MORIA: CONTROLLING THE NEW WORLD BEHIND A VEIL OF SHADOWS

I think everyone knows the answer to this one. Yes, obviously. He disappeared from Doflamingo’s sight when he was about to kill him. Obvious Absalom intervention is obvious. Just for the sake of completeness, I will put the particular manga panel that describes the event here.

Oda also basically confirmed this in the SBS, so it’s just a matter of when Moria returns.

Just to make a point, about the not-so-subtle foreshadowing by Doflamingo of Moria resurrecting himself somehow AS a Zombie. It could happen, but I’m not that worried about it because I don’t think it influences his impact on the story much, just a new powerup. Now unto why I made this thread.

WHERE IS MORIA AND WHAT IS HE DOING?

Theoretically, he could be anywhere, but this is where I think Moria is.

Yes, I believe Moria managed to hide himself by turning a portion of an island invisible. And yes, the implication I’m making is that Absalom, somehow awakened after his defeat by Sanji and is now capable of turning much larger areas invisible with his fruit and maybe even leaving them invisible whether he is there or not. He is sheltering Moria and working alongside him.

ATTACKING ON ALL FRONTS:

BRINGING DOWN EVERY YOUNKOU AND THE GOVERNMENT​

Now notably about Edward Weevil, he does share a lot of prominent similarities to a zombie, namely the visible stitch marks. A full ring around his neck and left arm, make me believe that he has been in some kind of body augmentation surgery recently. However, Moria isn’t making his new army out of dead bodies. Rotting muscles and flesh are limited in what they can do and I believe Moria realizes this now.

I believe Edward Weevil is just as he seems. A retard, with a really strong body who through a Shadow possession and Hogback surgery, Moria has made strong enough to earn 480 million bounty. In other words, Edward Weevil is one of Moria’s new weapons and the world doesn’t know it. And I don’t think Weevil knows it either. It’s probably easier to control the person if their willpower or general cognitive function is highly impaired. It can’t be perfect though because their soul is still inside which is why we have Miss Bakkin.

Her job is to reinforce the brain washing and keep the living zombie on mission and not let the old personality resurface. In other words, these beings will move in pairs. One for power, one for guidance.

WHY IS MORIA TARGETING THE WHITEBEARD PIRATES
AND WHY MASQUERADE WEEVIL AS HIS SON? 

The clue comes from Miss Bakkin’. Money. You need funds to secure infantry, weaponry and supplies. I believe Moria created Weevil but he’s also not foolish enough this time to think one secret weapon will take over the world. He needs an army of super powerful individuals and he’s building towards that. The remnants of the Whitebeard pirates are easy pickings comparatively speaking to an active Younkou’s ally. Not speaking of course about Marco as they are gonna be difficult, but the many allied crew, all 47 of them, should be significantly more exposed. But I think there is another reason why Weevil is “Whitebeard’s son”.I believe that is the personality that was put into him. Yes, Weevil was possessed by the shadow of the REAL Son of Whitebeard, who Moria has managed to capture and keep prisoner while he uses his zombie to wreak havoc on the New World.

MORIA’S OWN GROUP OF CALAMITIES:
INSPIRED BY THE ASS-WHUPPING HE GOT FROM KAIDOU. 

Now there are some interesting similarities between another characters just introduced. Namely Weevil and Jack. I believe this is intentional. We know Moria is connected to Kaidou. He lost against him and he definitely must know who Jack and the other calamities are. Basically, I believe Weeble’s body structure is based on Jack’s. Moria is basically creating his own group of disasters like Kaidou has.

ABSALOM: CONTROL OF INFORMATION: 

The whole point of this strategy is to keep the Government and the other NW Pirates off Moria’s scent. By constantly revealing big information of the movement of pirates around the NW, he makes sure everyone’s attention is focused on the latest big thing that happened, not on what he might be doing. A genius idea really.

I also believe with Absalom’s awakening, he might have an army of people armed with invisible cloaks or something he created that allows them to shadow the movements of the big pirates. It’s how he managed to get info on the PH alliance so easily. As for the Kidd Alliance, I believe Kidd’s alliance has a mole, who is already working with Moria.

His name is Scratchmen Apoo. I believe Apoo will play a big role in the Return of Moria arc. For two reason. It was he after all who was seen coming across that invisible island. But also, Brooke is heavily tied to Moria. He was introduced there so if we have a return of Moria arc, it would make sense for Brooke to have his time to shine during that arc, and what better way than to put music based antagonists in Brooke’s way.

Kidd wanted to know how the information leaked. Recall this panel.

Now we see the dialogue boxes pointing to the island and not the ship, so what random ship is that? It’s a Thriller Bark ship, leaving Kidd’s hideout. With Absa and his followers behind, after gathering information. It was Apoo who led them to Kidd’s base. He’s working with Moria, I assume to eventually double cross them if they do succeed in taking down Shanks. That’s the idea anyways.

What’s more important is Absalom is probably using his articles to get a little closer to the government. And get more information on them as well. I’m sure Moria isn’t pleased they tried to kill him. He’d be after them too.

CONCLUSION: 

Moria, in a stroke of genius, has erased himself from the world, while simultaneously pulling strings and making moves. And he’s only just beginning. When we see Moria again, he will have a formidable fighting unit and tonnes of information on both the New World and the Government to help him.

You ask the question, who is most poised to take over the Black Market after Doflamingo’s defeat? Buggy? Or has Moria already made the moves and no one has realized yet. Wouldn’t that be something for Moria to rise to such power?

*Theory by TheConqueror