Im not really sure if he's truly "offpaneling" it and more getting us to a situation where the actual meat of the arc starts.
What i personally need to see is how this punch actually lands on Kizaru. For one, he hasnt been truly damaged fighting Luffy. Is he physically injured from that punch? Or is another Sentoumaru/Defense situation?
I still (personally), think the arc is playing out closer to WCI than Thriller Bark. Where Saturn is this big threat that wont lose this arc, but they cant truly escape until Luffy defeats Kizaru. Reason for this is I still expect Saturn to "win", as in obtain Seraphim (so the WG has all 7) and get the Mother Flame (so Imu can use Uranus/God Valley/Whatever it is to enact his endgame threat).
Its also painfully obvious that the arc will go on for some time, since Oda has now only formally introduced one of the 9 VAs here it seems, with the exception of Doll/Doberman at other points. So it seems like they are also going to take up screentime. Because of this, I am expecting things to get messier.
I also assume the Robot will help them by holding back Saturn so it buys them time. Either that or Kuma shows up to start that situation. No idea.