aside from a healthy amount of superstitions soba's had ingrained in his head since he was a sailor (he doesn't say goodbye, looking for red skies, tossing coins into ports if he's on a boat or ship), one of soba's main fears is a day with no wind which makes no sense on land because it doesn't matter! but a ship becalmed? that's a nightmare in the making. stranded out in the middle of nowhere with water you can't drink and no relief from the sun is a terrifying thought in general, so much so that it followed soba to a life on land. by extension, he would never whistle on a ship (bad luck, you see, to try and challenge the wind) unless there's little to no wind, and then he'll whistle a tune to try whip up a storm.

he also has a fear of being handed a drink that he doesn't know the origins of or hasn't watched it be poured, for incredibly understandable reasons! terrible things have happened to him because of a drink that he hasn't vetted himself. his experiences with drinks in eorzea spurred him into partaking in mithridatism again, something he thought he wouldn't have to do again, but ul'dah proved him So Wrong about that.