The pre-time skip era of One Piece has a wide cast of antagonists.

Many of them are comedic characters who pose a limited direct threat to the the Strawhat Crew. They can still be dangerous foes, but there’s usually something else going on for the crew to deal with. The Strawhats came out of these confrontations victorious and continued on their journey. Nothing until being totally outclassed by an admiral and the Summit War actually gave them pause.

That’s why it’s so strange to see these defeated characters in the limelight again. So long as they’re alive, Oda has a use for them in the story. The biggest example of this is Buggy the Clown. He has a surprisingly important backstory and has managed to fail upwards to become an emperor. Buggy’s success is despite him, but he’s still highly successful. Gecko Moria, on the other hand, has yet to show much real improvement despite coming back into the story recently.

Moria Was Like Luffy Once

Moria first starts out as an antagonist twice over in the series. Not only is he responsible for the zombies in Thriller Bark and keeping Brook trapped, but he also sides with the marines during Marineford. However, he is taken out by Doflamingo because he lost to the Strawhats. When Luffy and his crew meet Moria, Moria is at his lowest. Moria was once a very different pirate. He went out to see because of Roger’s execution and the promise of the one piece. Moria actually made it all the way to Wano until he was ruined by Kaido.

He was captain of the Gecko pirates, but he was left as the last survivor of his crew. This broke Moria. He gave into his fear. While he managed to regain enough power to establish the Thriller Bark Pirates and become a warlord, he stopped training and let himself stagnate. However, Luffy’s actions and the Marine’s betrayal have changed things for him again. Moria is now interested in restoring the Thriller Bark pirates. He had the ambition to return to the New World, the loyalty to restore his crew and the pride to say no to Blackbeard. Moria wants to be the person he once was, the person who had a lot in common with Luffy.

He Got All the Way To Wano

While the audience never learns the details of Moria’s original journey, that he got to Wano is interesting enough. Wano is very close to Loadstar Island, and it has ties to the poneglyphs. Moria was strong enough to make it very far into the New World. He ends up robbing the grave of Shimotsuki Ryuma of both his body and his sword. Despite the loss he suffered, Moria clearly spent time in Wano. This implies a level of power that Moria has yet to show because he struggles with his trauma.

The Shadow-Shadow Fruit Could Be A Game Changer

• The most basic use of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit is the ability to make shadows corporeal.
• Shadows can be stolen, and people who lose their shadows die in sunlight.
• Shadows can be given to bodies to make zombies controlled by Moria.
• When a shadow is connected to someone, it can be contorted, forcing that person to move in the same way.
• The users own shadow is also much stronger and has unique abilities.

The Shadow-Shadow fruit embodies the way Paramecia devil fruits have multiple uses. Specifically, it is well suited for controlling a large group of people, and Moria uses it well when opportunities like the Summit War arise. Armies can be amassed quickly, and it’s easy to steal numbers from opponents due to the wide array of uses. Plus, as it’s been years since Moria lost at Thriller Bark, he’s likely much stronger at using his own shadow to protect him.

One of the ultimate uses of the fruit is that people whose shadows are stolen die in sunlight. If this happens to the right opponent, Moria has the ability to end a difficult fight quickly. There’s something poignant thematically about a power that instantly kills with sunlight considering the recent prevalence of Nika and Gear 5. Moria has made an enemy out of Blackbeard, just like Luffy has. In the future, he may find himself facing one of the Ten Titanic Captains and using the sunlight Luffy brings to win that fight.

Gecko Moria is an easy character to write off; that’s what the Marines did during Marineford. However, he has made an unexpected comeback. The desire to reclaim his crew has relit the fire in him that Kaido once put out. With his hinted at strength and flexible devil fruit, he can do critical damage to his enemies. He even has a Seraphim based on him. Plus, Moria and Luffy may find that the enemy of their enemy is their friend, leading to a fortuitous team-up.