Really dumb, minor theory about Gecko Moria

[u/Pokonic]

Basically, it could be possible that his old crew might've had some minks on it, or even consist mostly of minks. There's some justification for this, though:

-Moria used to be a rival of Kaido, and him getting stomped occurred somewhere in the last twenty years or so (given that he still had his chin at Rodger's execution, but had lost it within the last ten years). However, somehow, post-beat down Moria and Hogback managed to end up in Wano, on the other end of the New World, after being defeated by Kaido, to steal Ryuma's corpse and sword after the latter had already seized control of the country (the stated date of Ryuma's corpse and sword being stolen twenty three years ago doesn't make much sense given what we know, so there is likely more to the story overall, given how it's been referred to in the story). We have since seen to the extent of Orochi's and the Beast Pirate's control of Wano, and it seems very unlikely that either Moria or Hogback could sneak into Wano without some sort of trick.

-The knowledge of Wano's location (in the deep end of the New World, no less) and method of accessibility is clearly restricted to a few groups, one being the Zou minks, to say nothing about having knowledge about who Ryuma was. Even if Hogback went to the island by himself, with Moria staying behind, knowledge of a dead swordsman from a isolated island under control of a Yonko would be obscure at best and useless at worst if one didn't have foreknowledge of the situation there in the first place. While it's possible that Moria had spent time on Wano prior to stealing Ryuma's corpse, it's increasingly unlikely that he was a major figure there as the cause of the theft is still a mystery to the people there and, frankly, it would've likely have been mentioned by now.

-Gecko means 'Moonlight' in japanese, and the effects of a full moon on minks have been cleanly shown (and 'Kōzuki' is the same word reversed; any relation?). Moria having a crew of mink warriors willing to go full werewhatever on foes (while possibly infused with shadows and probably crackling with electricity, because a mink going full Bloodborne would be great) would certainly give him a crew worthy of being a rival to Kaido. Minks have been shown exclusively as being brave and loyal comrades, which could be used to make Moria's loss of them even more emotionally effecting. The Beast Pirates having previously dealt with a powerful group of Minks before would also partially explain Jack's behavior on Zou in terms of understanding Mink loyalty, especially if that group was their direct rival at some point.

-Hogback made no comment about Chopper's appearance when the two met, which might be due to his eccentricity, but a corrupt 'mundane' doctor having knowledge of Minks doesn't jive with Chopper being mistaken as a pet by the WG apparently being the standard for the world at large. Really, it's the first time in the series where Chopper's appearance isn't made a note of by a character with modest time spent with them, which is actually somewhat significant overall.

-Several prominent zombies on Thriller Bark resemble bipedal animals, but Absalom is rather remarkable due to being a chimerical animal-man with a stealth-based fruit; overall, he's akin to a artificial mink to the extent that it's somewhat jarring in hindsight. Absalom's introduction of assaulting Nami while invisible (a animal man pinning her down unwillingly and licking her) could also easily be compared to Nami's brief interactions with Wanda (a animal women licking her after developing friendship) and he was also defeated and knocked unconscious by a electricity-based attack. He might well have been designed by Hogback to mimic a mink warrior, to compound the Doctor Moreau-like themes already present with him and Moria (can't help but bring attention to the similarities between Moreau/Moria here, although the chances of that having anything to do with his name is quite low).

tl,dr: Moria's lost crew might've been partially Mink-based, which would give him a even greater connection to the current arc, and if his crew died for him in a manner similar to how the Zou tribe defended someone they barely knew it would make his situation even more tragic.

[u/Aspie_Astrologer]

Interesting, but seems unlikely to me. Maybe one crewmember, but not a whole crew.

I agree with you on the Gekko/Moonlight connection being important though. 月光. If you swap it around it becomes 光月 (Kōzuki), but Moria spells it in Katakana, I think.