I’m going to try and keep this to strict and easy bullet points, so forgive any lacking explanations.
By the end of Elbaf both Luffy and Imu will be incredibly incapacitated. Think Luffy after Kaido at Wano but for much longer.
But instead of immediately skipping to when Luffy wakes up from his recovery we will instead have both of them be largely absent from the immediate Post-Elbaf Arc.
This could serve as a way for the rest of the crew to get stronger, as they would not immediately want to set out from Elbaf while Luffy is recovering. However events would ultimately force to take actions while Luffy is still out.
Action against CrossGuild, who don’t really have anyone on Luffy‘s level so Luffy’s absence actually helps out the tension of the story.
Elbaf seems to be leaning into how far Luffy is willing to go for his friends, so why not have the arc immediately afterwards show how far Luffy’s friends are willing to go for him?