Imo you're falling for the trap of nitpicking flashback feats and missing the bigger picture.
You and the people calling Loki “god tier” are actually two sides of the same coin right now. One side hyperanalyzes to poke holes in everything, while the other hyperanalyzes to conclude he can solo Prime WB + Garp + Roger combined.
The narrative is clear to me: Loki > Harald. How Oda got there, or how much exaggeration he used to sell it, doesn’t really matter to me at this point. I don’t believe Oda’s intent is for Loki to be below Harald after obtaining the fruit, he did far too much setup for that. We should be past that discussion by now.
What really matters is that being clearly above Harald is something even Xebec never had. That’s the real issue here, and that’s a major part of the reason why Imu was so shocked, and why Gaban thought it was over for the verse. An apex top tier is what Harald was.
I thought you were on the Loki is god tier team?
Our opinions on that front are not far off. I do believe Loki > Harald.
However, I also believe Roger and Whitebeard are the strongest modern day pirates, and WB > Harald.
Gaban thought it was over for the verse not because HK Harald is the outright strongest in verse even without regen, but because HK Harald is a high top-tier with unstoppable regen.
Even if someone like WB was individually stronger, without stopping regen, HK Harald would be unbeatable to him, hence why I believe Loki's fruit was involved. But, we'll see.