User blog comment:Jrotc193/The Strongest/@comment-4829046-20130529051751/@comment-7418318-20130529054727

Gildarts is owned without his magic?

I don't think you can really count what happened at Tenrou Jima for that. The FT members were not merely derived of their magic, but their physical strength as well. Most of them were even unable to simply remain on their feet.

In the KotSS arc Gildarts beats Byro without using his magic, even though Byro is a well trained martial arts expert (or at least claims to be - but I believe he was telling the truth).