Up where they walk, up where they run

[Deleted]

I was talking to Roin and Char about this in the cbox, and I was wondering what the verdict would be on Merfolk having access to the Bubbly Coral item from Fishman Island in order to make traveling on land easier. We found that Bubble Coral should, theoretically, work outside of Fishman Island (unlike the location based restriction of the similar, but different, Yarukiman Mangrove resin). Just putting up as a Q&A to get an official response. What say?

[EriChar]

I think for issues of Merfolk mobility, this item could be permitted as an item for Merfolk alone. Fishmen have no need for it, and I can't help but think being able to put oneself in an air bubble effectively 'nerfs' the weakness fruit users have to being submerged?

[Roin]

If that's the case, are we saying that Merfolk can't have them if they get Devil Fruits?

If we're going to implement anything like this, then we have to acknowledge that even Merfolk could use it to "nerf the weakness" as it keeps getting put. The smarter way to make this a thing is just make it restricted to ring bubbles. That way, even if a DF user had it in the water, it wouldn't be big enough to raise their hammer bodies/unable to protect them from the weakening water.

TLDR: All or nothing, IMO. Either they can't have DFs to get this, or anyone can get it but it has to be smaller/unable to allow them to float if they have a DF.

[Deleted]

I think restricting it to just a ring would limit the capabilities a non devil fruit using merperson could achieve, which I guess would be fine, but I think it'd be interesting for Bubble Coral to at one point be available at its fullest (as poorly understood as they are). There just doesn't seem to be an in story reason for saying the Bubbly Coral shouldn't produce bubbles strong enough to live on. At the same time, Bubble Coral isn't Flutter Kick Coating, so maybe its just not possible to use in that manner? I remember Nami utilizing a small one to create a helmet in order to breath- maybe that could be the extent to which they can be used underwater? Either way, being a fishman or merman does inherently nerf some of the weakness of being a DF user- as far as we've seen, they can still breathe underwater despite the paralysis, as demonstrating by Decken fainting and being exposed to water in Fishman Island.