It vastly improved the arc. A lot of the filler scenes of the main group just hanging out helped present them as a group of friends better than any other arc and contrasted well with the attitude the Crane School had. It also helped make Panputto a little bit more than a throwaway character as well as offered slightly more to Chaozu's arsenal. The only damaging addition in retrospect was Kuririn stating he and Yamcha trained with 100kg turtle shells due to Galu's weights in the 23rd TB, but the latter definitely seemed like way too much of a lowball anyway when Kuririn was surprised at an arm band weighing as much as the turtle shells he wore at the start of his training despite how far he'd came.