Kureha

Dr. Kureha (Dr.くれは, Dokutā Kureha) is a 141 year old doctor who lives in Drum Island. Some people call him a "witch". He is Tony Tony Chopper's mentor.

Appearance


Dr. Kureha cross-dresses in a style more suited to women one-seventh his age. This includes a navel ring, a belly shirt, a purple blazer and hipster pants. He may consider him drinking as part of the regimen that keeps up his relative youth.

Dr. Kureha has a strange body. Whenever someone looks at him from the neck down they become extremely interested because of the fact that his body appears so young, yet they become shocked because of his old facial appearance.

Personality
Dr. Kureha has often been called a witch for several reasons. The first is his eccentric treatment of patients whom he will violently threaten if they do not follow his orders. The second is his forceful method of checking for injury for example deliberately prodding the ailing area, causing his patients pain and then having Chopper knock them out as a form of anesthetic. The next is his age, a 'too young' 141. The final reason is his reclusive nature. He hates being called "old" or a "hag" and his response is generally to punch or kick the offender across the room, and often begins conversations by asking if whoever he's speaking to wants to know the secret of his youth (Although not surprisingly, nobody wishes to know). Kureha seems to have a drinking habit, judging by the bottle of umeshu (梅酒, "plum sake") he always keeps close at hand.

He is, however, a legitimate and extremely skilled practitioner of medicine. He has kept himself as healthy and fit as a man in his prime despite being over 140 years old. He considers himself a beautiful virgin flower. He is also quite strong, able to smash through solid brick walls, and even claimed that he could assist in the battle against Wapol's group. Kureha is also sometimes referred to as being a pirate because he takes what ever he wants as payment for his medical treatments. He apparently likes pickled plums, as stated by Dalton.

Abilities and Powers
Dr. Kureha possesses incredible abilities as a doctor, as shown by his great health even though he is 141 years old, and he taught all his skills to Chopper. He 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. He is also one of the few doctors around the world authorized to use the highly restricted drug, NHC10.

Outside of his medical expertise, he possesses a certain level of superhuman strength, resistance and speed. He was shown to crush stone walls with ease. He had great resistance against the cold, as he is often seen walking through extremely cold climate of Drum Island with very loose clothing. He was also able to chase 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 he sees a patient about to do something he believes might compromise his medical treatments or interrupt their recovery process, he 'stops' them by any means necessary whether it is to pin them down with his body or stomp them down into the ground. While his methods appear to be brutal, he actually stops the patient from sustaining far worse injury than if he 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 he realizes that Hiluluk is dying, he 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, he trains Chopper in medicine, claiming he taught Chopper "everything he knew", and was fairly impressed by the young reindeer's skill. He only once complimented Chopper's skill in a filler episode, after Chopper cured his of a life threatening illness without any of Kureha's medical advice.

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, he gave his 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. He apparently did not have his navel ring at this time. He was the first person in the current storyline to mention The Will of the D.

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

Two Years Later
Two years later, Kureha is seen with the Isshi-20, which has now increased to 100. His castle seems to have become the island's medical center with his 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". He was also changed from being 139 years old (at the time) to "a young 99 and a half year-old". As opposed to his 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 diffrences

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

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 he is already 141 years old, Oda said he is still superhuman (in the sense that he goes beyond other people) so he will be okay.
 * In a recent Japanese Fan Poll, Dr. Kureha is ranked the 54th most popular character in One Piece.
 * Kureha has his own Laughter Style, he starts his laughs with "Hee" (i.e. Heeheeheehee!), reinforcing his similarity to a witch. However in the anime, his 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 "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro" anime.