Yeah, good timing for this arc, just in time for Christmas and the winter holidays!
Oda uses a lot of real life references in his work, including the names of real historical pirates. You're right, Blackbeard was one of them! Also referenced in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Another pirate name which is less well known is a Frenchman named l'Ollonois, which Zoro's family name is based on. Which is why I actually prefer to romanise his name to Lolonoa. It differs between translations, and IIRC the German translation went with that, while the English translation went with Roronoa. I just find the latter harder to pronounce, lol.
Zoro has a special talent in getting lost, yeah. Also, he runs into the exact person they need, but he has no idea because he doesn't know who she is. The way several different things happen at once to create a mess of a situation is stressful but exciting, and I think it's done really well here.