I think most of us agree that whatever Kuma did actually helped them, and this was basically proven by how he whispered something to Rayleigh and refused to tell Kizaru. Personally (not just because I have a giant hard on for him) I think Kuma did it for Dragon, but I still don't think we'll be seeing him. Assertn is probably right. They have all been scattered on the island so that they can end up at the Sunny in three days with the use of the biblio card. Whatever the case this is huge progression as it shows not just Luffy but all the crew that they need to greatly improve their skills (Remember what happened when Lucci raped them? Luffy busted out Gear 2-3.) and it also shows that Kuma has his own agenda.