Ax, Natsu and Erza were not at their best, Haku used hax on Natsu, Laxus maybe on the back end but until he is stated to be out of commission but not without putting the hurt on arguably the strongest of them, no, and yet Gildarts has not even shown improvements since then via Aldoron. Natsu was defeated as he was unconscious from the encounter with August, he just woke up later in a different position and they were even recalling what happened with August like they were trying to remember, even the anime would support this (As much as don’t like using it). And yet he was unfazed by Gildarts attacks with holder magic, no way Erza’s swords will do anything there. Erza had Irene’s power up then that allowed her to put up a fight
