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Gecko Moria is a Kozuki and Hero of Wano! One Piece Chapter 1158 Early Spoilers!

With Moria’s escape, could he be the key to Buggy joining the hunt for the One Piece as a Kozuki who can read the Poneglyphs?

ONE PIECE © 1997 by Eiichiro Oda/SHUEISHA Inc.

In the previous One Piece chapter, Shakuyaku arrives on Hachinosu, becoming its “treasure”, and Harald is offered a proposition by the Five Elders: to kill Rocks so Elbaph can join the World Government.

One Piece Chapter 1158 is titled, “Rocks vs Harald!”

We get a massive reveal in Volume 40 of the Oni Child Yamato’s Golden Harvest Surrogate Pilgrimage, where we finally learn the name of the nameless hero who fought against Kaido.

Kozuki Moria.

This is massive because this explains why Moria is so connected to Wano and why he is essentially the man who “opened the doors of Wano” to the world, more specifically the audience of the real world.

Gecko (月光) is the reverse of Kōzuki (光月) in Japanese

月光 = Moonlight (Gekkou)

光月 = Light moon (Kouzuki)

When you read it in English, you pronounce Moria’s surname “Gecko” simply as “geko” or “gekow”. 

In Japanese, it is read and pronounced as “gekkou” (double consonant accent in the middle and elongated o at the end), which sounds similar to the term “月光” (gekkō) – “moonlight”.

The two names sound so alike that perhaps Japanese audiences might have immediately assumed that Gecko Moria is actually a Kozuki.

This is especially the case that we are getting raw information directly translated this way, that the name would indeed be read as Kozuki Moria.

That being said, Moria’s connection with Wano is still not far off as Gecko is a lizard and Kaido’s ally, Hanafuda, collects Ancient Zoans and many of Kaido’s men use lizard-related Devil Fruits, including Kaido himself in a way.

Also recall that in Chapter 1154: “Can’t Even Die”, the grave was said to belong to a hero from the West Blue that was raised in Ringo.

There is only one relevant character that arrived in Wano who happened to be born in the West Blue and it is none other than Gecko Moria.

This chapter is also where we learn that Rocks is the father of Blackbeard, so in a way the cover story for that chapter was already setting up something just as massive.

Now we understand why he ties heavily in the Wano Country Arc, as not only did he steal the body and sword of Ryuma, the national hero of Wano but he was also defeated by Kaido, the colonial ruler of Wano.

Ringo is Ryuma’s home region anyway and the Kozuki are the ruling family of Wano, so it all adds up, on top of the Kozuki line under Oden and Sukiyaki being descendants of the legendary swordsmith, Kotetsu that crafted Zoro’s Sandai Kitetsu and Ame no Habakiri, the sword now wielded by Momonosuke and inherited from his father Oden.

Moria also faked his death when he was surrounded by Doflamingo and the Pacifistas in the aftermath of the Marineford Arc.

So that was not his first time doing so as he faked his death to prevent anyone from his homeland from ever finding him, both for his protection and theirs.

The Thriller Bark Arc centered around Moria being a sluggish, lazy villain because of the traumatizing defeat in Kaido’s hands.

And it becomes even more personal because Moria was not a random invader like Kaido.

He was in Wano because that was his home and Kaido attacked Ringo.

Kaido dealt a serious blow to Moria, not simply a blow to his pride but a blow to his soul.

Kaido had invaded his country and he likely blames himself for letting this happen.

So he builds an undying army of zombies using his Kage Kage no Mi in order to possibly strike back at Kaido but due to how demotivated and depressed Moria has been, he may have given up on his dream and just maintained dominance in the Florian Triangle and as a Warlord of the Sea, for the sake of protecting his fragile, crumbling ego and soul.

This reveal makes Gecko Moria one of the most tragic villains in One Piece, a man who lost everything, especially his home of Wano, to an invader and is now dedicated to not letting history repeat itself but like everyone on Wano, he has given up due to Kaido’s fearsome power.

But perhaps with news about Luffy defeating Kaido and his own escape from Hachinosu, Moria might change.

Perhaps he will remain the same fat self but if you notice his recent appearances, he is a lot braver, facing an Emperor like Blackbeard, the son of Rocks D. Xebec.

If he has escaped, there is only one likely place a former Warlord would go to, Buggy’s Cross Guild.

And since Moria is a Kozuki, 

40 years ago, Roger goes to Pirate Island and meets Rocks, and he said they shouldn’t fight in Shakky’s bar.

Rocks falls in love with a woman and stops loving Shakky. He and this woman have a newborn baby, who turns out to be Teach (Blackbeard).

Meanwhile, Shakky is now suffering from lovesickness because of Rayleigh. 

This could be why she retreated to Hachinosu, a means to recover from her lovesickness.

This might also debunk the claim that Rayleigh and Shakky are Mihawk’s parents, even the timeline makes sense.

Harald accepted the Gorosei’s offer and went to fight Rocks. 

A clash happens between them, their Haki collides, and in the end both are knocked out. 

Their friendship comes to an end.

39 years ago, Garling discovers something intriguing in God Valley, something he is sure Imu will like. 

There, we see a red-haired woman with two children, Shanks and Shamrock, though her face is not revealed.

Now we see how God Valley was chosen for the Native Hunting Competition.

Thus Garling sets the stage for the God Valley Incident coming next chapter.

There will be NO BREAK next week!

One Piece Chapter 1159 will be released on September 8, 2025.

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