May isn't far off, but I think the padding is to do with the lack of breaks in action going forward. We're about to be hit with some long continuous fights as we approach the climax of this arc and arguably the series. Who knows, if the series ends after this arc we might be treated to a super long stretch of canon. Wouldn't that be awesome
By the way, maybe it's just me but Hayate's character design is a little weird, especially when his pupils go towards the top like that. Made him look like a zombie even when he was alive. Or just really really tired, lol.