Robin and Usopp went to get Franky, then asked Cabernet to go watch over Zoro and make sure he didn't jump into the water or something stupid like that. She was more than willing, as Merry had beaten her three times in games of battleship in a row.
After that, the three headed straight for Law to explain the situation.
"He's outside?" Law looked rather annoyed at that news.
"Yeah, just sitting there and staring out at the water. It's creepy…" Usopp answered.
"I told him to get some rest. Keeping watch doesn't count," Law grumbled.
"I don't believe that he is acting in his right mind at the moment," Robin said.
"Hm? I guess he was acting a bit odd when he left," Law said, rubbing his chin. "He didn't have any brain damage, though, so I just chalked it up to sulking."
Robin shook her head. "Zoro doesn't like to lose, that much is true, but this is different. He's become fixated on the whale, not dissimilar to the way that Baha has acted. I believe that they have something in common as well."
She had both Usopp and Law's attention. Having a crewmember start acting strange whilst you're trapped on a ship with them was never a good thing and they needed to get to the bottom of it, and fast. Zoro was perhaps the very worst person aboard the Polar Tang that this could have happened to.
"Baha said that he had looked the whale in the eyes. Zoro likely also got a pretty good look at one of them before Franky rescued him," Robin explained. "I think they've both been hypnotized."
Law immediately scoffed, whilst Usopp gained a look that was dead serious.
"You can expect me to believe in that hypnosis mumbo jumbo, let alone that a whale could do it," Law said as he shook his head.
"Of course hypnosis is real! A hypnotist came to my village and he was even able to use it in battle!" Usopp defended.
"That's SUPER amazing!" Franky cried.
"Ah, well, he was actually a pirate under the brutal captain Kuro, who tried to kill my g- Ahem, my friend. The hypnotist was supposed to make her sign a will leaving everything she owned to Kuro for his retirement," Usopp explained quickly.
"That's SUPER lame!" Franky corrected. "Hypnosis should be used to make people look stupid, not in murder plots!"
Regardless, Law didn't look very convinced.
"When I was with Baroque Works under Crocodile, one of the top executives of the organization was a talented hypnotist," Robin said. "She used paint to manipulate a person's mood or actions with a startling degree of success. Beyond that, she was just an ordinary sixteen year old girl with no combat skill. I even took samples of the paint itself and found it was entirely mundane."
Law couldn't as easily dismiss Robin's claims as he had Usopp's. Crocodile may have been one of the weaker shichibukai, but he was still the real deal and apparently among the more intelligent members. The man literally worked out Doflamingo's whole scam in Dressrosa and tried to replicate it in Alabasta, and even almost succeeded according to the rumors.
"Well… Maybe a shock to the brain will snap him out of it?" Law suggested, though he wasn't really sure how one would go about removing hypnosis.
Robin sighed. "That doesn't seem likely to work. He got quite the shock already from the whale's sonar. If Cherry were here, she could probably solve this before we could snap our fingers…"
"Missing your wife already?" Franky nudged her with his elbow and waggled his eyebrows.
"Shut up," Robin said, but she didn't deny it. "Killing the whale might work. I suspect the hypnosis is a way to keep its prey from fleeing, since both Zoro and Baha seem intent on hunting it."
Law rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace. "I suppose that's our best option at the moment. If it hypnotizes its prey to stick around, then we might not even be able to leave without those two trying to stop us."
"We could just tie them up," Franky said.
"What if Zoro fights back, though?" Usopp said. "I don't know about you, but I don't like my chances against him."
"What if I-" Law started, but he was interrupted as the ship suddenly took a hard turn and they all had to stabilize themselves. "Now what?!"
Law stormed off to the control room where he found his men on the floor, seemingly unconscious. At the helm, he saw Baha and Zoro trying to work the controls of the submarine without much luck.
"How do we make it submerge?" Baha said, fiddling with a few buttons that caused the submarine to lurch the other direction.
"Let me do it. I'll figure it out," Zoro pushed the old man aside.
Before Zoro could accidentally make them submerge without sealing off all the entry points first and kill them all, Law rested his sword on his shoulder.
"Are you threatening me? Cause that won't end well for you," Zoro's eyes sharpened as he glanced over his shoulder at Law.
"You're going to get us all killed. Step away from the helm," Law spoke with an edge sharper than his sword in his voice. Although he knew Zoro wasn't in his right mind, he was still angry that he had attacked his crew.
Baha grabbed the sword and tried to wrestle it away from Law; with very little luck, as he was about as frail as he looked. "We'll all die if the whale doesn't die first! Ye must be conspirin' with 'im against us! Yer a traitor to mankind!"
*Blam!*
Baha was knocked away from Law with a rather blow to the gut from none other than Cabernet.
"Zoro, you tricked me! That's mean!" Cabernet pouted.
Zoro's left hand gripped one of his swords so tightly that his knuckles were white. His eyes flicked between the helm controls, Law, and Cabernet erratically as if he was struggling with indecision.
Usopp, Robin, and Franky arrived just afterwards and were quite shocked at the scene playing out before them.
"Zoro, calm down! The whale did something to you! We just want to help you!" Usopp declared.
"It's evil! I have to find it, kill it!" Zoro looked almost rabid, but at least he had yet to actually draw his sword.
"We'll find the whale, Zoro. You just have to be patient. Trust us," Robin spoke soothingly.
"We're your friends, buddy! We won't leave you hangin'!" Franky added in his uniquely boisterous way.
The air was tense for a moment, but the tension settled as Zoro seemed to relax somewhat and removed his hand from his sword.
"What's going on?" Cabernet asked, tilting her head.
"Zoro-ya is sick, that's all. We're going to make him better," Law said, sheathing his own sword as he crouched to tend to his own crewmen.
"The whale made him sick?" Cabernet asked Robin.
"We think so, yes," Robin said. She watched Zoro from the corner of her eye, noting that he had hardly moved since they had talked him down.
Cabernet's shoulder flames flared to life and she ground her teeth.
"No fire inside!" Law shouted at her, causing her to deflate and her flames to sputter out.