User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 452: The Prelude to the Final Battle, Review./@comment-26451407-20150916094940/@comment-153.91.238.254-20150918150603

We all know Laxus got stronger but I don't know why people are expecting Gildarts to get a massive increase in power. If he is stronger(which is just speculation at this point) I doubt he made a huge increase in power like the others did. He's one of those benchmark characters like kakashi,master roshi,jiraiya,Makarov, etc... who is meant to be surpassed by the younger characters so him coming back with a huge increase in power is not likely. Laxus on the other hand from what we have seen from him is definitely close to being up there with the Spriggan but I still doubt that he is quite at that level. He is definitely GOI level but it's still too early to judge.