In the post game credits, we find the one year has passed and that Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidward pay their respects to Mr. Krabs by placing flowers on his grave next to his daughter Pearl.
In the same scene, Squidward has his hand on Spongebob's shoulder, showing his kinder side
At the start of the game, Bikini Bottom is under attack, and the four only have time to save but a few belongings from their homes before the Jellien invasion reaches them. Mr. Krabs tries to salvage as much money as he can and gets a gun that weaponizes the Jelliens' one weakness, mayonaise; Squidward gets his clarinet, two of his paintings, and his prized wax statue; and Patrick gets his toys and pet rock. The only thing in his house SpongeBob considers is worth salvaging before the Jelliens arrive? Gary.
Patrick prioritizing his pet rock is weird, yet oddly sweet.
SpongeBob going out of his way to save the students from the Mrs. Puff Clone.
Upon realizing his daughter Pearl has been captured and cloned, Krabs decides to leave his money behind, believing it's all worthless compared to her.
Despite what Doodle Patrick does later in the game, he has a moment of this with DoodleBob early on. Upon being discovered by a Jellien Pinkie, Doodle Patrick's first response is to immediately stand protectively over Doodlebob despite how scared he visibly is.
The fact that Patrick is helping out so he can atone for he did in seasons 4-8 to his best friend and goes to great lengths to protect Spongebob, especially during the Tunnel of Glove will tug at the heartstrings.
Squidward deciding to risk his life and return to Tentacle Acres to destroy the clones, just because he can't stand seeing his kind being turned into mindless zombies, definitely counts.
When Mr. Krabs was about to sacrifice himself, he tells Squidward and Patrick to look after Spongebob before jumping into the Overlord's mouth. It really highlights that despite his greed, Mr. Krabs does truly care about the little yellow sponge.
