Chapter 37: Chopper?
All three looked towards Dr. Kureha. She wore a black tight-fitting leather top and pants, her face clearly wrinkled yet still radiating vitality.
"Hard to imagine she's 139 years old," Reiner couldn't help but murmur. She looked more alive than he did.
"We came to see a doctor."
Reiner patted his pants, stood up, and gestured towards Zoro nearby. "His wound, could you help us treat it?"
Due to the earlier mountain climbing race, Zoro had taken off his only thin layer of clothing and was now bare-chested, revealing the wound stretching across his body like a ferocious centipede.
"Who are you people?" Dr. Kureha didn't answer directly, merely asking simply, her eyes somewhat wary.
"We're pirates!" Luffy grinned and answered immediately.
Hearing this, Chopper, who was hiding behind Dr. Kureha tightly hugging her leg, peeked his little head out, looking at them curiously. "Pirates... like Dr. Hiriluk talked about..."
"I can treat him, sure," Dr. Kureha finally said after observing them for a moment, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "If you can afford my price, that is..."
"How much?"
Reiner frowned and asked. He had heard from Dalton that this doctor, known as the 'Witch', charged outrageous fees for treatment.
If the price is too high, I'll just wait until we've recruited Chopper and have him treat Zoro.
"Let ol' me see... let's make it twenty million Beri!"
SO CHEAP!!!
Reiner paused, stunned. No, wait, twenty million was definitely not a small sum; it was enough to cover an ordinary family's expenses for many years.
It was only because he himself was so wealthy now that he reacted this way. Although he felt it was cheap internally, he immediately started haggling loudly:
"Old hag! That's a total rip-off! My nakama only suffered a small injury! Look, he could still climb Drum Rockies barehanded! How can you charge twenty million for someone so lively and kicking!?"
"Treat him if you want, otherwise get lost," Dr. Kureha said impatiently. "Ol' me said twenty million, and that's twenty million. If you can't pay, don't bother me."
Reiner looked furious, reaching into his coat as if preparing to draw a gun.
Seeing this, Dr. Kureha's expression hardened, and several throwing knives slipped down from her sleeves.
Kureha gripped the knives, ready to throw them.
Kureha froze.
Kureha slowly lowered her hand.
"Twenty million. Get to work."
What Reiner pulled from his coat was a thick wad of Beri. He held it out gesturing for her to take it, his voice calm.
Now that I've said this much, she can't possibly raise the price again, right?
Kureha: "..."
"Interesting brats. Follow me."
The three followed Kureha and Chopper into the castle. Zoro received treatment in the operating room, from which bloodcurdling screams, like a pig being slaughtered, continuously echoed.
In the main hall, Reiner and Luffy were trying to lure Chopper. After learning they were pirates, Chopper, though frightened, was driven by curiosity and boldly began chatting with them.
"Hey, hey! Do you guys have a pirate flag?" Chopper asked expectantly.
"Heehee, of course, we do! I'll draw it for you."
Luffy grinned, grabbed some paper and a pen, and started drawing. "Look! It's like this!"
He unfolded the paper. On it was a crookedly drawn skull, wearing what could generously be called a straw hat, completely unrecognizable as their actual Jolly Roger.
Leaning back on the sofa sipping tea, Reiner said speechlessly, "Luffy, your drawing skills are just too..."
"Woah! So cool!!"
"Pfft—! Where's the cool part!?"
Reiner sputtered, completely taken aback. So this is the kind of thing you like, Cho-beard? He gave Chopper a strange look, then said, "But hey, since you admire pirates so much, why not just come out to sea with us?"
"Yeah, yeah! Come with us, Chopper!" Luffy added with an encouraging smile.
The excitement on Chopper's face gradually turned to hesitation. Of course, he dreamed of being a pirate – Dr. Hiriluk had been a pirate once – but...
"I can't be a pirate..." Chopper's expression fell, his eyes dimming with sadness.
The thing holding him back was himself.
"Why not?"
"Don't ask anymore!" Chopper turned his head and ran off.
"Strange. Is there such a thing as not being able to become a pirate?"
Luffy squatted like a monkey on a chair, looking puzzledly in the direction Chopper had run.
Bang
Just then, the operating room door opened. It was actually just a bedroom; Kureha had taken over the castle after Wapol left and remodeled the place.
"All done. Let him rest for a bit."
Dr. Kureha clapped her hands, sat down, picked up the liquor bottle from the table, leaned back against the sofa, and took a large swig directly from the bottle. "You two brats. Trying to snatch my pet away while I wasn't looking."
"Hahaha, you caught us," Luffy admitted with a carefree laugh.
"If you want to take him, go ahead," Kureha said nonchalantly, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "If you can manage it, that is."
"Sounds like you're actually quite happy about the idea," Reiner chuckled softly, casually offering her a cigarette.
"He's always wanted to be a pirate."
"Then why doesn't he go out to sea?"
"Because he's sick. Sick in the heart. And that's something ol' me can't cure."
Exhaling a smoke ring upwards, Kureha closed her eyes as if reminiscing, slowly telling them Chopper's past.
"Because he was born with a blue nose, this kid was ostracized by his own kind from birth. Always trailing solitarily behind the reindeer herd, unwelcome."
"Later, he accidentally ate a Devil Fruit and was even attacked by the reindeer as a monster. Covered in wounds, he came to a human village. You've seen what he looks like; the result was obvious – they treated him like a monster."
"Humans have an instinctive fear of the unknown. They couldn't accept this monster – hurling abuse, swinging blades, even shooting at him, driving him away constantly."
Kureha seemed thirsty, taking another large gulp of liquor before continuing:
"Until that man appeared. Hiriluk. A clumsy, third-rate doctor, an idiot constantly trying to invent a panacea, spouting nonsense about making cherry blossoms bloom in this country."
"But it was precisely such a person who saved this monster rejected by both his own kind and humans..."
Kureha finished her drink, placing the empty bottle on the exquisitely crafted marble table, her expression full of disdain as she said,
"After his adoptive father died, this kid started pestering me, saying he wanted to become a doctor who could cure any disease. Such a silly kid."
Kureha looked seriously at the two. "He's afraid of getting hurt again. He's closed off his heart, and gradually even started believing himself that he's a monster. So..."
Kureha paused, then said mockingly to them, "If you think you can do it, then go right ahead."
"Heeheehee! I've decided!"
Luffy grinned widely. "I will definitely make him our nakama!"
"He'll fit right in. Our ship is full of monsters, after all."
Reiner chuckled softly, stood up, and rolled up the sleeves of his deep blue shirt. "Let's go, Luffy. I can't wait."
"Heeheehee! Operation: Capture Chopper! Begin!" Luffy yelled excitedly, taking the lead and charging out.
"Two idiots!"
Watching the two run off, Dr. Kureha spat, then opened another bottle of liquor. Honestly don't know how I lived past 130.
"But then again, idiots always seem to attract other idiots."
Leaning back into the soft sofa cushions, Kureha stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"Are you leaving then, Chopper?"
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