"Follow me! Stay close!" Fujimoto instructed his comrades.

Nii and Yamada stuck by the hip of their hobbled commander as they navigated through the thick bushes and crazed Mirakuru men. They tried to stay silent but it was overly difficult. However, luckily for them, the Mirakuru maniacs were too busy ripping and tearing at each other to notice anything else.

"Why did you drink the vial of Mirakuru?" Nii scolded.

Yamada thought he was above answering.

"Tell him," Fujimoto chirped.

It was as if childlike tendencies within Yamada were emphasized in the moment as he pouted with arms folded as he continued to march through the bushes.

"I took it to protect everyone. You see all this craziness out there-" Yamada stopped in mid thought.

Fujimoto halted all movement. The trio looked on at a particularly vicious three on one assault. The sound of bones crunching danced around their ears. The craziness was indeed out there but what they failed to realize was the immediate danger lurking in the grass below their feet.

"OUCH!" Nii stammered as he reached for his lower leg.

His yelp drew the attention of Fujimoto and Yamada. They eyed Nii's lower leg and noticed a snake latched onto his skin. Its scales glistened in the sunlight as the muscles in his head pulsated.

"Get it off, get it off! This hurts so badly!" Nii squelched, trying to keep his voice down.

Yamada tore the snake from Nii's leg with ease but the damage had been done. The markings around the bite had already bruised and Nii instantly felt lightheaded.

"Kneel down," Fujimoto instructed.

The commander examined the dead snake Yamada crushed with his Mirakuru strength. Yellowish liquid oozed from the roof of its mouth. Fujimoto wanted nothing to do with it.

"Hmmmmm... venomous," Fujimoto concluded.

Nii broke out in a sweat not because he heard that word but because the fast acting venom was attacking his body.

"What can we do?" Nii's voice shook.

Yamada pulled out the map of Lian Yu from his back pocket and held it high in the air.

"Trust this and its information... I heard it was foretold that the island is home to many natural herbs that can cure poison!" Yamada exclaimed.

Unsure, Fujimoto had limited options but to at least put his belief behind what his Mirakuru induced comrade was saying. They began frantically searching the area for leafy medicinal plants. Neither Fujimoto nor Yamada strayed too far from Nii as they noticed the poison begin to cause paralysis to kick in already.

"Fujimoto! What about this!" Yamada called his commander over.

Fujimoto moved stealthily, as to not be noticed by any of the brawling lunatics. He settled beside Yamada and examined the purplish plant.

"Worth a shot," He decided.

Fujimoto made haste, grabbed the herbs, ran back to Nii, ripped them into fine shreds and force fed his fallen shipmate. They waited and watched as nothing seemed to happen. Nii's leg began to move just as they grew impatient. Fujimoto's eyes widened as he couldn't believe the herbs actually worked. Within minutes, Nii sat up and everyone noticed the bite mark was gone.

"Those are some herbs!" Nii remarked.

"We need to stockpile a bunch of them in case something like this happens again. This island obviously has many dangers - all unpredictable," Fujimoto said.

Yamada looked at Nii.

"Too many dangers... that's why I took the vial - even the playing field a bit," He finally answered.

The three of them procured a fair share of purplish plants as they continued their journey around the war zone. They weren't exactly sure where they were going but all they knew was that they wanted to get as far away from the pandemonium as possible. The ironic part was they'd have to leave the island entirely to achieve that. While Nii felt better, he was left to wonder about any potential side effects from him using the herbs or Yamada using the Mirakuru. It seemed the only one left untouched, in relative terms, was Fujimoto.