User blog comment:Omega natsu2/Fairy Tail Zero: Dances with Blades, Review./@comment-5268982-20141023165343/@comment-25111584-20141023175246

Well, all of Gray's spells are based on creativity, as he himself has said. Makes sense that he made up most of his common ones when he was a kid. And, like Natsu (and Lucy?), he's the only one we know from FT who actually learned magic from somebody extremely powerful, I'd say he'd be quite powerful in his own right. I've always had that against Erza, so powerful even when she first arrived at FT, but definitely the least trained to begin with. >.> Though I'll have to disagree with the effect being the same as when he is 18. I hardly think Drum could have stood up to the current Gray, he was all bark, no bite imo. And the Chrono Noise guild was ... pathetic. The grunts didn't even use magic, only the Guild Master did, and they all looked like a bunch of adolescents. Wouldn't give them much thought, really. And Gray looked pretty battered to me while Drum had no damage to show for all of Gray's attacks. I'd call that 'getting owned'. Sure, Gray stood up, but he'd mp have been pulverized but for ... GILDARTS! \(^_^)/

The Doriate example doesn't work, Law of Retrogression reduces magical power; the age thing is just a side-effect. Natsu and Gray both couldn't use their magic properly. As for Natsu flashbacks, ... I don't think we really ever saw him properly using magic in them ... did we?