Gecko Moria, the Kage Kage no Mi Devil Fruit user, made life difficult for the Straw Hat Pirates during the events of the Thriller Bark arc. Even though he was defeated, the former warlord reappeared in the story again and again, hinting at a much larger role waiting for him. Thus, the fans also begin to have faith that Oda is planning something for this character and have been waiting to watch what the future holds in store for him. Our patience has finally paid off as Eiichiro Oda has made a shocking revelation about Gecko Moria on the cover page of One Piece chapter 1158.
In the previous chapter’s cover page, Yamato visited the grave of a hero from Wano Country who died in the act of protecting his village against Kaido, but suspiciously, his body was never found. In One Piece Chapter 1158’s cover, the hero’s name is revealed to be “Kozuki Moria”. Does this name ring a bell? Yes! It is none other than our Gecko Moria, who is now confirmed to hail from the renowned Kozuki clan of Wano Country.
In Kaido’s backstory, we learned that Gecko Moria went against the strongest creature in the world, which resulted in the death of his entire crew. The story of the hero, which was being revealed slowly in the recent serial covers, was telling us the same story of Moria all along.
Similar to how Kozuki Oden stood up against Kaido, another hero from the Kozuki clan risked his life to save his village. And yeah, this means that Gecko Moria, Oden, Momonosuke, etc, are related by blood in the One Piece story now.
The clues have been right in front of our eyes all along, as fans noticed the clever wordplay of the author. Gecko is nothing but the Kozuki kanji phrase written in reverse, and literally means moonlight.
Now it makes perfect sense how Gecko Moria was able to get his hands on the corpse of Shimotsuki Ryuma (Zoro’s ancestor) and the Shusui sword. We all know the story of how Moria bounced back from the loss against Kaido and moved on to reign over Thriller Bark. But with his latest lineage reveal, it makes us wonder about what Moria’s role will be from now on.
Thanks to Perona, Gecko Moria escaped during the Hachinosu saga after being imprisoned by the Blackbeard Pirates. Now that he is confirmed to be a Kozuki member, it further heavily hints that Gecko Moria will soon join the list of a handful of individuals who can read the Poneglyphs. The Kozuki Clan created the poneglyphs and passed on the knowledge of decoding them.
Therefore, if Gecko Moria is confirmed to be a Poneglyph reader, then we have no doubts that he will join the infamous “Cross Guild” as they are the only organization in the final race that doesn’t have one. Moreover, there is also a popular theory that all the members who were present during Roger’s execution, such as Mihawk, Crocodile, Buggy, Gecko Moria, and Doflamingo, will join forces under the Cross Guild banner.
Thus, the future looks very promising for Gecko Moria, whom we should start calling Kozuki Moria from now on. Let’s see if he can redeem himself as the hero he once was in the future. That said, what do you think about the new lore drop about Moria? Let us know in the comments below.
Aparna Ukil
