In the first couple of months after being stranded on the island, Oliver Queen almost died more than ten times. He was always cold, starving and relying on Yao Fei and his protection to keep him alive. The first few months were the worst. The rest of the five years were no picnic in the park either, but at least, he was able to fend for himself. When his protector left him for dead with only a mark on a map, Oliver was lost. He didn't know anything about survival. So he followed the map and found the body of a plane that crashed in the forest. He also found Slade Wilson, a new protector but also, a man who would teach him how to defend himself and to survive on the island.
Slade was a tough guy and when he decided to teach Oliver how to fight, he didn't hold back. He was ruthless and without mercy in his teachings. Every night, when he was lying on his cot, before going to sleep, Oliver would make an inventory in his head of everywhere he ached. He was always sore, but he could see in Slade's eyes that he was getting better. He could block most punches and some kicks. He was also getting much better at giving them. His reflexes were still too slow, but they were improving every day. Oliver Queen, the Starling City carefree bachelor, the billionaire who thought the world was his, was starting to disappear. He was making place for something new, a predator, a hunter who's only goal was survival.
When Shado, Yao Fei's daughter, joigned them, Oliver learned even more. Shado fought in a style that was so different from Slade's that the young man couldn't really fight back at the beginning. But weeks went by and he learned how to mix the styles of his teachers to be a much better fighter. He was honing his body, transforming it into a warrior's body. His muscle were never this chiseled before and even though he was in good shape before the island, it was nothing compared to now. Eighteen months after the shipwreck, he could run for a whole day without getting winded.
Between the training and the running, they were also fighting Fryer and his men every chance they got. They didn't want to give the mercenary any opportunity to put his plans in motion. There were also breaks in the fighting, time taken to mend broken bones and to heal open wounds. Oliver got more scars in all those months than most men would get in a whole life. If he were still the same Oliver Queen, maybe he would have cared more, but the warrior he was becoming just got Shado or Slade to patch him up as best as they could with what they had and went back to his routine.
Sometimes, late at night, he would think about Laurel and Sara, about what he put them through and about his guilt. But as time passed, he couldn't help but think about how shallow and pathetic his life was before. He believed that when you had money, you had power. He was so wrong it was not even funny. Even with all of his money, he felt powerless on the island until the day he was finally able to clock in the eye Slade without the other man seeing it coming. The pride in his mentor's eyes was all he needed to feel powerful again. Well, as powerful as one can feel when stranded on an island.
One day, after about two years on the island for Oliver, they grabbed a cargo that was destined for Fryer. It was full of weapons, guns with ammunitions and a couple of bows and arrows. Oliver felt drawn to the bow, not wanting to wear the same weapon he had started to associate with the mercenaries. He should have been less surprised when he found out that Shado was a fantastic marksman, or markswoman in her case, but he was grateful when she told him that she would teach him how to use one. It was not the toughest thing he had to learn in the last years, but it was the one who asked the most of him, mentally. After two weeks, he could hit a target in the bull's eyes if it was not moving. The moving target took more time, but he got there eventually. Then, he worked on shooting faster and faster, arrows coming out of his bows at a pace so fast he could hit any target. It took about a year for him to get there. In the meanwhile, they had rescued Yao Fei from Fryer and took down about three-fourth of his organisation. They also destroyed the communication system, leaving the mercenary with no way to contact the outside world.
Oliver Queen was disappearing further and further, rarely thinking now of a life after the island. His family and Laurel were never in his mind for long before he would get back into his warrior mindset. Shado, Slade and Yao Fei respected him and it was only when Fryer finally died that they started to look for a way to leave the island. It took about a year, but when a boat got close enough, they were ready. They alerted the crew with a big fire and they left the island that changed them forever. Purgatory was over for them all and they survived. In the nearest country, they said goodbye to each other and found a way to make sure they would be able to stay in contact. After all this time, they were like a family, albeit a weird one, but a family just the same. Oliver asked to be left at the american ambassy and when he got there, he grabbed the first phone he saw and called his mother in Starling City. Overwhelmed, Moira handed the phone to the closest person and broke down in tears. Her boy was alive. They made arrangements to have the Queen's jet there as soon as possible.
On the plane that took him back to Starling City, Oliver opened his father's notebook, the one he received the day his dad took his own life, being too weak to see what life would be like after the wreck. His mission for the last five years had been to take down Fryer. Now, he needed something else to do, something to keep his instinct working so that he would never feel vulnerable again. He would clean his city, making sure that all the scum was gone. He would be Oliver Queen by day, the Hunter at night.