For an anime about a group of mages, everyone in the Fairy Tail guild sure likes to use their fists a whole bunch. For no character is that truer than Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon Slayer and protagonist of Fairy Tail. Since Fairy Tail has a target on its back as the most powerful guild in Magnolia, they often find themselves dealing with threats from dark guilds, insane mages, and centuries-old dragons.
And as a person who always welcomes new challenges, Natsu winds up battling all of them. We’ll be taking a look this time at some of Natsu’s best fights in the series, but that means the whole series, so spoilers abound for anyone who hasn’t finished the series.
10 NATSU VS. JACKAL
This match-up is what happens when someone doesn’t do enough research on their opponents. Jackal was a demon with the power to make anything that touched him explode...while Natsu is able to absorb fire. After realizing his ability, Natsu absorbed the resulting explosions each time, dealing out heavier and heavier damage. But of course, none of the Tartaros members wanted to go down quietly, and Jackal attempted to destroy the entire village with one final explosion after losing. It was only a timely intervention by Happy that gave this story a happy (if briefly tense and suspenseful) ending.
9 NATSU VS. ZANCROW
While training in the hopes of achieving the ranking of S-Class, Fairy Tail was ambushed on Tenrou Island by the dark guild Grimoire Heart while they were looking for Zeref’s body. Everyone had a pretty rough go of it here, but Natsu was unfortunate enough to go up against the only character with fire powers he couldn’t get an automatic victory against. Early on Zancrow revealed he was a Fire God Dragon Slayer, with powers superior to Natsu’s. Or at least, so he believed. In the end, Natsu was able to consume Zancrow’s flames by completely emptying his body of his own, getting a brief and dangerous power boost to help him get the win.
8 NATSU VS. ZERO
Against the final boss of the Oracion Seis dark guild, Natsu really shouldn’t have had a chance. He’d already fought through Cobra, the mind-reading Dragon Slayer of Poison, and that was a battle he only narrowly survived. As the guild leader of Oracion Seis, Zero was far more powerful, laying out Lucy and Gray and even Natsu at first.
But a last-minute appearance by Jellal lends Natsu the Flame of Rebuke, a golden fire that Natsu consumes to enter Dragon Force again. Even this isn’t quite enough to completely win the battle, but a timely memory from his father and mentor Igneel allows Natsu enough power to destroy Zero’s Genesis Zero spell, saving the guild and the land of Fiore at the same time.
7 NATSU VS. BLUENOTE STINGER
Natsu doesn’t get very many easy win battles, and there aren’t any others on this list. But his battle against Bluenote Stinger after the one-year time-skip from the Tartaros arc to the prelude to the Alvarez Empire storyline is worthy of its spot here. After spending a year training on their own, Natsu and Lucy wind up working together to face Avatar, last of the major Dark Guilds remaining. Avatar’s heavy hitter is Bluenote, a man who once gave Gildarts a run for his money because of his power over gravity. But after a year’s worth of training, Natsu’s magic and control over his flames have grown so much he’s able to take out Bluenote in a single shot.
6 NATSU VS. GAJEEL
The first meeting between Natsu and one of his many...many rivals happens during the showdown between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, two opposing guilds. The limitations of Natsu’s power as a Fire Dragon Slayer are on full display, as we witness Natsu fight long enough to get the upper hand, only for Gajeel to consume some metal to power back up and easily beat Natsu down. But in Fairy Tail, it always helps to have friends, and Lucy is able to use one of her Celestial Spirits to create enough flame to give Natsu the right pick-me-up to put Gajeel down.
5 NATSU AND HAPPY VS. CUBELLIOS AND COBRA
After beating the Iron and Lightning Dragon Slayers in previous major arcs, Oracion Seis had yet another type of Dragon Slayer for Natsu to go up against. Working along with Happy to remain airborne, Natsu battled against the Poison Dragon Slayer, Cobra. Cobra not only had is Dragon Slayer powers to rely on, but hearing so sensitive he could “hear” a person’s thoughts. (No it doesn’t make any sense, but go with it.) This turned out to be his downfall however, as Natsu ultimately finished him off with an actual dragon roar, and his sensitive ears couldn’t stand the noise.
4 NATSU AND GAJEEL VS. LAXUS
After spending several arcs either doing nothing or sneering at the rest of the guild, Laxus finally gets fed up and attempts to take over Fairy Tail by holding several of its members hostage. This leads to the Battle of Fairy Tail, where several members of the group go up against Laxus and his Thunder God Tribe. All of that finally comes down to a battle of Dragon Slayers, with Natsu and Gajeel forced to team up to stand a chance. Even still, Laxus’ overwhelming strength almost proved too much for the both of them. It’s Gajeel’s willingness to take the blows that Natsu can’t which allows Natsu to eventually get the victory with his Crimson Lotus fire blade.
3 NATSU VS. ZEREF II
One of the final fights of the series, this battle happened during what has to be Fairy Tail’s darkest hours. In spite of Mavis’ pleadings, Zeref absorbs all of her magic for the sake of his final plan. Possessing the powers of a god, he easily defeats Natsu, punching a hole in him and leaving him to die.
But with the power of Fairy Tail on his side (and Lucy capable of re-writing the book of E.N.D.), Natsu regenerates and has one final scrap with his brother. The Fire Dragon Slayer’s flames burn brighter than they ever have before, beating Zeref so badly even his own immortal curse can’t save him.
2 NATSU AND GRAY VS. MARD GEER
The Tartaros arc leads to some unsettling reveals both for Gray and the viewer, as Gray learns his father turned into a demon to get revenge for his family, and the viewer realizes Natsu’s connection to Zeref. But all of that is put aside for this fight, as Gray finally gets to show off his increased level of power as an Ice Devil Slayer and work alongside his longtime rival Natsu to take down the leader of Tartaros, Mard Geer himself. Surprisingly, it isn’t even Natsu who gets the last blow here, with him merely distracting the demon long enough for Gray to get the victory and redeem his father Silver.
1 NATSU VS. STING AND ROGUE
The entirety of the Grand Magic Games and the build-up towards it involved telling us how powerful Sabertooth as a guild were. Having missed seven years, Sabertooth had taken the place of Fairy Tail, and the two most well-known members were Sting and Rogue, two additional generation one Dragon Slayers. After styling on Fairy Tail for most of the arc, it finally came down to a battle between Natsu, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue. But after the opening skirmish, Natsu realized he no longer needed Gajeel...and pushed him out of the way, taking on (and defeating) both of the Dragon Slayers on his own, pushing through both their Dragon Force and Unison Raid techniques to come through with the victory.