What about everyone's mother dying of illness?
I think this influences Odas writing a lot too, this mentality:
And there's this too obviously:
Oda has that 80s type action hero love in his writing. That adoration of that era, the big 80s action heroes, living and acting grandly. Having massive adventures and insane action of all kinds. Living dangerously and having great battles/conflicts/feats and such.
We know he loves old Japanese films including certain famous Yakuza ones like the one Akainus actor is well known for, Battle Without Honour and Humanity, which also inspired Quentin Tarantino HEAVILY, as especially confirmed/evident with Kill Bill too naturally.
Hell, I feel this song could fit so many characters in One Piece from Zoro, Luffy, Franky, Brook, Roger, Oden, Rayleigh, Whitebeard, Kaido, Shanks, Ben, Magellan, the Admirals, Garp, Smoker, Ryuuma, Ushimaru, Denjiro, Ashura Doji, Senor Pink, Momonga, Godhawk Mihawk, etc:
I'm not the best at explaining or especially summarising things, being concise and such, but Oda lives by this trope too, The Rule of Cool:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool
He and Japan have that "Peter Pan Syndrome", young at heart, old in mind/body or body at least. Young and free spirited despite their age. Never truly wanting to grow up.
When I'm not in one of my bitter/pessismsitic moods, I do admire and relate to it a lot. I understand it especially with what Japan has been through, most particularly due to the nukings they experienced and how that utterly desecrated their country and thus put them through indescribable HELL that understandably still has repercussions decades later. Japan recovered AMAZINGLY fast and well from it too though but they are ABSOLUTELY relentless in recovering from immense disasters, their willpower, their determination/tenacity is truly superhuman even.