I felt this topic was interesting and important enough to derserve its own thread… consider it a "Moria appreciation thread", if you wil. ^^
If you took more then a passing glance at the words of Moria as I have then you have probably come to notice the same thing that I have. There is more to him then just a dracula wardrobe and a gut.
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The text in these two pages of chapter 381 (as well as the sadistic look on his face) reveal the heart of the Shichibukai, broken though it may be. We find out that, unlike many other pirates whom Luffy sent flying, Moria had a deep respect (if not love) for his former nakama before the New World took them from him. Personally when I read that text ("if they had all been zombies, dead right from the start, I would have lost nothing") I kinda felt bad for him.
Apparently when Moria's heart was broken his mind went with it, and in his despair and twisted logic he created an army of nakama who would never die. Although I am sure that Moria really did plan on taking over the seas with his army, I believe that his driving motivation was to bring back that which he had lost. In this repsect, Moria is more of a "horror villain" then we may have given him credit for… as at the heart of most horror myhtology is a tragic, corrupted, and overall misunderstood character who accomplished cruel things with idealistic intentions (Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Jekkyl, etc.).
I absolutely love the way Oda dealt with the portrayal of Gecko Moria! He added a lot of depth to his character without over-emphasizing it and having him announce his despair and grief for his fallen comrades every time you saw him. I would like for Moria to remain defeated and completely leave the manga from this point onward, but it wouldn't surprise me if, in the next few chapters, he gave an emo speech about his life before and after arriving in the New World.
Gecko Moria was overall a very well-done villian, worthy of entering the halls of the Greats of One Piece. He will be sorely missed (at least by me). :sad: