Halfway

The time spent sailing was very fruitful for both Cherry and Chopper's research.

Cherry was able to create a new cultivation pill using the IQ plant and Daft Green trees that was many times more potent than the previous ones. This would greatly reduce the time to reach the next cultivation realm. She anticipated she could do so in less than a year, perhaps as quickly as 6 months.

As for Chopper, with Cherry's assistance he was able to create a much more powerful version of his Rumble Balls using the IQ plant. He had refused to even be in the same room as the Daft Green material as it's smell was vile within his nose, so Cherry only worked with it in an air tight room.

Chopper tested his new Rumble Ball with much excitement to see what new changes it would bring him.

However, no new changes came. Instead he transformed into a massive reindeer human hybrid monster.

"AAAAGH! I'VE MESSED UP AGAIN, NOW I'LL GO BERSERK AND HURT EVERYONE! RUN AWAY, EVERYONE, IT'S DANGEROUS TO BE AROUND ME!" Chopper's voice thundered in a much deeper tone.

Everyone stared at him for several awkward moments as he hid behind his big hands.

"HUH?" Chopper peeked out from his hands and found that he had NOT in fact lost control and attacked his friends.

"OH? OHHHH!!! I'M NOT LOSING CONTROL?!" Chopper's excitement was reaching new heights now as he realized how useful his new Rumble Ball would be.

"I see, so your new 'Ultra Rumble Ball' allows for a temporary awakening of your devil fruit." Cherry commented aloud.

"AWAKENING?" Chopper repeated. Now that he was able to feel out the changes in his body with a clear mind, he did feel like something had been 'unlocked' within himself.

After five minutes, two minutes longer than his normal rumble ball, he finally changed back. He was left in a nearly paralyzed state once the effect completely dissipated.

This didn't bring down the reindeer doctor's mood, though, as he couldn't stop giggling gleefully.

...

A few weeks of sailing later, the Thousand Sunny and the Straw Hats could finally see the massive red wall of rock in a sheer cliff face.

The others gazed at it with a mixture of nostalgia and joy that the journey was already half finished.

Cherry had different thoughts.

'The so called Celestial Dragons live somewhere up there in their so called holy land, hm? I bet they had some good stuff that you can't find anywhere else. Maybe I'll pay a visit sometime, so look forward to it. Hehehe!' Cherry smiled evilly.

"Your villainess face is showing again." Robin said, kissing her on the cheek.

Franky prepared his shark submarine so that a few of them could see if they can find any sign of where Fishman Island was. Luffy, Brook, and Robin volunteered to go down.

"Wait, why are the devil fruit users volunteering to descend into the depths of the ocean?" Cherry questioned reasonably.

"Because I'm the Captain." Luffy said confidently.

"Because I won't drown without any lungs?" Brook answered in a way that revealed he had only thought up that excuse in that moment.

"I like to live dangerously." Robin smiled. Cherry couldn't argue with that smile.

"Ugh, fine whatever. Brook, if Robin drowns, then I'll eat Laboon." Cherry warned, only half jokingly.

"Eh?! Leave Laboon alone, boil my bones into broth instead!" Brook panicked and bartered.

Down they went.

Meanwhile, Sanji served a new desert he came up with, inspired by Thriller Bark.

Cherry took a bite after removing the ashy smell from Sanji's cigarettes. Delicious.

The three went down the the lowest depth the submarine could handle, about 5 kilometers, but not only was there no sign of Fishman Island, there was no sign of the sea floor at all. Which was pretty strange given how close they were to the Red Line. You'd think the sea floor would rise up as it got closer to land.

"What are we going to do. We're stuck just like we were with Sky Island." Nami lamented.

"Fishman Island is visited with much greater frequency than Sky Island though. So there must be a commonly known method to go there." Cherry surmised.

The submarine came back up to the surface, having had to escape from a sea king.

"It's pointless, we couldn't see anything down there." Luffy complained.

Brook was just excited at riding a submarine for the first time.

"If we had gone any deeper, the pressure would have crushed us into a tuna can." Robin commented.

"I wished I'd asked Lola about how to get down there..." Nami regretted.

*SPLOOSH*

A giant rabbit-like sea king came out of the water and beset them.

"It followed us?!" Luffy shouted.

Luffy slammed a fist into its gut, sending it reeling back as it coughed something up onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny and fell back into the ocean.

The smaller projectile landed on Sanji's face, whilst the large one landed in Cabernet's arms in a princess carry fashion.

The smaller one was a a starfish wearing a hat and for some reason had a face. The larger one was a mermaid with short green hair and a pink fish tail.

"Oh, thank you for catching me- AHHH, why are you on fire?!" The mermaid exclaimed.

"It's fine, it doesn't hurt." Cabernet said with a sweet smile.

"Oh, is that so?" The mermaid calmed sound instantly.

The she turned to the rest of the crew and started screaming in surprise again.

This happened a few times before she finally calmed down for good. She thanked them for saving her from the sea king, as she was often eaten by sea kings, and introduced herself as Camie.

The starfish is apparently a fashion designer (and Camie's pet), his name was Pappag. Cherry was much more interested in the talking starfish than the mermaid.

"I didn't know there were talking starfish, are there a lot of your kind?" Cherry asked him.

"Nope, it's just me. I believed that I was human and didn't learn the truth until I had already learned to speak!" Pappag spoke proudly.

"Do you mind if I dissect you? Starfish regrow their limbs right?" Cherry asked politely. She really wanted to know what made this starfish different from other starfish. There was no signs of it being the work of a devil fruit, nor of being a cyborg like Franky.

"What?! Of course not! It's all to do with my willpower anyways, not my body!" Pappag was terrified by her hungry eyes.

"Tsk, whatever. It's your loss." Cherry walked away from him, leaving him confused about what he could have possibly lost by refusing to be dissected.

"I can get you guys some Takoyaki, I just need to call Hatchin." Camie said, taking out a den den mushi and calling someone.

A voice picked up the phone, but apparently it wasn't Hatchin, but a slaver of some sort who teamed up with another slaver group to catch the octopus fishman and sell him. Cherry furrowed her brow at that, she didn't like slavers.

They dared her to come rescue him at a particular location near a place called Sabaody Archipelago.

When the call ended, Nami muttered about the name and voice of Hatchin being familiar.

"Well, you'd remember if you'd met an octopus fishman before, right? Unless you've met a whole bunch of them." Cherry said to her.

"AH!" Nami felt stupid for not putting two and two together. "Hatchin is Hachi! The octopus fishman in Arlong's crew!"