User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 245: The Unbranded Man, Review./@comment-3987368-20110730184547/@comment-3290324-20110730192059

The force of the explosion created a huge smoke cloud, there's no way to be sure whether or not he actually ate it, but given his speech afterwards and Natsu's history of absorbing power through consumption. My bet is that he ate it.