The cold wind howled. On Planet Fenris, white was the dominant color. Ice and snow were the norm, and death was an everyday occurrence.
A year on Fenris was equivalent to 40 months on Holy Terra. Only for a few months each year did the planet drift slightly closer to its sun, ushering in a brief and rare summer.
Suddenly, a spaceship streaked through the sky, trailing a plume of exhaust as it crash-landed on the planet's surface with an earth-shattering boom.
The entire glacier buckled under the impact, forming an elliptical crater.
As the smoke cleared, a spherical, eyeball-like single-seater pod was revealed.
Inside, sleeping soundly behind the red hatch of the ship, was a human boy who looked about five years old, with a bizarre hairstyle and a monkey-like tail.
Over twenty years ago, a similar pod had fallen from the heavens onto Fenris.
It had brought with it a Wolf King, the one who would become ruler of the planet.
Raised by a she-wolf alongside his wolf brothers, he didn't encounter humans until much later.
After meeting his adoptive human father, he received the name Leman Russ, and eventually became the king of this icy world.
The discovery of the new spaceship threw the tribal warriors into a panic.
They dared not be careless and immediately reported the incident to their king, Leman Russ.
When Russ heard that a boy had arrived on the planet in a way eerily similar to his own, a sense of kinship stirred in his heart.
He promptly ordered his personal guard to bring the boy and his ship to the royal palace.
Amidst the commotion, the tailed boy in the spherical ship awoke.
'What the hell? Where am I? Did the course deviate?' After regaining consciousness, Axis realised he was surrounded by a bunch of savages.
They were utterly primitive.
Some held rudimentary iron weapons, while others gripped sharpened wooden spears.
They wore thick animal pelts, and even from inside the pod, Axis could smell the stench clinging to them.
The raw, primitive odor was overwhelming!
After a quick assessment, Axis reached a conclusion. This was an extremely backwards planet.
It looked like he hadn't landed on Earth, but rather some barbaric, undeveloped world.
He could only hope the Frieza Force wouldn't find him. Who knew if they could track the signal from his ship?
Come to think of it, Frieza didn't even bother hunting down Kakarot's ship. Surely they wouldn't chase after a five-year-old like him?
He had finally escaped the doomed Planet Vegeta after reincarnating as a Saiyan.
The last thing he needed now was more trouble.
All he wanted was to lie low for a few years, survive, and eventually transform into a Super Saiyan.
Just as Axis was lost in thought, heavy footsteps echoed in the distance.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ground seemed to tremble.
A towering figure appeared in Axis's field of vision. This man had to be at least 3.6 meters tall.
His features were rugged and chiseled, like they were carved from stone.
Two massive fangs jutted from his mouth. His long hair hung wildly behind him, and two enormous wolves flanked him.
The moment Axis saw this mountain of a man, an indescribable sense of danger washed over him.
This man radiated lethal threat.
Not daring to be careless, Axis tapped the scouter on his face.
Beep—beep—beep—beep!
The numbers on the scouter fluctuated rapidly before locking in at a final reading: 1,666.
1,666 combat power! Who would've thought?! This rough-looking guy had a power level of 1,666!
On a backwater planet like this, that was definitely king-tier. And he was incredibly dangerous to Axis.
Axis's own power level was only 110, barely a low-class warrior among the Saiyan ranks.
If this massive man wanted to kill him, Axis wouldn't even be able to resist.
Even if he transformed into a Great Ape and boosted his power tenfold, it probably still wouldn't be enough.
He could only hope this man wasn't hostile. Axis decided to play the part of a helpless child to gain sympathy.
The tall man suddenly reached out and, with brute force, ripped the spaceship hatch clean off.
'What raw strength! To tear open a spaceship door barehanded, only a warrior with at least 3,000 combat power should be able to manage that.'
But this guy did it effortlessly. His physical strength was monstrous.
After removing the hatch, the giant man spoke in a language Axis couldn't understand.
Axis tried speaking Galactic Standard in response, but the man only looked puzzled. Clearly, they didn't speak the same language.
Russ shook his head, then reached into the pod and scooped Axis up with both hands.
Holding him aloft, he displayed the boy proudly to the surrounding tribesmen, thumping his chest as he shouted something in their native tongue.
The surrounding barbarians raised their weapons high and roared in response, shouting words that Axis couldn't understand at all.
It wasn't until much later, after mastering the Fenrisian language, that Axis realized what Russ had said:
"I saved him. From now on, this child is my little wolf cub!"
Held in the arms of someone whose combat power exceeded his own by over 1,500 points, Axis didn't dare move.
His body was slightly stiff, and he managed to force a childlike innocent smile onto his face.
After all, he looked like a five-year-old now, playing the part of a child wasn't hard.
'Wait, no—I am a damn child. There's no playing involved.'
A gust of icy wind blew across, and Axis, still being held up high by the giant man, shivered violently as the cold pierced through him. 'Damn it, it's freezing!'
'Where the hell is this place? This environment is brutal!'
Axis glanced around. All the men nearby were around two meters tall, all of them rugged and powerfully built.
But compared to the towering man in front of him, they were far weaker, and their power levels were much more reasonable, mostly under 10.
If it weren't for this giant man, Axis was confident he could take down everyone here by himself.
So was this guy some kind of genetic anomaly? In the universe, some mutated individuals from powerful species could end up with far greater combat strength than their kin.
Like the legendary Super Saiyan born once every thousand years, or King Cold, Frieza's father, both were high-power mutants.
But now his spaceship was busted.
'How the hell am I supposed to go to Earth and find the Dragon Balls like this?!'
He wasn't even sure if anyone on this barbaric, primitive planet had the technical skills to repair a spaceship.
Inside Axis's ship were a few sets of Saiyan battle armor, some Saibamen seeds he'd swiped when escaping Planet Vegeta, and a few scouters. Other than that, there wasn't much.
He could only hope these people didn't wreck his ship and the gear inside.
Still holding Axis, the tall man waved to the onlookers and brought him to a long table stacked with food.
With a smile, he made a gesture mimicking eating.
Axis looked up at the giant, then turned his eyes to the feast and lit up with joy. He'd been starving!
'You wanna feed a Saiyan? Hahah!'
It seemed this guy with 1,666 power was actually pretty chill.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to let him raise me for a few years.
'With my Saiyan combat talent, I could probably surpass him in a year or two. When that time comes, I'll be the one looking out for him.'
Axis didn't hold back.
He grabbed a slab of roasted meat from some unidentifiable animal and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing greedily.
Soon, he was devouring everything on the table like a storm, cheese, rock-hard bread, roasted meats, smoked sausages, and various unknown stews, all of it vanished into his bottomless stomach.
Seeing Axis eat so heartily, Russ was thoroughly pleased. A strong appetite was a good thing.
'This kid's just like me,' Russ thought. He'd come in the same kind of small single-pilot pod as himself.
He could eat just like him, too.
And that physique… the boy's body was even sturdier than his had been at that age.
When Russ had lifted him out of the ship earlier, he'd immediately noticed the boy's unusual strength.
Though his limbs were small, they were packed with power.
Russ figured even a dozen adult warriors from the tribes probably couldn't handle him.
'Could this kid be my brother? Or some other kind of relative?'
The more Russ thought about it, the more he felt it was possible.
'This tailed kid must be connected to me somehow.'
"Hahaha! Look at him go! My little wolf cub can really eat!" Russ laughed heartily, pointing at Axis.
He remembered how he'd been the same at that age, curled up beside his two wolf brothers and their mother wolf, eating nonstop.
"A kid who eats this much will definitely grow into a fine warrior."
"Great Wolf King, perhaps he'll become as strong as you someday."
"Congratulations, Great Wolf King!"
But soon the laughter stopped, because they realized just how much this kid could eat.
In just a few minutes, he'd devoured enough food for two or three grown men, and he showed no signs of slowing down.
"Lord Russ, h-he might have a bigger appetite than you did when you were young…"
"Hahaha! Looks like the kid was starving. Go fetch more food, let him eat until he's full."
Russ watched Axis with great interest and immediately ordered his men to bring out more from their reserves.
He was the King of the entire planet, the mighty ruler of Fenris. What, was he supposed to worry about being eaten into poverty by one little kid?