User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 447: Escape Battle, Review./@comment-26451407-20150805081453/@comment-1153699-20150805190257

Why would Gildarts train? He has no real reason to. Natsu saw Acnologia kill Igneel right in front of his eyes. So he trained his ass off to get stronger. Gray has the goal of defeating E.N.D. So he trained too. Laxus considered himself pathetic. So he trained hard as well.

Gildarts is like what? 47 years old now? He has a prosthetic arm and leg. Not to mention the last time we saw him, the injury he got from Acnologia still wasn't healed. Considering his personality, I just don't see him leaving all the girls and drinks to train his ass off. He's just living the life. Doing whatever he wants to do.

Gildarts never mentioned he wanted to defeat Acnologia. If anything, he wanted to stay away from him as much as possible. He himself said that a human can't beat him. When Acnologia attacked FT on Tenrou island, Gildarts didn't even try to attack.

Natsu is not E.N.D now (not fully at least). The soul of E.N.D (along with it's power) is still inside the book. Laxus would still smack Natsu around just like he did a year ago.