This chapter dropped a very strong hint, and this is where you realize the greatness of translation and quality because most One Piece fans completely overlooked this.
There is a striking similarity between two words:
覇気 = Haki
魔気 = Maki
Unfortunately, Maki was translated as Omen, or a sinister foreboding. While that isn’t technically a linguistic mistake, since many English translators relied on standard meaning!
It arguably erased one of «Oda’s terrifying wordplays», something likely only native Japanese speakers would fully catch.
Because there is a powerful parallel between the two words:
覇 (Ha) = dominance, supremacy, overwhelming power (in a positive sense)
魔 (Ma) = demonic aura, darkness, cursed or ominous force
And both share 気 (Ki) = spiritual energy, life force
What if Haki was something Joy Boy developed as a counterforce against Imu’s Maki?
That would explain how Joy Boy’s Haki was able to repel the Gorosei, wound Imu, and even make her gasp under the pressure of his Haki during the Egghead Arc.
What if Joy Boy spread Haki among humans so they could resist not only Devil Fruit powers, but also Imu’s demonic abilities?
And what if the highest form of Haki “Conqueror’s Haki” belongs only to certain bloodlines and races…
…and that is why Imu seeks to purge them from the earth through extermination, in order to create his own world?