Kureha

Dr. Kureha is a highly skilled and very long-lived doctor on Drum Island. She is referred to as "witch" by some people. She is Tony Tony Chopper's mentor.

Appearance
Dr. Kureha dresses in a style more suited to women one-seventh her age. This includes a navel ring, short flower-print shirt with a bare midriff, a purple blazer and hipster pants.

After the time skip, she does not look different from two years before, except now she wears a shirt that symbolizes Chopper, with a symbol that looks like his hat behind a big white X.

Personality
Dr. Kureha has often been called a witch for several reasons. The first is her eccentric treatment of patients whom she will violently threaten if they do not follow her orders. The second is her forceful method of checking for injury for example deliberately prodding the ailing area, causing her patients pain and then having Chopper knock them out as a form of anesthetic. The next is her age, a 'too young' 141. The final reason is her reclusive nature. She hates being called "old" or a "hag" and her response is generally to punch or kick the offender across the room, and often begins conversations by asking if whoever she's speaking to wants to know the secret of her youth. Kureha seems to have a drinking habit, judging by the bottle of umeshu (梅酒, "plum sake") she always keeps close at hand.

She is, however, a legitimate and extremely skilled practitioner of medicine, managing to cure a disease Nami had which was caused by a bug thought to be extinct.

She has kept herself as healthy and fit as a woman in her prime despite being over 140 years old. She considers herself a beautiful virgin flower. She is also quite strong, able to smash through solid brick walls, and even claimed that she could assist in the battle against Wapol's group. Kureha is also sometimes referred to as being a pirate because she takes what ever she wants as payment for her medical treatments. She apparently likes pickled plums, as stated by Dalton.

Despite her cold demeanor, she does have a loving side to her personality, as she considers Chopper a son and was gravely depressed when Dr. Hiluluk died.

Kureha also appears to incredibly thoughtful carefully deducting Luffy having the initial D would make him a dangerous man and being able to correctly say the Pirate King's real name as Gol D. Roger rather than Gold Roger. She then showed some familiarity with the Will of D. which made her the first person in the series to mention it as most have no idea of its meaning.

Abilities and Powers
Dr. Kureha possesses great abilities as a doctor, as shown by her great health even though she is 141 years old. She managed to cure Nami when she was bitten by the ancient tick, Kestia, which was thought to be extinct, and as such, the cure would be difficult to find. She is also one of the few doctors around the world authorized to use the highly restricted drug, NHC10. She passed on many of her skills and knowledge to Chopper, who became a great doctor in his own right.

Outside of her medical expertise, she possesses a certain level of superhuman strength, resistance and speed. She was shown to crush stone walls with ease. She had great resistance against the cold, as she is often seen walking through extremely cold climate of Drum Island with very loose clothing. She is shown chasing Luffy and Sanji, then later Chopper, throwing various weapons that were previously used for wall decoration, possibly as part of a collection, from out of nowhere.

Attacks

 * Doctor Stop! (ドクターストップ): Whenever she sees a patient about to do something she believes might compromise her medical treatments or interrupt their recovery process, she 'stops' them by any means necessary whether it is to pin them down with her body or stomp them down into the ground. While her methods appear to be brutal, she actually stops the patient from sustaining far worse injury than if she had let them go. For example, stomping on Sanji's damaged spine to immobilize him was a safer option than letting him fight which would have strained his injury to a point that may have prevented him from walking ever again.

Past
Dr. Kureha had an odd relationship with Dr. Hiluluk, seeming to enjoy the camaraderie of a fellow "doctor", but dismissing most of his ideas as those of a quack. When she realizes that Hiluluk is dying, she agrees (reluctantly) to his last requests: to make his life's work come to fruition and to train Tony Tony Chopper in medicine. During the time since Hiluluk's death, she trains Chopper in medicine, claiming she taught Chopper "everything she knew", and was fairly impressed by the young reindeer's skill.

In Episode 86, shortly after chastising Tony Tony Chopper regarding his misguided use of a poisonous Amiudake mushroom to try to heal Dr. Hiluluk -- having been led to believe by Dr. Hiluluk that his pirate flag with sakura peddles and "skull and crossbones" represents his life's ambition to heal the sickness of the island, which brought about the confusion in Chopper's mind that "skull and crossbones" was associated with healing, instead of its actual symbolic meaning of "deadly" -- Dr. Kureha is seen reaching for her cool shades on the floor and displays clearly what appears to be a wedding band adorning her left ring finger.

Drum Island Arc
Knowing that Chopper would do well to gain real-world experience, Kureha encouraged Chopper (by forbidding him from it) to leave the island with the Straw Hat Pirates. Standing on the ramparts of Drum Castle, she gave her wayward student a tearful send-off of gigantic proportions, setting off the "cure" that Dr. Hiluluk envisioned for the island: pink sakura snowflakes falling from the sky to warm the island's frosted heart. She apparently did not have her navel ring at this time. She was the first person in the current storyline to mention The Will of the D and also the first to refer to Gol D. Roger by his real name, instead of Gold Roger hinting she may have met him in the past for her to know the pirate's real name.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc
She appears again later in the story using a Lapahn to pull her sleigh. She is called by Dalton to look at the new wanted posters of the Straw Hat Pirates. She makes note of Chopper's wanted poster of 50. While Dalton suggests that the value is a mistake, Kureha states that she is simply happy to have seen his face. She does not appear to mind that Dalton has become the new king of Drum Island, even offering him a room in "her" castle. The two now appear to be friends.

Two Years Later
In "From the Decks of the World", it is revealed that Dr. Kureha has taken command of the Isshi-20 and formed a medical academy at Drum Castle. Two years later, Kureha is seen with the Isshi-20, which has now increased to 100. Her castle seems to have become the island's medical center with her as the head-doctor. Their new doctor flag is made up of the "X" on Chopper's hat with Hiluluk's top-hat inside it; Kureha is also wearing a shirt with this symbol on it.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids dub, the bottle of umeshu Dr. Kureha drinks from is changed to "bug juice loaded with sugar". She was also changed from being 139 years old (at the time) to "a young 99 and a half year-old". As opposed to her nickname "Doctorine" in the Japanese version, the 4kids dub changes this to "Dr. K", a possible reference to 4Kids' other series Cubix: Robots for Everyone, which also features a character named Dr. K voiced by Maddie Blaustein.

Anime and Manga Differences

 * In the manga she has a very dark shade of grey hair color instead of light white/yellow.
 * In the anime she encounters a freezing Zoro on her way back to the castle, who she refuses to give him a ride in her sleigh for calling her an old lady.

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush!
 * One Piece Grand Adventure
 * One Piece: Gear Spirit
 * One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World

Non-Playable Appearances

 * Grand Battle! Swan Colosseum
 * Dragon Dream!
 * Grand Battle! 2
 * One Piece: Gigant Battle
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

Trivia

 * In an SBS in Volume 56 a reader asks Oda if Dr. Kureha will be alright on the next year as Oda discussed that in One Piece world, a normal human can only live up to 140 years, though she is already 141 years old; Oda said she is still superhuman (in the sense that she goes beyond other people), so she will be okay.
 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, Dr. Kureha is ranked the 54th-most popular character in One Piece.
 * Kureha has her own distinct laugh; she starts her laughs with "Hee" (i.e. Heeheeheehee!), reinforcing her similarity to a witch. However, in the anime, her laugh sounds exactly like the eerie laughter of Kitaro from the 2008 horror remake of the classic anime "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro" called "Hakaba Kitaro". Masako Nozawa voices both Dr. Kureha and Kitaro as well as Kitaro from the 1968 and 1971 versions of the "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro" anime.

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