Chapter Text
They had met back in school. Sanji and Zoro were in the same class and had gotten into yet another a fight, surprisingly to all who know them now not with each other, and their respective step-dads had been pulled into the school for a meeting again. And so started the Zeff-Mihawk alliance. Before long the father of another "problem child" ended up sat next to Zeff outside the head teachers office. Apparently Sanji and Zoro had taken on the school bully when a kid from the year above had joined in and so here they were. A few days later Shanks also joined their alliance and so the forced "friendship" and tag-team discipline of Sanji, Zoro, Luffy, and Ace begun.
Shanks has fostered rather than adopted Ace and Luffy, and still had a blood relative vaguely involved in their lives in the form of a strict military grandfather. Garp always seemed personally offended at the antics of his two grandsons, and made it very clear that he wanted them both to enter the military. Unfortunately for Garp though neither Luffy not Ace wanted that, and if we're honest neither would have copied with a military life. But that they weren't tough, but strict routine and structure, not to mention following orders, these were things that neither boy exactly excelled at. Luffy especially valued freedom and ability to do what he wanted when he wanted above all else - well above all but the safety and happiness of those he cared about anyway. Fortunately for the brothers Garp was a busy man who was rarely around and so was not a part of the parent alliance. If he had then they were all fairly sure that martial arts classes, strict training regimes, and curfews would have been the last of their worries, being shipped off to military school would have been a far more likely result of their antics.
When Sanji has declared that he wanted to be a chef but that he wanted to go away to university to study rather than doing an apprenticeship in Zeffs restaurant everyone had been so excited for him. Until approximately one term into the course when Sanjis temper got the better of him and he ended up being forcibly moved back home... After Zeff had spent a good hour ranting at Mihawk and Shanks about his son’s inability to be left alone the 3 parents came up with the idea of buying a house in town and acting as joint landloards for their chaotic children. And so the house share idea had was born, a way to give the kids independence but also have them close enough to be monitored. A way to have them learn who to be adults, but without the risks and inevitable failures of them going out into the world on their own. To be honest it was a bit of a compromise that came about after Mihawk and Shanks got into an argument about the best way to deal with the kids becoming adults and their need to protect them going forwards.
So Sanji, Zoro, and Ace were bundled into the same house, and later Usopp also found himself dragged along - not that he minded too much it was a relatively nice house and despite their eccentricities there were worse landlords and hosuemates to have.
Unfortunately for Usopp Luffy had a strange ability to drag people into his orbit and trap them there. So as soon as Luffy had decided that Usopp was going to be his friend he'd quickly been dragged into their group, helped by the fact that Shanks knew his dad. Also unfortunately for Usopp when the parent alliance meet him they really quickly decoded that he also needed to be lumped in with their problem children and needed their guidance to become, as Zeff would put it a "productive member of society". If Mihawk and Shanks were honest they'd just be happy if their children were able to hold down a job, part their rent, and not get into any legal trouble. They saw potential in all the kids of course, and felt it would be a shame for that potential to be wasted, but they also felt ready to have a break from the constant chaos that seemed to follow the teens. But Zeff wanted to instil some ambition in the kids and in many ways it was just easier to go along with that.
Sanji was still studying to be a chef, but closer to home able to commute from the house, and was working part time at Zeffs restaurant on his days off. He wasn't happy about being dragged home, but at least he could still pursue his dream of becoming a world renowned chef and restaurant owner. Zeff was very proud of his little eggplants determination and dream, even if he would never say that to his face.
Ace had, as the parents put it, "gotten his act together" and moved out from the house share last year. Though in the opinion of the rest of the group Ace has less gotten his act together and more learnt the art of subtly - ie learnt not to get caught. He still has regular calls from Shanks, and Zeff as he didn't trust Shanks to lay down the law, but he had somehow gained enough trust to not need the regular in person check ins and constant questions about "what are you planning to do with your life?" that the rest got. Not to mention the judgement for not doing things the "right way" and the micromanaging - mainly from Zeff. Sometimes they all felt a little sorry for Sanji, it was clear that Zeff loved his son but really he was by far the fieriest of the parents, with a strictness only equalled by Mihawk if about very different aspects of life.
Shanks just wanted the kids to be happy and safe, he wasn't all that strict, didn't really judge any of the kids for the way they lived, he was far happier to let them make their own mistakes as long as they were following their dreams. He was very much out voted though, and he couldn't deny that this whole alliance thing he been very useful during Ace and Luffy's wilder activities. And someone has to inject some work life balance into the situation, overall though it was fairly obvious to Shanks that no one of their parenting styles had worked out for their kids. At 17 Luffy was finally allowed to move out
At 17 Luffy was finally allowed to move out, though as his choice was move into Ace's old room at the house share or don't move out it didn't really feel like the right of passage he'd once hoped for... At least he'd be moving in with friends though, and surely he'd have a bit more freedom and adventure there than while still living with Shanks? Anyway Luffy really needed to move in as with Ace gone Usopp wasn't able to keep the peace between Sanji and Zoro on his own.