User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 447: Escape Battle, Review./@comment-26451407-20150805081453/@comment-1153699-20150805200708

1) The thing is, though, that Gildarts doesn't have that kind of personality (not anymore at least). Why would Gildarts train his ass off? He has no real goal. From what we've seen from Gildarts's travels, he pretty much does whatever he wants. He's not pressured to train whatsoever (unlike Natsu and the others).

2) Makarov says hi. I have no doubt in my mind that Makarov in his 30's~40's is stronger than Current Makarov. Same goes for Gildarts. Gildarts in his late 30's~early 40's is definitely stronger than Current Gildarts (or x791 Gildarts anyway...).

What I'm trying to say here is that Gildarts (unlike Natsu, Gray, Laxus etc..) doesn't have motivation to train. And that's why I think he's not that powerful compared to the main cast right now. Base Natsu knocked Bluenote out with a simple roar. Not even a fully powered one. And he said he didn't even had the chance to warm up. And that's the same guy who went toe to toe with Gildarts (when he wasn't using Crash Magic).