Is Haki a Technique? Should it be Translated?

Demon Rin

Okay, well, just using your logic, and gathering what I've read in this thread, I'd say that while I understand (and agree) that at the moment expressing the ambiguity and wording of the author is more important story-wise as foreshadowing to a power we know almost nothing about, what I have read several times in this thread already is that ambition is the closest translation. However closest isn't exact. So by your logic the usage of ambition is incorrect. Dominating isn't conveyed at all in ambition, just the desire to have/be more. And while in essence the word ambition is definately better in the sense of romance and dreams in One Piece, I'd argue that it's just as wrong to say ambition just because it does not convey the full meaning of the word haki.

I don't know if I am being clear at all but I may have to give up on a name that expresses the supernatural qualities of the power. I like ambition, but I just don't feel that it brings the meaning across. It feels watered down, as the "imposing" or "dominating" part, essential to at least understand it's effect in a battle of wills, is completely lost. There is no "power" component here, there is just a feeling of desire. Thus ambition feels like it doesn't convey (from what I've read in this thread because I know no japanese whatsoever) the full meaning intended by the author.

You make some good points, but NONE of this, none of the intended meaning is conveyed AT ALL by leaving it untranslated. Personally, I liked Mato's Idea of using "Drive", because in context that could mean everything here.

But about the meaning, Translated, There is some meaning there. Untranslated, it loses all meaning and becomes a random new power.

So why is untranslated better? Those who leave it untranslated like Toei and Franky House Don't even bother with TRANSLATION NOTES!

That's what I'm arguing against, this notion that it's just a random, meaningless word that only means "Magical Haki Powers".

UsoppSpell

Edit:@demon rin
Well, in one of my earlier posts I was quite partial to Drive as well. The only objection is that it feels too… bikery LOL. Dunno, like trying to be cool when you're not. One of the early translations of haki was "vigour and drive" so I believe someone thought it appropriate as well. I'm still mulling it over, but I can't find a word that conveys an aggresive and uncompromising desire and capacity to further one's goals. Maybe that's what we can call it. :D

Whatever it is, I am all for translating it, as I agree that the magic shit is a no-go.

@MagneticMonkey:

She abstracted from what it is in One piece.
Basically she is saying that "haki" translates as "ambition".
Whatever we saw in one piece:mantra, dominating wave, tekkai, etc.. doesn't affect the translation. It's up to Oda to explain later how the drive of someone can make him do what we saw "ambition"-users do (the supernatural qualities of the power).

Well yes I understood that much! I said I may have to yield with my desire to give it a more supernatural feel.

I'm liking this ambiguity more and more, however, though I no longer want the power to have an ethereal power name or some shit, I want a word, or set of words that also convey the "ha" part of haki, which unless I misunderstood is "dominating". Ambition does no such thing. This is why I'm against it.

Sakonosolo

I like Ambition or Influence as translations. Not translating it shouldn't even be an option seeing as it's a normal word. It may be used in an odd way in OP but the fact stands that Oda used the Japanese word for Ambition on purpose and it should keep this meaning when brought over to the US.

IrishLuigi

'Aura' does it for me.

andy

@Kairouseki:

I like Ambition or Influence as translations. Not translating it shouldn't even be an option seeing as it's a normal word. It may be used in an odd way in OP but the fact stands that Oda used the Japanese word for Ambition on purpose and it should keep this meaning when brought over to the US.

Huh when was it said Oda uses the word for ambition. From what i understand haki has more than 1 meaning in Japanese . Is haki in Japanese = ambition in English . If not it should be like nakama Translated the word in the context it is use in the story .

Then haki might end up being a tech . Which is a whole other ball game.

Sometimes when you translate as Ambition it makes no sense in context of the story . Like chapter 544 page 8 .
Context is most important thing to me when your translating something . You should not be confusing the reading . While the Japanese understand all the meaning of haki and the concept. It not the same for us unless your hardcore.

Sakonosolo

覇気 (Haki) - Ambition or Aspiration
That's the only meaning used in the dictionary I'm using.

andy

@Kairouseki:

覇気 (Haki) - Ambition or Aspiration
That's the only meaning used in the dictionary I'm using.

Well then that how it should be but as i said if haki end up being technique or being use as a technique. Then another ball game cause while some people like everything translated , **techniques don't really get translate all the time.

Truth is once you don't confuse that reader it's all good. But there some confusing right now since Oda has not** explain it yet in the context of the story . Hopefully he gets around to it soon .

Cause he could use as haki is power to use your Ambition to make thing harder ,stronger etc etc . But then it mean you have to do something first or its a skill in context of the OP story .

Then it won't be he just use his ambition but it would be he needs to use a skill to let him use his ambition.

Sakonosolo

That is completely stupid though. I can maybe understand if the translation is just a jumble of words, though nothing of this sort comes to mind (maybe Kamehameha), but if it can be translated then it should be.

andy

@Kairouseki:

That is completely stupid though. I can maybe understand if the translation is just a jumble of words, though nothing of this sort comes to mind (maybe Kamehameha), but if it can be translated then it should be.

Yes but as said if he use it as a technique or skill it not the same . I use to do martial arts and we don't translate the moves we do in english. So then in the context of the story haki won't mean ambition . It would mean having a skill to let you use your ambition.

Hope i am getting my point across.

Sakonosolo

Not really .

What martial art do you do? Taekwondo, Kung Fu? Those are Korean and Chinese respectively so you keep the moves in their original language. Sort of like with the argument about Zoro's attacks should be left in Japanese because he seems to be Japanese, with the katana, haramaki, etc. Haki, the only reason being called this is because it's a Japanese comic. If Oda was a Finnish comic book writer he would have used the Finnish word for Ambition. See what I'm saying? It was called Ambition for a reason.

andy

Yes but i don't care what the words mean in japanese I care about what the word means in OP .

Is it just haki = ambition or is it a skill ,technique **, power up as i said you think about the story first before you translate.

1. IF haki is no skill or** technique well translate it to like how you would nakama which means you use more than one word depending on the context of the story .

2. If haki is a skill or tech then you can still translate it but then you have to find the best word that suit it . You also have to explain it .

Cause if all of sudden luffy start doing haki moves and you use word Ambition. If people are reading there going to be wondering how the hell is he using Ambition as a power up.

3. Leave it Untranslated but put notes .

You guys want the word translate but you want it to be 1 word but haki has more than one meaning and sometimes in context of the story that one word might not work.

Sakonosolo

Someone that knows Japanese needs to come in here. As far as I'm aware the kanji used to write Haki in Japanese has only one meaning and that is Ambition (Aspiration is basically a synonym). Nakama on the other hand has dozen upon dozens of different meanings.

And I don't understand why you think that if it's a technique or skill it shouldn't be translated.

andy

@Kairouseki:

Someone that knows Japanese needs to come in here. As far as I'm aware the kanji used to write Haki in Japanese has only one meaning and that is Ambition (Aspiration is basically a synonym). Nakama on the other hand has dozen upon dozens of different meanings.

And I don't understand why you think that if it's a technique or skill it shouldn't be translated.

I never said don't translated it . Just that word Ambition might not be best word in the context of the OP story . Some thing like willpower , drive , aura might be better . Since it can be use in more ways than Ambition and might be easier to understand.

Sakonosolo

My mistake. Then I don't understand why some people think that techniques or skills shouldn't be translated.

HaxeyeMihawk

@Kairouseki:

My mistake. Then I don't understand why some people think that techniques or skills shouldn't be translated.

I never fully understood it but take a technique like soru, would you really want to use the english for that?

Sakonosolo

Yes. you could use shave or slice. Soru lets you shave or slice the distance between your opponent and yourself.

Adamant

@andy:

Sometimes when you translate as Ambition it makes no sense in context of the story . Like chapter 544 page 8 .

Sure it can.
"He has more ambition now than he had last time." "He is even more ambitious now than he was before".

Wow that was hard.

wintergt

@Adamant:

Sure it can.
"He has more ambition now than he had last time." "He is even more ambitious now than he was before".

Wow that was hard.

So you prove his point. Because blackbeard is saying that Luffy's haki has grown stronger and now having him say that Luffy is more ambitious is just completely off. Imagine how awkward it gets if you keep on translating it as a word instead of a power.

Amazon Lilly. "yes we are all so ambitious here that we can make arrows explode, just because we want them to!"..

Bludgeon

@andy:

I use to do martial arts and we don't translate the moves we do in english.

I do martial arts and we do translate the names of techniques into English. Sorry for the tangent, but it's a very silly thing that bugs me as much as I'm sure the much larger issue does many of you.

IrishLuigi

@Adamant:

Sure it can.
"He has more ambition now than he had last time." "He is even more ambitious now than he was before".

Wow that was hard.

A better trans would be;

"He has more ambition now than he had last time." "His ambition is now stronger than it was before".

Sea

@Adamant:

Sure it can.
"He has more ambition now than he had last time." "He is even more ambitious now than he was before".

Wow that was hard.

"Now his Will-pressure is even stronger than the last time."

MagneticMonkey

Way to dismiss what we discussed so far…
The fact that you can't imagine how ambition is tied to the power some of the OP characters used doesn't mean Oda hasn't planed to eventually do it.

So far haki means ambition. We saw that some characters are able to combine that "power" (whatever it is) with techniques and use it while fighting. How it works is a mystery. But we know they all call it using "haki". What it means will eventually be revealed.

So we all need patience!

wintergt

@IrishLuigi:

A better trans would be;

"He has more ambition now than he had last time." "His ambition is now stronger than it was before".

"his haki has become stronger" if you wanted to translate it, I would use your last sentence and uppercase it to make it stand out as a technique.

"His Ambition has become stronger"
"His Presence has become stronger"
"His Aura has become stronger"
"His Willforce has become stronger"
"His Spirit has become stronger"

There isn't even a solid translation that fits the glove perfectly, I understand now why funi just went with 'haki' lol

IrishLuigi

@wintergt:

"his haki has become stronger" if you wanted to translate it, I would use your last sentence and uppercase it to make it stand out as a technique.

"His Ambition has become stronger"
"His Presence has become stronger"
"His Aura has become stronger"
"His Willforce has become stronger"
"His Spirit has become stronger"

There isn't even a solid translation that fits the glove perfectly, I understand now why funi just went with 'haki' lol

The best ones would be Aura, Willforce and Spirit.

Shouldn't "Willforce" be "Willpower"?

UsoppSpell

@IrishLuigi:

The best ones would be Aura, Willforce and Spirit.

Shouldn't "Willforce" be "Willpower"?

Yes well way earlier I argued that willpower is a word in and of itself and thus might become slightly confusing.

I like willforce but now I don't know what to think of really.

Whatever the term is, it needs to properly represent an "aggresive and uncompromising desire and ability to further ones goals". LOL

So far, the english word that I most like for the purpose of conveying all that meaning is "Drive", even though personally I like willforce because it sound better.

But Drive seems to fit better than Ambition, even if the literal translation Ambition is the more appropiate.

wintergt

The problem is that Ambition, even though Oda called it that, has all these applications of mental power, like making arrows explode, negating DF powers, knocking people unconscious, dodging blows, deflecting attacks, and so on. So in that sense it would be better to go with a word like Spirit or Aura, but then we're just making up a translation that isn't correct. Might aswell leave it haki then, in context it will be clear what it is anyway. That is not to say I want it to not be translated, I'm pretty sure a lot of them can work, as long as all subbers start using one term consistently. It's kinda like 'the force'.

"His control over the Force has become stronger."

pritesh

The fact that so many of you are coming up with soo many various translations itself makes me think it should be kept as Haki.

I see no different between kamehameha to haki… (Don't get me wrong, I don't consider it like some "magic energy level").

IrishLuigi

@pritesh:

The fact that so many of you are coming up with soo many various translations itself makes me think it should be kept as Haki.

I see no different between kamehameha to haki… (Don't get me wrong, I don't consider it like some "magic energy level").

Kamehameha is actually the names of several Hawaiian kings.

Sakonosolo

^ It also means Turtle Destruction Wave :sideways: .

Leaving perfectly translatable words in Japanese shouldn't happen. The fact that there are so many different words to translate it to means that they SHOULD translate it. Really the literal translation is Ambition but for some reason some of you are saying that it doesn't make sense in context :ermm: .

wintergt

Yibis is using willpower in their fansub, with quotation marks. Like:

Kuja pirate: That was the King's "Willpower"!

So if everyone can now stick to willpower then maybe we can have an actual translation :P

brennen.exe

I want to argue with you guys, but I am busy doing homework. Maybe later. Can you guys, like, sum-up the arguments from the last few pages? It would make it easier for me to reply. Or at least the main complaints/points that have been made? Haha, sorry…

andy

@brennen.exe:

I want to argue with you guys, but I am busy doing homework. Maybe later. Can you guys, like, sum-up the arguments from the last few pages? It would make it easier for me to reply. Or at least the main complaints/points that have been made? Haha, sorry…

Yes but i don't care what the words mean in japanese I care about what the word means in OP .

Is it just haki = ambition or is it a skill ,technique **, power up as i said you think about the story first before you translate.

1. IF haki is not skill or** technique well translate it to like how you would nakama which means you use more than one word depending on the context of the story .

2. If haki is a skill or tech then you can still translate it but then you have to find the best word that suit it . You also have to explain it .(some word are better than other drive , willpower, aura,) make sure it fit in context of the OP world.

3. Leave it Untranslated but put notes .

So while it you can translate the word you must remember how the word is use in context of the story .

Is what i was saying .

Sakonosolo

How is using an English word that isn't normally used in this context any different than using a Japanese word that nobody knows the meaning of? As far as a translation note is concerned if you're going to use Haki and then put "Note: Haki=Ambition" then why not just use Ambition?

So basically, Brennen, the arguments are:
1. It's most likely a skill so it shouldn't be translated. Doesn't really make sense to me.
2. No translation fits 100% so it shouldn't be translated. Again doesn't make sense to me.
3. Translate it because it's a normal word, it's just used in a different way than it normally would be. This is what side I'm on.

andy

@Kairouseki:

How is using an English word that isn't normally used in this context any different than using a Japanese word that nobody knows the meaning of? As far as a translation note is concerned if you're going to use Haki and then put "Note: Haki=Ambition" then why not just use Ambition?

So basically, Brennen, the arguments are:
1. It's most likely a skill so it shouldn't be translated. Doesn't really make sense to me.
2. No translation fits 100% so it shouldn't be translated. Again doesn't make sense to me.
3. Translate it because it's a normal word, it's just used in a different way than it normally would be. This is what side I'm on.

While i am not Japanese from what i understand when the japanses read haki it mean more to them than just ambition. Or just certain thing just won't translate over if you use the term ambition.

Sakonosolo

I am almost positive they're just as confused as we are. Unless you can come up with some evidence that Haki means more than just ambition than you won't be able to make a very good argument about it.

andy

@Kairouseki:

I am almost positive they're just as confused as we are. Unless you can come up with some evidence that Haki means more than just ambition than you won't be able to make a very good argument about it.

Okay this what i read from a japanese guy over on a next fourm.

mmm I don't come over to this subforum much but I'm an up to date follower of One Piece manga. I do have something to say about Haki.

To the western world Haki is something that's not properly understood, even in this thread. Simply because there's no single word that describes Haki well enough. But to us East Asians, Japanese and Chinese, the words Haki is an instantly understood term. It is a term that is Asian in origin and loosely phrased and understood in the Western world.

What Haki really is and means:

The words Ha and Ki, meaning 'dominate' and 'air'. Together you can make out something like 'air of dominance/atmosphere of fear' or better phrased, 'Aura of dominance/supremacy' or 'Aura of fear/terror'.

You can't really train yourself to just have Haki, it does not happen by itself or just suddenly. When you train yourself to become stronger or over time have attained some form of aggression, Haki will come along. It is something that builds up over experience and time and can be activated at will. But it can also be something that happens involutarily, examples of Haki in various forms

In fact let me just give you the link
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=69858&page=3

pretty good read about the topic.

silvers

@andy:

What Haki really is and means:

The words Ha and Ki, meaning 'dominate' and 'air'. Together you can make out something like 'air of dominance/atmosphere of fear' or better phrased, 'Aura of dominance/supremacy' or 'Aura of fear/terror'.

There we go. End of argument. It's more of a "hint" than anything. "Haki" doesn't mean anything energy related, but it "hints" at it. Ambition does nothing of the sort.

And here's the thing Rin, saying that "With Luffy having the "Ambition of a King", I'm positive Oda's ALREADY STAR(T)ED to tie things together" is MUCH more baseless speculation than saying that those 4 people have King's Haki.

Luffy knocked everyone out with a wave of haki. It was obviously the recognized "distinguishable" ability of one with the King's Haki (clearly noted by Amazons and Sisters). With that said, I'm not talking about the first ep, I'm talking about when Shanks knocked people out on WB's ship, and when Rayleigh knocked out everyone at the slave sale.

wintergt

You say some good things andy. If I understand it correctly, the 'ambition' trans is basically just a pun on Luffy's aspirations to become the Pirate King. The real translation we have to go for is, literally, "air of dominance". So willpower can work. And I'm more and more understanding why Funi didn't translate it.

Sakonosolo

Well, Andy, that was some pretty good arguments. But just because it alludes to something else of forms a pun doesn't mean it shouldn't be translated. There are so many puns in OP leaving them untranslated would basically mean half the series wouldn't be translated. Maybe Superiority would work? What about Presence?

silvers

The direct translation is quite literally "Haki of a King/Champion/One-who-is-crowned/etc". It sounds extremely badass in its original language, and in multiple asian languages (not sure about korean). Anything "of a King" in asian languages sound really badass, for the record.

Haki is literally "Air of dominance/tyranny/pwnage if you like it". It's used to describe how a person "feels" like he's/she's in charge and dominant, but when used in One Piece, it also hints at the spinoff of qi. If you translate it to ambition, all of that is lost, instantly, which is why it's a dumb idea to do so.

(And dang… just realized my KFC coupon expires today :/ brb I'll drive-thru)

Sakonosolo

The King's Presence? The Presence of a King? Something like that maybe?

silvers

It works, but it doesn't work.

The key word is "air", which in asian languages is "ki/chi/qi/(not sure how it's pronounces in cantonese)". Get the problem here? Haki is a very specific phrase that hints at a number of things.

You see… asian languages are very very similar in culture. When translated into western languages, you'll need entire articles to describe the origin/other-meanings/possible puns? of one word.

Anyway, brb starting now (gimme 10 minutes, KFC's like 5 min drive)

andy

@Kairouseki:

The King's Presence? The Presence of a King? Something like that maybe?

i have no problem with being translate i just don't think Ambition is right word.

I mean if use willpower or something like that . Someone willpower can't make you feint in real life . But this is a manga so you can play around with it . Just like how they play around with sakki , We translate sakki as two words Killing aura or Killing intent. We can do same for haki don't have to use 1 word only .

Phoenix Zoan

Meh Funimation did it right by leaving it as haki.

MagneticMonkey

@brennen.exe:

I want to argue with you guys, but I am busy doing homework. Maybe later. Can you guys, like, sum-up the arguments from the last few pages? It would make it easier for me to reply. Or at least the main complaints/points that have been made? Haha, sorry…

Demon Rin explained me that she translated it ambition cause haki means ambition regardless on what we saw in the manga so far.
So we will see later how Oda use the word ambition and it's original meaning to achieve what we saw in the manga: mantra, tekkai, increased damage by arrows, knock out waves etc…

And i agree with her :)

UsoppSpell

@MagneticMonkey:

Demon Rin explained me that she translated it ambition cause haki means ambition regardless on what we saw in the manga so far.
So we will see later how Oda use the word ambition and it's original meaning to achieve what we saw in the manga: mantra, tekkai, increased damage by arrows, knock out waves etc…

And i agree with her :)

Okay, so I don't think that Haki is the first word for Ambition. I don't know japanese so I will be quickly corrected in this thread, but those japanese speakers will know.

When you place ambition in a translator or look it up in word reference or any form of english-japanese converter, the word that comes up is yabou. I also found a number of songs where, if it talks about ambition, the lyrics have Yabou. Not once is haki in there.

In the same way that desire and ambition and drive are not the same thing but are interrelated, haki is related but not equal to ambition. If it can be translated to ambition, it seems to be because there is no equivalent of it in english and the closest one word translation is ambition.

In this link http://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-japanese/long-cherished+ambition.html I see a lot of options for ambition, and not just one, which I presume means that it is greatly subject to context. So while haki's best translation is ambition, I presume that it doesn't really apply because we have only one word for ambition, and that is ambition. What I mean is that to us, ambition is ambition, and there aren't really many words to say it. In spanish it's pretty much the same. As in english you don't have a direct synonym but you could use for similar meaning. Both in spanish and english you have Ambition/Ambición and Aspiration/Aspiración and perhaps Desire/Deseo.

But another word that means exactly ambition is something we don't have. Ambition is a broader term, meaning one has a desire to achieve great things, while aspiration is a more focused term, meaning that someone can aspire to become something, like say a master chef, or a football star. These two are interrelated, as one must have ambition in order to aspire to something, but they do not mean the same.

Actually, what about Aspiration? It is strongly tied to Ambition, in fact it means the same thing but with different uses, but aspiration also means an audible intake of air. So actually the play on words is most respected with Aspiration that has the "ki" or air part of it but also the desire for greatness. I don't think we'll find another word that does quite so much for the word haki in english, even if it doesn't cover the dominating part.

Hmm, yes, I like Aspiration. It's also not as common a word as Ambition, meaning that in all the places where the usage of Ambition is weird or seems out of place the effect will be watered down by the more esoteric version of the word Ambition, while at the same time providing that extra play in words involving air. Also, Aspiration is equal to inhalation, and is closely tied to the vital energy, so really every time I think about it Aspiration seems to be the better choice, as it contains in it all the right meanings with the exception of dominating. But I don't think it gets any better than that for a single word translation of two tongues which have no common background or etymologies.

Yes. Aspiration really does it for me. What do you think?

kostasreturns

haki is only the spirit power of one person in one piece….he can use it to ignore devil fruit abilities

wintergt

@UsoppSpell:

Yes. Aspiration really does it for me. What do you think?

Well from what I can understand so far, haki can mean ambition, but it can also mean air/aura of dominance. Since we've seen it do stuff like make people faint, and shoo away large animals, then the second translation makes a lot more sense. Besides if you say haki to a japanese person, their first thought will be that it is the 'force' you feel when being intimidated. (again, so I have read) So the ambition/aspiration thing is just a pun on luffy's ambition, which will be lost in translation just like so many other puns Oda makes. If you really feel bad for the average fan not knowing of this pun, a translation note can fix that. But we should go for a translation like "willpower", or just leave it untranslated altogether. I mean it's not such a big deal, we've also had "soru", "shigan" etc.. they actually have easier translations but still we use the japanese.

V-time

If i have understood the text Urouge posted right then Haki is a concept that is found in asian culture and they do kinda understand what is meant by it (the whole bit with Haki (Air of dominance) and Sakki (Killing Intent)). We of the western world however have no such concept in our culture and thus the problem is created. I would be in favor of leaving it untranslated (with translation note redirecting to this concept) since a normal translation kinda loses the meaning behind it. That´s at least my opinion

UsoppSpell

@wintergt:

Well from what I can understand so far, haki can mean ambition, but it can also mean air/aura of dominance. Since we've seen it do stuff like make people faint, and shoo away large animals, then the second translation makes a lot more sense. Besides if you say haki to a japanese person, their first thought will be that it is the 'force' you feel when being intimidated. (again, so I have read) So the ambition/aspiration thing is just a pun on luffy's ambition, which will be lost in translation just like so many other puns Oda makes. If you really feel bad for the average fan not knowing of this pun, a translation note can fix that. But we should go for a translation like "willpower", or just leave it untranslated altogether. I mean it's not such a big deal, we've also had "soru", "shigan" etc.. they actually have easier translations but still we use the japanese.

@V-time:

If i have understood the text Urouge posted right then Haki is a concept that is found in asian culture and they do kinda understand what is meant by it (the whole bit with Haki (Air of dominance) and Sakki (Killing Intent)). We of the western world however have no such concept in our culture and thus the problem is created. I would be in favor of leaving it untranslated (with translation note redirecting to this concept) since a normal translation kinda loses the meaning behind it. That´s at least my opinion

Well the reason I have been convinced on a more literal translation is because so far we have no idea what this power really does/encompasses. So really what we are left with is trying to be as faithful to the name that the author gave us until we have a better understanding of the concept. Then it could be like some Odz/Oars thing where people choose to change the name. Haki untranslated and with a footnote could work, but because it is a concept that fuels techniques, and not a technique in and of itself, generally these sorts of things are translated.

If the author is hinting at the source of this power being an ambition or driving force, then we should try to keep all of the variables as intact as possible, them being:

1-The word Haki's more correct and literal translation is Ambition
2-The pun with the words air and dominance

The reason I don't place a third point, which is that the name needs to clarify some sort of supernatural/energetic/ethereal/spiritual concept is because the nature of the power is apparent upon seeing it work. There is no need to clarify that when it is right before our eyes. Hell, we all understood what it is pretty well, so I don't think we should give other readers less credit than ourselves to figure out. Besides, that is precisely the intention of Oda, who clearly intended for this force to appear slowly and gradually with only sporadic mentions on it with little to no explanation involved.

In the end, even though I was swayed, it seems to be more about a matter of taste.

The options that were mentioned so far are:

Ambition
Drive
Willpower
Willforce
Aura
Spirit
Presence
Disposition
Air of Dominance/Aura of Dominance
Aspiration

I like the last because it still means ambition but gives it an additional meaning which is that it is tied to a strong inspiration of air, thus being somewhat connected to the vital energy as well as involving the "ki" part of haki.

Other possible options I can think of are

Imposition (similar to dispostion but by imposing you actually dominate)
Domination
Swagger (extra piratey)
Coercion
Yoke (maybe with something else?)
Sway (i like this one)

Dunno. Do you like any of these?