The cultural and historic references are insane
- Loki being blamed for anything bad that happens is, I think, a reference to how Loki was always the scapegoat for all misdeeds and consequences that the Norse Gods have committed and witnessed. I think our One Piece Loki is the same. I am sure he is mischievous and did some bad things, did some bad choices, but was overall blamed for a lot that he had no stake in
- Harald is an interesting choice of name. There are several nordic kings with this name, most notably being Harald Fairhair, the first king of united Norway. Fairhair was very important in the early viking age and was, according to sagas, so violent that some Normans fled to an uninhabited island from him, which is the legendary origin story of how Iceland was settled. Interestingly, Fairhair also had 2 sons from different women, one of them literally receiving the epithet "the Good" and the other being either called "Bloodaxe" or "Brother-Slayer". Furthermore, Eric Bloodaxe, the younger son of Fairhair, is historically obscure (despite being a rather important figure of his time), whilst both his father and half-brother received sagas. That's some interesting parallels to Loki and Hajrudin
- I think the Figarlands are Irish-inspired. Redhaired, one of them is called Shamrock and Shanks has never received a SBS statement about his realf life origin country. That doesn't have to mean anything, Kaido and Big Mom and many others never received that either. It would suit however the Viking motifs and Shanks' connection to Elbaf, many Normans have some Irish ancestry (for example Thorfinn Karlsefni, who was a descendant of the Irish king Kjarvel)
- On that note, interesting that Shamrock says that giants used to rule the New World. Normans were the first documented Europeans to have found the Americas (there are theories about Irish priests that came couple of centuries earlier, but nothing is confirmed), the New World. In our world, they failed to settle the place and forgot about it until couple of centuries later. Maybe in the One Piece world, the giants were the first people that settled the New World
Also, really loved that moment when Zoro didn't undersand the xenophobia amongst giants, and then having to reflect on how humans aren't any different. Very realistic