearance became closer to that of what he is now, his setting was a schemer that sets traps.

Translation and Dub Issues
His name is spelled "Gekko Moriah" in One Piece Green: Secret Pieces and the One Piece Exhibition. However, Chapter 925 romanized it as "Gecko Moria".

An old misconception among fans is that Moria's epithet is believed to be "King of the Depths". In reality, the full name for the Seven Warlords of the Sea 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.

Anime and Manga Difference
In the manga, Moria's hair is red, while in the anime in the Thriller Bark Arc, it is purple.

In the anime, Jinbe claimed that Moria's dependence on absorbing other people's shadow does not actually make him stronger.

Merchandise


As a prominent character, he has been featured in the fan merchandise. Moria has been featured with the Seven Warlords of the Sea in the series of One Piece Seven Warlords Cellphone Strap and twice in the One Piece Super Deformed Figures. He was recently released in the One Piece DX Figure models. He was released in the One Piece World Collectable Figure series in July 2010 along with the rest of the Warlords.

Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Unlimited Cruise
 * One Py Berry Match
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
 * One Piece: Burning Blood
 * One Piece Treasure Cruise
 * One Piece Bounty Rush
 * One Piece Thousand Storm
 * One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!

Enemy Appearances

 * One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Gigant Battle
 * One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
 * One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X
 * One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4

Trivia

 * At Thriller Bark, he told Luffy that with his current strength, he would lose his crew. Not long after that, the Straw Hats did indeed suffer a crushing defeat and separation at the Sabaody Archipelago, thus beginning a training period of two years to prepare themselves for the New World.
 * In the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th fan polls of most popular characters, Moria was ranked 44th, 72nd, 111th, and 74th, respectively.
 * Moria is currently the only known Warlord of the Sea (current or former) without a known epithet.
 * At 48 age and 692 cm, Moria is the oldest and tallest individual known to ever hold a position as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
 * Based on his name, Moria's animal theme is a gecko.
 * Both parts of his name may support his theme: Gekkō (月光), in Japanese means "moonlight" (which suits his horror theme as well), and may also come from the English word gecko, a type of lizard, and "Moria" may come from 蠑螈 which can be read as imori, meaning "newt", or Mori-ao-gaeru (モリアオガエル), since geko (ゲコ) is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a frog's croak. And the bolded letters of Gecko Moria, which makes komori, means "bat" in Japanese.
 * It is also possible that the character's name makes reference to the novel The Island of Dr Moreau, by H. G. Wells, in which a scientist by the name of Doctor Moreau gets stranded on an island and makes experiments, creating monsters by mixing the body parts of animals and men. The similarities between the plot of the novel and the elements of the Thriller Bark arc, along with the similar sounding names of the masters of the islands, seem to confirm the idea that Moria's name is, at least in part, a reference to Moreau.
 * Moria is one of the few characters that keep their unique laugh in the FUNimation dub.
 * He is the first character who was able to imitate the usage of the Gomu Gomu no Mi using a different Devil Fruit, the Kage Kage no Mi. The second and third being Charlotte Brûlée and Charlotte Katakuri using the Mira Mira no Mi and Mochi Mochi no Mi respectively.
 * While Brûlée and Katakuri used the techniques themselves, Moria used Kage Kakumei to manipulate Oars' shadow to perform the attacks.
 * Bentham tried to fool Magellan by using Gomu Gomu no Okama Pistol, Okama Gatling, and Okama Giant Scythe, though he only copied the naming pattern and not the attacks themselves.
 * In the characters description and summary of Volume 47 (page 5), Moria is stated as 元七武海 Moto Shichibukai, which can be translated to "former Warlord of the Sea" which was inaccurate at the time. However, this never appeared in the actual chapters.
 * In the Funimation English dub, his name is pronounced with a rolled R, likely in reference to the Spanish origins of the name.
 * Moria is the only known character to be the captain of two separate crews: the Gecko Pirates and the Thriller Bark Pirates.
 * Kibagaeru, the former captain of the Fanged Toad Pirates, became the captain of the Foxy Pirates in an anime-only arc.
 * Moria's favorite food is marinated caviar.

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