Chapter 342 Moonlight Moria
We all know that Kaido occupied Wano Country more than 23 years ago and joined forces with Kurozumi Orochi to continuously exploit the people here. It was also because of this base that Kaido developed from a "small pirate" in the Rocks Pirates to a hegemon leading thousands of people in just years. However, few people know that years ago, Gekko Moriah and Kaido had a battle in Wano Country that almost changed the world.
Speaking of Moriah, everyone's impression of him is that of a fat man on a terrifying three-masted barque. He is huge with a big beer belly. He is very lazy even in battle and doesn't want to do anything. Although he is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, his strength is very average. Not to mention that he was defeated by the fledgling Luffy more than two years ago, he was abandoned by the World Government and was almost assassinated by Mingo. After that, he fled all the way and was almost killed by Blackbeard. He is simply a general who always loses.
If Moriah is so average, why do we still say that he and Kaido were evenly matched 23 years ago? We have to mention the battle in Wano Country. At that time, the Rocks Pirates were disbanded by Roger and Garp, and Kaido came out to set up his own company, but his strength was not top-notch in that era, and he could not compare with Roger, Whitebeard, Golden Lion and other great pirates. In order to strengthen his own strength, Kaido set his sights on Wano Country, which is not under the jurisdiction of the World Government and is rich in mineral resources.
However, in addition to Kaido, Moriah also discovered this treasure land when he was young, so the two fought, and the war ended with Moriah's defeat. The reason why it was called a disastrous defeat was that except for himself, everyone else in Moriah's pirate group was killed by Kaido. From then on, Moriah became decadent and took the saying "Because you live, you will lose" as his life creed. So Moriah became increasingly depressed, neglected to exercise, and his strength became weaker year by year.
Especially ten years ago, he met the genius surgeon Hogback, one who could take away other people's shadows, and the other who could create many powerful corpses. The two hit it off and started a 10-year zombie army creation plan. With the help of the zombie army, Moria's pirate group's overall strength has improved, and it has also been recognized by the government and recruited to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, but his personal strength is still declining.
So it is reasonable that he was defeated by Luffy two years ago. In the past 20 years, Kaido has been constantly looking for people to challenge and expanding his power everywhere. I don’t know how many times he has been imprisoned and how many tough battles he has fought. Naturally, his strength has been steadily improving. On the other hand, Moriah kept indulging himself and became a hands-off boss in the later period. In fact, you can tell from his appearance that Moriah was very strong when he was young and he was not easy to mess with at first glance, but Moriah in the later period was just a fat man, and a lazy fat man.
In fact, it is not just Luffy. Many pirates have the dream of becoming the "Pirate King", such as Kidd, Buggy and others. However, there is only one "Pirate King" in the end, and countless pirates are knocked down by reality on the road to their dreams, thus giving up their dreams. Among them, there is a captain who cherishes his crew like Luffy. Because of a battle, he gave up the dream of "Pirate King", lurked and bided his time, waiting for the opportunity to avenge his crew.
This captain is none other than Gekko Moriah, one of the former Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Seeing this, you may be puzzled. Isn't this one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea with very poor strength? How could he have dreamed of becoming the Pirate King? If you sort out the timeline of Wano Country, you can see the energetic Moria through the small chapter of Kozuki Oden's memories.
1. Go ahead, Moria
The story of Moriah's boyhood is not told in the plot. We can only see Moriah's optimistic and visionary boy through his appearance. We don't know where Moriah started from. We only know that Moriah's dream-chasing journey took him through the Grand Line and landed in Wano Country in the new world. Being able to reach Wano Country, Moriah is no longer an ordinary pirate, so he is qualified enough to receive the invitation to become a Shichibukai.
2. Peak Battle, Hard Fight with the Four Emperors
Also in the short chapter of Kozuki Oden's memories, there is a record of Moria landing in Kuri, Wano Country and fighting with Kaido's Beasts Pirates. This battle was a dark battle, with countless casualties, and the blood dyed the Kuri beach red. In the end, Moria's pirate group suffered heavy casualties and was no longer able to compete for the position of Pirate King. On Kaido's side, his strength was also greatly reduced. After a few years of delay, he had the strength to completely turn against Kozuki Oden and annex Wano Country.
3. Hatred in the heart, abandoning dreams and forbearance
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Moriah's feelings for his companions are comparable to Luffy's. It was also because of this battle with Kaido in Wano Country that Moriah gave up his dream of becoming the "Pirate King" and returned to the Grand Line, lurking and using his abilities to treat the crew as much as possible. On the other hand, he continued to collect powerful shadows to strengthen the strength of the pirate group and accumulate strength for revenge against Kaido.
However, Moriah failed again. He was first defeated by Luffy, and then his partner Absalom's invisibility fruit was spotted by Blackbeard, who killed him and took away his power. Moriah, who was concerned about his partners, single-handedly attacked the Blackbeard Pirates' base, Honeycomb Island. When he saw Shiryu of the Rain use the power of the invisibility fruit, Moriah was about to fight Shiryu of the Rain. Here we can also see Moriah's feelings for his partners.
Of course, Moriah is no match for the Blackbeard Pirates, and Blackbeard gave Moriah two choices, one is death, and the other is obedience. The author feels that Moriah will pretend to obey, wait for the right time, take advantage of Luffy's relationship, and take revenge on Kaido and Blackbeard. After all, a captain who values his partners is the same person as Luffy.
Everyone knows about Moriah. Luffy once broke into Gekko Moriah's territory in the first half of the Grand Line. The Gekko Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates had a fierce conflict. At this time, it was also mentioned that Moriah had a fierce conflict with Kaido in the New World.
24 years ago, Moriah was at the execution site of Roger, the "Pirate King", and he should have gained something at the scene. 23 years ago, the high-spirited Moriah led his own pirate group and fought against the pirate group led by Kaido in the bell queen of Wano Country.
At that time, Moria was not a fat man, and his neck was not that long. Holding a big knife and smiling, Moria was so confident. Unfortunately, Moria was defeated and all his companions died. This battle directly hit Moria's self-confidence. He no longer believed in living people, created zombies, used the power of external objects, and neglected his cultivation.
After 20 years of staying at home, Moria encountered Luffy and was defeated again.
How strong was Moria at that time?
From Moria's defeat to Kaido, we know that Moria is no match for Kaido. However, Moria dared to fight Kaido, so his strength must be much stronger than his own 20 years later. Moria, who was full of vigor and vitality, held a big sword and fought Kaido, and he might have the strength of the Nine Red Scabbards.