Originally posted by Enyalus
Be serious. Thanos was on Galactus' ship. Explain to me what Galactus would be doing on Thanos' ship? And I think you may be a bit confused.

The first battle, where Galactus stated that he had depleted vital energies battling Thanos, was without prep. The second battle in the same arc, where Thanos beat The Hunger and Galactus at the same time, was with several hours of prep.
And Thanos has personal forcefields. It wasn't his ship's tech - clearly - because he wasn't on his ship.
You misremember the event. Galactus stated that "never before" had he had to "exert" himself "to pierce a mere forcefield"
That's entirely different from "depleting vital energies." Completely different.
Exert means to make concerted effort. Exert does not mean try hard.
If you're on the tv couch, and you go up to the tv to change the channel instead of using the remote, you've exerted yourself.
Essentially, Galactus had never before had to do more than "change the channel" using the remote. Against thanos, he actually had to "get off the couch" to do it.
So the outcome was never in doubt...the means of producing that outcome however, required more effort on G's part than he was accustomed to do.
This is much, much more a feat for Thanos than it has anything to do with Galactus.
This is like saying a Celestial had to exert itself to read Xavier's mind. Much more of a feat for Xavier.