Let's hope that this is somehow one time incident, because pacing would be terrible with more episodes like this. Sure, art is great etc. but it just doesn't work well this way. Hiatuses or not, 9 pages episodes would kill this manga.
Someone on Reddit said that this is an addition to Episode 356, that's why it's so short. If it's true, it makes sense, maybe YA editors or Miura himself chop those pieces so we don't get hiatuses.
So technically it is still 356, I think. It's going to be less confusing in the volume.
If I understand it correctly, God Hand and the force behind it can and want to control only humankind, yes? If so, it probably means that they would rather get rid off opposing forces (such as astral creatures) but that's something that has been said already. What I am curious about is if Guts...