The origins of Vash and his twin brother Millions Knives are explored in flashbacks from the "Trigun" manga when the children live in a spaceship containing the last few surviving humans who have fled Earth due to its lack of resources. The two are identified as "Plants" since they age at a slower rate. They are raised by a researcher named Rem Saverem in a space ship colony. Through Rem's education, Vash gains a newfound respect for life, but his brother seeks the mayhem in mankind. Knives disrupts the navigation system, triggering an alarm and waking the dormant passengers. When Knives sabotages the fleet, putting it on a crash course with the planet No-man's Land, Rem puts him and Vash in an escape pod to save them. Rem chooses to stay behind and attempts to prevent the crash rather than escaping. As the two children become young adults, they separate, with Knives amputating Vash's left arm in a fight. Vash is found by a group of humans who construct his cybernetic arm. Knives also attempts to activate Vash's dormant supernatural powers, the Angel Arm, but the plan backfires and a blast obliterates the city of July, leaving 200,000 people without food or shelter. The incident earns Vash's reputation as "The Humanoid Typhoon".