Moria Gecko

Moria Gecko

Moria Gecko (モリア･ゲッコー, Moria Gekkō) is a former Warlord who resided on the largest ship in the world, Thriller Bark. His frozen bounty is 320,000,000 Berries. He is also the main antagonist of the Thriller Bark Saga who stole the shadows of Brook and various other beings with the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. He is also a major antagonist in the Navyford Arc where he took part in the Battle of Navyford and sided with the Navy, along with most of the other Seven Warlords of the Sea. Upon the war's end, he was stripped of his title and was to be eliminated by Doflamingo Don Quixote, but managed to escape before he was killed, leaving Moriah's overall status unknown.

"."

—Moria Gecko.

Appearance

Voice Actor: Chris Guerrero (English), Katsuhisa Hōki (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

Biography

Owner of the pirate ship Thriller Bark.

Once in the Seven Warlords of the Sea, he lost his role after the Paramount War.

His motto is "Let other people do it."

With the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, he can steal other people's shadow and then use them to create a zombie army.

Appearance

Moria is an abnormally large person with very distinct, devil-like features. Standing at 689 cm. (22'6") in height, he was the second tallest among the Warlords before his position was revoked. His animal theme is a gecko, based off his general appearance, the claw like endings of his gloves, and his collar resembling a lizard frill. His overall design resembles a giant leek.

The Young Past Days

In SBS Volume 63, Oda drew the Seven Warlords as children, with Moria gleefully pulling off the leg of a hapless ghost doll. His horns and hair were shorter, and he 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.

During Roger D. Gol's execution twenty-two years before Luffy D. Monkey set out on his adventure, Moria looked much thinner and had a pointed chin.

Pre-Timeskip

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 purple and sticks straight up, splitting in two and slightly curving down near the top. His skin is an almost-white pale blue, his lips are a darker shade, and matching his 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 Seven Warlords of the Sea at the Navy Headquarters and later on during/after the war, Moriah added a fur-laced cape to his attire.

Post-Timeskip

• Hair Color: Purple
• Skin Color: White
• Eye Color: Black
• Age: 48 (debut), 50 (after timeskip)
• Birthday: September 6th
• Height: 689 cm. (22'6")
• Weight: Not Known

Personality

"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!!!"

—Moria expresses his beliefs.

He maintains a relaxed and laid-back stance at all times, seemingly appearing to believe he cannot lose. He also believes that a true pirate should fear nothing, not even death.

In most situations similar to fellow Warlord, Doflamingo Don Quixote, 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 in the Japanese version, 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; Jimbei noted that Moria had grown weak from his lack of training.

Moria desires to become the new King of the Pirates, 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, Tarikihongan) and his favorite phrase is "You do it!!" (お前がやれ, Omae ga yare). This also extends to his fighting style, as he prefers to lay back and let his shadow battle with the powers of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.

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.

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

In the past, Moria had many powerful crewmates whom 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 Kaido 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 (having yet to return since), 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 Kaido 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 Kaido became one of Moria's driving motivations.

Relationships

Friends/Allies

• Moria's Pirate Crew

Abilities and Powers

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 Kuma Bartholomew's ability to transport people elsewhere instantly, something that most people are not even aware of.

Moria is a former Warlord, as well as one of the most experienced pirates in the entire Grand Line. At his prime, he was referred to as being a "rival" to Kaido, one of the Four Emperors (though eventually he lost his entire crew to the man). In Navyford, he was strong enough to battle Curiel, one of the division commanders in the Whitebeard Pirates, while sustaining no injuries aside from a strike he suffered from Jimbei (a fellow 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. Jimbei claimed that Moria's dependence on absorbing the shadows of other people has weakened him.

After the Battle of Navyford ended, Doflamingo Don Quixote claimed that the government had deemed Moria too weak to continue to bear the title of Warlord 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.

Physical Abilities

Moria possesses considerable endurance, having gotten up immediately after attacks by Nightmare Luffy that toppled Oars and quickly recovered from a powerful strike from Jimbei to battle a commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Moriah is also fairly durable, as he did not take any damage when Nami's Thunderbolt Tempest 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 Navyford.

In addition to his considerable resistance to damage and fatigue, Moriah possesses impressive willpower; using Shadow's Asgard, he managed to sustain 1000 shadows within his body, though it did exert him greatly. His willpower also prevented him from being knocked out by Luffy's Conqueror's Haki at Navyford.

Curséd Fruit

Main article: Shadow-Shadow Fruit

Moria ate the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, a Paramythia-type Curséd Fruit that allows him to manifest and control shadows as physical beings. It is this fruit that allowed him to build his zombie army by depriving living beings of their shadows and implanting them in dead bodies. Moria can have his own shadow, which he calls Doppelman, fight for him; in addition to being mostly solid and easily changing its form into things like tiny bats, Doppelman cannot be destroyed and will continue to reform. Moria can switch locations with his shadow instantaneously, which he uses to dodge attacks.

Even if he has no zombies to do his fighting for him or shadows to increase his own strength, Moria is a fairly strong fighter with just his own shadow, having used it to impale Little Oars Jr. through the chest.

The Shadow-Shadow Fruit allows Moria to steal the shadows of others. The theft of another person's shadow causes them to be vaporized if they come in contact with direct sunlight. Moria can create a zombie by implanting a stolen shadow into a lifeless corpse. People who have their shadow stolen are left in a coma for two days and do not have reflections. If they die, the zombie with their shadow loses the shadow.

Moria can place someone's shadow inside of someone's living body, increasing physical power and possibly granting them a fighting technique. Moria can also grab multiple shadows and insert them into his own body for a power and size increase; the culmination of this is his last resort technique Shadow's Asgard, where Moria absorbs the shadows from all of his zombies at once. On Thriller Bark, Moria absorbed 1000 shadows at once, giving him a monstrous increase in both size and strength that allowed him to split his ship in half with one punch.

Techniques

• Shadow Slash (影切り, Kage Giri): This technique is how Moria extract shadows. Moria pulls the victim's shadow from the ground like tape once a light source causes them to cast a shadow. Then, he cuts them with his scissors. Now with this new shadow, Moria can use it in a variety of ways such as implant into a zombie corpse to make a new zombie soldier or implant in himself into order to get stronger. The victim will slip into a coma shortly afterward. The victim will no longer be able to cast a shadow. Plus, without a shadow, the user cannot step out into the sunlight as they will be vaporized by the sun. The effects of this technique were first seen on Brook, but the actual method was first seen when Moria stole Luffy's shadow. This technique was first named in Fairy One Piece Tail: Burning Blood.

• Doppelman (ドッペルマン, Dopperuman): The name of the dark silhouette-like figure Moriah makes using his own shadow. He does this by using his Devil Fruit powers on his own shadow, causing it to rise from whatever surface it is being cast upon by his body and into a three-dimensional mobile state. Moriah generally has this "shadow clone" fight in his stead. Being immortal and able to regenerate, Doppelman is the ultimate shield against most attacks and will block almost any incoming attack, but Luffy finds out that it may be tricked by sneak attacks and so cannot defend against everything. This was first seen being used against Luffy. The name comes from "Doppelgänger", a tangible double of a living person that typically represents evil.

• Shadow Warrior (影武者, Kagemusha): Moriah can swap places with Doppelman at any time, allowing Moriah to practice a form of teleportation of sorts, making it very hard to hit him. This was properly shown and explained when Robin Nico attempted to snap his neck with four gigantic arms. This technique's name comes from the term used in Japanese to refer to an impersonator.

• Brick Bat (ブリック・バット, Burikku Batto): Moria transforms Doppelman into a myriad of ball, which turn into a swarm of bats that can attack an opponent. Because the bats are so small, numerous, and immortal, this attack is very difficult to counter or avoid, and the constant annoyance can make opponents get fatigued quickly. After being used, the bats can merge to reform Doppelman. This was first seen being used against Luffy. The name may be a pun on the word "brickbat" which designates a brick used as a weapon.
  • Brick Bat: Area: Moriah sends out swarms Brick Bats in all directions. One of Moriah's Special Attacks in One Piece: Burning Blood.
  • Brick Bat: Front: Moriah sends out a swarm of Brick Bats from his shadow forward. One of Moriah's Special Attacks in One Piece: Burning Blood.

• Shadow Revolution (影革命, Kage Kakumei): Moria implants his shadow into that of his target; with his shadow inside theirs, he can manipulate the shape of the target's shadow, and when the shadow's shape is changed, the target's body will be changed too. This is first seen being used on Oars. Moria can do this because of the general rule about shadows; a shadow will always comply with the body casting it, and because of that, the shadow and the body are always the same shape. By changing the shape of the body's shadow with Moria's powers, the body is forced to match the shape of the shadow. In effect, it is the reverse of a shadow changing shape to match with the body casting it because it is the body that is now transforming to match the shape of the shadow it is casting.
  • Oars Ball (オーズ・ボール, Ōzu Bōru): Using Shadow Revolution on Oars' shadow, Moria changes Oars into a gigantic ball to crush his opponents. This was first seen being used against the Straw Hats, Team Natsu and Brook; however, the attack's power was not shown because Oars asked Moria to finish the Straw Hats and Team Natsu himself.

• Shadow's Asgard (シャドーズ・アスガルド, Shadōzu Asugarudo): A supplementary, but powerful technique where Moriah empowers himself with the shadows he has stolen by absorbing them. In doing so, his size and physical strength are increased in proportion to the amount of shadows he has absorbed. On Thriller Bark, he accomplished this by using his own shadow to impale and remove the shadows of his zombie minions, absorbing 1,000 shadows into himself. The large number of shadows increased his proportions to rival that of Oars, and gave him physical strength sufficient to split Thriller Bark in half with a single attack. In this form, Moriah's neck bloated to extreme proportions, similar to how a gecko puffs up its throat when threatened. His horns also became longer, and his hair became spiky. His arms also became very huge. while his legs became longer compared to their original stubby appearance. Because of his body proportions in this form, Moriah was forced to walk on all fours. When used against Jimbei, Moriah took in a much smaller amount of shadows (around a dozen at most), which merely doubled his height without much change in his proportions or appearance. The drawback to this technique is that Moriah gains size at the cost of speed; when used against Luffy, he was practically unable to land a hit while Luffy was in Gear Second. In addition to losing speed, Moriah has trouble controlling large amounts of shadows inside his own body, and is prone to regurgitate them in small amounts if struck hard enough. This decreases his overall power, as the shadows return to their original owners when liberated. Zolo notes that this technique is more of a desperate last resort than a trump card. In the anime, he has a green aura while absorbing the shadows, and his voice is deepened and distorted. This technique's name comes from Asgard, the Norse mythological city of the gods.

• Black Box (ブラック・ボックス, Burakku Bokkusu): While in his form upgraded by Shadow's Asgard, Moria turns his shadow, made even larger by his now-colossal form, into several Brick Bats, which he has transform and completely encase an opponent in a black box made out of solidified shadows. With his opponent encased in the box, Moria repeatedly smashes them with either his hands or feet. This was first seen being used against Luffy while in Gear Second.

• Spiky Shadow Lizard (角刀影, Tsuno-Tokage): Gathering his shadow together, Moriah shoots out a large shadow spear at an opponent; the tip of this spear resembles a horned lizard. This was first seen being used against Little Oars Jr.. The kanji for the move reads Horn Blade Shadow; however, pronunciation-wise, it resembles the Japanese word for Horned Lizard, thus making the name a pun.

Weapons

Moria wields a giant pair of scissors, which he uses in conjuncture with his Shadow-Shadow Fruit 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 middle joint, becoming two inverted swords for Moria. With shadows of capable swordsmen implanted into himself, Moriah can become a swordsman with dual swords.

History

Past

Early Years

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

At an unknown point, Moriah found a young Perona, choosing to take her in and raise her as his own, and she eventually began to see him as a father figure.

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 Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, and also became a Warlord. While in the New World, his entire crew was apparently killed. Their deaths affected his entire outlook about subordinates. After the loss of his crew, Moria set about trying to gain enough power to beat Kaido.

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, Cindry Victoria, back to life. Through the use of his Curséd 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 Jigoro. 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 Jigoro, Moria was forced to rebuild his army from the mess he left behind.

Battles

Canon

• Moria Gecko vs. Kaido (past battle, unseen)
• Moria Gecko (with Doppleman) vs. Luffy D. Monkey
• Moria Gecko and Oars vs. Straw Hat Pirates (minus Luffy), Team Natsu and Brook
• Moria Gecko and Oars vs. Nightmare Luffy
• Moria Gecko vs. Straw Hat Pirates and Team Natsu
• Moria Gecko (Shadow Asgard form) vs. Luffy D. Monkey
• Seven Warlords of the Sea and the Navy vs. Whitebeard Pirates and their allies
  • Moria Gecko, Kuma Bartholomew and Doflamingo Don Quixote vs. Little Oars Jr.
  • Moria Gecko vs. Jimbei
  • Moria Gecko vs. Curiel
• Moria Gecko vs. Doflamingo Don Quixote and the Pacifista army

Anime and Manga Differences

In the manga, Moria's hair is red, while in the anime, it is purple.

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

External links

• Gecko - Wikipedia article about the animal Moriah's animal theme is based on.
• Moria Gecko One Piece Encyclopedia

Notes & 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 5th Japanese Fan Poll, Moria Gecko is ranked the 72nd most popular character in One Piece.
• Moria is currently the only known Warlord (current or former) without a known epithet.
• Based on his name, general appearance and the collar of his shirt bearing a resemblance to a lizard's frilled neck, his animal theme is that of a gecko.
• Both parts of his name may support his theme: Gekko, in Japanese means "moonlight" (which suits his horror theme as well), sounds like the English word gecko, a type of lizard, and "Moriah" may come from 蠑螈 which can be read as "imori", meaning "newt". And the bolded letters of Gekko Moriah, which makes Komori, means "bat" in Japanese.