$z matches 1 more \w than ': eg,
>B< or >``Es`KI`B<, etc.
Except for those ```S's, this generally results in a slightly shorter (different) line.
Changing the 'p' handling to:
|`i($z) (?{$R++,$q=6})|`p($z) (?{$X=$R;$R=0;$q=7})
. . .
:($15, (chr 120-$X), $bind{$17}, "")[$q-6];
will let you print (selectively) at the bottom of the loop. (or get ready to do a lot of speed-reading:)
eg,    
++$xx; $q==7 and print "$xx: (", length(), ') ', substr $_,0,80;
update: Oh yes, somes stats from the output:
5801 substitutions
longest line: 1095 chars (after 29 substitutions)
first letter at: 456th sub (length 943)
first word: 456 to 525
second word: 1314 to 1888
third word: 2813 to 3116
last word: 4125 to 4705 (length 71!)
p